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Briggan Krauss

Saxophonist and composer Briggan Krauss connects the extreme edges of saxophone technique with the unexplored tonal possibilities of the instrument, making his work as much about shape as it is about a signature sound. In June 2014, Krauss led a weeklong residency at John Zorn’s The Stone, highlighting over twenty years as a key player in New York’s downtown and creative music scene and the intense musical relationships he has built with colleagues including Ikue Mori, Jim Black, Wayne Horvitz, Nels Cline and Elliot Sharp. He continues the tradition of bringing together the raw conceptual energy of a rotating cast of improvisers in a monthly series at Brooklyn’s Firehouse Space.

As a leader, Krauss has recorded multiple albums for Knitting Factory records, including the critically acclaimed 300 with Wayne Horvitz on keyboards and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Red Sphere was released in 2008 on Skirl Records with his trio H-Alpha (Ikue Mori on laptop, Jim Black on drum set and percussion) and features a unique atmosphere of collective improvisation where spectral lines of sound are emitted and absorbed in the moment. His most recent release is his first solo recording called Art of the Saxophone Vol. 1: The Tunnel Recordings that documents the unique and innovative ways that he approaches improvisation and the saxophone. Produced by the legendary saxophonist Skerik, this recording finds Krauss exploring the unusual sonic features of the cavernous Mt. Baker I-90 pedestrian tunnel in Seattle, WA, blending harmonics and employing multi-phonics on the saxophone. The recording also highlights the signature towel-mute Krauss invented along with the broad vocabulary of extended techniques he has created for its use.

In 2013, Krauss received his MFA from Brooklyn College’s unique PIMA (Performance and Interactive Media Arts) program, solidifying his role as a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary artist in the electronic music and sound art sphere. In 2002 Roulette and the Jerome Foundation commissioned an eight-piece chamber work from Krauss, and in 2009 he was an Artist in Residence at Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center in New York City, where he produced a surround sound piece called “Singularity”. In 2015 he is developing a new project with abstract painter and filmmaker Raha Raissnia, who uses live projection techniques to work with Krauss and ensemble. Their previous collaborations have appeared at galleries and venues across NYC including Anthology Film Archives and the Kitchen, where they premiered Krauss’ composition for nine-piece ensemble entitled “Cosmography” in 2011.

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Album Review

Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity

Read "Entity" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Undicesimo album per l'Orchestra New York di Satoko Fujii, qui composta di tredici elementi, dei quali ben nove già presenti nel primo lavoro, South Wind, risalente al lontano 1997. Il disco è registrato nel maggio del 2019 ed è uscito già lo scorso anno, ma merita egualmente grande attenzione, in quanto si tratta di un lavoro di primissimo livello. Né poteva essere diversamente, considerando non solo la qualità media, altissima, delle produzioni della musicista giapponese, ma anche l'organico straordinario della ...

3
Album Review

Dom Minasi: Eight Hands One Mind

Read "Eight Hands One Mind" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


Restlessly innovative, guitarist Dom Minasi is a stalwart of the creative music scene. A brilliant improviser and composer, Minasi deftly utilizes his inventive ideas as launching points for his equally exciting extemporizations. On the unique Eight Hands One Mind, Minasi joins three other intrepid guitarists for a fiery and poignant tribute to another trailblazer, the late guitarist Bern Nix. The others in the group are the master of prepared guitar Hans Tammen, the virtuoso Harvey Valdes and the ...

10
Album Review

Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York: Entity

Read "Entity" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


As she did in 2019, pianist/composer Satoko Fujii—an artist at home in many formations—opens the new decade with an orchestra recording. Entity, from Fujii's Orchestra New York, is the eleventh release from the ensemble that has remained largely intact for almost twenty-three years. It is an all-star collective that includes saxophonists Oscar Noriega, Ellery Eskelin and Tony Malaby, trumpeters Natsuki Tamura and Herb Robertson, guitarist Nels Cline and drummer Ches Smith. Entity has its moments of tranquility but ...

377
Album Review

Briggan Krauss' H-Alpha: Red Sphere

Read "Red Sphere" reviewed by Sean Patrick Fitzell


Guttural saxophone bleats demand attention amid the drum whorls and electronic washes. After the initial blast, the horn recedes as clipped drum bursts and metallic effects create a halting groove that elicits more wails. The dynamic shifts and manufactured form from chaos of “Sun" typify Red Sphere by H-Alpha--saxophonist Briggan Krauss' improvising trio with laptop artist Ikue Mori and drummer Jim Black. Best known as trumpeter Steven Bernstein's sparring partner in Sexmob and for his ongoing collaborations ...

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Album Review

Bill Frisell: Unspeakable

Read "Unspeakable" reviewed by John Kelman


Some artists spend an entire lifetime within a narrow genre, honing their skill and working at stretching the boundaries of that style, while others transcend all definitions and labels, creating a music that defies categorization. Such is the case with guitarist Bill Frisell, who over a twenty-five year career has contributed to everything from the Nordic cool of Jan Garbarek's quartet to the downtown edge of John Zorn's Naked City. On his own records he has explored diverse landscapes including ...

113
Album Review

Wayne Horvitz/Tucker Martine: Mylab

Read "Mylab" reviewed by Mark Corroto


For Wayne Horvitz and Tucker Martine, the pair known as Mylab, the saying “everything old is new again” should be restated as “Everything New is Old again!”

This studio experiment by the duo (with 17 of their closest friends) samples and loops folk recordings from the turn of the century to create song structures, then replaces those samples with guest musicians. They mash (part Zony) funk, blues, trip-hop, soul, folk, and African music into a roots music played ...

145
Album Review

Michael Blake: Drift

Read "Drift" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Blake is an improvising saxophonist who, because of his personal interests and the label he’s on, is often mistakenly relegated to the Worldbeat sections. To be honest, this disc only grabbed me halfway through, but when it did, it grabbed hard, and has sustained repeated listening.

The title cut, “Drift,” is echoed à la old ECM, and has lots of little percussion making the mournful tune very world-weary. Kimbrough, listed as playing only piano, is on an electric model. Scherr’s ...

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Performance / Tour

The 5th Season of Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Continues With Briggan Krauss, featuring Jim Black!

The 5th Season of Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Continues With Briggan Krauss, featuring Jim Black!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

CONNECTION WORKS PRESENTS The 5th SEASON OF BROOKLYN JAZZ WIDE OPEN @ The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Concert Hall The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music is located at 58 Seventh Ave (at Lincoln Place), Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, Tel 718 622 3300, reduced admission! Now $10 NEXT Concert of the 2011-2012 season Saturday, January 14, 2012, 8:00 PM The Briggan Krauss Quartet Featuring: Briggan Krauss—alto saxophone Teddy Lausner—piano John Hebert—bass

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Performance / Tour

The 5th Season of Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Continues With Briggan Krauss featuring Jim Black!

The 5th Season of Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open Continues With Briggan Krauss featuring Jim Black!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

CONNECTION WORKS PRESENTS The 5th Season of Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open @ The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Concert Hall The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music 58 Seventh Ave (at Lincoln Place) Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, Tel 718 622 3300, reduced admission! Concert of the 2011-2012 season Saturday, January 14, 2012, 8:00 PM The Briggan Krauss Quartet Featuring: Briggan Krauss—alto saxophone Teddy Klausner—piano John Hebert—bass + Jim Black—drums ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Eight Hands One Mind

Unseen Rain Records
2021

buy

Entity

Libra Records
2020

buy

Red Sphere

Skirl Records
2008

buy

Mylab

Terminus Records
2004

buy

Unspeakable

Nonesuch Records
2004

buy

Drift

Intuition
2002

buy

Entity

From: Entity
By Briggan Krauss

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