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Phillip GreenliefLink to home page : Phillip Greenlief  Biography: phillip greenlief (b. 1959, los angeles) -(shorter bio and index of compositions listed below) "The Bay Area's do-it-yourself ethos has produced a bevy of dazzlingly creative musicians, but few have put the philosophy to work as effectively as Phillip Greenlief". Andrew Gilbert, San Francisco Chronicle Acclaimed saxophonist and composer Phillip Greenlief is the founder of Evander Music; an independent record label presenting original composition, improvised music and new jazz. Since 1986, his recordings and performances have received critical acclaim in: Down Beat, All About Jazz, Jazz Times, Cadence, 5/4, Modern Saxophone, InfraTunes (France), Altrisuoni (Italy), The Wire (London), Colossus (Finland), St. Petersburg Times (Russia), Cuademos de Jazz (Spain), New Jazz Improv (Portugal), Los Angeles Times, etc. His duo recordings of improvised music with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Scott Amendola received 5 stars in the 1999 Music Hound Jazz Essential Album Guide. Recordings of popular songs with the Lost Trio and his own compositions on Russian Notebooks (w/PG & Covered Pages) were listed on the Critics' Top 10 Recording List of 2000 & 2001 (SF Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, East Bay Express, Downtown Music Guide/NYC). As an organizer, he has produced concerts for local musicians and internationally touring artists under the auspices of Evander Music Presents in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1997. Recipient of the 2000 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award for Music Greenlief began playing guitar and trumpet in elementary school and explored various instruments before discovering the saxophone in the mid-1970's. His ever-evolving relationship with the instrument continues to unfold with an expansive sound vocabulary, extreme dynamic range, a deep regard for melody and form, and a rollicking humor and wit that is not dissimilar to the Native American Coyote tales. He studied at several colleges and unvitersities on the west coast, and holds a BA in Music Education and a MA in Literature from the University of Southern California. He is director of music at San Francisco Waldorf High School, teaches saxophone at Oakland School for the Arts and teaches free improvisation and maintains a private studio at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. "Phillip Greenlief is a reedman versatile enough to achieve anything except peace in Palestine" - Greg Burk, LA WEEKLY Greenlief has performed internationally in a variety of settings since 1982. In addition to club dates and concert tours across North America and Europe, he has performed at the 1st Annual John Coltrane Festival in Los Angeles, Seattle Improvised Music Festival; North Sea Festival in Den Hague; Freiburg Zelt Muzik Festival in Germany; Big Sur Sound Shift; Olympia Experimental Music Festival; Du Maurier Jazz Festival; Werkstatt fur Improvisierte Musik in Zurich; the Ulrichsburg Festival and the Konfrontation Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria; the Isole Che Parlano Festival in Sardinia and the 2003 Biennale in Venice Italy; and the International Festival of Arts in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1998 he lived in St. Petersburg (Russia) where in addition to playing solo he performed and recorded with several jazz groups, singer-songwriter Yelena Kolokolnikova, and the Russian folk ensemble Dubinushka. "A local bay area treasure..." - Aquarius Music, SF In addition to solo performance, Greenlief is currently active in duo with saxophonist David Boyce; shudder, with Kyle Bruckmann & Lance Grabmiller; Citta di Vitti, with Lisa Mezzacappa and John Hanes; Orchestra Nostalgico (formerly The Clubfoot Orchestra); Kristian Aspelin Quartet; the 2 + 2 Project with fellow saxophonist Jon Raskin; the rock/thrash/metal extravaganza PG13, and the Oakland Active Orchestra. He is a founding member of The Lost Trio, now in their 15th year of music-making. "...the under-rated West Coast Saxophonist" - Art Lange, Epulse! Magazine Phillip Greenlief has performed or recorded with Bruce Ackley, Ashley Adams Trio, Steve Adams, Lee Alexander, Liz Allbee, Scott Amendola, Ara Anderson, Paolo Angeli, Jen Baker, Bonnie Barnett, Claire Elizabeth Barratt, Max Bennett, Will Bernard, Emily Bezar, Tom Bickley, Big Lou's Polka Casserole, Myles Boisen, Kenny Brooks, Chris Brown, Sheldon Brown, Kyle Bruckmann, Jerome Breyerton, Hermann Buhler, Gust Burns, bush assassin, Eugene Chadbourne, Alex Cline, Nels Cline Trio, Clubfoot Orchestra, George Coates' Theater Works, Keller Coker, India Cooke, Keith Compton Quartet, Crushing Spiral Ensemble, Francesco Cusa, Beth Custer, Matt Davignon, Richard Davis, Les DeMerle, Stuart Dempster, Robert Dick, Jorrit Dijkstra, Tom Djll, Smith Dobson, Michel Doneda, Bill Douglass, Trevor Dunn, Tim DuRoche, Dominic DuVal, Harris Eisenstadt's Ahimsa Orchestra, Lisle Ellis, Alessandra Eramo, Dina Emerson, Marco Eneidi's American Jungle Orchestra, Katie Faulkner, Ken Filiano, Dirk Freymuth, Fred Frith, Wolfgang Fuchs, Philip Gelb, Hannes Giger, Ben Goldberg, Vinny Golia, Lance Grabmiller, Georg Graeve, Frank Gratkowski, Michael Griener, Nora Hajos, Mary Halvorson, Paul Hartsaw, Tootie Heath, Ron Heglin, Shoko Hikage, Tyrone Hill's Deep Space Posse (featuring Marshall Allen), Devin Ray Hoff, Nathan Hubbard, Carl Ludwig Hubsch, Charlie Hunter, Celeste Hutchins, Matt Ingalls, Aurora Josephson, Henry Kaiser, Achim Kaufmann, Elliot Humberto Kavee, David Kendall, Kaleidoscopic Sextet, Achim Kaufmann, Carla Kihlstedt, Steve Kirk Pop, Adam Lane, Joelle Leandre, Adam Levy, Steuart Liebig, The Lost Trio, Toshi Makahara, Tony Malaby, Evelyn Mann, Bob Marsh, Andrea Martignoni, Miya Masaoka, Dave McNab, Sean Meehan, Ava Mendoza, Lisa Mezzacappa, Mills College Contemporary Performance Ensemble, Roberto Miranda, Billy Mintz, Meredith Monk, Eddie Moore, Gregg Moore, Michael Moore, Manuel Mota, Jesse Yusef Murphy, Simon Nabotov, Tatsuya Nakitani, Maggie Nicols, Kanoko Nishi, Oakland Active Orchestra, Oakland Bandemonium, Pauline Oliveros' Sounding the Margins Orchestra, OrcheSperry, Orchestra Nostalgico, P.A.F., William Parker, Bruno Pelletier-Bacquaert, Tim Perkis, Noah Phillips, Ricardo Pittau, Alexander Popov, Garth Powell, Bhob Rainey, Jon Raskin, Dana Reason, Gino Robair, Donald Robinson, Ernesto Rodriguez, Ken Rosser, David Rothbaum, Rough & Tumble Theater Company, Richard Saunders, Ignaz Schick, Sue Schlotte, John Schott, Jonathan Segal, sfSound Group, John Shiurba, Damon Short, Todd Sickafoose, Waddada Leo Smith, Ches Smith, Damon Smith, Jimmy Smith, Glenn Spearman, Spirit, Karen Stackpole, Moe! Staiano, GE Stinson, Carl Stone, Joe Strummer, Tom Swafford, Agnes Szelag, Horace Tapscott, Natsuki Tamura, Tango #9, Sonship Theus, They Might Be Giants, Ileuyeme Thomas, Lauren Tietz, Tiger Lillies, Tri-Axium West Orchestra (performing music of Anthony Braxton), Trio Putanesca, Bertram Turetsky, Michael Vatcher, Biggi Vinkeloe, Nadezhda Voskaboynik, Michael Vlatkovich, Andrew Voigt, Christian Weber, Marty Wehner, Ellen Weller, Richie West, Tom White, Andreas Willers, Erling Wold, Kenny Wollesen, Theresa Wong, Jack Wright, "Senator" Eugene Wright, William Wynant, and Ottomo Yoshihide. PRESSPRAISE: Saxophonist Phillip Greenlief has long been one of the most aggressively active but subtle-of-profile musicians in the Bay Area's endlessly burgeoning jazz scene. His literate, deconstructionist playing has graced the music of everyone from Anthony Braxton to They Might Be Giants, and his own projects have ranged from theater and dance scores to solo saxophone tours of Russia. For the last few years Greenlief and his Evander Music label have been at the forefront of defining a new generation of jazz musicians, artists who have truly and fully absorbed the full breadth of the last few decades of experimental and popular genres and are using all of that knowledge to invent the future of the music". -SAM MICKENS, Portland Messenger SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY: Trio Putanesca: Who Ordered the Fish? w/PG, tenor saxophone; Adam Levy, guitar & Dan Seamans, bass Evander Music 001 collect my thoughts - duo w/drummer Scott Amendola - Nine Winds Records (NWCD 0185) Phillip Greenlief & Trevor Dunn - duo with bassist Trevor Dunn Em 002 Ashley Adams Trio: Flowers for Mrs. Dalloway - w/Adams & Michel Dumonceau Em 003 Trio Putanesca: Live at Yoshis - Em 005 Remembrance of Songs Past Lost Trio, w/Dan Seamans, bass; Tom Hassett, drums - Em 006 Russian Notebooks PG & Covered Pages w/ Nels Cline, Vinny Golia, & GE Stinson Em 007 American Jungle Orchestra w/ Marco Eneidi, Leo Smith, B. Turetsky, etc. Botticelli 1012/13 Do-Bop Sound at Jazz Philharmonic Hall w/saxophonist Alexander Popov JFC Jazz (Russia) Live at Avalon & The Graves w/Lost Trio, with special guest, Adam Levy - Em 014 cries or whispers for ingmar bergman - phillip greenlief solo - Artship Recordings #034 Two Forms of Multitudes - MOE!KESTRA! - DKM, pax, Edgetone co-release stalking andrei - phillip greenlief solo - Em 024 The Lost Trio - Boxcar Samovar, w/ Phillip Greenlief, Dan Seamans & Tom Hassett - Em 016 "Voices in the Wilderness: Dissenting Soundscapes and Songs of G.W.'s America" - Pax Recordings Isole che Parlano 2-disc set compilation from 2003 Isole che Parlano Festival - Palao, Sardegna Harris Eisenstadt - Ahimsa Orchestra - Nine Winds - NWCD 0237 Music + One - An Improvisation Compendium - Rastascan Records BRD 054 Seared Circuit Incident - phillip greenlief solo - Em 033 That Overt Desire of Object - duo w/bassist Joelle Leandre - Em 035 Plays Solid Gold Hits! - The Lost Trio - Em 045 Paul Hartsaw: Socio-Cybernetic Music Machine - Melagoistra Music UPCOMING RELEASES (2008): The Tao of Electricity - duo w/guitarist Andreas Willers - Em 036 many possible solutions, none of them effective - shudder duo w/Agnes Szelag: Compilation Tribute for Ingmar Bergman - praemedia label ************************ SHORTER BIO (for press kits, etc.) phillip greenlief (b. 1959, los angeles) The Bay Area's do-it-yourself ethos has produced a bevy of dazzlingly creative musicians, but few have put the philosophy to work as effectively as Phillip Greenlief. Andrew Gilbert, San Francisco Chronicle Since his emergence on the west coast in the late 1970s, Evander Music founder Phillip Greenlief has achieved international critical acclaim for his recordings and performances with musicians and composers in the post-jazz continuum as well as new music innovators and virtuosic improvisers. His ever-evolving relationship with the saxophone unfolds with an expansive sound vocabulary, a deep regard for melody and form and a rollicking humor and wit that is not dissimilar to the Native American Coyote tales. In addition to a busy performing and recording schedule, he currently teaches at Oakland School for the Arts, East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, and is Director of Music at San Francisco Waldorf High School. Recipient of the 2000 San Francisco Bay Guardian Goldie Award ************************** INDEX OF COMPOSITIONS: For Solo Saxophone: All Those Trees (1978) Song for B (1978) Varushka (1979) Waul Peeler (1981) Where's Harold? (1982) Kathy's Lampshades (1983) Painted Lightly (1992) St Louis (1995) - dedicated to William S Burroughs Letter to James Joyce (1996) Cries or Whispers for Harriet Anderson (2002) Stalking Andrei (2003) Empty Room (2005) The Fourth World (2006) Whispers (2007) Seven Graphic Scores (dedicated to Eva Hesse) (2007) Five Saxophone Etudes (2009) For Theater: Music for Macbett, by Eugene Ionesco (1994) Music for The Trial, by Franz Kafka (1995) Music for Nina Galin Dance Theater (1998) Music for Voltaire's Candide (2008) Music for Ionesco's "Rhinoceros" (2008) Upcoming: Music for "The History of Human Stupidity (with Rough & Tumble, 2010 Premiere) For Film: Music for "Dream with the Fishes", a film by Finn Taylor (1998) Music for "Tango" (1999) Literary "Adaptations": Love Songs to the Episodes of James Joyce's Ulysses (1989 - 1994) Flowers for Mrs. Dalloway (1995) Music for The Wasteland (1996) Music for Rilke's Duino Elegies (1997 - 1999) For Saxophone Quartet: Gina's Garden (1978) (saxophone duo) The Wake (1987) Quartet I (1988) Quartet II (1989) The Empty Room for Angela Davis (for saxophone trio) (2005) By the Nose (2007) dedicated to Thomas Pynchon Arrangement: Silence (Charlie Haden) Arrantement: Ida Lupino (Carla Bley) Arrangement: Hungarian Dances (Bartok) Arrangement: 6 Fugues from Well Tempered Clavier, by JS Bach Arrangement: Pannonica (Thelonious Monk) Arrangement: That Song About the Girl from the Ural Mountains (PG) Arrangement: Crepescule with Nellie (Thelonious Monk) For Jazz Ensemble: Entre Amis (1981) Carrelsel (1981) Initiation Dance (1981) 26 MLG (1982) Those Golden Ornate Leaves (1982) Nancy's Crayolas (1982) Lebanon for Lovers (1982) Verve (for Mike McHam) (1983) Sun on Bijou (1983) Feat (1983) Charleston Awnings (1990) Miles from Wichita (1990) The Open Letter (1990) With Frau Grubach (1994) In Fraulein Burstner's Room (1994) Tango for Joan Didion (1995) Pavement (1995) A River in Your Shoes (for Joan Didion) (1995) Beauty is a Rare Ticket That Exploded (2001) (concerto for sextet in three movements) Requiem for a Young Girl (for Adrienne Kelley) (2002) (commissioned by Western Oregon University) Cruddy (for Lynda Berry) (2002) Teeter Totter (2002) That Song About the Girl from the Ural Mountains (2002) Zeemoy (for Yelena Kolokolnikova) (2002) Twistin' with Susan (2008) Happiness (for David Boyce)(2008) Portraits of Extraordinary Children - for trio (2000) Portrait of Esma Saeed Portrait of Arliss Daniels Portrait of Saushe Young Portrait of Michael Williams Portrait of Andrew Kelley (commissioned by Oakland Cultural Arts Fund) For Brassiosaurus (brass trio): The Empty Room (2004) - dedicated to Angela Davis (commissioned by Brassiosaurus) Map Series Compositions - solo - (2006 - 2007) #1: Boulogne for Kristen Miltner (electronics) #2: St. Denis for Shayna Dunkelman (percussion) #3: Asnieres for Mary Halvorson (guitar) #4: New York City I for Jon Raskin (saxophone) #5: New York City II for Aurora Josephson (voice) #6: Tokyo for Philip Gelb (shakuhachi) #7: Florence for Liz Allbee (trumpet) #8: Antarctica for Phillip Greenlief (clarinet) Map Series Compositions - ensemble - (2007) #1: Paris for 2 + 2 (dedicated to Margaret Louise Greenlief) #2: Tokyo for duo b (dedicated to Setsuko Hara) #3: Roma for Citta di Vitti (dedicated to Monica Vitti) #4: Florence for FPR Trio (dedicated to Dante Alligheri) #5: Oakland for Any Ensemble (dedicated to Darren & Sarah @21 Grand) #6: London for shudder (dedicated to Francis Bacon) Clarinet Duos: 3 Sketches for Brothers K (1996) Sarah's Call (2001) Edna's Crossing (2001) Studies I - V (2002) Chromatic Study (2003) High Wire Act (2006) Butterfly (2009) Music for Citta di Vitti (2006 - 2007): 38 Sketches for Trio (saxophone, bass, drums) inspired by films of Michelangelo Antonioni, featuring Monica Vitti Music for PG13 (2009) The Outrageous and Absolutely True Adventures of George Cleaver the Cat - 3 suites for thrash trio (saxophone, guitar, drums) For Covered Pages (2000): Portrait of Anna Ahkmatova 34 Plechanova Ulitza, kb 7 Wherewithal (for Dmitri Shostakovich) Cathedrals of Novgorod Little Vacationing in Chechnaya Folk Songs I - V For Large Ensemble: The Signal Meditation (for Myles Boisen) (2005) The Empty Room II (2005) Compound I for Matthew Sperry (2005) Compound II for Angela Davis (2006, revised 2009) 02091927 (for Margaret Greenlief) (2007) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Accordion (for Marjane Satrapi) (2008) In Between (commissioned by Oakland School for the Arts) June 2008 Bellbottom (2009) Fantasy for Percussion and Orchestra (2009) Monument for Eva Hesse (Fantasy for Electronics and Orchestra) (2009) M (for Margaret Greenlief) 2009 Lynched! (for David Lynch) 2009 Miscellaneous: Loss (2000) (version 1 for clarinet duo; version 2 for wind trio of alphaville; version 3 for FPR Trio) Cries and Whispers for Ingmar Bergman (for soprano saxophone and dancer) (2002) No Name (for Gyorgi Ligeti) (2006) - composition for trio Something Bad - for saxophone sextet (2006) Cascando for Santyajit Rey - cello trio (2007) Strangle Hold (for John Cassavetes) - for saxophone duo (or any two wind instruments) - (2009) 'Twas - for any ensemble (or solo) - dedicated to Ella Sevaried - (2009) Arrangement: 44 Violin Duos (Bela Bartok) - arr. for 2 Bb clarinets (with Cory Wright) (2000 - 2007) Arrangement: Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg) - for double trio (1996) Arrangements for Saxophone & Instruments Hindemith: Oboe Sonata (arr. for soprano saxophone) (1987) Handel: Oboe Sonata (arr. for soprano saxophone) (1987) JS Bach: 6 Canons from The Art of Fugue (for soprano saxophone and french horn) (1988) Click for Large Photo Work-In-Progress: shudder's (w/Kyle Bruckmann & Lance Grabmiller) is currently searching for labels to release their newest recording, "many possible solutions, none of them effective"I'm currently playing in Oakland Active Orchestra, a large ensemble of local players and composers that is gigging every month at The Uptown, Oakland. I've composed one piece for the group (Lynched!), and am working on a new composition for the group. My newest group, PG 13 features guitarist John Shiurba and drummer Tom Scandura. The music I have been writing veers from 70's inspired early metal, thrash, and structured improvisation. I will be composing and playing organ [!!!] for Rough and Tumble's new production of "A Short History of Human Stupidity", which will premiere in April 2010 at La Val's subterranean theater in Berkeley. Address: 1075 Aileen Street Apt B Oakland, CA 94608 Phone: (510) 501-7110 Email: pgsaxo@pacbell.net |
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