Anthony Coleman

Infobox musical artist

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Name = Anthony Coleman
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1955|8|30
Died =
Origin = New York City, United States
Instrument = Piano, trombone, sampler, percussion, voice
Genre = Free jazz, improvised, klezmer, contemporary classical
Occupation = Performer, composer
Years_active = 1977–present
Label = Tzadik, Knitworks, Hat Hut
Associated_acts = Sephardic Tinge, Selfhaters
Notable_instruments =

Anthony Coleman (born August 30, 1955) 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 dayLayne, J.: [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0zfixqy5ldte~T1 Anthony Coleman Biography] , "Allmusic", 2007-07-17] . 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.

Career

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 DiasporaColeman, A.: [http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=69hf01 Anthony Coleman and Klezmer and Jewishness] , "New Music Box", January 1, 2005] .

Sephardic Tinge have toured extensively all over the world and Europe three times.

Coleman's 1988 "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 [Tzadik Website [http://www.tzadik.com/volume.php?VolumeID=419 Shmutsige Magnaten: Coleman Plays Gebirtig] , "Tzadik Website", February, 2006] .

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.

Other activities

Coleman has degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Yale School of Music 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 Frei 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.

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 [Gelin, Jean-Marc: [http://www.lesdnj.com/article-10721816.html Review of The Lost String] , "LES DERNIERES NOUVELLES DU JAZZ", June 12, 2007] .

elected discography

*"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"

References

Bibliography

*Zorn, John, ed. (2000). "Arcana: Musicians on Music". New York: Granary Books/Hips Road. ISBN 188712327X.
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=17082 All About Jazz: "Ambiguity Is A Richness", an article by Coleman]
* [http://www.newmusicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=69hf01 New Music Box an article by Coleman]

External links

* [http://www.wnur.org/jazz/artists/coleman.anthony/discog.html Discography]