Denma Peisinger is living with master jazz percussionist and
composer Jerry Granelli, doing an “old-fashioned apprenticeship.”
Peisinger, who plays bass, and guitarist Panos Gianoullis met while
studying with Granelli in a program teaching free jazz to young
musicians at the Atlantic Jazz Festival. They have been collaborating
recently, as well as playing in Granelli’s ensemble and learning the
basics of free jazz from the senior musician.
The ensemble is preparing for a June 18 show of songs Granelli wrote
based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel, Coming Through Slaughter, about jazzman Buddy Bolden.
Gianoullis and Peisinger were involved with other genres before
getting into jazz seriously: Gianoullis plays bass with Their
Majesties, while Peisinger has played in blues and reggae bands. Right
now, Gianoullis is working on composing music he describes as “indie
raucous,” bringing together jazz and rock influences, inspired by
artists like Final Fantasy and the Dirty Projectors, and hoping to
record soon.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2009.
For the record: Panos is the Bass Man and I am the Guitar Slinger 😉
Also the other members of the Ensemble playing on Thurs are Barb Hopkin sax and Alex Purcell guitar!
Come to Granelli’s summer Creative Music Workshop July 5-18th: http://jazzeast.com/creative-music-worksho…
Salut!
Denma