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Dennis Rea
Dennis Rea's adventurous guitar playing blends modern jazz, creative rock, experimental music, and world musical traditions into an approach that is uniquely his own, marked by haunting lyricism, enigmatic textures, agile improvisation, and the raw dynamism of rock.
Over the years Dennis has led or been a key contributor to such innovative groups as Moraine, LAND, Iron Kim Style, Zhongyu, Stackpole, Savant, Earthstar, Identity Crisis, and Ting Bu Dong. He has performed or recorded with many prominent creative musicians, including acclaimed French composer Hector Zazou, Dutch jazz legend Han Bennink, trombone virtuoso Stuart Dempster, godfather of Chinese rock Cui Jian, and Korean master musician Young Sub Lee, as well as members of King Crimson, Hawkwind, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Santana, Ministry, and the Sun Ra Arkestra. He has performed on three continents at venues such as NEARfest, WOMAD, Beijing International Jazz Festival, Sichuan-China International TV Festival, MuzEnergo Tour of Russia, Ustuu Huree Festival (Tuva), Voice of Nomads Festival (Buryatia), Baja Prog, Sonic Rock Solstice (UK), Bumbershoot, Columbia Gorge Amphitheater, Northwest Folklife Festival, Orion Sound Studios, Earshot Jazz Festival, Chrome Hearts (Los Angeles), and Seattle Art Museum.
Dennis has collaborated with many of the most important figures in contemporary Chinese music and was one of the first Western musicians to record an album for the state-owned China Record Company. His activities have spanned film, theater, radio, and modern dance, and he has appeared on more than 30 recordings to date. He is also an accomplished author whose book Live at the Forbidden City: Musical Encounters in China and Taiwan will be reissued in an updated edition by Blue Ear Books in early 2015. He is a co-organizer of the annual Seaprog festival and the periodic Zero-G concert series, and for more than a decade co-organized the long- running Seattle Improvised Music Festival.
Read moreInterviews
Album Reviews
- Metamorphic Rock (Live at NEARfest) by AAJ Italy Staff
- Iron Kim Style by Mark Redlefsen
- Views from Chicheng Precipice by Glenn Astarita
- Views from Chicheng Precipice by AAJ Italy Staff
- Iron Kim Style by AAJ Italy Staff
”Dennis is a young, very talented musician who I think will
develop into something quite interesting” - Stan Getz in 1979
“One of the most talented instrumentalists in the region, Rea has long distinguished himself in varied settings, creating a dynamic, lyrical, enigmatic blend of modern jazz, boundary-pushing rock, experimental music, and world music traditions. In Seattle, he has participated in some of the most impressive homegrown musical outfits, including the late 1990s juggernaut quartet Stackpole, with whom he won the 2000 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for best Northwest 'outside jazz.'” - Earshot Jazz
[LAND / EARTHSTAR]
“The first time I heard LAND guitarist Dennis Rea, he was playing the greatest phased guitar solo of all time on Earthstar's 1979 classic of Euro-electronica, French Skyline.” - The Wire (UK)
[VIEWS FROM CHICHENG PRECIPICE]
“a unique masterpiece” — Disk Union (Japan)
“Everything is exactly right about this album
