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Dom Minasi Bio
It’s not common to hear a guitarist mentioned in the same vein as adventurous players like Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor, but Dom Minasi is not your common type of guitarist.
Like many highly creative artists, Dom needs a variety of contexts to express the full range of his musical vision. Already maintaining several separate groups, four duos, with pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, saxophonist Blaise Siwula, vocalist Carol Mennie, and pianist Borah Bergman, his recording trio with Ken Filiano on bass and Jackson Krall on drums, DDT + 2 with Tomas Ulrich-cello, Ken Filiano-bass, Jay Rosen-drums and vocalist Carol Mennie, his organ quartet with Mark Whitecage-alto, Kyle Koehler-organ and John Bollinger-drums and most recently The Jon Hemmersam/Dom Minasi Quartet featuring Ken Filiano and Kresten Osgood on drums.
His 2001 release, Takin’ The Duke Out, recorded Live at the Knitting Factory in New York City, featuring fresh interpretations of classic Ellington compositions, took the jazz community by storm and caused such a controversy that critics and musicians alike are still talking about it. Goin’ Out Again followed in 2002 focusing on a combination of originals and jazz classics, also receiving enormous critical acclaim.
Again in 2003, CDM released Time Will Tell, DDT + 2 (with cellist Tomas Ulrich and bassist Ken Filiano, augmented by John Bollinger on drums and vocalist Carol Mennie) which caused huge ripples in the pond of progressive music, showing the gentler, but no less provocative side of this extraordinary guitarist/composer.
Staying on top up the crest, Dom’s 2004 release, Quick Response (CDM1005) was herald as one of the best recordings of that season. Topping it off, on the same day, CDM Records released Carol Mennie’s debut album I’m Not A Sometime Thing, an exciting project very close to Dom & Carol’s heart. This record was produced and arranged by Dom and to show the expansiveness of the Minasi talent, Dom also plays on and wrote the music and lyrics to five of the songs.
Inspired by Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, Dom Minasi’s 2006 release, and considered by many his most adventurous outing since CDM Records came into existence, The Vampire’s Revenge is a double disc set of original through composed pieces. Using his trio, with bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Jackson Krall as an anchor, this record has an amazing cast of guest artists throughout the CD. Musicians such as: Joe McPhee, Matthew Shipp, Steve Swell, Borah Bergman and Perry Robinson are among the twenty two musicians on this recording. Some of the tracks have up to thirteen musicians and are conducted by Byron Olson, a long time associate of Dom’s from his Blue Note days.
His newest release (September 2007),From 1976-1993, Dom involved himself in a variety of pursuits, freelancing and occasionally performing with the late, great pianist Dennis Moorman and his organ quartet featuring Dr. Lonnie Smith. Providing the music for a variety of off-Broadway shows, authoring three books for Sunrise Artistries, two books on jazz theory and chord substitution and one on improvising. At 48, Dom returned to school where he studied with Academy Award-winning (The Red Violin) composer John Corigliano at Lehman College, receiving his degree in composition in 1990. He also composed over 300 vocal and instrumental compositions during those years, as well as creating Literacy Through Songwriting Workshops for grades one through six for the New York City Board of Ed.
Fellow musicians kept trying to get Dom more involved with the regular scene but he continued to resist. "I’m happy. I do my workshops with the kids. I’m doing great. Why do I need the aggravation?" was his general response. But finally in 1993 he began to take an interest again, becoming principal composer for the Manhattan Improvisational Chamber Ensemble (MICE) and began to work on various projects of his own. By1996, he was in the thick of it, but entirely on his own terms. "For the past 12 years, I’ve only done what I want to do," he says contentedly. That includes his own critically acclaimed album Finishing Touches and Dialing Privileges, co-led with Blaise Siwula & John Bollinger both for CIMP; continuing his compositional efforts and arranging for singers and composing 21st century music for orchestra and small ensembles
Deciding to keep total control over his career and what he musically produces, Dom and his wife, vocalist Carol Mennie formed CDM Records and CDM, Inc. (Can Do More, Inc.) a not-for profit organization where Dom is president and Artistic Director and Carol is Vice President and Assistant Artistic Director. CDM, Inc.’s mission statement is to promote music & theatre activities within the educational systems of public schools and colleges throughout the United States.
Over his long career, Dom has worked with countless heavyweights, crossing all styles of Jazz. He’s performed in venues ranging from top jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall, The Montreal Jazz Festival to the White House for President Bill Clinton, but it’s musical expansion and personal growth that are his principal motivations. “ It’s all about expression, learning and growth, whether it be in music or in life and to share what we learn without expectations.â€
And in true keeping with the most fundamental aspect of the great jazz tradition, Dom Minasi continues to explore and discover new ideas in pursuit of his true and most personal musical vision.
The Dom Minasi Trio
In an age where consistency is something of the past, Dom Minasi, Ken Filano and Jackson Krall have been together for more than seven years.
The Dom Minasi Trio came into world prominence with its’ recording of "Takin’ The Duke Out" live at the Knitting Factory, NYC in 2001. An outing that had diehard Ellington fans screaming and moaning, while modernists hailed: " Minasi and company…forging one of the finest (re)discoveries of jazz’ young second century" - Charles Walker-Jazz Review.com and the legendary Jim Hall to say "NY’s best kept secret is finally ‘getting out’ - Hooray"With seasoned musicians, Ken Filiano of Vinny Golia fame and Jackson Krall a regular with Cecil Taylor, the trio took the most over-played Ellington songs and brought them to places they had never been before. It caused one reviewer to say: “What did Ellington do to deserve this?†And yet another journalist wrote: “if Duke were alive today, he would be in the audience cheering them on†JAZZ REVIEW.com" and David Adler penned Dom “a six-string Cecil Taylor†in AAJ/NY, a title Dom is very proud of.
Since that historic date the trio has been the base for two more CD’s: "Goin’ Out Again" and "The Vampire’s Revenge". Later this year, they will be recording "Takin The Duke Out - Again!" and performing at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. The trio has played sold out venues in the last two years including The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Stone, The Dancing Goat, The Jazz Improv Convention and the historic closing of CBGB’S.
Dick Crocketts The 2007 Twirlie Awards
The Jon Hemmersam / Dom Minasi Quartet CDM Records- the Number One Guitar Record for 2007.
What Critics Have Said About Dom & His Trio
If Coltrane shattered harmony with his "sheets of sound," then Minasi is busy here picking it up again and extending it with his "thousand points of light" that simultaneously tickle, taunts, and runs away . Charles Walker jazz review.com
… this group is coherent, inventive and inspiring ..a rare combination - Nils Jacobson , All About Jazz
a talented trio that is bold enough to approach the great Duke Ellington’s music in their own way- Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz
An extraordinary trio date with some astonishing playing from all three of these local giants - Bruce Galanter, Downtown Music Gallery Newsletter
Minasi’s "Solitude" is truly one of the most individual interpretations you can ever expect to ever hear...on record- Laurence Donohue-Greene, All About Jazz New York
I’m reminded of the tradition of jazz musicians who went against the grain, who kept playing the way they played because that’s what they heard, just as Van Gogh painted things the way he saw them. - Marshall Bowden, Jazzitude
Minasi shines through with a fresh and personal style that touches on the past, yet delivers compelling notions for the future - Jay Collins, Cadence Magazine
… labels don’t apply to a talent such as his. -Russ Musto All About Jazz NY
…Minasi should be considered a force of nature in his own right. - C. Michael Bailey, Grapevine Culture
Minasi’s ability to swing either way points toward a perspective that embraces inside and outside approaches as points on a continuum, rather than opposing concepts...- Alexander Gelfand Jazziz Magazine