Bassoon in the Wild

Get ready for a rare treat!

You've never heard or seen anything like it!

Their arrangements emphasize the ability of the bassoon to accompany as well as lead. Their programs include jazz standards, originals, Brazilian, be-bop, rhythm and blues. When they play, the bassoon, vibraphone, bass, and drums breathe as one. Their performance literally brings the house down.

Michael Rabinowitz - Jazz Bassoonist
For over twenty five years Michael Rabinowitz has been on the cutting edge as a versatile bassoonist. His broad musical experience makes him valuable as an adept improviser in varied genres such as blues, be-bop, experimental, classical and world music. He is frequently contacted by composers around the world who are looking for a bassoonist that is as capable of interpreting original music that involves improvisation in different styles. Michael's recordings have received high praise from around the world; and he has just recorded his third commercial CD, Rabinowitz in Utopia, in Holland, as aninvited guest. A fourth CD is already in the works.

Michael's recordings have received high praise from around the world; and he will be performing with The Charles Mingus Orchestra this fall in The Oslo Jazz Festival and touring in Holland early next year. His fifth commercial CD and second recording of his quartet Bassoon in the Wild was released in 2004 with sponsorship by his bassoon manufacturer The Music Group.

This past year Bassoon in the Wild was featured at the 2005 Chamber Music of America in NYC and completed a successful tour throughout New England. One of their stops was at the New England Conservatory in Boston Ma. where the group provided an inspiring master class for bassoon majors. Michael performed with Chris Potter in a unique 10 piece ensemble at The Jazz Standard in May and presented an improvisation class for the International Society of Double Reeds in Austin Texas in June. Just last month he appeared with the Winard Harper Quartet on the annual Jazz Cruise sponsored by the Jazz Network of Detroit Mi.

Michael's recordings include: Bassoon on Fire - Cats Paw Records (1995); Gabrielle's Balloon - Jazz Focus label (1996); and Rabinowitz in Utopia - Edition Compusic, Scrapes Series (1998). Bassoon in Orbit - Vanderbilt Records (2000), Ocean Eyes - The Music Group (2004), Play - Drimala (2004)

Diana Herold - Vibraphonist, Marimbist, Percussionist

Diana Herold received her two graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory and Rice University respectively.

Equally adept at performing both improvised and non-improvised music, Herold has worked with composers and musicians such as Yo Yo Ma, Lou Harrison (with the Mark Morris Dance Group), Anthony Davis and Buddy DeFranco. She has performed as a featured soloist and as a percussionist with several larger new music groups and orchestras, including the Discovery Orchestra, the BMI Orchestra, Muhal Richard Abrams, Butch Morris, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Her performances have taken her throughout Europe, Central America, the United States, and Canada (where she attended the Banff Centre for the Arts).

She can be heard on recordings with They Might Be Giants, Tony Trischka, Sam Rivers, Fred Ho, Rob Henke, and Chuck Clark. Diana leads her own jazz group featuring her own compositions.

Grisha Alexiev - Drums

Grisha Alexiev has been playing drums and writing music for 28 years. His performance experience with such varied artists as Archie Bell, Ken Werner, Sinfonia of Auckland (New Zealand), Sam Rivers, Randy Weston, Marty Ehrlich, Julius Hemphill, John Cage, Arnett Cobb, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, and Richard Stoltzman, has given him a unique and impressive style. As a composer, Alexiev has been commissioned by dance companies and is recorded on The Jazz Club and Mapleshade Labels.

In 1990, while a student at New England Conservatory of Music, Alexiev was honored with the Presser Award, a grant given annually to the most promising student at each of the conservatories in the United States. In 1994, he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Performance Grant, and he has received several Meet the Composer Grants since 1996.

He is co-founder (with Neal Kirkwood) of the Discovery Orchestra, (with Sam Bardfeld) The Atomic Strings, and leads his own 11-piece group, No Western Shirts.

Joe Fonda - Bass

A native of Amsterdam, New York, Joe Fonda received his musical training from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied composing and arranging.

He is the organizer and producer of the Joe Fonda Ensemble which has performed throughout the United States, and is the recipient of many grants from Meet the Composer Foundation.

In March and April, 1999, he performed with Brenda Buffalino and Company at Town Hall in New York; toured Europe with the Fonda/Stevens Group; and toured Portugal with Carlo Morena and Jeff Hershfield. In Spring, 1998, he toured with the Fonda/Stevens Group in Holland, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland.

He has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and at the Istanbul Jazz Festival in Turkey.

As a bassist, Joe has performed all over the world with ensembles and orchestras; and he has more than 25 recordings to his credit.

"It takes a fairly brave soul to champion the bassoon as a solo instrument in jazz, and Michael Rabinowitz appears to be brave beyond belief." - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, Feb. '98

"Rabinowitz plays this music with confidence and authority...his phrasing is remarkably fluid and rhythmically on target." - Cadence Magazine, Jan. '97

"Michael Rabinowitz merits a place in jazz history...he's evolved into an astonishingly forceful presence." - Neil Tesser, Critic's Choice, Chicago Reader, Feb. '98

Visit Bassoon In The Wild's Website: http://www.jazzbassoonist.com

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