Cleveland composer, musician and Trepanning Trio member Kris “skinnyk” Morron will showcase his first solo album, Cloudlands, at a release party at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, February 18, 2012 in the Music-Armory Building at the Beck Center for the Arts. Admission is $10 at the door and all attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Cloudlands. Doors open at 7 p.m. with general admission seating. Beck Center is located at 17801 Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. Free onsite parking is available. For more information, call 216-521-2540 ext 37.
Cloudlands (to be released on the Infinite Number of Sounds Recording Company label) is a collection of six improvisations that feature the guzheng – a 2,000-year-old Chinese instrument. How did a musician born in North Dakota and raised in Cleveland end up making music on the guzheng? The unlikely tale began for Morron with a family trip to Florida and continued to unfold when he reconnected with a musician friend living in Shanghai. Cloudlands is “a collection of musical conversations between old friends,” explained Morron. “Each improvised piece is haunting and beautiful, dissonant and harmonious.” The tracks captured on the album represent years of close collaborations yet display creative spontaneity.
As a trombonist, composer, teacher, and arranger, skinnyk has been a prominent contributor to the Cleveland music scene for over 15 years. Midwest music fans are familiar with his work with many ensembles including Mifuné and the Aphrodesiatics. Morron is also a highly sought-after sideman and arranger who has worked with Carlos Jones and P.L.U.S. Band (Leave a Trail, 2009), the Lakewood Project, a nationally-acclaimed rock orchestra, and many other Cleveland-based ensembles. Most recently, he can be seen performing with the Revolution Brass Band, Champion Bubblers International, Trepanning Trio, and the Looking-Glass Project.
The Cloudlands album release party will feature the Trepanning Trio (an instrumental, avant-chamber ensemble that performs and records using only classical, traditional and handmade instruments), the Looking-Glass Project (a modern improvisational dance group) and other musicians including saxophonist Dan Wenninger (Revolution Brass Band, Oblique Orchestra) and Minneapolis-based cellist, Andrea French, both of whom appear on Cloudlands.
