home catalog news artists contact otwo

Rara Avis gen 09

Personnel

Gordon Beeferman (electric piano)
Seth Misterka (saxophones)
Jeff Arnal (percussion)

Track Listing

1. Dust
2. Conspirators
3. Hive
4. Lost World
5. Basement Scientist
6. Paraphernalia
7. Allucidation
8. Sirens
9. Recombination
10. Isthmus

Format: CD
Release date: 2006
Cover art: Ben McCoy

Recorded December 2002 - March 2003
Newsonic, Brooklyn, NY
Mixed & Mastered by Seth Misterka

The debut album of RARA AVIS, a trio joining the fiery and focused talents of Gordon Beeferman, Jeff Arnal, and Seth Misterka. A highly structured but entirely improvised tour de force for electric piano, percussion, and saxophones, the recording traverses a rich musical territory from fierce and highly rhythmic complexity to evocative long-lined lyricism.

Selected Press

"inventive improvisations" Allan Kozinn, New York Times "One of the best improv trio dates I've heard in recent memory." Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery "... a creative Music work well worth investigating." John Kelman, All About Jazz "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

Artist Bios

SETH MISTERKA began his musical activity in the underground scene of Western Massachusetts, releasing intricately packaged cassettes of electronic noise. He began playing saxophone and working with computer music as a philosophy student at Wesleyan University, where he became part of the vibrant musical community under the mentorship of Anthony Braxton. Misterka toured throughout Europe as a member of Braxton's Ghost Trance Ensemble. After relocating to New York, Misterka began organizing and performing solo concerts as well as leading his own bands, including Seth Misterka and the Misterka Clones, The Demon, and Dynasty. Currently, Misterka resides in his Brooklyn studio where he hosts recording sessions and concerts.

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.

Links

www.discogs.com/artist/451826-Seth-Misterka
www.gordonbeeferman.com
www.generaterecords.net/JeffArnal.htm