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Bassist/Composer Thomson Kneeland Releases New CD Titled "Mazurka for a Modern Man" on Weltschmerz Records

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Thomson Kneeland's latest album, Mazurka for a Modern Man, is the culmination of a compositional project he completed in 2007, working with the late percussionist Take Toriyama, guitarist Nate Radley, Trumpeter David Smith & alto saxophonist Loren Stillman; the core of the musicians shared a broad vocabulary from ten years of playing together almost weekly: Balkan folk music, Indian tihais, drum'n'bass, electronica, rock, and of course, jazz and improvised music. They completed fourteen compositions in the studio in April 2007; nine of these tracks are released here, highlighting the contributions of Toriyama, who passed away less than two weeks after the recording dates. With the loss of Kneeland's musical comrade Take Toriyama, he felt it was a time for a change in compositional focus and a fresh start. With so many world-renowned musicians here in New York, this was the perfect time for Kneeland to focus on his career as a jazz sideman while he explored some new compositional areas.

From 2006-2008, Kneeland undertook compositional analysis studies with Professor Donna Doyle, a former student of Nadia Boulanger's. His studies focused on counterpoint, Schenkerian analysis, and more, studying symphonies, string quartets, fugues and other works of the great classical composers, while honing his own compositional and arranging skills. Having composed a small body of chamber music, Kneeland looked forward to developing his work in this area and presenting further works to the public via concerts and recordings in the years to come. Having further established himself in the NYC jazz scene, Kneeland is now ready to jump back into the musical scene as a leader. He has a number of projects in mind in the upcoming years including a straight up jazz album; a project exploring Indian and Karnatic influences with guitar, keyboard and tabla; Ensemble Aletheia, a chamber music project with 4 horns and doublebass; a solo bass album; string quartets and more.

“Kneeland has a firm grasp on melody and he knows how to come up with an infectious pulse." -Jerry D'Souza, All About Jazz




About Thomson Kneeland

Acoustic bassist and composer Thomson Kneeland has established himself as a formidable sideman and leader since moving to New York City in 2003. He quickly found himself working with such established musicians as Ted Rosenthal, Kenny Werner, Billy Drummond, Lynne Arriale, Paul Bollenback, Peter Leitch, Jed Levy, and many others as well as leading his own groups. Kneeland is an in demand bassist with a rock solid swing feel and a unique and rhythmic voice; but while delving deep into the jazz history, Kneeland also brings a variety of musical interests to the table from classical counterpoint, and 20th century chamber music, to Indian Karnatic music, Indonesian gamelan, Balkan folk music, electronica, heavy metal, and more. His newest release, Mazurka for a Modern Man, features a quintet of his peers making their marks on the NYC scene of today. In the past decade, Kneeland also released three previous albums as leader of the group Kakalla, a Boston based group that performed weekly for 8 years until Kneeland made the move to New York City. In 2004, Kneeland collaborated with recording engineer Warren Amerman on a techno/electronica studio project, Grid-X, as well as for the electronica movie soundtrack of Magdalena's Brain. Besides composing for various jazz and improvisational idioms, Kneeland also composes chamber music, some completed works including a string quartet and a string trio; he was also commissioned to write three pieces for the Longy School of Music Jazz Ensemble. As a leader, sideman, and composer, Kneeland has appeared on over 40 recordings to date and performed with such luminaries as Jerry Bergonzi, Kenny Werner, George Garzone, Chris Potter, Ted Rosenthal, Lynne Arriale, Rick Margitza, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Joe Maneri, Gunther Schuller, Peter Leitch, Paul Bollenback and many others. He has performed internationally at such venues as The Kennedy Center, Medellin University in Colombia, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Perth Jazz Festival, the Vancouver Jazz Festival, and more.\\

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