Fight the Big Bull

Fight the Big Bull is a Richmond, Virginia based improvisatory ensemble with two 2010 recordings selected for NPR's best of the year lists. The band was founded in the mid-00s by guitarist Matt White, one of the organizers of the Patchwork Collective, an arts group dedicated to creating a vital local music scene.The original configuration- called simply Fight the Bull- was a trio with drummer Pinson Chanselle and trombonist Bryan Hooten. The group was subsequently expanded to eight players (or nine, with the occasional addition of ex-Agents of Good Roots percussionist Brian Jones.) The band has had several notable collaborations, notably with Chicago saxophonist Ken Vandermark and with NYC-based slide trumpeter/composer Steven Bernstein (the latter captured on the 2010 recording "All is Gladness in the Kingdom.") They also collaborated with alternative folk singer David Karsten Daniels, with White providing arrangement to his critically well-received 2010 Thoreau project "I Mean to Live Here Still." A performance with Daniels at the NYC club "La Poisson Rouge' was reviewed by the New York Times. Forthcoming projects include the summer 2011 release of a 2010 recording with Justin Vernon and Megafaun. In 2011 White formed Spacebomb Records featuring members of Fight the Big Bull backing musicians including Washington-based indie folk-rocker Karl Blau and NYC jazz bass clarinetist Jason Stein. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.