Education/Overview: Born in 1976, acoustic bassist Thomson Kneeland has performed in a plethora of musical idioms and ensemble types. Growing up in New England, he began his formal musical studies with the clarinet and piano at age 7; studying classical and jazz guitar in high school, Kneeland was inspired to also pick up the electric bass. He acquired his first upright bass as a graduation gift from his father, and with that, his performance niche was found. Performing constantly from jazz and rock gigs to chamber ensembles, classical recitals, and musicals, Kneeland took advantage of as many musical performance opportunities as possible throughout the New England area. Kneeland excelled in his academic studies as well, graduating valedictorian and summa cum laude from Worcester Academy in 1993, and attending WPI for physics before pursuing a career in music. Kneeland is primarily self-taught technically on the doublebass, applying the methods and physical philosophy he learned in his studies of classical guitar with Peter Clemente. From 1995-1996, Kneeland furthered his theoretical studies at New England Conservatory with John McNeil, Jerry Bergonzi, Paul Bley, and others. In 1999, Kneeland formally studied arco bass technique with classical bassist Deborah Dunham. From 2007-2009, he undertook compositional analysis lessons with Professor Donna Doyle of Queens College (a protege of Nadia Boulanger), studying counterpoint, Schenkerian analysis and the works and orchestrations of the great classical composers. In 2003, Kneeland moved to New York City to further his artistic career, and considers himself fortunate to be playing and learning from so many of the musicians he was inspired by growing up. Composition: Kneeland has built an oeuvre of over 110 compositions for diverse instrumentations from jazz trio to septet; "chamber ensembles" with accordion, trumpet, bass, and string trio; string quartets; electronica and more.
Kneeland writes idiomatically for various jazz and chamber ensembles; but his most unique compositions incorporate and juxtapose the major musical influences throughout his life: jazz improvisation, chamber music, classical counterpoint, Balkan folk music, Indian Karnatic music, rock, electronica, and free jazz. Musically, Kneeland also draws much philosophical, aesthetic, and structural inspiration from literature, visual art, and mathematics. Approximately 40 of his compositions have been released on various albums with Kneeland as a leader or sideman and have been featured on NPR's All Things Considered and more. In 2003, the Longy School of Music commissioned Kneeland to compose and arrange a suite of pieces for their large jazz ensemble; Kneeland also recently completed two tango arrangements for the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, premiered in fall of 2009. In addition to "paper composition", from 2003-04 Kneeland collaborated with recording engineer Warren Amerman at Rotary Records, developing Grid-X, a project of acoustically based electronica (all sounds produced initially by acoustic instruments). In 2004 the two completed an electronica movie soundtrack for the full length film Magdalena's Brain.
Performance Projects: Kneeland's 2010 release Mazurka for a Modern Man features a compositional project completed in 2007 with a group of his NYC peers. The body of 9 original compositions incorporates a spectrum of influences from Indian tihais to grunge guitar to a chamber quintet and more. Kneeland is at work on a number of other projects for the next few years including a straight up jazz quartet; a project exploring Indian and Karnatic influences with soprano sax, guitar, keyboard and tabla; solo bass repertoire; string quartets and more. He is also working on a body of compositions for his Ensemble Aletheia, a chamber jazz group featuring flute, alto sax, clarinet, trumpet, and doublebass. Kneeland is taking advantage of this instrumentation to focus more on a chamber music style of writing, while still maintaining the elements of improvisation of the jazz idiom. In 2001 Kneeland formed the record label Weltschmerz Records to document his compositional work. The label's catalog presently features three albums by Kakalla and Kneeland's 2010 release Mazurka for a Modern Man. The Seeds of Analog Rebellion reached #1 on Chicago jazz station WNUR, #3 on WEFT, and #7 on the Earshot charts in Canada. Performing Credits: In addition to his four releases as a leader, Kneeland has been featured on over forty released recordings to date as a sideman. He has had the opportunity to perform and record with such notables as Kenny Werner, Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Mark Turner, Sheila Jordan, Danilo Perez, Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Jon Hart, Lynne Arriale, Rich Perry, Dick Oatts, John Riley, Ron Blake, Fred Hersch, Matt Wilson, Scott Wendholt, Jed Levy, Steve Davis, Herb Pomeroy, Joe Maneri, George Colligan, Greg Osby, Mick Goodrick, Donny McCaslin, Bob Moses, the Cab Callaway Orchestra, Matana Roberts, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, and Rick Margitza as well as poet Lawson Inada, composers George Russell and Gunther Schuller, comedian Jonathan Katz, and classical recording artist Stephen Osborne. Recent years have found Kneeland performing internationally at jazz festivals and clubs throughout the world at such venues as Jordan Hall, the Kennedy Center, Medellin University of Colombia, Dartmouth College, The University of Pittsburgh, The University of New Hampshire, the Perth Jazz Festival, McGill University in Montreal, Trinity College, Williams College, Brown University, the Discover Jazz Festival, and the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, as well as the Knitting Factory in NYC, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival and much more. He has performed for radio and television throughout the US and Canadaincluding CBC Canada, WGBH, WNDS and more. Kneeland was also featured on WRNI's Focus on Rhode Island, Outsight Radio Hours, and his compositions featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Teaching Credits:
|