Michael Bisio

Michael Bisio (March 4, 1955 Troy, New York) is an American jazz double bass player, composer and bandleader.

Biography

He earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Washington in 1979. His teachers include James Harnett, Bill Smith, Stuart Dempster, David Cobb, James Harnett, Barry Green, and Roger Scott.

Bisio's fusion jazz compositions draw heavily on avant garde music while sometimes including elements of Third Stream, free jazz, and classical music. Bisio can walk a bass line with a deep swing rooted in a jazz aesthetic. Bisio avoids categorizations of music that fuse tradition with unique and unexplored realms of jazz.

Bisio focuses on collective improvisation, and pays particular attention to how each band member interacts with the group as a whole. Many musicians who have worked with him later went on to impressive careers. As a performer, Bisio is a pioneer in double bass technique, widely recognized as one of the instrument's most proficient players.

Discography

As a leader

• Michael Bisio Quintet: Covert Choreography (Cadence), Undulations (Omnitone)
• Michael Bisio Quartet: In Seattle (Silkheart), Connections (CIMP), CIMP 360: Circle This, AM (CIMP)
• Michael Bisio Sextet: Ours (CT Records)
• Michael Bisio Trio: Composance (Cadence)
• Various duo and solo efforts: MBEK (Meniscus), Primal Intentions (Cadence), Collar City Createology

As a composer

Bisio has composed over one hundred works of various forms and lengths for the ensembles under his leadership and many of his associates. These pieces have been performed in clubs, concert venues, and festivals. They have been broadcast over assorted media. Most have been recorded, some were composed for films and theater, and one found its way to animation.

In his book Jackson Street After Hours, Paul De Barros described Bisio as one of the preeminent heirs to Seattle's earthy yet innovative tradition and marked his compositional style as "a spare, bluesy sound, the sweet- and-sour timbres favored by Charles Mingus."

He composed the music for Karl Krogstadt's feature film, Strings. Beat Angel, a film by Randy Allred starring Vincent Balestri, features Bisio's compositions and improvisations. In his film Time & Object, animation artist Bernard Roddy uses "Something Different" from Zebulon as the score. He composed music for Music for American Voices: Bukowski, Micheline and the First Amendment, a play written and performed by Vincent Balestri.

As sideman

With Joe McPhee

• Common Threads (Deep Listening, 1996)
• Zebulon (CIMP, 1998 [1999])
• In the Spirit (CIMP, 1999)
• No Greater Love (CIMP, 1999 [2000])
• Port of Saints (CjR, 2000 [2006])
• Remembrance (CjR, 2001 [2005])

Recording artist

Bisio appears on over 60 CDs, leading on 11 CDs and co-leading on another 10. His recorded output has consistently met with critical praise. Michael's first international release, In Seattle, (Silkheart), was chosen as one of the "Best Jazz Records of 1980s" in the Village Voice. His most recent recording is a duet with Matthew Shipp called Floating Ice.

References

• http://michaelbisio.com/files/1%20page%20bio%206911.pdf
• http://allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=39125