“Smart, kicking and as natural as a heartbeat…
an unaffected, personalized amalgam of the most significant creative
(as opposed to political) developments in jazz from the past several years.”
–Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes

“What a fine young quartet this is... they follow many different musical paths,
all the while maintaining a pretty stimulating group voice.”
–Jason Bivins, Cadence Magazine

"One of the most powerful and appealing jazz units currently active."
-Rex Butters, All About Jazz Los Angeles

"This music is a sinuous dance, but one where every move,
every exit and entry, every bob and weave, is made with razor-sharp precision...
the Empty Cage Quartet finds a new way forward for the modern-day free jazz quartet."
-Nate Dorward, Signal to Noise

"The MTKJ Quartet's music is the shit..."
-Gene Armstrong, Tucson Weekly

"Not your typical background jazz music, this local group is in your face,
angular, fresh, and assertively spontaneous."
-Zach Behrens, LAist

"Like urban folk music of the future..."
-Vicente Gispert, Amazing Sounds

"Wildly eclectic..."
-The Santa Fe Reporter

JASON MEARS, from Alaska, is a saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, improviser, and educator who is currently living in New York City. He holds a BFA in Music Education from Boston University and a MFA in African-American Improvisational Music from California Institute of the Arts. Jason has studied with Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Harvey Pittel, Donald Sinta, John Sampen, and Vinny Golia. As well as being a member of the the highly acclaimed Empty Cage Quartet, Jason’s most recent projects include Anthony Braxton’s Trillium E Orchestra, Wadada Leo Smith’s Silver Orchestra, and Harris Eisenstadt’s Canada Day Octet. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Vinny Golia, Anthony Braxton, Frank Gratkowski, Phillip Greenlief, Angelica Sanchez, Leroy Jenkins, Nate Wooley, Ken Filliano, Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Jeff Parker, Mike Pride, Harris Eisenstadt, and Reuben Radding among many others. Jason has recorded on the Clean Feed, Nine Winds, 482, No Business, and pfMENTUM labels.

KRIS TINER is a California-based trumpet player, composer, and improviser. Featured on NPR Music as one of five new trumpet voices impacting modern music, he has been described as “extraordinarily inventive” (Signal to Noise), and “a really compelling voice” (Cadence Magazine). Incorporating ideas from various fields of psychological and transpersonal inquiry, Tiner’s compositions explore connections between improvisational world music traditions and systemic compositional practices, blending deep jazz roots with references to many diverse streams of contemporary and experimental music. Tiner’s music has been performed on five continents, his 40+ CD recordings have been enthusiastically reviewed in the international jazz press, and he has been recognized with awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, IAJE, and the John F. Kennedy Center. Tiner collaborates with New York guitarist Mike Baggetta in the duo Tin/Bag, and is a regular member of the Industrial Jazz Group. He has also collaborated with Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Donald Robinson, Gerry Hemingway, Nels Cline, Kraig Grady, Tatsuya Nakatani, Ken Filiano, Jeff Kaiser, Taylor Ho Bynum, G.E. Stinson, Chris Schlarb, Motoko Honda, Harris Eisenstadt, Phillip Greenlief, and Lukas Ligeti. He holds an MFA in African-American Improvisational Music from California Institute of the Arts and a BA in Music from CSU Bakersfield. Tiner has lectured on both music and visual art, and currently directs the jazz program and teaches courses in jazz and American popular music at Bakersfield College.

PAUL KIKUCHI is a percussionist, composer, and sound artist from Indianola, WA.  After playing in rock bands as a youth, Paul went on to study music at Bennington College (BFA) and California Institute of the Arts (MFA).  He currently works as a musician and educator in Seattle, WA.  Paul is involved in a wide variety of musical projects, ranging from percussion ensembles to experimental jazz quartets.  Much of his work focuses on site-specific performances and recordings in unique acoustic environments such as abandoned train tunnels, nuclear cooling towers, underground cisterns, and historic train stations.  He also constructs instruments that are utilized in his various projects, such as Portable Sanctuary, a Seattle-based group that he leads.  Paul is the founder and artistic director of Prefecture Records, a small label that supports percussionist-led projects and music created in/with unusual acoustic environments and found and invented instruments.  As a music educator Paul has taught at West Sound Academy, The American International School of Budapest, the Oakwood School (Los Angeles) and the Community Arts Partnership (Los Angeles).  He is currently audio faculty at the Art Institute of Seattle, and also works with youth at The Wing Luke Museum and Jack Straw Productions in Seattle.  Paul’s work as a musician and composer has been recognized and supported by Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 4 culture, Artist Trust, Chamber Music America, the American Composer’s Forum, the Jack Straw Foundation, and the Montalvo Center for the Arts, among others.  He has been featured in publications such as the Earshot Jazz Magazine and the International Examiner.

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 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 the Lian Ensemble - a classical Persian group which streches the boundaries of traditional Iranian music, Dark Wing plays a unique blend of world music using free improvisations and original composition for marimba, string bass, tar, setar, ney and a variety of percussion instruments, and the Nate Lapointe Band - a rootsy eclectic songwriting and improvising group. 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 was the Assistant Music Director for the world premiere of the critically acclaimed opera "The Peach Blossom Fan," working closely with Stephin Merritt from the Magnetic fields, and has been an Artist In Residence at Stanford University, performing music by Brian Ferneyhough, and Mark Applebaum. Mr. Johnson recently premiered his own opera “Lucid Dreams” with composer Ethan Gruska.

Individual shots by Karla Jadwin © 2005 Jadwin Photography

---

* DOWNLOAD PDF PRESS KIT * PRESS PHOTOS Click below to download, 300 DPI JPG (for photo on left credit Allen D. Glass II) For booking, concert info, or to join our mailing list please send an email to: emptycagequartet@yahoo.com

---