Dan Plonsey (born September 1, 1958 in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

) is an American saxophonist. Although often associated with

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, he has expressed disagreement with being categorized strictly within the genre.

Career

His main influences were

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

and

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...

, both connected to but "apart from" the jazz world. A short solo saxophone piece can be found on the ''(Y)Earbook, Volume One'' CD (1991, Rastascan Records), which also features music from guitarist Henry Kaiser and percussionist Greg Bendian, among others. He received his degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and won a commission from

Bang on a Can Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the c ...

in 1999. Also in 1999, Plonsey toured the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

with

Steve Horowitz Steve Horowitz (born Steven Michael Horowitz on October 3, 1964) is an American composer, performing musician, producer, audio engineer, author, and teacher from Brooklyn, New York. Horowitz is the bassist for the experimental music group, The C ...

' Mousetrap Quartet, alongside of reed players Peter van Bergen and Michael Moore. While in the Netherlands, he engaged in one-off improvised music concerts with The Amsterdam String Trio and trumpeter Eric Boeren among others. Two notable CDs with John and Peter Hinds of "Sun Ra Research" fame were released on the tiny Omni Sonic label in 1994 and 1995: ''Connections'' and ''Another Curiosity Piece''. Typically, his infrequent recording output consists mostly of self-produced material or extremely limited editions by connaisseur record labels like Limited Sedition. A 1997 solo CD called ''Ivory Bill'' on the American Music and Arts label highlights Plonsey's use of multiple saxophones, mostly recorded by overdubbing two or more saxophones in the recording studio. Plonsey's 1999 album ''open door and desire'', released on the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Felmay label, can be seen as a further volume of solo saxophone experiments with occasionally added keyboards, played and programmed by Plonsey himself. In 2003, Plonsey wrote '' What Leave Behind'', a

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

for electric guitar and toy orchestra, for the

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

-based

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

group Toychestra and English experimental guitarist

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry ...

to perform. A recording was released on CD in 2004. Other productions include the opera ''Leave Me Alone!'' with Real Time Opera.

Organizational work

Dan Plonsey, like

Gino Robair Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, percussionist, and magazine editor. In his own music work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano ...

, is also noted for his organizational contributions to the music world. Before focusing on operatic composition, he was one of the leading members of the Bay Area Improv Scene, particularly during his time at the Beanbenders music venue.

References

External links

An interview with Dan Plonsey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plonsey, Dan 1958 births Living people Musicians from Cleveland American male saxophonists 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians Music & Arts artists Yale University alumni