January 29th, 2011: Trevor Dunn and Travis Laplante at Laughing Horse Books & Video Collective. 12 N.E. 10th Ave, 97232 Portland, OR at 8pm with local experimental ensembles Thicket and U Sco. Sliding Scale $5-$15
Creative Music Guild is hosting some luminaries of improvised music including Trevor Dunn, a founder of beloved experimental rock band, Mr. Bungle!

Trevor Dunn was born in 1968 behind the Redwood Curtain in The
Emerald Triangle traversing a fine line between hippies and rednecks.
His first instrument was the clarinet and he began to focus on the
electric bass at age 13. Four years later he co-founded the
avant-rock band Mr. Bungle. In 1990 he received a BA in music from
Humboldt State where he performed Koussevitsky’s Concerto for Double Bass with the HSO. Currently Dunn lives in Brooklyn, NY and can be heard on over 80 recordings including a disc of original film music entitled Four Films (Tzadik). Recent projects include his rock band MadLove, the quartet PROOF Readers which plays the music of Ornette Coleman as well as The Nels Cline Singers and a new, original quartet Endangered Blood. He continues to perform with John Zorn’s Electric Masada, Erik Friedlander’s Broken Arm Trio, Curtis Hasslebring’s New Mellow Edwards and occasional appearances with Andrew D’Angelo and John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet.

Travis Laplante is a powerful new voice in New York City’s
experimental music scene, and has toured extensively with his band
Little Women, whose acclaimed full-length debut was recently released on AUM Fidelity Records; with his trio, which features bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Gerald Cleaver; and with under- ground experimental rock bands Extra Life and Skeletons. Laplante has also worked with Anthony Braxton, Mark Dresser, Mat Maneri, Trevor Dunn, and many other luminaries of improvised music. Laplante’s debut album, ‘Heart Protector’, features original music for solo tenor saxophone. ‘Heart Protector’, the first vinyl release on Skirl Records was recorded by Laplante himself and Ryan Power at the Big Barn in Putney, Vermont. The music itself was largely inspired by the heart protector, Laplante’s term for the
pericardial sac that surrounds the heart.”

Local improvising trio Thicket is Ben Kates, John Niekrasz (Why I
Must Be Careful) and Brian Mumford (Grandfather Claws). Ben Kates is
a saxophonist who moved to Portland in 2006 where he has played in
the groups Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!, the Naked Future, Barges, and
Thicket. He has played with John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, Tatsuya
Nakatani, Wally Shoup, Urs Leimgruber, John Weise and Smegma among others. John is a drummer and composer originally from Chicago. He earned his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has studied drum set with Hamid Drake, James Dreier, Dean Radzik, and Tatsuya Nakatani. John lived in Cuba and India where he studied Afro-Cuban percussion and classical Hindustani tabla, respectively. He performs with and composes for ensembles such as Why I Must Be Careful, Sporting, and Poor School.You may have heard Brian Mumford in such excellent ensembles as Jackie O Motherf**cker, Sunfoot, Jewelry Rash or Dragging an Ox Through Water.

Portland’s U Sco consists of Ryan Miller (Guitar), Jon Scheid (Bass),
and Phil Cleary (Drumset). Equal parts experimental, avant-rock,
kraut, and pysch influenced – the trio crafts a sound that is
tragically complex, aggressive, and explosive. Members of With Eyes
Abstract, Duck, Little Brother, Duck! and The Jezebel Spirit.

Laughing Horse Books and Video Collective
12 NE 10th Ave, Portland, OR
8 pm
Thicket
U Sco
Trevor Dunn
Travis Laplante
Sliding Scale $5-$15