David "FuZe" Fiuczynski - Guitar
Born in the US, FuZe grew up in Germany where he was always interested in mixing and “fuzing” different music elements. Studying at New England Conservatory in the 3rd Stream dept only furthered this interest. The 3rd Stream department, founded by Gunther Schuller, is an experimental improvisation and composition concept with an emphasis on ear training. FuZe studied with and/or performed with Dave Holland, George Russell, Bob Moses, Ran Blake but equally important was the New York school of hard knocks with MeShell Ndegeocello, Bernie Worrell, Billy Hart, Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Black Rock Coalition. This is where Fuze's signature underground cult band the Screaming Headless Torsos came into being. Returning to NEC, Fuze received a master’s degree (2008) studying microtonality with Joe Maneri, Indian melodic concepts with sitarist Peter Row, Turkish melodic concepts with Bob Labaree and music of the Chinese ghuzeng (Chinese zither) with Shin Yi Yang.
“Much of my musical inspiration comes from non-musical sources: paintings and East Asian and Arabic calligraphy and architecture. I love the colors of Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, the Fauvists and German expressionists, the jagged explosions of Peter Voulkos’ pottery and the delicate restraint of Taoist poetry. I also really admire musicians with a unique and fiery sound like Eric Dolphy, Nina Hagen, Don Pullen and now Rudresh Mahanthappa!"
FuZe has recorded, toured and/or performed with Stewart Copeland, Jack DeJohnette, John Medeski, Vernon Reid, Cindy Blackman, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dennis Chambers, Hiromi, Kenny Garrett, Hadisic New Wave and many more. He has performed and/or headlined at major festivals in New York, Tokyo, Montreal, Banlieues Bleues (Paris), Montreaux Jazz, North Sea Jazz (Holland) and more, appeared on TV shows like Jay Leno, Arsenio Hall and Top of the Pops in London, live radio broadcasts for the BBC and NPR’s Toast of the Nation. FuZe is also a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2009 Mass Arts Council Fellow in composition and started teaching at Berklee College of Music in 2002 where he directs Berklee’s first ever microtonal groove Institute with his Planet MicroJamz® concept. This is based on a mix of western classical and non-western microtonal modes and harmonies over all the phat beatz you always wanted to hear!
The Planet MicroJam Ensemble is comprised of Alex Bailey - drums, Dywane ''MonoNeon'' - bass and Utar Artun - microtonal keyboards.
Utar Artun - microtonal keyboards, is a highly regarded pianist, percussionist composer and arranger from Ankara, Turkey. He has an utterly unique keyboard style based on advanced microtonal studies and his Turkish music heritage. Utar has performed with Kevin Eubanks, Bobby McFerrin, Maria Schneider, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Simon Shaheen, Kenwood Dennard and Jason Linder. He has arranged many movie soundtracks and oldies for symphonic orchestra and is the 18th HALICI MIDI Composition Contest winner. Currently he is involved with the Rhythm of the Universe Project. He arranged a music video with ROTU called for the most recent earthquake that devastated the city of Van, Turkey. The music video had numerous broadcasts on national and international TV channels.
Born in Kansas City,
Alex Bailey - drums (affectionally known as 'BisQuit) has performed with Kirk Whalum, Oscar Peterson, Jack DeJohnette, Andre Ward and the Jubilee Christian Church Music Ministry along with a host of others!
Dywane "MonoNeon" Thomas Jr. - bass is from Memphis, TN and has performed with The Funk Brothers, The Four Tops, Jack Dejohnette, The Bar-Kays, Ne-Yo ("Libra Scale" album), Deniece Williams, George Duke, and many others. He's also an experimental composer, developing his very own ''Southern Soul Micro''® sound that involves microtonality, concepts of various visual art movements in music and the greasiest grooves this side of the Mississippi!!
www.PlanetMicroJam.com
