Album Notes

Life as a trombonist is interesting to say the least. Jen Baker makes creative art with free improvisers, free jazz, classical-contemporary composers, progressive rock bands, film-makers, and theatre companies. She also freelances in orchestras, big band, classical chamber groups, and the occasional Chinese funeral. Studio work includes recording for the Mountain Goats, Rain of Frogs, and video game trailers.

In Feb '08, she toured the east coast with a solo set that included THS by Pat Muchmore, a Commissioning Music/USA funded project. Also notable: performance at the Kennedy Center for the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz in May 2008. She has also recorded for Werner Herzog's film, Encounters at the end of the World. She has performed and/or worked with Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Rova Saxophone Quartet, and Cecil Taylor.

Blue Dreams is done entirely acoustically with multiphonics, ie, singing and playing simultaneously through the instrument. It is the culmination of a 4 year process through which I reflected on my years in various music conservatories, redirected my energies from orchestral to improvised music, and found my voice as a solo improvising trombone player. During that time, I listened to absolutely no music for a year. Then one day I popped in a Gregorian Chant CD and for another year listened only to various forms of chant. These 2 years spent with silence and chant gave me a completely different perspective on music.