In the Ground and Overhead




Kris Tiner: In the Ground and Overhead
14 miniatures for muted trumpet

In the Ground and Overhead is the sixth release on Bakersfield-based Epigraph Records. Previous releases on digital, vinyl, and cassette have featured new music from local artists as well as guest appearances by unclassifiable musical innovators from around the world.

This set of 14 miniatures for solo muted trumpet was inspired by the sights, sounds, and creatures of one of California’s most serene and historic places. The music was created, performed, and recorded by Kris Tiner while in residence at Montalvo Arts Center in the forested foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Incorporating the natural reverb of the John Bluth painters’ studio along with ambient recordings of the Montalvo grounds, In the Ground and Overhead is a focused and heartfelt meditation on nature and solitude by Tiner, a veteran of many acclaimed West Coast jazz and creative music ensembles including the Empty Cage Quartet, Tin/Bag, Psychic Temple, the Vinny Golia Quintet, and the Industrial Jazz Group. The Bandcamp download includes a PDF score and session photos. Also available on Spotify, Apple Music, and most other streaming services.

“Definitely a winner… It takes courage to make music this sensitive. It requires insight and good taste to be this sensitive without falling into the abyss of sentimentalism. It takes strength to reduce the feelings and musings to their bare essence, like a Japanese zen-drawing with only a few lines and lots of white space. Tiner’s tone is warm and precise, pure and velvety, subtle and nuanced. It takes a lot of artistry to produce something so personal with such universal value. Yes, it’s only 15 minutes long, but you just listen to it twenty times in a row. It’s guaranteed to be a fascinating listen, even after the twentieth time. And that’s a lot more than can be said about many much longer albums.”
– Stef Gijssels, The Free Jazz Collective

“Kris Tiner’s In the Ground and Overhead: 14 Miniatures for Muted Trumpet was composed and recorded in residence at California’s Montalvo Arts Center by the Santa Cruz Mountains, the physical setting of which inspired these short pieces for muted trumpet. The opening and closing improvisations as well as the twelve compositions in between are in effect symphonic poems for a solo instrument; each is made up of brief phrases or motifs that Tiner develops or departs from with a brisk economy of means. Most are of constrained compass or dynamic range—the mute certainly has a role to play there—but some break out into broader expressive territory. Tiner intended the pieces to reflect the beauty of his natural surroundings and the feeling of being alone within them. That he has done quite effectively.”
– Daniel Barbiero, Avant Music News

Previous reviews for Kris Tiner…

“Kris Tiner is a superbly fluid trumpeter, with a clean articulation in the upper register, deft valving, and a winning lyrical bent.”
– Jason Bivins, Cadence Magazine

“Extraordinarily inventive… suggesting still-untapped potentials in Miles Davis’s legacy – it’s as if Tiner has plumbed the most daring, piercing moments in Davis’s music to propose a boldface musical language utterly different from the usual stylized fragility of Miles disciples.”
– Nate Dorward, Signal to Noise Magazine

“Kris Tiner’s trumpet is perfectly suited to the moment.”
– Dave Cantor, DownBeat

Recording in the John Bluth Studio at Montalvo Arts Center.

Lucas Artist Fellow Profile

This past summer I spent a week at Montalvo Arts Center to finish recording a set of solo trumpet compositions I wrote during my first residency in 2012. I love this place, and it was wonderful to be back. During my stay I did a video interview with photographer Tina Case about the solo project, some general feelings about the residency program, and a bit about my background in music. You’ll see a shot of my daughters’ artwork covering the walls of the studio as well…

for emptiness

for emptiness is a video collaboration with Parisian sculptor/media artist Stéphane Thidet, completed during our residency at Montalvo Arts Center and filmed at Castle Rock State Park outside Saratoga, California. The context, setting, and production were created and conceptualized by Stéphane, the music is my own solo trumpet improvisation.


for emptiness from Stéphane Thidet on Vimeo.


Music and Film @ Metro Galleries

Click here for the Facebook event page

Thursday, January 28, 8 p.m.

METRO GALLERIES CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS:
IMPROVISATIONAL MUSIC and FILM
(Curated by Kris Tiner)

KaiBorg
David Borgo – saxophones + laptop
Jeff Kaiser – trumpet + laptop

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Kris Tiner – solo trumpet
Allen Glass – film projection

Metro Galleries
1604 19th St.
Bakersfield, CA 93301
$5 Admission

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Metro Galleries Presents Improvisational Music and Film

The Metro Galleries Concert Series continues on Thursday, January 28 with a very special multi-media performance incorporating improvisational music, electronics, digital video, and film.

The San Diego-based electro-acoustic duo KaiBorg explores the intersections of cutting-edge computer music and video processing with jazz-influenced improvisational music to manifest what the San Diego Union Tribune has called “a surging sonic kaleidoscope.” Saxophonist David Borgo is also an ethnomusicologist and an Associate Professor of Music at UC San Diego. He won first prize at the International John Coltrane Festival in 1994, and has performed domestically as well as in Sweden, Amsterdam, Armenia, Hong Kong, and Macau. His book Sync or Swarm: Improvising Music in a Complex Age won the Alan P. Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology in 2006 as the most distinguished book published during the previous year. Jeff Kaiser is a composer, trumpet player, music technologist, and founder of pfMENTUM, a record label dedicated to the documentation of new music on the West Coast. Kaiser is currently a PhD student in the Integrative Studies Program in Music at UC San Diego. Kaiser and Borgo will be celebrating the recent release of their CD Harvesting Metadata on pfMENTUM Records.

For the opening set, local trumpet player and Bakersfield College and CSUB music professor Kris Tiner will perform solo to accompany a live film projection by Los Angeles filmmaker Allen D. Glass. Tiner, whose music has been described as “extraordinarily inventive” by Signal to Noise Magazine, has performed at concert venues and festivals throughout North America and abroad, and he appears on over 40 recordings. He has given solo performances at the Line Space Line Festival of Improvised Music, Slow Sound Festival, and Annual Conference of the International Society for Improvised Music. Glass is an international film artist, psychologist, musicologist, archivist, chemical dependency specialist, and hallucinaturalist whose films and photographs have been exhibited by The British Film Institute, The Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, Festival International Nouveau Cinéma Nouveau Medias Montréal, The International Experimental Cinema Exposition, Black Maria Film Festival and the international film festivals of London, Melbourne, Tehran, Toronto, Tokyo and Luxembourg among others.

Metro Galleries is located at 1604 19th St. in downtown Bakersfield. Admission to the show is $5; tickets are available at the door only; all ages are welcome. Doors open at 7:30, music begins at 8:00.

For more information…

Jeff Kaiser: http://www.jeffkaiser.com
David Borgo: http://www.davidborgo.com
KaiBorg: http://www.kaiborg.com
Kris Tiner: http://www.kristiner.com

ISIM Recap

Above are some images from the recent conference of the International Society for Improvised Music held from December 3-6 at UC Santa Cruz. I gave a solo trumpet+flugelhorn performance on December 6 in the Music Center at UCSC, incorporating music by Hank Williams Sr. (“Ramblin’ Man” – one of my favorites), microtonal composer Kraig Grady and myself. Thanks to Jeff Kaiser for snapping these iPhone pics during my set.

Some other conference highlights pictured above: Keynote Speaker George Lewis performing in duet with Roscoe Mitchell; the electro-acoustic duo KaiBorg with video artist Mark Henrickson; and a great dinner hang with Kaiser (again the photographer), filmmaker Allen Glass, trumpeter Dave Ballou, singer/educator/theorist Gerald Phillips with his sister, and saxophonist/educator/author David Borgo.

UPDATE 12/20: I’ve added three more photos above that were taken during my performance by the incomparable photographer/filmmaker/travel buddy Allen Glass. In January Allen and I will be collaborating on a new project involving solo trumpet with film projection – check the upcoming events page for details.