Dennis Rea Home Page | Compositions
Book of Puzzles
Eric Apoe & THEY
Soundtrack Boulevard, 2005Book of Puzzles by Eric Apoe & THEY is Eric's fourth CD release, and the consensus is that it's Eric's finest effort to date. Book of Puzzles contains 11 memorable new tunes from Eric's bottomless songbook and, in addition to the core members of his group THEY (Eric Apoe, Alicia Allen, Damien Aitken, Tige De Coster, Olli Klomp, John Olufs, and Dennis Rea), is augmented by additional musicians ranging from a string section arranged by Joanna Hood to musical saw virtuoso Reggie Miles to Willie Nelson's harmonica player Mickey Raphael. The disc is available online through the Eric Apoe & THEY Web site (click Music). This collection of songs resonates perfectly with the times we live in.
"Eric Apoe is that rare songwriter whose musical spectrum is as large as his worldview. With Book of Puzzles, his fourth release on Soundtrack Blvd Music, a cornucopia of romance, dissent, and speculation spills out into a galaxy of musical saws, pipes, and whistles ... where string quartets and klezmer groups speak softy in the corners of international rock clubs and jazz dives."
—The Music Blog"A welcome return for the iconoclastic singer-songwriter. There's both trouble and beauty on this release ("Times Of Trouble" is one of Apoe's best songs with its pipes), mad circus waltzes, a gritty voice, and disturbing images. He's one of the most powerful troubadours performing, and an ace, imaginative band does his work full justice. Like the best wines, Apoe ages superbly."
—Chris Nickson
Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
Han Bennink / Wang Yong / Andreas Schreiber
Dennis Rea / Steffen Schorn / Claudio Puntin
Lesli Dalaba
Noise Asia NAKIT 01/02 CD (double CD)"The album was recorded at Keep in Touch on November 1996 during the Beijing International Jazz Festival. A live recording of improvised performances by Chinese artist Wong Yong with six international jazz musicians (Han Bennink, drums; Wang Yong, guzheng; Andreas Schreiber, violin; Dennis Rea, guitar; Steffen Schorn, reeds; Claudio Puntin, reeds; Lesli Dalaba, trumpet). The music was performed by different combinations of artists in the form of Free Jazz of American style, pioneer improvisation of European style, and traditional folk music of Oriental style; not only can these three interflow [sic], but also stir up an ardent sparkle [!] in the process of merging together."
Quite possibly the first recording of free improvisation to emerge from China.
Strong Currents
Hector Zazou
Materiali Sonori Sonora Portaits 2, 2003 (deluxe Italian edition w/100-page book)
Telescopic PIC 6 (French edition)Acclaimed French composer Zazou’s follow-up to the masterful Songs from the Cold Seas, Strong Currents is a collection of songs composed for a top-flight cast of female singers including Laurie Anderson, Lisa Germano, Jane Birkin, and Melanie Gabriel (daughter of Peter). Dennis appears on the track “In the Middle of the Night,” sung by Lori Carson (Golden Palominos) ( listen to MP3 clip ). Other musicians on the album include Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Rieflin, Stefano Bollani, Lone Kent, and Renaud Pion.
"Strong Currents is 13 tracks of pure elegance from Hector Zazou, featuring 12 female vocalists, plucked from an international musical playground ... Strong Currents features not only a huge range of vocalists, but also includes an eclectic portfolio of session musicians who blend the organic sounds of flute, oboe, bassoon, trumpets, and clarinet seamlessly into Zazou's elaborate layers of electronic sound and sampling ... There is no doubt that Strong Currents is one of Zazou's finest works to date, a deeply romantic album, blending a huge array of vocal talents into a warm sea of undulating strings and classical themes, but with a strangely contemporary electronic edge ... A must for his legion of followers."
—Barcode Reviews
Stackpole
Stackpole
First World Music FWD01.08, 2001"...a completely assured amalgam of idioms in a pulsing nonce-music, a free-improv-supercharged free jazz that roars, keens, and soars, and yet can just as convincingly dissolve into moody quiescence ... the selections from real-time Stackpole improvisations heard on this disc descend, then slip or duck away, then reemerge. Whether Stackpole storms or lulls, its music is startling and distinctive ... A truly remarkable document of the fruition of post-free jazz in Seattle."
— Earshot Jazz"You can't really get further outside than where Stackpole are planted, on a jazz-ragged landscape strewn with scattered shrapnel, clouds of smoke, eerie shrieks after dark. The first, self-titled disc from this quartet of much-feared Seattle improvisers shows a band in full control of their chaos. Stackpole come on with an aggressive energy that keeps its musical direction even as it busts through every reasonable boundary."
— Seattle Weekly
Purchase Stackpole at Barnes & Noble
Radioation
Eric Apoe & They
Soundtrack Boulevard Music, 2002"With a combination of all-star musicians such as Christine Gunn on cello, Tom Armstrong on percussion, Alicia Allen on violin, Hugh Sutton on accordion, Dennis Rea on guitar, Tige DeCoster on bass, and Damien Aitken on alto sax, Eric Apoe & They take us on a walk through the decay and pathos of the American Dream choking itself with its own hands. Radioation is proof of why Eric Apoe is widely regarded as one of the best songwriters on the West Coast."
—Audio Kingdom
Road Movies
LAND
First World Music FWD 01.09, 2001Named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz).
"LAND plays across a densely contoured terrain, both bound and endless, dangerous and beautiful. This electric-acoustic quintet, led by sound creator Jeff Greinke, has built on the extended, ambient rumbles of its previous work and emerged into a more unhinged element, fired by the addition of power drummer Bill Rieflin and some especially lacerating and evocative work from guitarist Dennis Rea. Pensive caresses, urban grooves, electronic retorts, heavy breathing, and off-roading, this band moves through it all with a perfect mix of speed and discomfort."
— Seattle Weekly(Four stars) "Composed of some Seattle-based space music renegades, LAND, in its album, Road Movies, maneuvers beyond its post-Miles Davis, techno-psychedelia into more structured, but no less inventive terrain of electro-improvisations. Trumpeter Lesli Dalaba in particular avoids the Davis phrasing and muted sonorities that mark most trumpeters working techno-jazz improvisations, including good ones like Tim Hagans and Toshinori Kondo. A licensed acupuncturist, Dalaba brings needle-point precision to her playing with a muscular tone redolent of Freddie Hubbard. Land is centered by ambient explorer Jeff Greinke. Usually found in a more serene, Eno-esque zone, with Land he locks in electro-grooves with drummer Bill Rieflin and the fudgy bass lines of Fred Chalenor, and decorates the angular frameworks with electronic squiggle and whorls. Guitarist Dennis Rea, whose roots go back to the space band Earthstar, brings a mix of jazz phrasing and rock tonalities that keeps Land off the ground. Compared with the droning, noodling meander of rock improvisers like Tortoise, Land's improvisations are GPS guided, negotiating intricate routes and switchback curves."
—John Diliberto, Pulse!
Purchase Road Movies at Barnes & Noble
Dream Asylum
Eric Apoe
Soundtrack Boulevard Music, 2000
Owasso Night Atlas
Infrasound Collective (various)
Infrasound INFCD003, 2000
Dennis Rea appears on two tracks of this wide-ranging compilation: a studio improvisation with the Edge Trio (with saxophonists Paul Chuey and Michael Monhart) and an excerpt from a large-group improvisation hosted by the Tentacle in an abandoned Seattle steel mill.
"Containing a wide variety but completely cohesive mix of downtempo dub, performance noise, and beat-driven soundscapes, Owasso Night Atlas is a slick, smart, and thoroughly addictive compilation from Infrasound Collective."
— Outburn Magazine"A very intriguing release that crosses over many territories and yet still manages to hold on to its integrity; it surprises the listener with every turn and with every track, capturing our attention and holding it right through until the very end."
—Richard Di Santo, Incursion Publishing
Bleeding Laughter
Rik Wright
HipSync, 2000Guitarist Rik Wright's improvised meetings with Dennis Rea, Ed Petry, Wally Shoup, Toshi Makihara, and Jeph Jerman.
Wigwam Bendix
Craig Flory & Doug Haire
Franchise Records, 1998"[Wigwam Bendix] might just be the great modern jazz statement Seattle has been hinting at for the past five years."
— The RocketFeaturing Craig Flory, Doug Haire, Eric Amrine, Brent Arnold, Christian Asplund, Mike Bisio, Andrew Drury, Geoff Harper, Eyvind Kang, Dennis Rea, Wally Shoup, Skerik, Matthew Sperry, Mike Stone, Hans Teuber, Tim Young, and many more.
Swimming
Jeff Greinke
Prudence, 1998
Archipelago
LAND
Periplum, 1997"This album makes it plain that improvisation and innovation are in good health in Seattle. LAND, on its second album, continues to construct transporting, otherworldly terrains of rich melody, washes of acoustic and electric sound, and pulsing and jangling rhythm. Add to that fine improv by all band members... LAND compares well with any of Bill Laswell/Jon Hassell/Krakatau's projects."
—Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz
Songs of Love and Doom
Eric Apoe
Soundtrack Boulevard, 1996"Performing for over two decades, Eric Apoe remains one of the premier singer/songwriters in the Northwest. His raw, distinctive style is expressed through his songs with satiric honesty and dark humor. Having lived on the beatnik downside of L.A.'s Hollywood 'show-biz' boulevard, Eric's songs infuse his twisted perspective on social life and existence into music he calls 'Urban Doom.'"
Assemblage II
LAND, various
Extreme, 1995Label compilation featuring LAND, Vidna Obmana, Muslimgauze, Pablo's Eye, Soma, and others.
Big Weather
Jeff Greinke
Linden, 1995
LAND
LAND
Extreme (Australia), 1995"LAND breaks barriers on the obstacle course of East-meets-West fusion... exotic and liquid quicksilver improvisation... a revisioning of Fourth World shibboleths upon which found sounds are cleverly flourished."
— The Wire (UK)"To listen to LAND is to imagine what the product of a collaboration between Brian Eno and Miles Davis would have sounded like. Muted trumpets blend eloquently with mysterious washes of keyboard and world rhythms. LAND is a strangely beautiful and haunting recording that hopefully will garner a lot of attention for composer/keyboardist Jeff Greinke... a truly brilliant record not to be missed by those unafraid to hear new directions in jazz and experimental music."
— Stained Pages (Toronto)"LAND demonstrate themselves to be a top-rate group with a keen ear for layers of diverse musics... The group has a focus which encompasses many genres, often simultaneously."
—Chris Meloche, Detroit Metro Times"Exotic, transglobal soundscapes... sounds like Spike Jones meets John Cage at a rave party."
—LAND feature on the nationally syndicated radio program Echoes.
Shadow in Dreams
Dennis Rea
China Record Company (P.R. China), 1990One of the first recordings of creative music released by a foreign musician in communist China, Shadow in Dreams sold an estimated 40,000 copies and was listed among the year's 10 best recordings by China Youth Daily.
Shredder Orpheus
Throughout the soundtrack to this feature film I was the sonic alter-ego of the lead character Orpheus, a guitarist who acquires a stringed instrument called the Lyrax that imparts supernatural powers. Music composed by Roland Barker and performed by Dennis Rea, Amy Denio, and Bill Rieflin. Shredder Orpheus was winner of First Prize at the Baltimore and New Orleans Independent Film Festivals.
The Shredders
Image Network, 1990; VHS only
Locale
Doug Haire
Independently produced cassette
Third Seattle Improvised Music Festival
Catabatics, various
Independently produced cassette, 1988Dennis Rea appears with Catabatics (saxophonist Wally Shoup, keyboardist Charley Rowan, and drummer Harlan Mark Vale) and with guitarists Eric Amrine and Robert Jenkins, drummer Katie O'Looney, and cellist Lori Goldston.
Upright
Wally Shoup & Doug Haire
Independently produced cassette"Duos and trios that are strange and languid, aquatic and breathing, conveying distant mummering in clear air and vastness. Very cool guitar throughout."
—Bret Hart, OPTION
Secretions
Color Anxiety, various
C/Z Records, 1988A sampler LP documenting the state of the mid-80s Seattle rock scene. Includes Fred, Amy Denio's Couch of Sound, Vexed, Crypt Kicker 5, Green River, Tad, and others. Color Anxiety were Eric Amrine and Dennis Rea (guitars), Michael Gittleman (bass), Rob Angus (vocals, turntable), and Burt Coffin (drums).
Schwingungen
Earthstar, various
Sky Records, 1986, reissued on CD in the 1990sA Sky Records sampler including tracks by Earthstar, Cluster & Eno, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, Harald Grosskopf, Adelbert Von Deyen, and others. Erroneously titled "New Age Music" to cash in on the 80s craze.
The Neo-Realist (At Risk)
Savant
Palace of Lights, 1983, reissued on CD, 2002"...pan-ethnic techno-dub music... Savant is creating important transglobal music that incorporates without patronization and without denying their own heritage. This may be the real music of the world, or at least a netherworld."
—John Diliberto, Downbeat"An example of the creative potential available to artists using production techniques themselves to make music, rather than just to recreate a group's sound."
—Herb Levy, The Rocket
Music Works for Industry
Marc Barreca
Palace of Lights, 1983
Atomkraft? Nein Danke!
Earthstar
Sky (Germany), 1982"An American cosmic classic."
—Ultima Thule Web site
French Skyline
Earthstar
Sky (Germany), 1981
Remastered and reissued on CD by MI Records (Berlin) in 1999"A reissue from the Sky label in 1979, this is the long-awaited appearance of what has become a synthesizer music classic. **** Four Stars"
—Mark Jenkins, E-Mix magazine""The first time I heard LAND guitarist Dennis Rea, he was playing the greatest phased guitar solo of all time on Earthstar's 1979 classic of Euro-electronica, French Skyline."
— The Wire"This first Earthstar album to be released on Sky Records in Germany by American Craig Wuest was one of that label's best space music productions. The helping hand lent by Klaus Schulze in the recording certainly helped elevate this to its lofty sonic status."
"Brimming with exciting sounds; solid sequencer lines fused with hidden melodies and tonal rhythms blended with natural tones... Don't miss out - file under analogue classics."
Salterbarty Tales
Earthstar
Moontower, 1979
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