Music
Press
"This intense, ranging form of self expression - pioneered by John coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Pharoah Sanders - frequently is tried but seldom brought off as successfully as it is here; the music is furiously energized without becoming disintegrated." - Paul Harris - St. Louis Post Dispatch
"This intense, ranging form of self expression - pioneered by John coltrane, Eric Dolphy and Pharoah Sanders - frequently is tried but seldom brought off as successfully as it is here; the music is furiously energized without becoming disintegrated." - Paul Harris - St. Louis Post Dispatch
"Venegoni has taken the dulcimer into the realm of fusion, and has extended its harmonic possibilities in a manner no less revolutionary than Hendrix did with the guitar"
- Piero Scaruffi - Chicago Tribune
"Venegoni has taken the dulcimer into the realm of fusion, and has extended its harmonic possibilities in a manner no less revolutionary than Hendrix did with the guitar"
- Piero Scaruffi - Chicago Tribune
"Excellent! Venegoni sees the dulcimer as having sound unheard. With gusto, imagination and invention, he brings exciting new music from what resembles a miniature version of the insides of a piano." - The Indianapolis Star
"Excellent! Venegoni sees the dulcimer as having sound unheard. With gusto, imagination and invention, he brings exciting new music from what resembles a miniature version of the insides of a piano." - The Indianapolis Star
"This is jazz of a different color. It is easy to find sax players - David Sandborn, Kenny G. and Wayne Shorter rank among the best - and guitarist like Mike Stern and Al Di Meola. But I defy you to find someone who bases all his work around the dulcimer. Joe Venegoni is nothing if not original." - The San Francisco Chronicle
"This is jazz of a different color. It is easy to find sax players - David Sandborn, Kenny G. and Wayne Shorter rank among the best - and guitarist like Mike Stern and Al Di Meola. But I defy you to find someone who bases all his work around the dulcimer. Joe Venegoni is nothing if not original." - The San Francisco Chronicle
"'Open Road' is one of the Top 10 Albums of the Year. The performance is tight, imaginative and skillful. There is always something unexpected or arresting to savor."
- Richard Price - Bay Area Music Magazine
"'Open Road' is one of the Top 10 Albums of the Year. The performance is tight, imaginative and skillful. There is always something unexpected or arresting to savor."
- Richard Price - Bay Area Music Magazine
"If you are looking for jazz - fusion in particular - that's not only out of the ordinary but boundry breaking, genre expanding and mind altering, look no further. Joe Venegoni presents jazz dulcimer with a fresh, striking new color. If your associations with this instrument are solely Appalachian, Celtic or new age (often over-used within and tiring to those genres) here is a new connotation, a new perception of this penetrating instrument you will not only appreciate but savor as well. Adding a haunting color that cuts through pulsating, undulating electric qualities, the dulcimer - as we find out in "Open Road" - holds quite remarkable jazz potential.
- Derek Sievers - CD Baby
"If you are looking for jazz - fusion in particular - that's not only out of the ordinary but boundry breaking, genre expanding and mind altering, look no further. Joe Venegoni presents jazz dulcimer with a fresh, striking new color. If your associations with this instrument are solely Appalachian, Celtic or new age (often over-used within and tiring to those genres) here is a new connotation, a new perception of this penetrating instrument you will not only appreciate but savor as well. Adding a haunting color that cuts through pulsating, undulating electric qualities, the dulcimer - as we find out in "Open Road" - holds quite remarkable jazz potential.
- Derek Sievers - CD Baby
"...I was bowled over when Venegoni and his five-piece band opened the show with a scintillating, fully-charged jazz set, featuring Venegoni performing principally on hammered dulcimer.
To be sure, it was the '80s, and the "novel instruments" movement was in full swing. However, Venegoni clearly had a virtuoso mastery of this mallet instrument from antiquity. He led his ensemble, comprised of some of the Mississippi Valley's finest young jazz and formal players, convincingly. Their performances of his vivid compositions betrayed an unmistakable commitment to them.
As the old saw goes: They stole the show! - Feature Article by Paul Harris
"...I was bowled over when Venegoni and his five-piece band opened the show with a scintillating, fully-charged jazz set, featuring Venegoni performing principally on hammered dulcimer.
To be sure, it was the '80s, and the "novel instruments" movement was in full swing. However, Venegoni clearly had a virtuoso mastery of this mallet instrument from antiquity. He led his ensemble, comprised of some of the Mississippi Valley's finest young jazz and formal players, convincingly. Their performances of his vivid compositions betrayed an unmistakable commitment to them.
As the old saw goes: They stole the show! - Feature Article by Paul Harris
"To anyone who is a fan of Pat Metheny, Chick Corea or Bela fleck, Venegoni's work is a must. A musician's musician, Venegoni is a master of one of the world's oldest instruments, the dulcimer." - NY Village Voice
"To anyone who is a fan of Pat Metheny, Chick Corea or Bela fleck, Venegoni's work is a must. A musician's musician, Venegoni is a master of one of the world's oldest instruments, the dulcimer." - NY Village Voice
Discography
AS A LEADER AND PRODUCER:
Duets: Joe Venegoni & Todd Mosby, Coming 2009
Where Rivers Meet. 2008, Triaxon Music/BMI. Joe Venegoni Jazz Quintet.
Music In Motion – Commissioned Works for Dance. 2004, Triaxon Music/BMI. Joe Venegoni
Open Road. 1994, Multiphase Records. Joe Venegoni Jazz Quintet.
Critical Path. 1991, Multiphase Records. Joe Venegoni with Carl Weingarten.
Occurrence. 1987, Multiphase Records. Joe Venegoni Jazz Quintet.
AS AN ENSEMBLE PERFORMER:
Dark Matter. The Cloud Chamber Quintet. 1998, Multiphase Records.
The Wiry Concord, by Curt Veeneman. 1996, Capstone Records.
At The Court of the Chera King. 1995, Water Lily Acoustic Records.
AS A GUEST ARTIST:
Hand in the Sand. Carl Weingarten. 2004, Multiphase Records
Escape Silence. Carl Weingarten. 2002, Multiphase Records
Blue Faith. Carl Weingarten. 1999, Multiphase Records.
The Acoustic Shadow. Carl Weingarten. 1996, Multiphase Records.
Redwood Melodies. Carl Weingarten. 1995, Multiphase Records.
Pandora’s Garage. Carl Weingarten. 1992, Multiphase Records.
Wild Strings. Jasmine. 1988, Rounder Records.
Photos
Bio
EVERY MUSICAL INSTRUMENT REQUIRES AN INNOVATOR, AN EXPERIMENTER, A VIRTUOSO TO EXPLORE ITS POTENTIAL, EXPLOIT THE POSSIBILITIES AND TAKE ITS SOUND TO A NEW LEVEL. FOR THE DULCIMER - AN INSTRUMENT THAT HAS BEEN AROUND FOR 2,500 YEARS - THAT GROUNDBREAKING MUSICIAN IS JOE VENEGONI.
JOE VENEGONI
PERFORMER • COMPOSER • EDUCATOR • PRODUCER
Joe Venegoni has received international critical acclaim as a percussionist and string instrumentalist on the Multiphase and Water Lily Acoustic record labels. In addition to headlining as leader of the Joe Venegoni Jazz Quintet, Joe performs and records with such international stars as Jiebing Chen and Yangqin Zhao of China, Shweta Jhaveri and Poolivar Shrinivasan of India, European artists Tony Pagano and Gernot Blume, plus American artists Fareed Haque, Michael Manring, Julie Spencer, Dan Reiter, Carl Weingarten, Todd Mosby and the improvisational ensemble, Cloud Chamber.
As a composer, Joe has created scores for a variety of dance companies and independent choreographers including Sue Li-Jue’s Facing East Dance and Music, Robert Moses’ Kin, Janice Garrett, Kulintang Arts, Arturo Fernandez’s Left Coast Dance, and the Gash/Voight Dance Theatre. In 1999, Joe was presented with the Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Best Ensemble Performance, recognizing his work with Dance Artist, Robert Moses and Cellist, Dan Reiter. Joe has received two additional "Izzie" nominations for his performance in Facing East Dance and Music's, Rice Women.
Joe is currently an artist-in-residence at Stanford University. He is a former instructor with Washington University, Sonoma State University, ODC School in San Francisco and the Margaret Jenkins Performance Gallery School, San Francisco. As a guest artist, Joe has performed and conducted workshops at the Conservatoire National Superier et Musique et de Danse~Paris, the University of California at Berkeley and the San Francisco Ballet. He has performed master classes for the companies of Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Margaret Jenkins, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, ODC/SF, DV8 of London, and the Rambert Dance Co. of London.
As a producer, Joe has directed multiple CD recording projects, overseeing all aspects of production from concept to distribution. In the early 90’s Venegoni created and produced the Bridge Performing Arts Series at New Performance Galley in San Francisco. This was a quarterly multi-media series that ran for three years. This was followed by the Music In Motion Series at ODC Theater which specialized in performances of live music with dance. Additionally, Joe produced and directed individual music concerts at Yerba Buena Center, The Cowell Theater, Bradey Street, ODC Theater, Theater Artaud, The Sebastiani Theatre and Andrew’s Hall at the Sonoma Community Arts Center.
From 1999 until 2003, Joe served as President of Triaxon Productions, Inc., (Triaxon.Us) a California company that specializes in music for film, advertising, multi-media, corporate events, theater, dance and live concert performance. Triaxon's client list includes Advanti Motion Pictures, Hewlett Packard, British Petroleum, The Bechtel Corporation, The United States Geological Survey, the Institute for International Studies and Stanford University.
As an independent consultant Joe has guided the development of performing arts companies and organizations making the crucial transition from emerging artist (or business) to recognized professional performers. His associates include: Janice Garret Dancers (Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch”); Facing East Dance and Music; Cellist and symphony soloist, Dan Reiter; Erhu virtuoso, Jiebing Chen; Guitarist and MultiPhase Recording Artist, Carl Weingarten; Kavi Alexander, President and owner, Water Lily Acoustic Records; and Spencer/Blume, a European based jazz duet that has subsequently toured Europe, North America and Japan.
Joe has served as a Board Member of the Marin Convention and Visitors Bureau, and a member of the Marin Art Council’s Marketing and Publicity Committee, Marin County, California. His professional affiliations include the Society of Composers, Broadcast Music, Inc., the American Composers Forum, and the International Guild of Musicians in Dance. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Missouri Arts Council and the California Arts Council.
Joe lives with his beautiful wife and daughter in Sausalito, California.
The Joe Venegoni Group has performed at International Festivals, Performing Art Centers, and World Renowned Jazz Clubs. A complete list of venues furnished upon request.
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