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"No other guitarist can master the extreme challenges of the complex compositions in the revitalized song genre as serenely as Brandon Ross...an ingenious dramaturge of a quiet quality imbued with the spirit of change." – Harry Lachner

As a performing and recording artist Brandon Ross has collaborated with many innovative voices in modern music such as Henry Threadgill, Wadada Leo Smith, Cassandra Wilson, Jewel, Tony Williams, Lizz Wright, Arto Lindsay, The Lounge Lizards, Leroy Jenkins, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Bill Frisell, Me'Shell N'degeocello, Moreno Veloso, Arrested Development, Archie Shepp, Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Oliver Lake, Ron Miles and others.

Described as "restlessly inventive" (Time Out New York), Ross continues experimenting with various forms of expression in collaborations with artists that inspire him. In "AiR", with mezzo Soprano Alicia Hall Moran; the Glyph electronic music band, DarkMatterHalo; his soundesign-instrumental ensemble, Brandon Ross' Pendulum and his mystery collective ensembles, "Phantom Station" and "Yet Another Plane".

Ross has been previously commissioned by the ASCAP Foundation, New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA), and is a recipient of Rockefeller Foundation's MAP Grant and Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works grant. He is a current ASCAP writer and publisher member.

 

 

For Living Lovers

Ross leads For Living Lovers, his Chamber Music for Improvisors acoustic duo with bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi. The duo's debut album "Revealing Essence" was released to critical acclaim, and as a recipient of Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works grant, Ross was commissioned to compose the duo's new work titled "Immortal Obsolesence."

"...there is mystery present; often when you think you’ve got a hold on the music, it slips away from you. Like life and love, the world of For Living Lovers is never static. And even if they’re intertwined, two voices can never be the same." - Jazz Times

Harriet Tubman

Ross co-leads the avant power trio, Harriet Tubman, (with bassist Melvin Gibbs, and drummer JT Lewis)  using  electronics, and pan-tonality to sculpt a multidimensional, interactive, sonic language in a classic R&B/Rock configuration of guitar, bass, and drums.

"The effect of Araminta is to excavate a history of black music—of avant-garde jazz-rock—that, even today, remains somewhat hidden, in large part thanks to the narrow imagination and racialized marketing of the music industry." – The Paris Review

"...a renewal of meaningful experimental music that affirms the importance of the African-American cultural tradition." – NPR

Brandon Ross & Blazing Beauty 

 

 

In his acoustic based quartet, Blazing Beauty, Ross plays banjo, electric, acoustic and soprano guitars to extend his expressive range into "folk" oriented musics and compositional approaches that communicate his dedication to fresh musical experience. He has released two albums with Blazing Beauty, "Costume" (2004) and "Puppet" (2006) on the Japanese label, Intoxicate Records. Both garnered rave reviews, and appearances on several Japanese critics', "best of the year" lists. 

"My musical world seems to me to be a doorway or a key into awareness. It's not a means to an end, but a means to a way–a way of learning, being and growing. Music for me is a way." – Brandon Ross, Ear Magazine

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