jazz
8:00–10:00 pm
$12 or b/o
rob chalfen &
subconsciouscafe new chamber music
presents
zappa/mothers synth shaman
don preston akashic ensemble
don preston -
andre cholmondeley – guitar & moog
cheri jiosne – electronic percussion
http://www.projectobject.com/
don preston
short bio, from: http://www.echograph.com/donbio.html
donald ward preston was born in flint, michigan in september 1932. his father was the composer-in-residence for the detroit symphony. born into a family of musicians, don studied music at an early age. he tells stories today of nuns rapping his young fingers as he tried to sight read. it's damaged him to this day!
1950s bassist with elvin jones. pianist with herbie mann. bassist with tommy flanagan, also yusef lateef and don ellis. toured canada with nat king cole.
1958 - worked with charlie hayden, paul bley and carla bley. he would continue to work with the bleys thru the 70s
1960s - preston joins don ellis, big band leader and trumpeter. don begins to experiment with electronic music and incorporates synthesizers into his work meets frank zappa and joins the mothers of invention in 1966. he tours and records with meredith monk, performing at the garrick theater in new york
1970s - performance art in nyc. collaborations with meredith monk. performance with john lennon and yoko ono --appears on 'sometime in new york city'. left the mothers of invention in 1974.
1975 - 1985 projects include: escalator over the hill, with michael mantler and carla bley field's with john carter. worked on film soundtrack for apocalypse now. co-founds the grandmothers, with former mothers of invention band members. tours/records with mike mantler group - incl jack bruce, nick mason, rick fenn. was musical director for leo sayer. recorded/perfromed in robbie krieger band, with fellow zappa alumni arthur barrow (bass). released numerous electronic and soundtrack records.
1987-1995 performs with bobby bradford, appears on bradford's "comin' on" forms a jazz trio with art davis and tootie heath.
tours europe as lead vocalist for the grandmothers
1996-2000 various jazz and new music/electronics releases, concerts and sessions. grandmothers tours and recording, us and europe.
2001 - releases jazz trio cd “transformation” on cryptogramophone. grandmothers reunion halloween tour with bunk gardner, billy mundi and roy estrada. new years tour with zappa tribute band project object and fellow mothers bunk gardner, napoleon murphy brock and ike willis.
2002 - electronic/new music tours of the east coast in january april and sept. reunited grandmothers, adding napoleon murphy brock, bob harris, fellow zappa alumni. the gms played at zappanale 13 in bad doberan germany, with jimmy carl black.
2003 – don completes two usa tours with project object, performing the music of frank zappa. band members include zappa alumni napoleon murphy brock and ike willis.
2004 – january -don tours europe with the reformed grandmothers including zappa alumni napoleon murphy brock and roy estrada. april – don tours the northeast usa with his jazz trio as well as his electronic ensemble. don, his wife and pets survive a fire that totalled their la home.
2005 - march - grandemothers tour the eu to rave reviews and packed houses. april-may don plays upright bass for a musical in la. june - don tours the ne again, this time highlighted by the moogfest appearance. june -shows with fellow zappa-alumni the grandemothers. september - another ne tour, hitting many new spots and featuring two lectures - at berklee school of music as well as cornell university. jazz quartet gigs in la. continued work on his orchestral premiere - coming this spring in europe.
"that's impossible - you can’t do that on a moog"
synthesizer design pioneer bob moog, commenting on don preston's moog synth solo on waka jawaka
don preston web links
http://www.uoregon.edu/~splat/don_preston.html
http://www.donpreston.com
http://www.thinkelectronic.com
interviews with don
http://www.stevemoore.addr.com/donpreston.html
http://members.aol.com/outershel/preston.html
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/39/music-burk.php
don preston interview/short performance wfmu 91.1fm 4/5/02 nj
production:rob chalfen - robchalfen@hotmail.com