Exploring the territory of the in-between. Blurring the boundaries between avant-jazz and free improvisation. Creating a music beyond and around "isms". An interstitial music. Check it out. look what I found tom baker quartet PS0701 Recorded at Soundhouse Recordings by Scott Colburn Mixing by Scott Colburn Mastering at Seattle Disc Mastering by Mark Guenther CD Design by Mikiko To Cover Art © Dave Thomas (www.davethomasart.com) Produced by Tom Baker, Ben Thomas and Mark Radonich for Present Sounds Recordings (www.presentsounds.com) Present Sounds Recordings PS0701 Special thanks to Alissa Rupp, Stephanie Deshaies, the Campbells (Marni, Amelia, Thomas, Eliza), Hamlet and Alma, Anton and Louis, Peggy Shafer, Greg Sinibaldi, Bill Smith, François Houle, Doug Haire and Dave Thomas. "...trippy jazz-hued soundscapes..." -Guitar Player Magazine, 2006 "...a delicate, eccentric compositional sense with a tendency toward unruly improvisation." - Time Out New York, 2005 "Jazztronauts: Tom Baker Quartet explores the jazz cosmos..." -Go! Magazine, 2006 "...gentle swells and slow-moving texutres create a beautiful, ethereal music." -Methow Valley News, 2006 These four acclaimed musicians have enjoyed working together in various combinations over the past few years, and now they have joined forces as the Tom Baker Quartet. Tom Baker (guitar, fretless guitar), drummer Greg Campbell, clarinettist Jesse Canterbury and bassist Brian Cobb have diverse musical backgrounds, which include jazz, modern classical, world music, and free improvisation. They have been working as a quartet since November of 2004, playing music by Baker and Cobb, as well as crafting beautiful and haunting improvisations. Their music blurs the boundaries between notated music and free improvisation; the unique sonic landscapes that result are grounded in history, while pushing at the boundaries of avant-jazz music. Guitarist Tom Baker has been active as a composer, performer and music producer in the Seattle new-music scene since 1994. He is the artistic director of the Seattle Composers' Salon, and co-founder of the Seattle EXperimental Opera (SEXO). Tom performs on fretted and fretless guitars, and has worked with many innovative musicians, including Stuart Dempster, William O. Smith, Christian Asplund, Chinary Ung, Ellen Fullman and Henry Threadgill. His first solo CD Sounding the Curve was released on the label Present Sounds in 2002. Greg Campbell plays drum set, vibraphone, percussion, and French horn. He has studied with Dave Holland, Cecil McBee, George Russell, and Tom Collier, and has performed with Muhal Richard Abrams, Wayne Horvitz, Stuart Dempster, Bill Smith, and Francois Houle, among others. He has also been a member of Seattle EXperimental Opera and the Seattle-based groups Brainstun (led by Christian Asplund), Project W, Ota Prota, and Jessica Lurie's Motorbison. Clarinetist Jesse Canterbury has performed new music in a variety of contexts, ranging from modern classical music to chamber-style free improvisation. He has worked and performed with some of the world's finest improvisers and musical innovators, including George Lewis, Butch Morris, the Shaking Ray Levis, Walter Thompson, Philip Gelb, Matthew Sperry, Gino Robair, Kevin Drumm, and Daniel Carter. Bassist Brian Cobb is also an accomplished composer and educator. He has studied composition with Salvatore Macchia, John Bavicchi, Robert Stern, Dennis Leclaire, Juan Pampin, and Diane Thome. Through the years as a jazz musician he has toured Europe; recorded with jazz artists Ron Bosse, George Garzone, and Karl Rausch; and performed with Bob Guilotti, Bob Moses, Jeff Galindo, Max Vax, Teodross Avery, and Aaron Goldber.