Exigetical Sanjo is just me playing the piri, a Korean instrument, a toy noisemaker, and a little bit of singing. It was recorded by John Finkbeiner in the hallway of his studio.
Bari sax solo is also me on the baritone sax, inside John's studio this time.
The Mystery example is one of the many secret recording projects of the legendary and mysterious Quiet Storm Allstars. Here we have a trio of Aaron Bennett-reeds, percusion and straw, John Finkbeiner on guitar, accordian, percusion and maybe some reeds, and me on reeds and percussion and whistle? I can't remember the details of the recording or the piece at all, it has been floating around my hard drive for ages. This band is most famous for its misspellings.
Shinawi for Robots is my computer with some help from me.
Influences
Everything I have ever heard or seen, but especially Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Eric Dolphy, Lester Young, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Afrikaa Bambaataa, Cy Twombly, Hans Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur, e.e. cummings, bell hooks, other people who don't use capitols, Mad Professor, Professor Griff, Public Enemy, Doug E. Fresh, Albert Ayler, Otha Turner, Won Chang-Hyun, Mei Lan Fang, Drunken Tiger, Poison Clan, Aaron Bennett, John Finkbeiner, Buckminster Fuller, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Dodds, Barney Bigard, Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, John Gilmore, Lynn Johnston, King Tubby, Tito Puente, Arsenio Rodriguez, De La Soul, Kongor-ol Ondar, James Brown, Bessie Smith, Sonny Redd, Toumani Diabate, Mah Damba, Fela, Mos Def, Toru Takemitsu, Pee Wee Russell, Jelly Roll Morton, Joe Falcon, Son House, Count Basie, Muhammad Abd' al-Wahab, Um Kulthum, Rahmatollah Badiyi, Hossein Omoumi, Naftule Brandwein, Ultramagnetic MCs, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Pepper Adams, Chu Berry, Pat Patrick, Harry Carney, hmm, there are some others too.
I play many different woodwinds and read lots of books.
A list of the groups and people I have played with, from memory, and in near chronological order:
Jim Baker (swing music with old people), FX Posee (hip-hop punk jazz), Grindstone (speed metal with a clarinet, I am on recording with them playing garden hose), Cambridge Pipers (rawk jazz, we emptied out Al's Bar once back in the day), Cruel Fredrick, various funk bands in SF/Oakland whose names I forget, Plop (the greatest improv dub punk band you've never heard), Thread (bebop power trio) with Albert Mathias and Andrew Kushin - we also played some klezmer music, LaDonna Smith, Lisa Moskow (weird fake Indonesian music), Bill Hsu, Quiet Storm Allstars (inappropriately named legendary 'jam band') with John Finkbeiner and Aaron Bennett, Anxious Tapir Hogs (alt-country-bluegrass swing band), John Worley Sextet, Dee Spencer Quintet, Francis Wong, Leon Parker, Graham Connah, Marco Eneidi, Scott Looney, Lawerence P. L. Lui and the Chinese Classical Music Association of San Francisco, Fred Fung, Lynn Johnston's Tiny Metalic Orchestra, Nati Cano, Chuy Guzman, Abhiman Kaushal, Chris Garcia, Roberto Miranda, Ali Jihad Racy, Steve Loza, Tito Puente (just once, but hey, it was Tito Puente), Francisco Aguabella, Kenny Burrell, I Nyoman Wenten, Pak Djoko, Don Kim, Woo-Tek Lee, Chi Li, Guaming Li, Airto, Donald Kachamba, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Surrealestate (though the whole time I played with them I thought it the band was called Sir Real Estate), Cristian Amigo, Robert Reigle, Phil Curtis (I am on some kind of techno CD he did playing trumpet), The Charles Sharp Society Dance Orchestra (in semi-retirement), Dan Clucas, Ritch West, and others but I am tired of typing now.
BRIAN BENDER & THE WORLD BEATNIKS - "Urban Jungle" Original Reggae, Funk, Afrobeat, Calypso, Samba, Second Line compositions.
With special guests: Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce) Adam Deitch (John Scofield, Lettuce) Charles Neville (Neville Brothers) Jose Gonzalez (Bando Criollo) Backa Niang (Gokhi-Bi System)
BRIAN BENDER & LITTLE SHOP OF HORAS- "Eyn Velt" Original and traditional Jewish melodies blended with Latin, Caribbean, African and Middle Eastern rhythms.
With special guests: Frank London (Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave) Alicia Svigals (Klezmatics, Mikveh) Stuart Brotman (Brave Old World) Charles Neville (Neville Brothers) Grant Smith (Klezmer Conservatory Band) Raquy Danziger (Raquy & The Cavemen)
