Tomchess & The Lovedogs
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Tomchess & The Lovedogs

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Band World Jazz

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Tomchess & The Lovedogs-In The Beautiful Future
Buy it here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/tomchess
99 cent song downloads here: www.digstation.com
Streaming here: www.myspace.com/tomchess
and here: www.indie-music.com

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TOMCHESS is a Multi-instrumentalist/Improviser/Composer. He plays Reeds, Western Flute, Ney Flute, Oud, Djembé and Guitar. He has performed with Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson' Decoding Society, Butch Morris's Sheng Skyscraper, recorded with Tenor players Dewey Redman, and Pharoah Sanders, Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun and drummer Cody Moffett. He has also led a guitar trio with Drummer Phil Haynes and bassist Drew Gress called Seven Times a Year. He has studied Middle Eastern and West African music spending time in West Africa playing and performing. He has studied with Bassam Saba, Tidiani Bangoura, Abdul Aziz Tourè and Mohammad Camarra. He has performed in Italy, Africa, Holland, Canada, and throughtout the United States. He currently lives in NYC where he performs in the trio: Music of Their Disapearance with Matt Heyner and David Gould, his ensembles The Lovedogs, and Bombpop.

TOMCHESS & THE LOVEDOGS
tomchess first formed the Lovedogs in 1999 as a vehicle to explore musical visions coming from his many experiences within wide-ranging musical worlds:

"...My inspiration is drawn from my evolving realizations of love and life; listening to an inner convergence, the rhythms of life, nature/city sounds, my experiences as a human being and artist and listening to music from all parts of the world. The deeper I listen, the more I hear unity/universals in how sound is used and celebrated, as well as differences. World culture is chock-full of beautiful and multi-colored infinitudes of expression through sound. Music embraces within it the means to overcome and transcend religious, political and social boundaries as a powerful transformative vehicle. Its also simply just a hell of alot of fun. My playing is an expression of my past experiences re-coded into a vision through the present co-emergent moment towards beneficial future possibilities; its an expression of celebration.

...so i've always had a bit of the nomad and gypsy in me, it was part of my experience growing up in the sense that my family moved 19 times before i was 17yrs. old (new town, new school, new friends etc and hence the song title '19 times in 17 years'). As in any nomadic vibe, one foot is always firmly set on the gound while the other is always on the move, looking for new opportunities for experience and transformation. musically i've been somewhat like this too (as i feel its just spiritually part of my personality and 'make-up')....so while i started playing american ' rock' music (which is itself a hybrid 'cultured', melting-pot mix of just about every other music there ever was) through that i quickly began musical journeys into blues and funk, electronic musics, african and world 'folk musics', Ottoman, Sufi, Gypsy, Jazz, Free-improvised music. With the near east stuff i like to use the Turkish/arabic modes (maqams) functional, textural and melodic harmony, odd time signatures, mixed with 'free jazz' and 'free' improvisational elements, soundsculpture-collage textures, occasional sampling(as subtext) and grooves(which have always been a central focus) towards and into the rhythmic 'pulse' idea of movement. i like to find different intriguing balances between improvisation and sound design within the feeling and mood of Song. Its a constant journey towards a deeper/wider resonance of Unity. "

"...Tomchess & The Lovedogs....drinking from the deep clear sufi wells and ascending to dolphynian heights of sensoral grooving bliss..."-Charles Blass, 89.9 fm WKCR, NYC.

Dervishly Ambient Melodies, Funky World Grooves, Improvisation; A Globally Inspired Sound Transcending Genre.

THE LOVEDOGS ARE:

SHANE SHANAHAN-PERCUSSION He has studied drumming traditions from all over the world and combines them with his training in classical Western music, jazz, and rock to create his own unique style. Since January of 2001, he has been touring around the world performing with Yo-Yo Ma as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble. He is also a member of frame drum master Glen Velez’s Handance ensemble. In addition, he has performed with jazz legend Sonny Fortune, African multi-instrumentalist Foday Musa Suso, master of Persian music Kayhan Kalhor, Bang on a Can All-Star Robert Black, and composer Philip Glass, among others. He has also worked with Indonesian gamelans, Caribbean Steel Drum bands, throat singing choirs, free improvisation groups, contemporary music ensembles, orchestras, folk singers and songwriters.
He has presented workshops, performed and studied in India, New Zealand, and Turkey as well as all over the U.S. and Canada.

RAVI PADMANABHA-PERCUSSION. a percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, improviser/composer. At age 18, he began his formal Tabla studies with Pandit Ananda Gopal, and later with Pandit Samar Saha of Calcutta. He then continued with Tabla Maestro Pandit Sharda Sahai. He worked for Trivini, an Indian Classical Music organization, which allowed him to meet and learn more about his rich musical heritage.