Marimba, percussion, and a long way back
I trained as a percussionist before technology took over the calendar last century. SUNY Fredonia, then Miami University, with side trips into West African drumming and Ghanaian gyil. I freelanced through the late 1990s and into a couple of years in Washington, DC, where some of the recordings below were made around the turn of the millennium.
I took my first job as a technologist in February 2002. Music stayed a side pursuit for a while, but the gigs got harder to say yes to, and eventually the phone stops ringing when you keep saying no. A few years ago I picked the marimba back up and started working through a rich and growing repertoire, writing my own arrangements, and idiomatic composing. I had missed it.
What's below is some of what made it to a more permanent medium. More coming soon.
Three Rocks
Fending/Matis · 2006Three Rocks was recorded live at Wet Seal Studios (Minneapolis, MN) as part of a generous grant from the American Composers Forum. It was the first time my equipment was considered highly suspicious by the TSA.
Shiny & Round
Fending/Matis · 2001Shiny+Round was our first album separate from Gray Code, recorded entirely live in Jon Morris's then-home in Takoma Park, MD. The wood floors had just been redone.
Live in Philadelphia
Gray Code · 2000Recorded on our “white van tour” of the Northeast US in 2000, kicking off on Fat Tuesday and requiring procurement of additional clothing from Clothing by the Pound in Philadelphia.
- SUNY Fredonia, 1992–1996 — Theodore Frazeur, Dr. D. Thomas Toner, Dr. Karolyn Stonefelt
- Miami University, 1996–1998 — Dr. William R. “Doc” Albin
- West African drumming with Francis Kofi
- Ghanaian gyil (xylophone) with the late Bernard Woma
- Marimba One Izzy (2021)
- Sonor drum kit (1997)