Jen Baker, Jen Baker, Jen Baker. Okay, so there's only one of me. ALL of the music on this site is done entirely acoustically with multiphonics and features some tracks on my recently produced solo album, Blue Dreams. It is the culmination of a 4 year process through which I reflected on my years in various music schools, redirected my energies from orchestral to improvised music, and found my voice as a solo improvising trombone player. During that time, I listened to absolutely no music for a year. Then one day I popped in a Gregorian Chant CD and for another year listened only to various forms of chant. These 2 years spent with silence and chant gave me a completely different perspective on music. You will also hear one of my structured improvisations, One-Sided Window, which is a collaborated work with my prison penpal. Through the music, I convey many of the sounds my penpal has related as being a part of her regular life behind bars.
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I ALSO PLAY WITH/HAVE PLAYED WITH THE FOLLOWING BANDS:
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Anti-Social Music Collective,
Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (Second Life),
Bush of Ghosts,
Cooke Quintet,
Montclair Women's Big Band,
R&BFreeJazzGospelSupreme80,
OrkestROVA,
Research & Development,
SFSound,
San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players,
Influences
Fred Frith, George Lewis, Morton Feldman, Roswell Rudd, Gunter Christmann, Chanticleer, Medieval music, Abbie Conant, Stuart Dempster, Meridian Art Ensemble, Tibetan Chants, Gabrieli, Josquin, Machaut, Bela Bartok, Joelle Leandre, Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald, Sun Ra, ABBA, the Beach Boys, Mangelsdorff, Lou Harrison, Harry Partch, and 80s heavy metal.
Sounds Like
Tuvan throat singers, spectral electronics, long luxurious marshmallow clouds slowly enticing you into a much needed love of sound.
Trombonist Jen Baker has performed internationally in ensembles spanning from orchestra to free jazz. Baker has been performing Lyrical Vibrations around the country since 2006. Lyrical Vibrations is a collection of multiphonic improvisations that take on the character of chant, and can be heard on her album, Blue Dreams. Committed to expanding the contemporary trombone repertoire, Baker has commissioned and performed many new solos over the past 10 years. She recently toured performing Pat Muchmore’s THS, for trombone and electronics, on the East and West coasts.
She has recorded music ranging from video game trailers to Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World. She has recorded with the Mountain Goats, the Michael Cooke Quintet, and also can be heard on Music + One, an improvisation compendium on Rastascan Records, and Untitled 1959, on Jerusalem-based label Kadima.
“Braying slurs from Baker are the initial defining factor of the title track…Double and triple tonguing to a multiphonic display, the trombonist eventually lets loosen with elongated and accumulated trills and tones…” (JazzWord)
Baker’s festival performances include the International Trombone Workshop, the Eastern Trombone Workshop, No’west Improvised Music Festival, and the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. She has performed and worked with Stuart Dempster, Pauline Oliveros, Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Chris Brown, William Winant, Cecil Taylor, Alvin Curran, and the Rova Saxophone Quartet.
“Awesome Performance!” (Gold Branch Music, Inc.)
Baker currently resides in Oakland, CA where she freelances and teaches privately on all brass instruments, piano, and the didgeridoo. She can also be found teaching young minds at Archway School how to compose and perform their own compositions, sing, and play on a variety of homemade and classroom instruments. She received degrees in music from Oberlin Conservatory and Mills College.
"Baker has been performing Lyrical Vibrations around the country since 2006."
REALLY? OMG Jen, it's more like you're taking over the world! You're amazing!!! Your intervals are perfectly in tune and your songs tell a beautiful story. Truly amazing talent!
glad you liked naomi...her work in that film is really something. i don't think she's topped that performance yet. there were quite a few people that didn't realize she is playing "both" parts. the aspiring actress and the jilted lover.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know that my new album Afrikan Machinery is out now on Tzadik Records. Check out some of the tracks on my profile! You can buy the CD here, here, or here. It's also available on iTunes.
Best Wishes, Lukas Ligeti
