amitosis

Formed in 2001, the band Amitosis is comprised of four strong voices of improvisation from around the U.S. The personnel - Chris Jonas, Joshua Smith, Joe Tomino, and Kurt Kotheimer - bring together their far reaching backgrounds with a distinctly new way of constructing repertoire.

The music Amitosis creates straddles the edge of composition and improvisation, blurring the two elements beyond recognition. All of the pieces are composed in small units by the various band members and spontaneously compiled in the form of musical cells: i.e. short melodies, fragments, bass lines, textures and grooves that are manipulated with the result of spontaneous composition... It is a true collective which creates with a foundation of complete immersion and trust. There is no lead voice and the traditional roles of support and soloist are redefined continuously throughout the creation process. They build a dense fabric of musical passages layered, inverted, deconstructed and fused without preplanned arrangement providing for a natural progression of composed ideas.

Amitosis has performed and toured in the Northeast, Midwest and Southwest United States, where their concerts have met rave responses. Their new cd, due out next month on Assif Tsahar's Hopscotch Records is made from material recorded live at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico where the group performed to an ecstatic full house.

The individuals in this band each bring with them a reputation of heavy involvement with some of the best known players of forward-thinking music and fringe jazz. Through work with luminaries such as Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, William Parker, Joe Maneri, Cuong Vu, Myra Melford, etc... the musicians of Amitosis have all been an active part of the avant-jazz world for the past several years (see individual bios).

Each musician in Amitosis has a musical elasticity enough to lead and follow in the ebb and flow that manifests through their system of hand signals/cueing. The individual members have the freedom to make the music stop on a dime, change course, and fold in on itself to create something unexpected utilizing a compositional potency scarcely found in fringe jazz. The cells composed by each member of Amitosis allow for a specific vocabulary to inform the improvisations performed in each piece. In a forward-looking format of new collective composition, forming spontaneous frameworks for the players to work with, that never happen the same way twice, Amitosis exists as the perfect marriage of arrangement and impulsive construction.

Chris Jonas' work as an instrumentalist and composer have earned him international acclaim. He leads "The Sun Spits Cherries" a quintet featuring Myra Melford. As a sideman, he has worked with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, William Parker, The Brooklyn Saxophone Quartet and Assif Tsahar just to name a few. He has written music for Circus Luminous, his ARC Ensemble, BING (co-leading the ensemble with Molly Sturges), Buster Keaton's 1929 silent film Steamboat Bill, Jr., is working on music for Circus Luminous and is early in the development of the music for NIGHT, a multimedia performance piece currently being created via the OBRAS residency in Evoramonte, Portugal (Feb-May 2004). He has also written for orchestras, string quartets, electro-acoustic music ensembles and jazz/new music ensembles from a broad range of sizes and instrumental configurations.

In the midst of well-deserved critical acclaim... one of the premiere stylists on his instrument.
- Derek Taylor

Chris Jonas' remarkable composed suites (are) subtle breakthroughs and fantastic journeys. - Ann Powers, The New York Times

For the past three years, Joe Tomino has been creating a formidable reputation for himself as one of the brightest young drummers in New York City. Performing in virtually every style, from experimental jazz to world music and rock. Although

is not overshadowed by facility. With this unique combination of sensitivity and musical prowess, Joe has become a desired side man for the likes of Cuong Vu, Chris Dahlgren, David Tronzo and Myra Melford. He's played with Joe Maneri, Wayne Krantz, Steven Bernstein, the accliamed avant power trio "birth" as well as Actual Proof and the Dub Trio.

Saxophonist Joshua Smith was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. After sporting an adolescent obsession with jazz and playing in the trio of Cleveland improvisation guru Scott Davis, Joshua formed with the band "birth" which has toured the country for the past several years and recently expanded it's tour niche to include several European nations as well. Throughout this time period, Joshua has also toured and performed with many other groups: The Cleveland Creative Orchestra and Amitosis featuring Chris Jonas, performances and touring with Joe Maneri (a luminary of improvisation); collaborations with Trevor Dunn of Mr. Bungle, Dan Plonsey, Howie Smith, Scott Amendola; has been highlighted by playing with Nels Cline, Carla Kihlstedt of the Tin Hat Trio, Assif Tsahar, Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Cuong Vu of the "Pat Metheny Group"; Smith is also the keyboardist for "Superbabies"and one half of the low-fi tape/electro-acoustic duo, "Last Chance for the Loneliest Kitty."

An outstanding technician, he articulates very clearly even when playing at blistering speed, and his improvisations are consistently rich in content.
-Jazziz Magazine

more info at www.birthsound.com

Kurt Kotheimer's acoustic bass playing is marked by a compositional style, his improvising focused and coherent. As a bassist he has complemented several touring groups in the northeast including, "The Living Sound Ensemble," "Superbabies," "The Cleveland Creative Orchestra," and Joe Maneri as well as 24 Hour U.S.A. and

"Last Chance for the Loneliest Kitten."

"Kotheimer kept more that time meter, pulse and nuance were currency too."
-Carlo Wolff, Goldmine

More info at www.24hrusa.com