Stuart Dempster (born July 7, 1936 in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

) is a

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

didjeridu The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

player,

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, and composer. Stuart Dempster2010-color levels adjusted

Biography

After Dempster completed his studies at

San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

, he was appointed

assistant professor Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and gene ...

at the California State College at Hayward, and instructor at the

San Francisco Conservatory The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hod ...

(1960–66). During this period he was also a member of the Performing Group at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was r ...

, and from 1962 to 1966 was first trombonist in the

Oakland Symphony Orchestra The Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) is a leading orchestra based in Oakland, California. Michael Morgan held the position of music director and conductor from September 1990 until his death in August 2021. The Paramount Theatre has been the home ...

. In 1967–68, he was a Creative Associate at the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

under

Lukas Foss Lukas Foss (August 15, 1922 – February 1, 2009) was a German-American composer, pianist, and conductor. Career Born Lukas Fuchs in Berlin, Germany in 1922, Foss was soon recognized as a child prodigy. He began piano and theory lessons with Ju ...

. While there he helped organize the first commercial recording of

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

's ''

In C ''In C'' is a musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for an indefinite number of performers. He suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work". A series of short melodic fragments, ''In C'' is o ...

'', in the 1964 premiere of which he had also performed . The following year he was appointed assistant professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

, in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, where he was promoted to full professor in 1985. In 1971–72 he was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

, and in 1973 he was a senior Fulbright scholar to Australia (; ). In 1979 the University of California Press published his book, ''The Modern Trombone: A Definition of Its Idioms''. He received a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

award in 1981 . He has commissioned and performed works by

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering wo ...

Rob du Bois Rob du Bois (28 May 1934 – 28 August 2013) was a Dutch composer, pianist, and jurist. Background and education Rob (Robert Louis) du Bois was born in Amsterdam. His French ancestry can be seen from his name, and he maintained a sympathy for the ...

Donald Erb Donald Erb (January 17, 1927 – August 12, 2008) was an American composer best known for large orchestral works such as Concerto for Brass and Orchestra and ''Ritual Observances''. Early years Erb was born in Youngstown, Ohio, graduat ...

Robert Erickson Robert Erickson (March 7, 1917 – April 24, 1997) was an American composer. Education Erickson was born in Marquette, Michigan. He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936 to 1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone ...

Andrew Imbrie Andrew Welsh Imbrie (April 6, 1921 – December 5, 2007) was an American contemporary classical music composer and pianist. Career Imbrie was born in New York City and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to P ...

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a stud ...

, and

Robert Suderburg Robert Charles Suderburg (28 January 1936 in Spencer, Iowa – 22 April 2013 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Biography The son of a jazz trombonist, Suderburg studied composition with Paul Fet ...

. He has collaborated with former classmate

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Ce ...

and

Panaiotis Panaiotis, also known as Peter Ward, is an American vocalist and composer, currently living in Albuquerque. He received his Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory and a Ph.D. in music from the University of California, San Diego. ...

including co-founding the

Deep Listening Band The Deep Listening Band (DLB) was founded in 1988 by Pauline Oliveros ( accordion, "expanded instrument system", composition), Stuart Dempster (trombone, didjeridu, composition) and Panaiotis ( vocals, electronics, composer). David Gamper (key ...

. He commissioned ''Theater Piece for Trombone Player'' (1966) from Oliveros and choreographer Elizabeth Harris. Dempster practices yoga and breath control including circular breathing. He is credited with introducing the didjeridu to North America.

Bibliography

* ''The Modern Trombone: A Definition of Its Idioms''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1979. .

Discography

*''In The Great Abbey of Clement VI'' (1987: New Albion, NA013) *Robert Suderburg, ''Chamber Music III'' ("Night Set"), for trombone and piano (with Robert Suderburg, piano). Also with Suderburg's ''Chamber Music IV'' ("Ritual Series"), for percussion ensemble; ''Chamber music V'' ("Stevenson"), for voice, string quartet, and tape. Elizabeth Suderburg, soprano; Ciompi String Quartet;

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Percussion Ensemble, cond. Charles Owen. (1990: Delfcon Recording Society CD, DRS 2127) *''Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel'', S. Dempster and colleagues (1995: New Albion, NA076) *''Deep Listening'', Stuart Dempster, Panaiotis, & Pauline Oliveros (1989: New Albion) *''On the Boards'' (November 26, 2001 CD NOM11) * ''

Monoliths and Dimensions ''Monoliths & Dimensions'' is the sixth studio album by drone metal band Sunn O))). The album was created and recorded over a period of two years and features the collaborations of composer Eyvind Kang, Australian guitar player Oren Ambarchi, ...

'' *''Lung Tree'' (2005: ReR Megacorp RDD, LC-02677), Stuart Dempster (trombone, didjeridu, garden hose, et al.), Lesli Dalaba (trumpet), Eric Glick Rieman (modified, prepared, and extended Rhodes electric piano, piano, stomp boxes, MOTM modular synthesizer) *''Echoes of Syros'' (2009: Full Bleed Music, FBM 003), Stuart Dempster (trombone, didjeridu, conch, garden hose, toys), Tom Heasley (tuba, electronics), Eric Glick Rieman (prepared Rhodes electric piano) *''Mavericks'' (2015: American Modern Recordings, AMR1041) With

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is m ...

*'' Common Threads'' (Deep Listening, 1996) With Greg Powers (as Pran) *''Raga for the Rainy Season'' (Sparkling Beatnik, 1999)

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

New Albion Artist: Stuart Dempster
scroll to bottom

Listening