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Puzzlebox Experiment

The Puzzlebox Experiment is a Philadelphia Based project started by bassist/composer Keith Destefano at the end of 2004. All the members are part of the so called Philadelphia "new jazz" scene which is comprised of artists determined to promote new compositions. The sextet's music ranges from jagged angularity to flowing lyricism, and often contains unusual time signatures and surprising stylistic juxtapositions.

Bassist and composer Keith DeStefano has performed with such established jazz luminaries as Odean Pope and Greg McGiver in the Collective Voices Ensemble, as well as up and coming artists Dan Peterson and Matt Davis, the avant garde afro-cuban ensemble Sonic Liberation Front, and with avant garde jazzists Elliot Levin and Stan Slotter. He 's also performed and recorded with his own avant groove band Yellowbrain. Keith studied classical bass with Robert Riccardi, retired principal bassist with the Pennsylvania Ballet, and jazz bass with Tyrone Brown, Odean Pope, and Trudy Pitts. He was awarded an American Composers Forum Subito Grant in '05 for his debut album, "Just When I Thought."

Guitarist Matt Davis, a 2001 graduate from Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music, has studied with such masters as guitarists Dennis Sandole and Steve Giordano, pianist Bruce Barth, and saxophonist Odean Pope. He received a Subito Grant in '03 as promoter and performer in the Collective Voices Jazz Festival, and most recently a New Edge Grant as artist in residence at the Community Education Center. He heads his own group, Aerial Photograph, which recorded it's debut album Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph in 2003, plays with Bart Miltenberger's Chance Trio (also a Subito grant recipient), as well as with Bobby Zankel's avant big band, Warriors of the Wonderful Sound.

Dan Peterson, saxophonist, is graduate of Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music. A driving musical force in Philadelphia's "new jazz" scene, he coordinated and performed in the last four Collective Voices Jazz Festivals for which he was co-awarded the Subito Grant with Matt Davis in 2003. He's recorded and performed with Odean Pope, Dave Burrell, Billy Harper, Dave Liebman, Bobby Zankel, John Blake, and Tyrone Hill. He heads his own group, Truth or Consequences, which last year recorded it's debut cd Mythic Dreams. He is also the primary organizer of the avant garde jazz collective Risk Taking Music.

Trumpet player Kimbal Brown received his formal training at Settlement Music School and the Berklee College of Music. He has toured and lived all over the world, from Japan and New York to Hawaii and the Mediterranean. He's as at home playing classical music with the Crosstown Brass and area orchestras, as he is playing avant garde afro-cuban with Sonic Liberation Front or The Legends of Jazz. He heads his own group, and has toured with Aretha Franklin.

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