@ sound/shift, oakland, calif Š2003 by aaron ximm

bio
press quotes
free mp3s
reviews
articles
interviews
current projects/news
photos

BIOGRAPHY

ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE--guitarist/composer
lives and works in San Francisco, California USA
Born in Salinas, California, Ernesto Diaz-Infante, is of Mexican and Native American ancestry. He received his BA from the College of Creative Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara and his MFA in Music Composition from California Institute of the Arts. His musical compositions span a broad perspective: transcendental piano, noise, avant-garde guitar, field recordings, lo-fi four-track manipulations, and experimental song. ED-I has performed throughout Europe and the United States, and his music has been broadcasted internationally. He has recorded more than 15 CDs of music and collaborated with numerous musicans. In 2000, his composition, I/O (for chamber ensemble), was performed by the California EAR Unit. He has been awarded residencies at the Centre International de Recherche Musicale (CIRM) in Nice, France, The Millay Colony for the Arts, Villa Montalvo, The Ucross Foundation, among others. In 1997, he began Pax Recordings record label which is dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and contagion of music from the margins of our culture and psyches. ED-I curated The Luggage Store Gallery's Creative Music Series (2000-2002) night of improvised and experimental music. He also co-founded the Big Sur Experimental Festival (1999-2004) and San Francisco Alternative Music Festival (2000-2003). He presently lives with his girlfriend, filmmaker Marjorie Sturm, and his baby, Ezra Octavio, in San Francisco. He and Marjorie recently formed the Neshama Alma Band, a four-track project recorded in their living room. They co-conspire and run Pax Recordings. Their most recent release is a compilation CD of twenty-six artists titled "Voices in the Wilderness: Dissenting Soundscapes and Songs of G.W.'s America." As well, ED-I is presently exploring and focusing on mantra-esque acoustic guitar strumming. Also check out the interview with Portuguese music writer and journalist, Rui Eduardo Paes.

PRESS QUOTES

"Since the mid-'90s, Ernesto Diaz-Infante counts as one of the most prolific avant-garde composer and improviser the U.S. West Coast has seen. He has performed and recorded music on piano, prepared guitar, and electronics; composed chamber music; improvised with a very large number of musicians from California, New York, and Chicago; and released a pile of CDs on very small independent labels such as Pax Recordings, Sweetstuff Media, Zzaj Productions, and Public Eyesore. He also curates the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival (since 1999) and the creative music series at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco (since 2000). His multifaceted career gives him the look of an eclectic or maverick artist, but the persistence and commanding seriousness with which he pursues his career is gaining him a small but dedicated following." --Francois Couture, All Muisc Guide.

"Ernesto is by now to be considered one of the most attentive, ear-opening, brain-splitting creatives in the new music scene."--Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes.

"Diaz-Infante is a composer and performer with an instinctive way of creating 'sound paintings" that stress mood and feelings. his atonal adventures here sometimes recall the work of British free guitar icon Derek Bailey." --Josef Woodard, LA Times

"He makes a dangerous playmate." --The WIRE, August 2002

"He's a big talent." Walter Horn, Signal to Noise.

"...a minimalist with an expanded sense of scale..." Time Out NY.

"...when the name Ernesto Diaz-Infante appears on the record jacket, the guarantee of a serious experience is rock bottom certain! This guy, in my mind, is positioned, by virtue of his musical significance, side by side with oracles like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Terry Riley and Conlon Nancarrow!" --Ingvar Loco Nordin, Sonoloco Record Reviews

"...Diaz-Infante breaks down the creative process into its most basic elements of man and instrument." Scott Menhinick, Signal to Noise.

"...some of the most introspective and fascinating piano music I've heard in quite a while." Bill Binkelman, Wind and Wire.

"Ernesto beckons you into his provoking world of artful and eloquent solos. Technically sound and a brilliant performer." Morrice Duane Blackwell, Jazz Review.

"Quiet, introspective and solid playing with a masterful touch. MORE need to hear this!" Dick Metcalf, Improvijazzation Nation.

"...string bending and guitar bashing...Reminiscent of Fred Frith guitars on the table approach." Robert Iannapollo, Cadence.

"a constant presence on the scene of free improvisation and radical instrumental music."--Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes.

"Diaz-Infante's rampant creativity always manages to surprise and overwhelm me...." Jon Worley, Aiding & Abetting.

MP3s

a ride to Cuba with Martin Sheen
durability of the throwaway art gesture
7 days
liberate us from human contingencies
fate succeeds because it's obvious
from henry who just wrote
flow between my past and future
(followed by) harsh criticism
but not for me
untitled
experience the apples whispering red shiny hellos
smoking cigarettes
tues 3/31 ucross journal
3:06 field recording
part 11
dedicated
overthruster
sirius intriguies
pith balls
microcassettor project
crashing the russian renaissance

REVIEWS

ARTICLES

San Diego City Beat, San Francisco Weekly, SFGgate, Coast Weekly, Coast Weekly, Coast Weekly, Coast Weekly, Coast Weekly, The Californian, The Californian, Jazzosphere, The Kettle Black

INTERVIEWS

Rui Eduardo Paes Entrevistas Skylight E-zine Once Final Note, Jazzopshere, Aural Innovations, Improvijazzation Nation, The Kettle Black,

CURRENT PROJECTS/NEWS

* a new chamber work, 01.06.05, for tenor voice, woodwinds, brass, percussion and string trio (a haiku-influenced graphic score of notated outsider-art influenced music: noise, instrumental extended techniques, spontaneous ink drawings, and words. The predominant aesthetic is to maintain sensitivity to the interaction between the instruments, their timbres, and the form of the piece.).

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Pax Recordings, P.O. Box 591138, San Francisco, CA 941159-1138 USA
Questions? Comments? Send e-mail to info@paxrecordings.com

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