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NINE WINDS DISCOGRAPHY:NWCD0245 Making Room for Spaces
NWCD0258 Day of the Race
Jason Mears - saxophones/clarinet
Kris Tiner - trumpets/flugelhorn
Paul Kikuchi - drumset/percussion
Ivan Johnson - contrabassThe MTKJ QUARTET has been blazing trails across the West Coast jazz and creative music scene, delivering their own highly intense brand of new jazz which has been described as “an example of well-stoked spontaneous combustion” (Tucson Weekly) and a “dynamic cauldron of creativity” (All About Jazz). The group’s original compositions explore a diverse mix of musical influences within a unique modular system of organizing notated and improvised elements. With several tours under their belt and two CDs released on the legendary Nine Winds label, the MTKJ Quartet has developed a music which is being praised as a substantial and original contribution to jazz on the left coast. Members of the group have worked with luminaries of creative music such as Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Milford Graves, Leroy Jenkins, Charles Gayle, Charlie Haden, Phillip Greenlief, Gerry Hemingway, Jack Wright, Michael Vlatkovich, Frank Gratkowski, Steuart Liebig, Brad Dutz, John Bergamo, and Jeff Kaiser.
JASON MEARS, from Alaska, is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, improviser, and educator who is very active in the Los Angeles new music scene. He holds a BFA in Music Education from Boston University and a MFA in African-American Improvisational Music from California Institute of the Arts, and has studied with Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Harvey Pittel, Paul Novros, Donald Sinta, John Sampen, and Vinny Golia. Jason's most recent projects include the MTKJ Quartet, a 2 Alto Saxophone/2 Trumpet group (with Nathan Herrera, Bill Clark, and Kris Tiner), Vinny Golia's Music for Like Instruments (saxophone quartet), The Vinny Golia Large Ensemble, the Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet, and the Kreative Orchestra of Los Angeles (KOLA) - an 11-piece ensemble he initiated along with drummer/composer Harris Eisenstadt which "functions as a mobile laboratory for some of L.A.'s musical masterminds to publicly swap experimental compositions and performances" (Rex Butters, All About Jazz Los Angeles). Jason has made frequent interdisciplinary collaborations with filmmaker Allen Glass and dancer Miyuki Kobayashi, and has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Frank Gratkowski, Phillip Greenlief, Jack Wright, Leroy Jenkins, Mark Trayle, Michael Vlatkovich, Scott Walton, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, Steuart Liebig, Harris Eisenstadt, and Damon Smith. He has recorded on the Nine Winds and pfMENTUM labels, and is a co-founder and curator of the monthly OKIRO Creative and Experimental Arts Series at Rocco in Hollywood.
KRIS TINER is active on the West Coast jazz and creative music scene as a trumpet player, composer, and improviser. He has toured and performed his own music throughout North America and in West Africa, and has collaborated on numerous interdisciplinary projects involving dance, poetry and spoken word, visual art, film projection, and animation, as well as having written and performed music for TV, radio, and film. Kris has performed and/or recorded with Vinny Golia, Leroy Jenkins, Gerry Hemingway, Wadada Leo Smith, Harris Eisenstadt, Phillip Greenlief, Michael Vlatkovich, Joe LaBarbera, Steuart Liebig, Bill Horvitz, Brad Dutz, The Industrial Jazz Group, the Kreative Orchestra of Los Angeles (KOLA), The Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet, and the Los Angeles Trumpet Quartet. His own recent musical projects include the MTKJ Quartet, the Tiner/Phillips/Schoenbeck Trio – a trumpet/bassoon/electric guitar trio which performs original compositions and improvisations that explore the more subtle aspects of their unusual instrumentation, and a duo collaboration with New York guitarist Mike Baggetta. Originally from Wasco, California, Kris holds an MFA in African-American Improvisational Music from California Institute of the Arts where he worked closely with Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Vinny Golia, Charlie Haden, Kobla Ladzekpo, and Edward Carroll. He has lectured on both music and visual art, and currently teaches and directs the jazz program at Bakersfield College.
PAUL KIKUCHI, from Indianola, Washington, is an active percussionist, composer, and instrument maker. After pursuing classical studies with Seattle Symphony percussionist Howard Gilbert, Paul attended Bennington college where he received a BA in music and worked closely with Milford Graves and Charles Gayle. Having worked as a performer and educator while living abroad in Japan and Hungary, Paul recently returned to the US to complete his MFA in African-American Improvisational Music at California Institute of the Arts, where he studied with Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Randy Gloss, Swapan Chaudhuri, and Joe LaBarbera. Paul's current projects include collaborations with trumpeter Bill Clark, dancer Miyuki Kobayashi, film maker Allen Glass, and artist Tony Datillo. Paul is music faculty at the West Sound Academy, in Suquamish, WA.
IVAN JOHNSON, from Los Angeles, completed his BFA degree at California Institute of the Arts in 2003, where he studied chamber music, jazz, composition, theory and arranging. He has studied contrabass with Charlie Haden, Darek Oles, and Peter Rofe; arranging and composition with Michael Pisaro, Marc Lowenstein and Mark Menzies; and Baroque music with Allen Vogel and Tisha Goldstein. Ivan has performed all over the United States with an eclectic group of ensembles, and recently made his solo debut at the 2003 Athens Music Festival in Athens, Georgia. As a musician on the progressive music scene he has premiered compositions by Marc Lowenstein, Vinny Golia, Mark Menzies, Anne LeBaron, Michael Pisaro, James Tenney, Kris Tiner, and Jason Mears. Mr. Johnson’s current projects include Tango Nuevo - a group focused on original new tango music, the Lian Ensemble - a classical Persian group which streches the boundaries of traditional Iranian music, and the Vinny Golia Quintet and Large Ensemble. Ivan is head of the jazz program at Oakwood High School in Los Angeles, and he co-founded the Academy of Creative Music. Recently Mr. Johnson has been the Assistant Music Director for the world premiere of the critically acclaimed opera "The Peach Blossom Fan," and was an Artist In Residence at Stanford University, performing music by Brian Ferneyhough.
