Dead Cat Bounce
Lineup & Instrumentation:
Matt Steckler - saxes, flute & compositions
Jared Sims - saxes, clarinet
Terry Goss - saxes
Charlie Kohlhase - saxes
Dave Ambrosio - bass
Bill Carbone - drums
Dead
Cat Bounce, Boston’s Outstanding Jazz Act (Boston Music Awards, Phoenix
Music Poll and Improper Bostonian) and recipient of commissions from Meet
the Composer and Chamber Music America, is one of the few recent
jazz
bands to have arrived on the scene with its own distinctive voice. Featuring
four saxophones of all ranges plus upright bass and drums, Dead Cat Bounce
is the unique artistic vision of Matt Steckler, its founder and leader.
The group formed late in 1997 as a recording project. Word of DCB’s
high caliber as a performance ensemble quickly spread, and now the group
plays festivals, concert series and notable clubs throughout North America.
Dead Cat Bounce invokes Charles Mingus and the World Saxophone Quartet
with their "tightly arranged, swirling contrapuntal reeds and multi
part, blues n’ roots-infused tricky compositions" (Jon Garelick,
the Boston Phoenix).
Their eclectic approach to rhythm is informed by traditions
from
the Caribbean, Deep South, Brazil, West Africa, Eastern Europe and Detroit.
In Dead Cat Bounce, solo and collective improvisations energetically
complement the poise of its ever expanding compositional repertoire. According
to Dave
Liebman, Dead Cat Bounce "does it all with exquisite writing, the
subtle use of a bass-drum rhythm section and above all a definite sense
of communication
between the members that I am sure will be apparent to even the casual
listener. These young, Boston-based musicians are not just playing the
music on the page,
but listening and communing together."
Dead Cat Bounce’s members are on the cutting edge of today’s jazz,
rock and world music scenes and have performed and recorded with: Dave Douglas,
Steve Lacy, Lonnie Plaxico, Roswell Rudd, Matt Wilson, Anthony Braxton, Cecil
McBee, Michael Cain, Pheeroan Aklaff, Curtis Fowlkes, Leroy Jenkins, Bob Moses,
the Either/Orchestra, Miracle Orchestra, Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra,
the Fela Project, as well as smaller groups in which individual members lead.
Most of DCB’s lineup attended the New England Conservatory of Music in
Boston and studied there with such renowned artists as Danilo Pérez,
Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Bob Moses and Cecil McBee.
Dead Cat Bounce boasts a nuclear mailing list already thousands strong,
and is regularly advertised on the lists and websites of some of the
above-mentioned peripheral combos.
The CDs Home Speaks to the Wandering (Innova), Lucky
By
Association and Legends of the Nar (Chonsky) are available for sale at
all live Dead Cat Bounce performances, online retail stores or at www.deadcatbounce.org.