Glenn Spearman

Tenor saxophonist/composer Glenn Spearman is simulataneously a throwback to '60s/'70s fre jazz and a pioneer of a new jazz being born in the San Francisco/Berkeley clubs. His active role in contemporary music for over 20 years has earned widespread recognition. Spearman's role in the avant-garde scene started in Oakland and Berkeley in the late '60s. In 1972 he went to Paris, where he founded his group Emergency (7). He recorded three albums, performed at the Avignon festival and the American Center for the Artists, and appeared on French radio and television. The following year he was artist-in-residence, leader and composer for a student orchestra in Rotterdam. For the next few years, he toured Europe extensively with both his own ensemble and other American and European avant-garde musicians. In 1983 he was a member of Cecil Taylor's New York-based Big Band and Dance Orchestra, as well as the Cecil Taylor Unit. A Bay Area resident again since 1984, he has performed in New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Europe. For the last four years he has been teaching at Mills College, where he recently participated in a performance/recording in a faculty showcase concert. (He also has private students.) In the summer of 1995 his Double Trio performed at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival, and that October he was nominated for a "Whammie Music Award" by the San Francisco Weekly and was commissioned to compose and perform music for the Move Dance Theatre for two performances at Laney College. In December '95 Spearman performed as concertmaster for the ROVA Saxophone Quartet and other select musicians as a part of the Ascension Project (the music of John Coltrane) at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco which was called "a powerful rendition of the rarely performed piece... the spirit of the holy Trane was alive and well" (March 1996 Down Beat). The performance was recorded for Black Saint. Projects in 1996 have included the Double Trio's invitation by West Ferman Radio of Cologne, Germany for a concert and recording, and a collaboration with Bay Area filmmaker Lynn Kiby on a video-music performance piece. His Sessionography is online. Search his name and bb10k Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.