Timothy Orr and Josh Allen first met in 1997 at San Franciscos Radical House Studios (http://www.radhs.com/) in a project called Sax vs. Guitar, an octet that featured three saxophones, three guitars and rhythm section. Even though the project was unreleased, Tim and Josh decided to play together, forming a trio with acoustic bassist Randy Hunt. They got a regular gig at Oaklands Manhattan Club, and performed at San Franciscos Club Cocodrie several times, playing free-bop and standards. However, the group broke up by the end of the year.
Tim, Randy and Josh recently played their first gig together at the KFJC Radio station in Los Altos Hills, CA on April 17, 2008. First gig in 11 years!
In 2002, Tim and Josh met up again in Oakland by chance. After several months of practicing with no specific agenda, the two recorded the unreleased "Operation Piss Off The Planet", which happened to occur on the same day of the US invasion of Iraq on March 19, 2003. This recording documented the freestyle improvisation of that time, and was a launching pad to "Sundays Farce", recorded in December of 2003. Leaner, meaner and more concise, "Sundays Farce" was completely improvised and is available in limited quantities.
"Sunday's Farce" was lovingly engineered and recorded by Kris Schmolze on site in the Peralta Palace in West Oakland, California. Tim and Kris lived at the Palace from 2002-2004 and the 3500 square foot warehouse was frequently used as a rehearsal and recording space for a variety of projects.
"Narcissus" and "Shut up" are from the "Sunday's Farce" session.
Tim, Josh and bassist Damon Smith also played in the Marco Eneidi Quartet, on the last of Eneidis US performances before he moved to Vienna in November 2004, performing at Scott Looneys 8th St. Performance Space in Oakland, and at Jazz In Flights final presentation at the Oakland Metro. Tim and Josh have also played at the Expressions Center, George Kayes (both with Damon Smith) and the Luggage Store Gallery.
In January 2006, Tim, Josh, Tarik Kazaleh and film director Nasri Zacharia recorded the soundtrack for Zacharia's upcoming independent film "The Tale of Three Mohammeds."
TIMOTHY ORR BIO: Timothy Orr was born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 22, 1967 and began playing the drums in 1976. After playing in several rock bands in the early 80s, he studied with Edward Blackwell from 1985-89 at Wesleyan University where he earned a BA in English, with a concentration in Medieval and Renaissance literature.
In retrospect, he should have studied Ethnomusicology. During this period, Tim played in several rock, punk and grunge bands, warming up for emerging talents like Helmet, Fugazi, Band of Susans and Soul Asylum. He also worked in college musical theater productions, played for dancers, film soundtracks, and worked on several thesis performances. Upon graduation in 1989, Tim started to perform in several roots music bands in the New England region, performing Cajun, zydeco, bluegrass, post-war Chicago blues, and original music as well.
In addition to his performance schedule, Tim cultivated a career in the music industry, holding positions in alternative radio promotion and classical marketing at Virgin Records, publicity at MCA, retail sales at HMV and warehouse and operations management at TVT Records in New York City.
After moving to San Francisco in 1992, Tim hooked up with the Cajun/zydeco scene in the Bay Area, and began to play 100+ nights a year with various people and groups, such as Andre Thierry, Zydeco Slim, Tete Rouge, Danny Poullard, Andrew Carriere, Gerard Landry, Kenny Menard, and many others.
From 1997 to 2002, Tim was VP of Sales and the Marketing Director for the Arkadia Jazz label, and was Associate Director of the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California from 2003 to 2005. He has also been a journalist for DRUM! Magazine since 1993, and TRAPS Magazine since 2006. Tim was on the Board of Directors of Oaklands Jazz In Flight from 2002-2005. He became the Marketing Associate and Public Relations liason for the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2006.
Tims involvement in jazz goes back to the mid-70s, when his father played him a Joe Morello drum solo (in 5/4) from a Dave Brubeck album, which only confused the 9-year old. After several years of sometimes demoralizing drum lessons with a local teacher, Tim reverted to what he always had found to be true: that he could self teach by improvising, and by listening to and playing along with albums. Live at Leeds by the Who and Zenyatta Mondatta by the police were particular favorites.
By the early 80s, Tim was introduced to the music of Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report and other fusion groups. Initially impressed with the music, Tim found contemporary fusion to ultimately be boring and excessive, and referred to it as jock jazz. On the flip fide, one of the recordings Tim discovered was Eric Dolphys Out to Lunch, which served as a starting point for his interest in the avant-garde.
By 1985, Tim was attending Wesleyan University and studying with Ed Blackwell, who pointed Tim in the direction of acoustic avant-garde music, with Ornette Coleman as a main reference. Intrigued by the subversive attitude of the New Yorks punk, downtown and loft jazz scenes, Tim also started to go to shows in New York City at the Village Vanguard, where he was able to see jazz icons like Don Cherry, Mal Waldron, Woody Shaw, Charlie Rouse and others. Tim recalls being scared shitless as an 18 year-old, when he met many of these people in the legendary kitchen at the Vanguard, introduced by Blackwell. He has also studied with Royal Hartigan, Jay Hoggard and Andrew Cyrille.
Tim has many influences from many genres, and he tries to invoke the essence of his heroes to arrive at his own sound: the explosive energy of Tony Williams, Elvin Jones and Jack DeJohnette, the sonic organization of Max Roach, Andrew Cyrille and Ed Blackwell, and the creative blurring freedom of Rashied Ali, Gunter Sommer and Sunny Murray. Tim is just as likely to be found listening to Anthony Braxton or Shostakovichs String Quartets, Peter Brotzmann or Samuel Barber, Jeff Buckley or Morton Feldman.
Tim has played with a number of musicians in many fields, including local and international artists Josh Roseman, Jen Baker, Shoko Hitage, Stephen Schwartz (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame), Damon Smith, Josh Allen, Marco Eneidi, Richard Hell, Randy Hunt, Adam Lane, Ike Levin, Scott Looney, Tony Malaby, Joris Teepe and many more. He has played 1400+ gigs since 1989 in a variety of venues across the country. Tim has appeared on a number of CDs in a variety of genres, including 2003s Sundays Farce with Josh Allen. He recently recorded the soundtrack to The Tale of Three Mohammeds, a film by Nasri Zacharia.
In 2006, Tim joined the Cooke Quintet, headed by Michael Cooke and Alex Kelly, and recorded "An Indefinite Suspension of the Possible" which got radio airplay across the county on finer avant-gards college stations across the country.
Tim plays Sonor drums and Paiste, Istanbul, UFIP and Bosphorus cymbals. He lives in West Oakland, California.
JOSHUA ALLEN BIO:
Joshua Allen was born in Berkeley, California on March 14th, 1972. Like many of todays prominent musicians, Mr. Allen was a product of the Berkeley public school system, studying saxophone starting at the age of nine under Phil Hardymon. He went on to study with such prominent Bay Area musicians as Bill Aron, Joe Henderson, and Rory Snyder, from Diablo Valley College.
With his focus squarely on jazz composition and performance, Mr. Allen moved to Southern California in the early nineties to study with Rick Helzer at San Diego State, and to work in Los Angeles music and studio scene. He became active in the Latin Jazz community, and worked with various musicians such as Dennis Chambers, and Eddie Palmieri.
Mr. Allens return to the Bay Area in the mid 90s to finish his Bachelors degree at Sonoma State began a period of radical musical change. His association with saxophonist Marco Eneidi led to working relationships with musicians such as Glen Spearmann, Matthew Goodheart, Damon Smith, and eventually Cecil Taylor.
The music that Mr. Allen was producing started to move almost completely away from the jazz idiom, and began to focus more on modern composition. Mr. Allen has created his own personal language with the tenor saxophone, with an emphasis on polytonal and asymmetrical phrasing, as well as extending the range and sonic ability of the instrument. He does this with constant emphasis and study of the overtone series, and the generation of multiphonics from the application of this process.
Most recently Mr. Allen has been performing and recording with the Weasel Walter Quartet, finishing the soundtrack for the film The Tale of Three Mohammeds, and teaching Fellowship students at the Brubeck Institute at the University of Pacific.
