TRAVEL CHANNELS profile picture

TRAVEL CHANNELS

North Carolina Meets NYC

About Me

The Travel Channels: A Brief History
As he toured throughout the southeastern United States in the early part of this decade, New York guitarist and composer Bruce Eisenbeil often performed with Dave Fox in Greensboro, North Carolina. Fox, a pianist and composer, first met Eisenbeil when The Dave Fox Group, opened for the Eisenbeil/Flinn/Itakura band in Chapel Hill. They immediately recognized their kinship, and continued to stay in touch, exchanging ideas about composition, improvisation, and the ongoing argument about who makes the best beer – Brooklyn or Greensboro.
At the end of 2006, Fox proposed a collaborative recording. Less than three months later they pulled into the parking lot of OvedubLane Recording Studios in Durham, North Carolina. With them were Fox’s bandmates from the Dave Fox Group – bassist Pat Lawrence and drummer Jon Marc Ryan Dale, otherwise known as the man with four names. Having just recorded the critically acclaimed CD “If These Songs Could Talk” (on BigDog Applewood Records) Fox was glad to find out that his first choice engineer, John Plymale was available for one day that March. One day, it turns out, was all they needed.
There was no plan, no tunes, no formal scheme, other than “Let’s plug in and play and see what happens.” In–the-moment improvisation, as it is called. Or, at least as much as in the moment you can get with wires coming form your instruments and headphones and a friend on the other side of thick glass. Improvised music with deep grooves.
Dale skittered and scattered over his drums, Lawrence laid down half notes and quarter notes, and Eisenbeil and Fox poured forth melodies from deep within. Lawrence sounded at times like a combination of Charlie Haden and Leland Sklar. Dale, one of the most subtle drummers of all time, found that he could explode with energy as well. Eisenbeil did what he always does – get sounds out of his guitar that have never before been dreamed of. Fox moved from keyboard to keyboard with the ease of a leopard – one minute he was on the Fender Rhodes, the next inside of the Yamaha grand, sometimes on two or three instruments simultaneously. When it was over, Dale summed it up best, “Man, I’ve never played or heard anything like that before!”
Each new musical structure took them collectively to somewhere they had never been before – the essence of travel. And thus, their debut recording, due to be released later this year, and their band name, is apt – The Travel Channels. Anyone who wishes to virtually travel with them can catch them on their non-virtual travel tour of the East Coast in the fall of 2008. Look on this myspace page for details regarding the tour and the CD release as they become available. Check them out in concert and find out that human music, in spite of thousands of years of evolution, still has places to take us we have never been before. Let the Travel Channels take you there.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/2/2008
Band Members: DAVE FOX - piano, keyboards
BRUCE EISENBEIL - guitar
PAT LAWRENCE - acoustic bass
JON-MARC RYAN DALE - drums

DAVE FOX

received his B.A and M.A. in Piano Performance from UNC-Greensboro. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at Columbia University. He has been a full-time faculty member at Greensboro College since 1996. Fox founded and curates the Greensboro College Music Department’s Improvising Music Series, which features guest artists and local musicians performing improvisational collaborations. Some of the notable performers on this series have been Frank Gratkowski, Martin Klapper, Numinous Opposum, Hannes Loeschel, Tara Flandreau, Carrie Schull, and Eugene Chadbourne. Each of Dave’s CD’s have received critical acclaim. His music has been reviewed in major publications around the world.

As founder (2003) and curator of the Greensboro College “Improvising Music” Series Mr. Fox has performed with many artists from around the world. A brief listing of the musicians Dave has performed with include: Han Bennink, Eugene Chadbourne, Bruce Eisenbeil, Frank Gratkowski, Jimmy Carl Black,Susan Alcorn, Antasten Duo, Andrew Voight, Morgan Gruberman, Ian Davis, Martin Klapper,Scott Manring,David Doyle,Carrie Schull,Steve Flinn,Katsu Itakura, Pulsoptional,Yelena Eckemoff Quartet

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

If These Songs Could Talk (2007) - The Dave Fox Group - Bigdog Applewood Records
ORM (2006) - Gratkowski / Fox/Menestre/Davis - Umbrella Records
The Foxbourne Chronicles (2005) - Eugene Chadbourne/ Dave Fox - Assembled Sound
Dedication Suite (2005) - Solo Piano - Umbrella Records
Gatewalk (2004) - The Dave Fox Group - Assembled Sound
The Greg Hyslop Trio (1999) - Greg Hyslop/Charles Gambetta/Dave Fox - Rockduster Records
FutureBach (1994) - Ivan Battle/ Barbra Hill/Dave Fox (producer) -Rockduster Records

FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES include:

2008 Greensboro, NC: Bicentennial Celebration
2007 Winston Salem Jazz Festival, NC
2007 Chadfest at the Stone, NYC
2007 Pidemont Jazz Festival
2006 Bellsouth Jazz and Blues Festival, Winston Salem, North Carolina
2006 Strasbourg Museum of Modern Art, Strasbourg, France
2006 Musique Action Festival: Nancy, France
2006 Piedmont Jazz Festival
1994-2000 Pianist in the US Air Jazz Orchestra, with performances in {Philadelphia, New York City, Dallas, San Fransisco, Kansa City, Salt Lake City, and the European cities of Frankfurt, Nurenburg, Eindhoven, Graz

email: [email protected]
website: www.davefoxgroup.com
www.arselect.com

BRUCE EISENBEIL

”Remarkable” • "A distinctive voice. About as revolutionary as music can actually get." ~ The Wire

Bruce Eisenbeil is a composer, improviser, and guitar instrumentalist who has dedicated his life to the advancement of modern guitar techniques through the growth and evolution of modern improvised music. He has nine CD’s released and has performed throughout the USA, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Brasil, and at many festivals. Eisenbeil has been living in New York City since 1995 and he has collaborated with many fine musicians including:
Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Milford Graves, Evan Parker, Ellery Eskelin, Andrew Cyrille, William Parker, Dave Fox, Katsuyuki Itakura, Micheal Manring, Lukas Ligeti, Klaus Kugel, Shiro Onuma, Perry Robinson, Peter Evans, Rob Brown, Lou Grassi, Nate Wooley, Nasheet Waits and many others.

FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES include:2007 Edgefest (Ann Arbor, Michigan), 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival, 2006 Silent Art Festival(Bochum, Germany), 2005 Silent Art Festival(Cologne, Germany), 2001 Vision Festival, 1998 CMJ Music Conference, 1997 Texaco New York Jazz Festival, 1997 Buffalo Interprov Festival, 1997 Philadelphia Mellon Jazz Festival, 1997 Trenton Avant-garde Festival 1997 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, 1997 CMJ Music Conference 1996 Philadelphia PSFS-Mellon Jazz Festival

Eisenbeil’s 2007 release INNER CONSTELLATION got over 30 critically acclaimed reviews worldwide and was voted one of the Top 10 Jazz CD’s in 2007 by: Ken Waxman (Coda),Budd Kopman (All About Jazz), Stuart Broomer (Village Voice),Eyal Hareuveni (All About Jazz) and Improv.hu (Hungary) Eisenbeil’s work has been featured with cover story’s in All About Jazz (west coast - November 2007) and CADENCE. He has been interviewed in AVANT(England). The readers and writers of Cadence Jazz Magazine voted his third CD, OPIUM, one of the top 10 new jazz releases of 2002.

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

TOTEM: EISENBEIL/BLANCARTE/DRURY - SOLAR FORGE(ESP)
BRUCE EISENBEIL SEXTET - INNER CONSTELLATION (Nemu 007)
THE NABOBS - NIXON IS DEAD? (Konnex 5190)
EISENBEIL / KUGEL PROJECT - CARNIVAL SKIN (Nemu 003)
BRUCE EISENBEIL QUARTET - OPIUM (CIMP 241)
BRUCE EISENBEIL’S CROSSCURRENT TRIO - MURAL (CIMP 194)
BRUCE EISENBEIL TRIO - NINE WINGS (CIMP 144)
STEPHEN FLINN TRIO - KEEP THE METER RUNNING (Nine Winds 0246)
STEVE SWELL’S PARTICLE DATA GROUP (Cadence 1139)
STATE OF THE UNION 2001 - Compiled by Elliott Sharp

PAT LAWRENCE

Pat Lawrence was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana where he began playing the bass when he was 14. In 1989 he moved to Chicago to be immersed in its rich music scene where he lived for 14 years playing in a wide variety of contexts including jazz, rock, improvised, and classical music. Pat performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has performed under such conductors as Zubin Mehta and Daniel Barenboim. Being strongly drawn to Chicago’s burgeoning free music scene he had the opportunity to play with some of the cities best improvising musicians such as Gene Colemans Ensemble NoAmnesia, Guillermo Gregorio, Jim O’Rourke, Fred Lomberg-holm, and Tim Mulvenna.

After relocating south Pat has continued to foster long distance collaborations. Most recently with Chicago musician/video artist Robbie Lynn Hunsinger on the short experimental film "Waterwind" and a new recording with the New York City guitarist Bruce Eisenbiel. In North Carolina Pat continues to follow his many interests as both a studio and freelance musician playing in many genres and with the areas finest improvisors including Eugene Chadbourne, the duo Go! with Mahlon Hoard, and The Dave Fox Group.

JON-MARC RYAN DALE

Jon-Marc Ryan Dale has been the most sought after jazz percussionist around North Carolina since his appearance with the UNC-G Jazz ensemble’s CD entitled “Vision.” Mr. Dale was born in High-Point North Carolina where he began his journey into music at an early age. He began playing drums when he was eight. He has toured the United States and he has performed and/or recorded with many artists including: John Scofield, Wycliffe Gordon, Chris Potter, Terri Lynn Carrington, Chad Eby, Steve Haines, Robin Eubanks, John Salmon, Mark Mazzatenta, Fred Wesley, and others.

Mr. Dale was with the UNC-G Jazz Ensemble when they were the first group from North Carolina to perform at the Dizzy Club Coca-Cola at Lincoln Center. Mr. Dale graduated with a B.A. in Jazz Performance from the Miles Davis jazz program at UNC-G. A variety of performing and recording projects keep him busy. Currently Mr. Dale resides in Greensboro with his wife Kelly where he works with local jazz artists on a regular basis.

Record Label: Unsigned
Type of Label: Indie