John Dierker - Gordon Beeferman - Jeff Arnal

John Dierker (tenor saxophone & bass clarinet)
Gordon Beeferman (piano)
Jeff Arnal (percussion)

Gordon Beeferman and Jeff Arnal synthesize avant-garde jazz and contemporary classical traditions into a unique "energized ritual of free expression…music with muscle and appeal" (Cadence Magazine). Since forming their duo in 2000, Arnal and Beeferman have performed at the Knitting Factory, Music at the Anthology, Improvised and Otherwise (Brooklyn), Hallwalls (Buffalo NY), Music Gallery (Toronto), San Francisco Alternative Music Festival, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, and many other venues for experimental and improvised music. Their first recording Bodies of Water (2001) was praised for its "near-perfect synchronicity" (All Music Guide). In addition to working as a duet, they have collaborated with many other musicians and dancers, including choreographer Estelle Woodward (in the dance/music ensemble Loophole) and saxophonist Seth Misterka (as Rara Avis). Their newest recording, Rogue States, was released on Generate Records in September 2006. John Dierker and Jeff Arnal have been collaborating since 1993. Part of a small group of experimental artists who studied with composer Stuart Saunders Smith in Baltimore, MD, Arnal and Dierker have played in a variety of situations together and made two recordings — Live at the Red Room (1999) and Spy Satellite (2002) — with pianist Jonathan Vincent.

Listen to Wombat:

Vision Festival XIII

Day 5: Saturday, June 14th
Emerging Artist showcase (1-6 p.m.)

Main Stage, 2:00 p.m.
John Dierker, bass clarinet and tenor sax
Gordon Beeferman, piano
Jeff Arnal, percussion

Clemente Soto Velez
107 Suffolk Street
between Rivington and Delancey
New York, NY
Take F to Delancey or J, M, Z to Essex Street

For the complete schedule visit Vision Festival

Artist Bios

"Multi-reedman John Dierker has become a major improvisational stylist…interweaving concepts augmented by howling lines, injections of blues-drenched choruses and Albert Ayler-like display of energy." (All About Jazz) A Baltimore, Maryland native Dierker has worked in a wide variety of musical settings collaborating with Peter Zummo, Jason Willett, Jad Fair, and The Basement Boys. John is a longtime member of Lafayette Gilchrist and The New Volcanoes. Currently he is working with Quartet Offensive, Microkingdom, and 3081, a group that includes Michael Formanek, Dave Ballou and Will Redman.

Gordon Beeferman is a composer and pianist whose work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. His music has been commissioned and/or performed by the New York City Opera orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, eighth blackbird, Momenta Quartet, the California EAR Unit, American Brass Quintet, and others. The New York Times hailed his chamber opera "The Rat Land" as "complex and daringly modern...gritty, fidgety and intriguing." A "fully liberated pianist" (Cadence Magazine), Beeferman has performed extensively in New York as well as across the US and Canada; highlights include appearances at Roulette, ISSUE Project Room, the Vision Festival, MATA Festival, Hallwalls (Buffalo, NY), and the Music Gallery (Toronto). His collaborations with choreographers have been produced at the Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, The Chocolate Factory, and Abrons Arts Center. Beeferman has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the BMI Foundation, and Concert Artists Guild, three BMI Student Composer Awards, a Tanglewood fellowship, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the Copland House. His recordings are available on Generate, Genuin, and Summit Records.

"Percussionist Jeff Arnal's balletic sense of time and imaginative deployment of colour have combined into a highly original concept." (The Wire) Arnal frequently performs and collaborates with a wide range of musicians and choreographers in the U.S. and Europe. Recent performances include: Ausland (Berlin), deSingel (Antwerp), German Nordwestradio (Bremen), Hallwalls (Buffalo NY), Music at the Anthology (NYC) & Music Gallery (Toronto). He has received grants and fellowships from ASCAP, Brooklyn Arts Council, Meet the Composer and Art Omi International. His music can be heard on a number of independent record labels, including Transit (Clean Feed 2009 & 2005), Dog Day with Aaron Dugan (C3R 2007), Rogue States with Gordon Beeferman (Generate 2006), MEJA with Michael Evans (C3R 2006) and with Dietrich Eichmann (Broken Research 2007 & Leo 2004). Arnal holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies: Music Composition and Filmmaking from the University of Maryland and an MFA in Music from Bennington College.

Selected Press

"A collection of concise yet substantial duo improvisations that demonstrate substantial power and an impressive range of expression." Time Out New York Press about "Bodies of Water"(duet recording) and "Rara Avis" (with Seth Misterka): • "Near-perfect synchronicity... these two have talent to burn." Steven Loewy, All Music Guide • "Inventive improvisation." Alan Kozinn, New York Times • "One of the best improv trio dates I've heard in recent memory." Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC • "This New York City-based jazz/improvising trio emerges as a cohesive unit, meshing superior technical ability with extreme imaginative powers." Glenn Astarita, Jazz Review • "First rate improv from a couple of youngsters charting their own course with a depth of dynamics and feeling..." Jay Collins, Cadence Magazine

Links

John Dierker
www.gordonbeeferman.com
www.generaterecords.net/JeffArnal.htm

Photo credits:
Trio - Ross Bonadonna, JD - Stewart Mostofsky, GB - Peter Paris, JA - Tom Greenland