I'm a New York and Seattle based musician, primarily playing tenor and soprano saxophones. The site describes and has listening samples for many of my musical projects. Early on in my career I had the great fortune to study under Jerry Granelli at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. This was in the late 70s/early 80s, a particularly vibrant time for that scene. After moving to Seattle in 1981, I continued to study with Jerry, along with Gary Peacock and Jay Clayton, two other masters of the music who were then teaching at Cornish College. I was very active on the Seattle improvised music scene. Two notable groups were my ongoing collaboration with the always insightful poet, Bill Shively, and a trio with Christine Bard and Jeff Triestman called Voices from the Moon. At this time I was also in graduate school in Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington. I spent 1987-1990 in Japan doing research for my Master's Degree in Ethno. My research topic was the ritual chant of the Shingon Buddhist sect. I performed actively in Kyoto, with Bill Shively, with local Kyoto musicians and in solo concerts at the jazz clubs there. I returned to Seattle in 1990, resuming Ph.D. studies in Ethno with a specialized focus on Buddhist monastic ritual music. At this time my main group was Stinkhorn with Brian Heaney, John Morris and a succession of great drummers including Mike Peterson and Howard Ouchi. Some 5 years ago Stinkhorn morphed into the very active group Sunship featuring Brian and myself along with Stuart Dempster, Andrew Luthriinger and David Revelli. During this time I colloborated often with the masterfully creative Stuart Dempster both in Sunship and in various combinations of our own and others devising. Other close Seattle based partnerships include drum legend Greg Keplinger, and the Jack Gold Quartet. Since 2007 I am mostly in New York City playing,composing and continuing my research interests. In NYC a frequent playing partner is stellar bassist and composer Michael Bisio.
Contact at: michael@michaelmonhart.com
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