Gerry Hemingway

Gerry Hemingway has been composing and performing solo and ensemble music since 1974. Mr. Hemingway's newest working band is a quartet with either Ray Anderson, Robin Eubanks-trombone or Herb Robertson-trumpet, Ellery Eskelin-tenor sax and either Mark Dresser, Drew Gress or Mike Formanek on bass. The band performed 40 concerts in the US in 1998 and it's first recording, Johnny's Corner Song was released on the Auricle Record label in March of 1998.

This follows twelve years of performances and recordings of his European based quintet whose next CD will be released on GM Recordings in the fall of 1999 and is entitled Waltzes, Two-Steps and Other Matters of the Heart. Previous recordings include, Special Detail (91), Down to the Wire (93), Demon Chaser (94) and The Marmalade King (95) all on the Swiss Hat Art label and Slamadam (95) and Perfect World (96) on Random Acoustics. The group gave it's final performances this past summer at the 1998 Nickelsdorf Konfrontation and at the Clusone Festival '98.

Recent recordings of his music for solo percussion include Electro-Acoustic Solo Works (84-95) and Acoustic Solo Works (83-94) on the Random Acoustics label. Previous vinyl editions, both still in print, include Solo Works on Auricle Records and Tubworks on the Sound Aspects label.

Mr. Hemingway recently completed two commissions, one from Arcadian Arts with funding from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust for a string quartet entitled "Contigualis". The other entitled "The Visiting Tank" was commissioned by the Parabola Arts Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts and was for a string quartet plus live electronics. The program which was presented at Merkin Hall in New York City on February 25th, 1999 was rounded out with two other chamber works that are revisions of earliar commissions. They include "Aurora", originally commissioned by bass trombonist David Titcomb for sextet and "Circus" originally commissioned by clarinetist Don Byron for quintet. The entire program was recorded for Tzadik records and will be released as a collection of Mr. Hemingway's chamber works in the fall of 1999.

Mr. Hemingway also recently performed in duet with pianist Cecil Taylor in May of 1999 on the invitation of De Singel in Antwerp, Belgium.

One of his more recent commissions was from the Holland Festival and NPS radio of the Netherlands was for a performance in June of 1998. The commission was for a co-composition with the Amsterdam based composer Guus Jannsen. Entitled "Cycles", the work used a unique computer controlled conducting system that allowed the ensemble to play in multiple tempos. In addition to receiving fellowships from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation on the Arts, he has also received four prior commissions from the Parabola Arts Foundation with funding from N.Y.S.C.A. including "Aivilik Rays", a concert length work for solo work for tape and percussion, "Polar", a quadrophonic electronic work, "Lattice Bright in Glory's Lambence" which was premiered by Mr. Hemingway's mixed quintet at Merkin Hall in January of '95 and "Ghost's of Reason", a chamber work for the Episteme ensemble which was premiered at Town Hall in New York City in March of 1991. A recording of that project was made in 1995 and will eventually be released on CRI records. In 1993 he premiered a commission from the Kansas City Symphony with funding from Meet the Composer for a concerto for percussionist and orchestra entitled "Terrains". The work was later revised and performed by the Kölner Rundfunk Orchestra in September of 1997.

His work as a composer and percussionist includes recordings and performances with Derek Bailey, Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Kenny Wheeler, Frank Gratkowski, George Lewis, John Cale and Hank Roberts among many others. He was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet from 1983-1995 and more recently has been performing as a member of the Reggie Workman Ensemble. He is a core member of Anthony Davis' Episteme Ensemble and has performed and recorded as a featured soloist on Mr. Davis' violin concerto "Maps" as well as the opera "Under the Double Moon" and "Tania". The latter was recorded in April of 1999.

Mr. Hemingway also participates in a many collaborative projects including BassDrumBone with Ray Anderson and Mark Helias (for 22 years!). There most recent recording is called Cooked to Perfection released on Auricle Records in March of 1999. Other projects include a trio with German pianist Georg Graewe and cellist Ernst Reijseger whose CD's include, Sonic Fiction, available on the hat Art label, View From Points West CD on Music & Arts, Zwei Nachte in Berlin on Sound Aspects, Flex 27 on Random Acoustics and more recently on Music & Arts, Saturn Cycle. Another ongoing collaboration is a duo with Marilyn Crispell which toured Europe and recorded for Knitting Factory Works in the early summer of '92 as well as a cooperative trio Marilyn Crispell and Barry Guy whose recording Cascades was released in December of 1995. The cooperative quartet, Tambastics with flutist Robert Dick, Denman Maroney on piano and bassist Mark Dresser whose debut CD is on Music & Artsperformed at the 1999 Ulrichs berg Kaliedophon in May of this year. Mr Hemingway is also co-leader of the Iliad Quartet with James Emery for whom he composed an extended suite entitled "Double Blues Crossing", underwritten by the Meet the Composer/Readers Digest Commissioning program. Mr. Hemingway also performs regularly as a duo with live electronics and saxophone virtuoso, Earl Howard. "Tom & Gerry" is another duo with Thomas Lehn who performs live analog electronics. He also has been performing recently with vocalist Andrea Goodman known for her work with Meredith Monk. They have released a recording on Ruby Throated Records entitled Divine Doorways. His work for multimedia includes Waterways, for multiple slide projectors, tape and percussion, as well as an ongoing collaboration with video artist/animator Beth Warshafsky.

Further information about Gerry Hemingway can be found under:
http://userweb.interactive.net/~gerryhem/bio.html