Anthony Coleman
Encyclopedia
Anthony Coleman is an American
musician. Coleman is a piano
and keys player, trombonist
and vocalist mainly working within the free improvised and avant-garde jazz scenes in downtown New York during the late 1970s through to the present day.
His greatest impact was during the 80s and 90s when he worked with rising avant-garde star John Zorn
on such seminal works as Cobra
, Kristallnacht
, The Big Gundown
, Archery
and Spillane
and helped push forward modern Jewish music into the 21st century.
. At the New England Conservatory he studied with George Russell, Donald Martino
and Malcolm Peyton.
Coleman's collaborators over the years have included guitarist Elliott Sharp
, trumpeter Dave Douglas
, accordion player Guy Klucevsek
, composer David Shea, former Captain Beefheart
bandmember Gary Lucas
, classical and Klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer
, guitarist Marc Ribot
, bassist Greg Cohen
, drummer Joey Baron
and saxophonist Roy Nathanson
.
Coleman's own compositions and solo work reflect his interest and exploration of his Jewish background and Jewish musics. His groups Sephardic Tinge and Selfhaters in the '90s explored both the lively, rich and exuberant musical legacy as well as darkly described the lamentation of a minority culture in Diaspora.
Sephardic Tinge have toured extensively all over the world and Europe three times.
Coleman's Disco by Night is a work inspired by his visit to his family's homeland of Yugoslavia and was his first major solo record released by Japan's Avant label in 1992.Shmutsige Magnaten, in which he played the songs of Yiddish folk composer Mordechai Gebirtig
, a victim of the Holocaust was also released by Tzadik Records
in 2006. It was recorded live at midnight in the oldest synagogue of Krakow, Poland, a few steps away from Gebirtig's birthplace during the annual Krakow Jewish Music Festival in 2005.
His duo albums, The Coming Great Millennium, Lobster & Friend and I Could've Been A Drum with Roy Nathanson
, mostly explore the fun, frivolous and joyous alongside the nostalgic hearts and minds of Jews in modern and old America. These recordings typify Coleman's "free" playing style as well as his multi-instrumental capabilities with him also operating samplers, trombones, percussion as well as piano and voice. Coleman and Nathanson have performed all over the U.S. and Europe.
Coleman is also an accomplished composer with many works being commissioned by numerous ensembles including the 2006 work Pushy Blueness which was released on Tzadik Records
.
and attended Mauricio Kagel's seminar at Centre Acanthes in Aix-en-Provence, France.
He has received grants and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Djerassi Colony, the Civitella Ranieri Center, the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg Kulturbehörde and the Yellow Springs Arts Center.
Coleman spent the spring semester of 2003 teaching theory and composition at Bennington College in Vermont.
In 2004 he was the subject of a three-day festival, Abstract Adventures, in Brussels, Belgium.
Coleman writes articles for internet avant-garde jazz review and discussion websites AllAboutJazz.com and BOMB Magazine
and was contributor to John Zorn
's avant-garde essay collection Arcana: Musicians On Music in 2000.
In 2005 Coleman was interviewed for the French Marc Ribot documentary The Lost String, directed by Anais Prosaic.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
musician. Coleman is a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and keys player, trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
and vocalist mainly working within the free improvised and avant-garde jazz scenes in downtown New York during the late 1970s through to the present day.
His greatest impact was during the 80s and 90s when he worked with rising avant-garde star John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
on such seminal works as Cobra
Cobra (Zorn)
Cobra is an unpublished but recorded and frequently performed musical composition by John Zorn that was conceived as a system with very detailed rules but with no pre-conceived sequence of events, or game piece, for a group of musical improvisors and a prompter. Zorn completed Cobra on October 9,...
, Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht (album)
Kristallnacht is an album by John Zorn that is based on the events before, during, and following the infamous Night of Broken Glass. Zorn first released the album in 1993 on the Japanese Eva label and subsequently in 1995 on his own Tzadik Records label....
, The Big Gundown
The Big Gundown (album)
The Big Gundown is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone....
, Archery
Archery (album)
Archery is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name. The album was first released on Parachute Records in 1982 and later released on Tzadik Records with additional rehearsal takes, , as a part of the The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a triple CD...
and Spillane
Spillane (album)
Spillane is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, composed of three file-card pieces, as well as a work for voice, string quartet and turntables...
and helped push forward modern Jewish music into the 21st century.
Career
At the age of thirteen, Coleman started studying piano with Jaki ByardJaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
. At the New England Conservatory he studied with George Russell, Donald Martino
Donald Martino
Donald Martino was a Pulitzer Prize winning American composer.Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Martino studied composition with Ernst Bacon, Roger Sessions, Milton Babbitt, and Luigi Dallapiccola...
and Malcolm Peyton.
Coleman's collaborators over the years have included guitarist Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
, trumpeter Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas (trumpeter)
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
, accordion player Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek is an American-born accordionist and composer.Klucevsek is one of relatively few accordion players active in jazz and free improvisation....
, composer David Shea, former Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
bandmember Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
, classical and Klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer
David Krakauer
David Krakauer is an American clarinetist. He is a graduate of the High School of Music & Art, class of 1974. He is mostly known for his klezmer compositions. He became involved with klezmer music in the late 1980s while working as a classical musician, joining The Klezmatics...
, guitarist Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
, bassist Greg Cohen
Greg Cohen
A native of Los Angeles, bassist Greg Cohen has been playing in various acclaimed music groups since the '60s. He is perhaps best known for his work with John Zorn's Masada quartet; more recently he has been touring with Ornette Coleman, and performed on Coleman's much-praised Sound Grammar...
, drummer Joey Baron
Joey Baron
Joey Baron is an American avant-garde jazz drummer probably best known for his work with Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, Steve Kuhn, and John Zorn...
and saxophonist Roy Nathanson
Roy Nathanson
Roy Nathanson has a varied career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, actor and teacher. He is leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have toured Europe many times and played at major festivals in Finland,...
.
Coleman's own compositions and solo work reflect his interest and exploration of his Jewish background and Jewish musics. His groups Sephardic Tinge and Selfhaters in the '90s explored both the lively, rich and exuberant musical legacy as well as darkly described the lamentation of a minority culture in Diaspora.
Sephardic Tinge have toured extensively all over the world and Europe three times.
Coleman's Disco by Night is a work inspired by his visit to his family's homeland of Yugoslavia and was his first major solo record released by Japan's Avant label in 1992.Shmutsige Magnaten, in which he played the songs of Yiddish folk composer Mordechai Gebirtig
Mordechai Gebirtig
Mordechai Gebirtig, born Mordecai Bertig was an influential Yiddish poet and songwriter.- S'brent :One of Gebirtig's best-known songs is "S'brent" , written in 1938 in response to the 1936 pogrom of Jews in the shtetl of Przytyk. Gebirtig had hoped its message, “Don't stand there, brothers, douse...
, a victim of the Holocaust was also released by Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
in 2006. It was recorded live at midnight in the oldest synagogue of Krakow, Poland, a few steps away from Gebirtig's birthplace during the annual Krakow Jewish Music Festival in 2005.
His duo albums, The Coming Great Millennium, Lobster & Friend and I Could've Been A Drum with Roy Nathanson
Roy Nathanson
Roy Nathanson has a varied career as a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, actor and teacher. He is leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have toured Europe many times and played at major festivals in Finland,...
, mostly explore the fun, frivolous and joyous alongside the nostalgic hearts and minds of Jews in modern and old America. These recordings typify Coleman's "free" playing style as well as his multi-instrumental capabilities with him also operating samplers, trombones, percussion as well as piano and voice. Coleman and Nathanson have performed all over the U.S. and Europe.
Coleman is also an accomplished composer with many works being commissioned by numerous ensembles including the 2006 work Pushy Blueness which was released on Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records
Tzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
.
Other activities
Coleman has degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Yale School of MusicYale School of Music
The Yale School of Music is one of the twelve professional schools at Yale University and one of the premier music conservatories in the world....
and attended Mauricio Kagel's seminar at Centre Acanthes in Aix-en-Provence, France.
He has received grants and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Djerassi Colony, the Civitella Ranieri Center, the Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg Kulturbehörde and the Yellow Springs Arts Center.
Coleman spent the spring semester of 2003 teaching theory and composition at Bennington College in Vermont.
In 2004 he was the subject of a three-day festival, Abstract Adventures, in Brussels, Belgium.
Coleman writes articles for internet avant-garde jazz review and discussion websites AllAboutJazz.com and BOMB Magazine
Bomb Magazine
BOMB is a quarterly magazine edited by artists and writers. It is composed, primarily, of interviews between creative people working in a variety of disciplines — visual art, literature, music, film, theater and architecture....
and was contributor to John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
's avant-garde essay collection Arcana: Musicians On Music in 2000.
Films
In the mid 90s Coleman was filmed, interviewed and acted for Claudia Heuermann's documentary film Sabbath In Paradise about the explosion of new Jewish music in the avant-garde downtown scene in New York at the time. This was followed by another Heuermann documentary about John Zorn A Bookshelf On Top Of The Sky and then a short recapping follow-up of Sabbath with the 2006 documentary Following Eden.In 2005 Coleman was interviewed for the French Marc Ribot documentary The Lost String, directed by Anais Prosaic.
Selected discography
- Secret CurveSecret CurveSecret Curve is a 2011 album by Ron Anderson's PAK. It was released on John Zorn's Tzadik label as part of the composer series.-Tracks:*1. Overture*2. Let Me Tell You Something*3. Caffeine Static Rendezvous*4. No Future*5. Caro-Kann*6. Secret Curve...
(2011) Tzadik - Freakish (2009) Tzadik
- Pushy Blueness (2006) Tzadik
- Shmutsige Magnaten (2006) Tzadik
- Our Beautiful Garden Is Open (2002) Tzadik
- The Abysmal Richness of the Infinite Proximity of the Same (1998) Tzadik
- Morenica (1998) Tzadik
- I Could've Been A Drum (1997) Tzadik
- Selfhaters (1996) Tzadik
- Sephardic Tinge (1995) Tzadik
- Lobster & Friend (1993) Knitting Factory Works
- The Coming Great Millennium (1992) Knitting Factory Works
- Disco by Night (1992) Avant
- Back To The Future (2005) Ictus
- With Every Breath: The Music Of Shabbat At BJ (1999) Knitting Factory Works
- Music For Children (1998) Tzadik
- New Traditions In East Asian Bar Bands (1997)
- Duras: Duchamp (1997) Tzadik
- Shoe String Symphonettes (1997) Tzadik
- Bar Kokhba (1996) Tzadik
- Kristallnacht (1994) Tzadik / Eva
- Camp Stories (1994) Knitting Factory Works
- Spillane (1988) Tzadik / Nonesuch
- The Big Gundown (1986) Tzadik / Nonesuch
- Cobra (1987) Hat Hut
- Archery (1980) Tzadik / Parachute
Filmography
- Following Eden (2006) as himself
- The Lost String (2005) as himself
- A Bookshelf On Top Of The Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (1999) as himself
- Sabbath In Paradise (1997) as himself
Compositions
- Latvian Counter-Gambit, for chamber orchestra
- Mise en Abime
- Goodbye and Good Luck
- Dancers/Meet The Composer