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Dan Plonsey (born September 1, 1958 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a saxophonist. He is considered a jazz musician, though he rejects this label.
His main influences were Sun Ra and Anthony Braxton, both connected to but "apart from" the jazz world. A short solo saxophone piece can be found on the (Y)Earbook, Volume One CD (1991, Rastascan Records), which also features music from guitarist Henry Kaiser and percussionist Greg Bendian, among others.
He received his degree from Yale University and won a commission from Bang on a Can in 1999. Also in 1999, Plonsey toured the Netherlands with Steve Horowitz' Mousetrap Quartet, alongside of reed players Peter van Bergen and Michael Moore. While in the Netherlands, he engaged in one-off improvised music concerts with The Amsterdam String Trio and trumpeter Eric Boeren among others.
Two notable CDs with John and Peter Hinds of "Sun Ra Research" fame were released on the tiny Omni Sonic label in 1994 and 1995: Connections and Another Curiosity Piece. Typically, his infrequent recording output consists mostly of self-produced material or extremely limited editions by connaisseur record labels like Limited Sedition.
A 1997 solo CD called Ivory Bill on the American Music and Arts label highlights Plonsey's use of multiple saxophones, mostly recorded by overdubbing two or more saxophones in the recording studio. Plonsey's 1999 album open door and desire, released on the Italian Felmay label, can be seen as a further volume of solo saxophone experiments with occasionally added keyboards, played and programmed by Plonsey himself.
In 2003 Plonsey wrote What Leave Behind , a concerto for electric guitar and toy orchestra, for the Oakland, California-based experimental music group Toychestra and English experimental guitarist Fred Frith to perform. A recording was released on CD in 2004.
Other productions include the opera Leave Me Alone! with Real Time Opera.
Dan Plonsey, like Gino Robair, is also noted for his organizational contributions to the music world. Before focusing on operatic composition, he was one of the leading members of the Bay Area Improv Scene, particularly during his time at the Beanbenders music venue.
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Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for its innovative use of repetition, tape music techniques, and delay systems. He produced his best known works in the 1960s: the 1964 composition In C and the 1969 LP A Rainbow in Curved Air, both considered landmarks of minimalism and important influences on experimental, rock, and contemporary electronic music.
Anthony Braxton is an American experimental composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto saxophone. Braxton grew up in the South Side area of Chicago, Illinois, and was a key early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He received great acclaim for his 1969 double-LP record For Alto, the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.
Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser.
Tim Perkis is an experimental musician and writer who works with live electronic and computer sound.
The Magic City is an album by the American jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Recorded in two sessions in 1965, the record was released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1966. The record was reissued by Impulse! in 1973, and on compact disc by Evidence in 1993.
The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume Two is a 1965 recording by the jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. Where Volume One of the Heliocentric Worlds series had predominantly featured short abstract pieces, Volume Two features longer pieces performed by a smaller group, making it closer in spirit to the contemporaneous The Magic City, released on Ra's own Saturn label. The record has been widely bootlegged, some versions of which were retitled The Sun Myth.
Ascension is a jazz album by John Coltrane recorded in June 1965 and released in 1966. It is considered a watershed in Coltrane's work, with the albums recorded before it being more conventional in structure and the albums recorded after it being looser, free jazz inspired works. In addition, it signaled Coltrane's interest in moving away from the quartet format. AllMusic called it "the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde".
John T. Klemmer is an American saxophonist, composer, songwriter, and arranger.
Lanquidity is a 1978 studio album by American jazz musician Sun Ra.
Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work, he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects. Although Gino is often referred to as a jazz musician, he grew up playing both rock and concert music.
Timothy Wesley John Brady is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. Working in the field of contemporary classical music, experimental music, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism to minimalism and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitars and other electroacoustic instruments. His music is marked by a synthesis of musical languages, having developed an ability to use elements of many musical styles while retaining a strong sense of personal expression. Some of his early recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber trio ...in the Wake..., and his song cycle Revolutionary Songs (1994).
Featuring Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold is a jazz album by Sun Ra, recorded live on December 31, 1964, but not released until 1976, on Ra and Alton Abraham's El Saturn label. An expanded version of the album was reissued in 2009 by ESP-Disk, and again in 2017 by Superior Viaduct. A complete version of Sun Ra's performances on December 30 and 31, 1964 were released in 2012 on the Pharoah Sanders album In The Beginning 1963-1964.
The Milk And Honey Band are an English rock band formed by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robert White.
Blue Delight is a jazz album by free jazz pioneer Sun Ra.
The Nubians of Plutonia is an album recorded by Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra c.1958 - 1959 and released c.1966 on his own Saturn label. Originally released in a blank sleeve under the title The Lady With The Golden Stockings, the album had gained its current title, and sleeve by Richard Pedreguera, by 1969. In common with most releases by Sun Ra at the time, the record was printed in extremely limited numbers and primarily available at concerts and mail-order. The record was reissued by Impulse! in 1974, and on CD by Evidence in 1993, backed with the contemporaneous album Angels and Demons at Play.
"The Nubians of Plutonia... evidence an Arkestra moving into ever looser, more abstract ground. The percussion becomes more varied and moves ever closer to the foreground. 'The Golden Lady' seduces with a swaying groove created by a combination of simple parts: hi-hat, cow bell, wood blocks, rolling floor toms and bass. Ra then sets up a dark melodic theme, and then the Arkestra proceeds to weave a series of jaunty, blues-tinged solos into the fabric of the groove. 'Nubia', 'Africa' and 'Aiethopia' continue this excursion into more mystical, rhythm-based territory. The Arkestra utilizes the same ominous, simmering percussion beds, now augmented by more exotic instruments like Pat Patrick's 'space lute', which gives a playfully sinister sound to 'Africa'.... This powerful, multi-faceted music is a great place to start if you are just beginning to travel with Sun Ra, or a great way to continue the journey." Mathew Wuethrich
Secrets of the Sun is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra. The album is considered one of the more accessible recordings from his 'Solar' period. Originally released on Ra's own Saturn label in 1965, the record was unavailable for many years before being reissued on compact disc by Atavistic in 2008.
'Marking a transition in its development between the advanced swing of the early Chicago-era recordings and the increased free-form experimentation of its New York tenure, this album also reveals the first recorded versions of two Ra standards, "Friendly Galaxy" and "Love in Outer Space." Accessible, yet segueing into vanguard territory, this album highlights a fertile period in the Arkestra's history. Looser and more aggressive than its Chicago recordings, these pieces find the Arkestra pushing at the limits of harmony and tonality.' Troy Collins
When Sun Comes Out is an album by the American Jazz musician Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra. The album was originally released on Ra's own record label, Saturn, in 1963, and was the fifth album by the Arkestra to be put out, after Jazz by Sun Ra (1957), Super-Sonic Jazz, Jazz in Silhouette (1959) and The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (1961). The album was the first Saturn release to be taken from recordings made at the Choreographer's Workshop, New York. Other albums recorded there include Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, Bad and Beautiful, Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy and Other Planes of There.
'The New York period saw Ra focusing far more on percussion backdrops as opposed to horn arrangements, and everything from the percussion to the horn solos to Ra's piano playing took a more aggressive stance. John Gilmore's tenor solo on "Calling Planet Earth" throws the bop rule book out the window, and he is heard developing a more extended vocabulary of skronks and squeals. This track exemplifies the change in sound and focus from the Chicago days.... When Sun Comes Out is a first glimpse into an era that would culminate in some of the Arkestra's most renowned recordings.' Sean Westergaard
What Leave Behind is a 2004 studio album by Oakland, California-based experimental music group Toychestra and English experimental guitarist Fred Frith. It was recorded in May 2003 and January 2004, and was released in 2004 on the French label, S.K. Records. It is a concerto for electric guitar and toy orchestra composed by Dan Plonsey for Toychestra and Frith to perform.
Solo [3] is a solo album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell which was recorded in 2003 and released on Mutable Music as a three CD set.
Live at Slug's Saloon is a live album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler recorded on May 1, 1966 at Slugs' Saloon in New York City. The music was originally released in 1982 as Albert Ayler Quintet Live at Slug's Saloon volumes 1 and 2 on Base Records (Italy), DIW Records (Japan), and ESP-Disk (U.S.), and, over the years, was reissued by a variety of small labels under different titles. A CD containing both volumes, plus an additional track recorded at the same concert, was released by ESP-Disk with the title Slugs' Saloon. On the album, Ayler plays tenor saxophone, and is accompanied by his brother Donald Ayler on trumpet, Michel Samson on violin, Lewis Worrell on bass, and Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums.
