Transparent Quartet

Phillip Johnston's Transparent Quartet

       Phillip Johnston - soprano, alto & tenor saxophones
       Joe Ruddick - piano, baritone saxophone
       Mark Josefsberg - vibraphone
       David Hofstra - bass, tuba

THE TRANSPARENT QUARTET is the group led by Phillip Johnston in the late 90s , continuing in the stream of the famed, now-defunct downtown ensembles The Microscopic Septet and Big Trouble. They are lying dormant for the moment, waiting to be resusitated. This four piece unit combines influences ranging from classical European music, twentieth-century composition, the west coast "cool school," and experimental jazz. In addition to original works by Johnston and pianist Joe Ruddick, the band's repetoire features arrangements of music written by Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, Charles Mingus, Art Pepper, Steve Lacy, and Charles Gounod. A drum-less band, The Transparent Quartet aims to combine the discipline and dynamics of chamber music with the energy and freedom of jazz.

An accomplished bandleader, musical arranger, and jazz, film, and theater composer, Phillip Johnston has utilized The Transparent Quartet to make music for several projects, including: scores for silent films: "The Unknown" (1927), by Tod Browning, starring Lon Chaney & Joan Crawford, & "The Georges Méliès Project," featuring 7 films by the French pioneer of the fantastic & delirious. The TQ also performed an original score (called "sweetly lolloping by The New York Times, and "sourly bouncy" by The Village Voice) by Johnston, "The Further Adventures of Slap & Tickle", during a 3 week run at Dance Theater Workshop with Keely Garfield's Sinister Slapstick. 1999 saw a new collaboration, "Minor Repairs Necessary" The TQ has performed at the Texaco New York & Panasonic Jazz Festivals, on tour in Florence, Italy, live on WKCR-FM, WFMU-FM & WNYC-FM. Their forth-coming second CD on Koch Jazz, of "The Georges Melies Project," is due in October 1999.

Joe Ruddick
Piano, Baritone Saxophone

Joe has performed at jazz venues throughout U.S., Canada and Europe, and as a solo pianist accompanying silent films at the Thalia Theatre. He has appeared as pianist and synthesist on film soundtracks The Music of Chance, Faithful, and Umbrellas. His dozens of recording projects have ranged from "New Music for Quadruple Octet" where Mr. Ruddick performed his own compositions on over 20 instruments, to "Dewdrops in the Garden" by the platinum selling pop music group DEEE-LITE, to Jazz and New Music recordings as pianist/synthesist/saxophonist with Phillip Johnston's Big Trouble, William Parker, and Lou Grassi.

"Brilliant keyboards..." - Downbeat Magazine

"Some kind of genius, Mr. Ruddick is a brilliant instrumentalist making inspired music." - Option Magazine

Mark Josefsberg
Vibraphone

Mark has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad at clubs that include The Bottom Line, Sweet Basil, Visiones, Birdland and The Knitting Factory, as well as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Flushing Town Hall. He's been featured in the Dewars, Greenwich Village, Newport, Panasonic and New York Texaco Jazz Festivals, The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and The Patras Jazz Festival in Greece.

Mark currently performs regularly with his trio "Threeedom". He is presently recording three CD's, (one as leader and one as co-leader with Charles Sibirsky) all due to be released in early 1998.

Mark has performed and recorded with many artists throughout his career including: Kenny Drew, Jr., Don Cherry, Walter Perkins, Joe Lovano, Chip Jackson, Sal Salvador, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Frank Wess, Terry Clarke, Gene Bertoncini, Billy Mitchell and Reggie Workman.

"...With his harmonic strength and persistent lyricism, [Mark] is able to apply, rather than wallow in, his abundant technique ...Josefsberg can cook!"
-Bob Blumenthal, Writer for Jazz Times and Downbeat Magazine

David Hofstra bass, tuba

Dave has played and/or recorded with John Zorn, The Waitresses, Guy Klucevsek, Wayne Horvitz, Bobby Radcliff, Earl King, Bobby Previte, The Contortions, Eliot Sharp, Marshall Crenshaw, William Parker, The Metropolitan Klezmer Orchestra, Jaki Byard, and Robin Holcomb. He was profiled in the first issue of Bass Player Magazine.

"Hofstra himself displayed the relaxed intelligence on this tribute piece and elsewhere that has been central to all of Johnston's bands."
- Boston Globe.

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