STEVE BERESFORD / PETER EVANS / OKKYUNG LEE
"This trio brings together superb improvisers who are not immediately obvious as a compatible threesome but who combine together to stunning effect... Exciting and richly rewarding." - JOHN EYLES - ALL ABOUT JAZZ 2009
"The three players work extraordinarily well as a unit, as each has a clear relationship to both scumbled mass and elegant poise. The short improvisation that rounds out their Roulette set, Egokrlo-nar, manifests this perfectly. Beresford plays with Satie-like song fragments and Mikrokosmos clusters as Evans' breath darts in high arcs and splays out in metallic circular breathing, while Lee is devilishly swooping and percussive. This trio has made scrabbling power into elegant play." - CLIFFORD ALLEN - ALL ABOUT JAZZ 2009
"Like our beloved Japanese monsters, the trio inflicts terror into your nerve endings. All kidding aside, this is freely improvised music that intimate waves of emotive attributes and gobs of contrasting musical propostions. (Highly recommended for advocates of free improvisation . . . )" - GLENN ASTARITA - JAZZ REVIEW 2009
"The irredeemable insurrectional spirit animating the protagonists of these two sets constitutes the axis of CHECK FOR MONSTERS, a CD which presents the bewildering aspects of a trio performance regulated by high-calibre musicianship . . . Arduous listening for the ill-equipped, this is nevertheless a rewarding album under any circumstance, uncompromising music whose unsentimental physiognomy symbolizes the best answer to the fossilization lurking behind the corners of theoretical autonomy." - MASSIMO RICCI - TOUCHING EXTREMES 2009
Okkyung Lee
A native of Korea, Okkyung Lee has been developing her own voice in a contemporary cello performance, improvisation and composition. Using her solid classical training as a springboard, she incorporates jazz, sounds, korean traditional music, noise with extended techniques and create her unique blend of music.
Since moving to new york in 2000, she has performed and recorded with numerous artists such as Laurie Anderson, Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Carla Bozulich, Nels Cline, Chris Corsano, Sylvie Courvoisier, Mark Dresser, Fred Frith, Miho Hatori, Shelley Hirsch, John Hollenbeck, Susie Ibarra, Lindha Kallerdahl, Andrew Lampert, Miya Masaoka, Min Xiao-Fen, Thurston Moore, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Larry Ochs, Jim O'Rourke, Beth Orton, Zeena Parkins, Marc Ribot, Matthew Shipp, Saadet Türköz and John Zorn to name a few.
In addition to frequent solo performances and leading her own ensembles, she frequently collaborates with the following ensembles: Still Life with Commentator with pianist/composer Vijay Iyer, poet/hip hop artist Mike Ladd and director Ibrahim Quraishi; duo with tunrtablist/video artist Christian Marclay: Billy Martin's IOOi with Ikue Mori and dj Olive, and artist Guy Richards Smit's rock band Maxi Geil! and Playcolt.
Okkyung has released the following albums under her name: her debut album, Nihm on Tzadik; a duo recording with Christian Marclay on My Cat is an Alien label's split LP series; and solo cello album "I saw the Ghost of an Unknown Soul and it Said..." was released on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in May 2008.
Steve Beresford
Steve Beresford has played and composed a wide range of music on both pianos and electronics, from free improvisation to more commercial styles. Moving to London in 1974, he played in Derek Bailey’s Company, in the group Alterations with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack and in The Three Pullovers with Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith. Beresford has continued to play free improvisation with a large number of prominent musicians, including Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn and Han Bennink.
Peter Evans
Peter Evans has been a member of the New York musical community since 2003, when he moved to the city after graduating Oberlin Conservatory with a degree in classical trumpet. Peter currently works in a wide variety of areas, including solo performance, chamber orchestras, performance art, free improvised settings, electro-acoustic music and composition. As a performer, Evans has been working to broaden the expressive range of his chosen instrument and enjoys playing with steady configurations of players and composers.
Current bands include the Peter Evans Quartet, Moppa Elliott's terrorist bebop band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the hyperactive improvisation duo Sparks (with Tom Blancarte), duo with trumpeter Nate Wooley, as well as a sustained interest in solo performance. Other collaborators include: Mary Halvorson, Dave Taylor, Steve Beresford, Okkyung Lee, Taylor Ho Bynum, Kevin Shea, Jim Black, Evan Parker, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Brotzmann, Mark Gould, Weasel Walter, Matt Bauder, Joel Ryan, and Luka Ivanovic. In New York, Peter also performs contemporary notated music with groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Contiuum, and Ensemble 21. He has continued to perform on piccolo trumpet in Baroque settings, performing Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Bargemusic series, and in Bach's Mass in B Minor at St Peter's Church.
myspace.com/peterevanstrumpet
www.okkyunglee.com