Saturday, September 6th, 2001
Doors at 8:00 PM

U.S. Tour, Fall 2001
Axel Doerner and Greg Kelley - trumpets
Andrea Neumann - innenklavier
Bhob Rainey - soprano saxophone

This September, two of Berlin's most renowned experimental musicians, Axel Doerner and Andrea Neumann, tour the United States with nmperign, Boston's acclaimed duo of Bhob Rainey and Greg Kelley. Doerner and Kelley represent the forefront of innovation on their chosen instrument - the unlikely trumpet. In parallel, they have found ways to transform the traditionally unsubtle bad boy of the brass family into an instrument of intimate detail and variety, adding breath and an under-stated humor to a palette of sounds often associated with electronic music.

A similar case can be made for Rainey, whose music has challenged the role of the saxophone (specifically, the soprano saxophone) even in the well-trammelled field of experimental music. Distinctly un-saxophone-like sounds mingle with pure tones, multiphonics (split-tones), and a host of unnameable outpourings in a microtonal universe far removed from the well-tempered dungeon of Western Europe.

Andrea Neumann's instrument, the innenklavier (inside-piano), has a distant relationship with the well-tempered world - it is a custom-made inside-of-a-piano that Neumann prepares with kitchen-sink ingenuity (literally including items from the kitchen). But don't expect the ori-entalisms of John Cage's prepared piano works -Neumann's is a microscopic universe where noise scratches at the edge of silence.

The group's history is as follows: During a protracted stay in Chicago, Rainey met Doerner and performed with him in (cellist) Fred Lonberg-Holm's Lightbox Orchestra. The two developed a friendship at a post-concert jazz jam ses-sion, both musicians having a semi-secret jazz past. Later, when nmperign was planning a fall 2000 European tour, Doerner put them in touch with Neumann, who books a venue in Berlin called "Kule". On that tour, nmperign spent a week in Berlin and discovered a close affinity with the music of Doerner and Neumann. By the end of that week, plans were being hatched for a U.S. tour (to follow several concerts in Germany which happened this past spring), of which this is the outcome: a tour that lasts from September 2nd to October 2nd, 2001 and covers the conti-nental U.S. - a schedule typical for nmperign, known for having the road stamina of a punk band.

Axel Dörner (b. 1964) - trumpet
Studied piano and trumpet (with Malte Burba) at the Musikhochschule, Cologne. Moved to Berlin in 1994. He has performed with numerous internationally respected figures (Schlippenbach, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Sven-Ake Johansson, etc.) in the fields of Improvised Music, New Music and Jazz. He has devel-oped a totally unique style of trumpet playing based in part on unusual, often self-invented techniques that seem to cross the boundary between electric and acoustic sound, although no electronics are used. He has toured in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and appeared on numerous CD and record releases.

Greg Kelley (b. 1973) - trumpet
Studied classical trumpet at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. There, in a small studio at night, he began, with a few like-minded individuals, to develop his approach to the trumpet - one filled with unique preparations and extended techniques that defy acoustic expectations. He has performed in the U.S., Europe, and Japan with highly respected musicians (Kevin Drumm, Donald Miller, Keiji Haino, Michael Zerang, etc.) and has appeared on numer-ous CDs.

Andrea Neumann (b.1968) - innenklavier
Studied piano at "Hochschule der Künste" in Berlin. In the process of exploring the piano for new sound possibilities she has reduced the instrument to strings, resonance board and metal frame. With the help of electronics to manipu-late and amplify the sounds, she has developed numerous new playing techniques, sounds, and ways of preparing the dismantled instrument. She has worked intensively in the crossover area between composition and improvisation with musicians such as Annette Krebs, Axel Dörner, John Edwards, Kaffe Mathews, Phil Durrant, and Sven-Åke Johansson in a range of festivals at home and abroad. She has also composed for interdisciplinary projects such as film, dance and performance.

Bhob Rainey (b.1972) - soprano saxophone
Studied composition at the New England Conservatory. In 1996 he began to cultivate an approach to the saxophone that utilizes both the extreme possibilities of sound avail-able on the instrument and the extreme ends of the dynamic spectrum, tending towards silence. He has per-formed with numerous internationally recognized musi-cians (John Zorn, Kevin Drumm, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jerome Noetinger, etc.) in the U.S. and in Europe and has both produced and appeared on numerous CDs. Axel Doerner and Greg Kelley - trumpets, Andrea Neumann - innenklavier, Bhob Rainey - soprano saxophone

Tour schedule, information and mp3s are available at http://homepage.mac.com/bhobr. Further information can be obtained by contacting Bhob Rainey at 617.629.2587 or via email at bhobr@earthlink.net.