Stratospheerius are an American
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...
band based in New York City. They are led by electric violinist Joe Deninzon, who also plays the
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
and serves as the band's
lead vocalist.
History
Deninzon was born in St. Petersburg, Russia but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and studied
classical and
jazz violin
Jazz violin is the use of the violin or electric violin to improvise solo lines. Early jazz violinists included: Eddie South, who played violin with Jimmy Wade's Dixielanders in Chicago; Stuff Smith; and Claude "Fiddler" Williams. Joe Venuti w ...
at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
* Indiana Univers ...
. Before relocating to the New York City area in 1998, he recorded a jazz fusion cd ''
Electric/Blue'', playing primarily on a 6-string Jensen
electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fit ...
. While
freelancing
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...
in the New York City area, Deninzon was also studying at the
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...
and teaching at the
New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over ...
. While at the New School, he met and began collaborating with guitarist
Alex Skolnick
Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and one of the songwriters of the thrash metal band Testament and has played with several other bands, including The Alex Skolnick Trio, Tr ...
, who was studying
jazz guitar
Jazz guitar may refer to either a type of electric guitar or a guitar playing style in jazz, using electric amplification to increase the volume of acoustic guitars.
In the early 1930s, jazz musicians sought to amplify their sound to be he ...
there at the time. Their band eventually became known as Stratospheerius, and they toured, recorded and released ''
The Adventures of Stratospheerius'' album in 2001-2002.
The band consisted of Deninzon on violin, Skolnick on guitar, Rufus Philpot on bass, Scott Chasolen on keyboards, Grisha Alexiev on drums with DJ Big Wiz on the turntables. The 12-track album consisted mostly of originals written by Deninzon as well as covers of
Vince Guaraldi
Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this series includ ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...
, and
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...
. The band’s live shows became known for their extended jams,
musical improvisation
Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...
and their violin/guitar interplay, often invoking comparisons to bands like
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and back ...
and
Bela Fleck
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
*Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India
*Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara
*Bela, Dang, in Nepal
*Bela, Janakpur, ...
.
On the strength and popularity of their live shows, the band released a
live album, ''Live Wires'' in 2004. That same year they also won an Independent Music Award for Best Jam Song for their song "What's That Thing". By this point the band’s personnel had started evolving. The band jettisoned keyboards and turntables from their sound, with Jake Ezra taking over for Skolnick on guitar and Ron Baron joining on bass. Drummer Lucianna Padmore was brought into the group by Skolnick and Baron, who knew her as a student at the New School where she was studying jazz. Live Wires included many of the songs from their first album as well as Deninzon’s debut Electric/Blue and featured their current lineup plus two songs that included Skolnick.
The personnel changed once again with bassist Bob Bowen and guitarist Mack Price joining Deninzon and Padmore, with Deninzon switching to a 7-string electric violin built by
Mark Wood. This lineup released a live DVD ''
Fiddle Trip Funk Live!'' in 2006 and a studio album, ''Headspace'', in 2007. Headspace saw a bit of a direction change for the band, as the funk and jazz styles were combined with more melodic and progressive rock.
The band took a break as Deninzon and Bowen teamed up with guitarist Steve Benson as the Joe Deninzon Trio to record the acoustic jazz album ''