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Tom Djll Biography: Born Indiana, 1957. Moved to New Mexico, 1972. Living in the California Bay Area since 1980. Studied music at Berklee School of Music, the Colorado College, the Creative Music Studio, and Mills College with Anthony Brakeshoes, Roscoe Mizzle, Karl Boygirl, Lester Boooie, Leo Smythe, George Fluitis, Pauline Olivesandwich, Alvin Cohones, and many others. He is the recipient of a Masters degree from Mills College in Electronic Music as well as a Deeploma from the Deep Listening Organization, and was awarded the Paul Merrit Henry Prize for Composition while at Mills. Tom has led improvising workshops and in 2004 completed a monthlong residency at Mills College, focusing on extended techniques.Tom has spent over twenty years insulting the trumpet as an analog flesh synthesizer. His musical language incorporates gritty textures and percussionistic plosives into klangfarben gestures which in turn form asymmetrical formal structures that travel the spaceways and transform the world into a better place for you and me, just you wait and seeeeeeeeeeee. He has made a lifelong study of the art of improvised music, and has been performing since age seventeen and three-quarters. He has performed with Reed Safsucker, Moodus Sacbutti, Wolfgang Schadenfreude, Tucker Pinchlips, Zack Zafoune, Mandible Purloin, Cynthia Anna Logue, Vacuum Snipsy, Roobus Toobus, Iva Ree Tower, Pianola Brasstacks, Mackenzie Dietürov, Alabaster McCruddy, P. Roote Flyscratch, Shuvoff U. Tarz, Maximander Bowscratch, Beane Snippet, Marley Mander Gazebow, and Foghorn Puffus Grantslant. Tom Djll writes about music for The Wire, Signal To Noise, Bagatellen, Musicworks, One Final Note, Open Space and the Transbay Calendar. Tom appears on recordings with Miya Masaoka, Vijay Iyer and others on Rastascan's Wavelength/Infinity, the Sun Ra tribute album, and with Chris Brown on LAVA (Tzadik) and Duets (Artifact). Self-produced CD, MUTOOTATOR: duets with William Winant, Myles Boisen, Ed Herrmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Ron Anderson, Thomas Scandura, Tom Nunn, Doug Carroll, and Jack Wright, 1993. MUTOOTATOR is available from ReR Megacorp and from Djll. "An acknowledged innovator in the use of extended split-tone techniques and multiphonics on trumpet, Djll comes across on stage as something of a trickster, a canny manipulator of sounds-you-never-expected-to-hear-on-a-trumpet, a magician who uses valves and breath rather than smoke and mirrors." - JazzCorner.com And, inevitably: http://www.myspace.com/analoguelipsynthesizer Work-In-Progress: Somewhat recent releases (pre-economic downturn vintage!) Grosse Abfahrt - everything that disappears Emanem 4146 Grosse Abfahrt is the name I gave the project on the occasion of its first recording. In German, it means 'great departure'. The project is to take a core group of Bay Area musicians and put them together with out of town guests, usually Europeans. Always free improvisation. This recording marks the third iteration of the project. Wide-ranging, long-structure improvisations by a nonet consisting of John Bischoff, Frederic Blondy, George Cremaschi, Tom Djll, Matt Ingalls, Le Quan Ninh, Tim Perkis, Gino Robair, and John Shiurba. The handsome jacket features photos by Dill Pixels. Not quite so recent releasesGrosse Abfahrt - Erstes Luftschiffe Zu Kalifornien - Recorded in 2004, this lighter-than-air octet is comprised of Boris Baltschun and Serge Baghdassarians from Germany, and Bay Area mofos Gino Robair, Chris Brown, John Shiurba, Tim Perkis, Matt Ingalls, and Djll. 47-something minutes of stretched-outness, available from Creative Sources (Portugal) and online at squidco, metamkine, minimamedia, fonoteca, and diapazon. "One of the best discs you're likely to hear this year." -- Paris Transatlantic Bellerophone - Trumpet Solo Music. In which the history of brass playing is not lightly "deconstructed" but wholeheartedly eviscerated. (SRPD 02) Review here. SMUDGE - Once was trumpet and some other sounds - like the sound of a contact mic being dragged over a plasticized 3-d mousepad surface - but emerges sounding more like an albatross'-ear-view of the inside of a jet turbine. Coffee, tea, or dB? (SRPD 03) Review here. Road Signs - Documetations of bits of two tours with saxophone guru Jack Wright in 2002 and 2005. Two trios with another sax maven, Bhob Rainey; one longer trio with percussionist/noisician Tim Feeney. Recorded in Boston and Rochester, NY. Since both Rainey and Feeney are from Boston, I almost called this one "Boston Has Beens," but, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed. (SRPD 04) "...the emotional range and sound palette are astonishingly wide-ranging, and flavoured with a keen sense of humour, too. Essential listening for anyone following the micro-micro end of the current improv scene. Nate Dorward, CADENCE another review here Releases from earlier in the millenium "TREE PIECES" compositions by Wendy Reid. Brassiosaurus plays Tree Piece #52 for trumpet, trombones, tuba and voice. "SIX FUCHS" improvisations by Wolfgang Fuchs, Gino Robair, Matthew Sperry, John Shiurba, Tim Perkis, and Djll - Rastascan BRD052 Read a review at All About Jazz. "TRIPLICATE" music by John Shiurba; with Morgan Guberman, Lara Bruckmann, matt ingalls, Tom Yoder, Daniel Plonsey, Matthew Sperry, Gino Robair, and Djll. SPOOL ARC 2 (SPA 402) "DANIEL POPSICLE: MUSIC OF EL CERRITO VOL. 2A" music by Dan Plonsey; with mixed orchestra. UnLimited Sedition ULS02 Moe! Staiano's MOE!KESTRA! "Two Forms of Multitudes: Conducted Improvisations" Dephine KNormal DKM06/PAX PR90261 /Edgetone EDT4021 "Blasted Rustbucket" Trumpet Solo, Artship Recordings #33 Read a review of Blasted Rustbucket here! (Out of print) "Praeface" (an excellent compilation of Praemedia recording artists) Tim Perkis & Tom Djll: cut #12 "on the crown" Praemedia PRAECD001 Signs of Life Jack Wright - saxophones matt ingalls - clarinet Bhob Rainey - soprano saxophone Tom Djll - trumpet Spring Garden Music SGM 010 Here's a review of Signs of Life Address: P.O. Box 7180 Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Phone: 831-320-1489 Email: djll_at_sonic_dot_net CDs on which Tom Djll appears:
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