Andy McWain
Boston-born improvising pianist/composer Andy McWain has performed and/or recorded with such artists as Karl Berger, Assif Tsahar, Tiger Okoshi, Santi Debriano, Brian Melvin, Daniel Levin, Tatsuya Nakatani, Joe Giardullo, John Dirac, Ted Sirota, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Jorrit Dijkstra, Hafez Modirzadeh, Reuben Radding, Albey Balgochian, Laurence Cook, Dino Govoni, Luther Gray, Forbes Graham, Jim Robitaille, Brooke Sofferman, Bruno Raberg, Dennis Warren's Full Metal Revolutionary Jazz Ensemble, and the Zen Bastards, among others. He studied at UMass-Dartmouth, the Aspen Music School, and the New England Conservatory of Music (M.M., composition), and participated in artist residencies at Yaddo (NY), the Atlantic Center for the Arts (FL) with Butch Morris, and the Akiyoshidai International Art Village (JPN). McWain also founded and produces the Audible Think Improvised Music Series in Massachusetts. McWain spent three months in early 2006 in a jazz quintet house band at the club _Number Five_ in Shanghai, China.
McWain's recordings include his quartet debut STARFISH with saxophonist Assif Tsahar, bassist Noah Jarrett, and drummer Chris Poudrer. In December, the trio recording McWain-Balgochian-Cook: VIGIL was released and features McWain with Albey Balgochian, and veteran drummer Laurence Cook. His newest recording Andy McWain Ensemble: RESEMBLANCE was released in late 2007. It features eight musicians (including Sofia Koutsovitis, Assif Tsahar, Rick Britto, Chris Poudrier, Jeremy Udden, David Landoni, and Albey Balgochian) in various combinations from solo piano, duos, and trios to sextet.
As a composer, he has written concert music and jazz, and has received grants, honors, and awards from the American Music Center, ASCAP, Meet the Composer/New England, the Helen Ellis Trust, and the American Composers Forum/Boston Chapter. He served twice as resident composer with New Bedford Symphony Orchestra (MA) and wrote several works for them including a choral symphony commissioned by a local cultural consortium and the AT&T Foundation. His recent creative efforts include hybrid concert/improvised works and works for his own ensemble. The hybrid works include "Impervious to Weather" (2004), premiered by violinist Joanna Kurkowicz and a composer-led trio of piano, bass, and saxophone, and "Sovereignty" (2005) premiered by the Radius Ensemble with the composer at the piano.
In December '05, he made a live recording (at the Audible Think Improvised Music Series) with the Andy McWain Ensemble (McWain: elec pno; Marcus Monteiro: alto sax; Jim Robitaille: gtr; Sean Farias: bass; and Brooke Sofferman: drums). He has also recently recorded sessions for a new Hilary Noble Quartet project, a duo/trio project with cellist Daniel Levin, the Kevin Frenette 4 (with Tatsuya Nakatani), and a group project called Gryllus. McWain also played on a large ensemble project of NY saxophonist/composer Joe Giardullo that will be released in early 2008 on Mode Records.
d i s c o g r a p h y:
Andy McWain Ensemble: RESEMBLANCE [Fuller Street Music 3146 (2007)
McWain/Balgochian/Cook: VIGIL [Fuller Street Music 2166, (2005)]
Andy McWain Quartet: STARFISH [Fuller Street Music 8854, (2002)]
Andy McWain Ensemble: LIVE tba... (coming soon!)
Andy McWain/Daniel Levin Duo: INTERPRETER (coming soon!)
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Joe Giardullo's G2 Large Ensemble (tba) Spring '08 on Mode Records...
Kevin Frenette 4: CONNECTIONS [Fuller Street Music 1781, (2007)]
Marcus Monteiro: MM4 [Whaling City Sound, 2006]
Zen Bastards & Friends: TBA (2006)
Michael Hicks: Unison (JZ Recordings/Summit, 2005/06)
Shipyard Wreck: Reflect & Shine [Whaling City Sound, 2005]
John Dirac & Andy McWain: Prism/Resemblance [Indie (2005)]
Albey Balgochian - Albey's Outrio: Color Monday (Abop TV, 2004]
Darkfeather: Freedom Flight EP (Waters Bros. Music)
Dennis Warren: 8404 Jam [fmrje factory cd, 2004]
Albey's Bandwidth Xtra: Breakage (dvd, cd-r, 2004)
John Dirac Group: Red Hawk Will Fly (Indie, 2004)
Hilary Noble: Noble Savage [Whaling City Sound (2002)]