Pale Nudes

From Seattle and Bern, Switzerland, this international band has played their energetic brewing jazz-folk-rock at festivals and clubs from Brazil to Prague. Their music is a cross between The Pogues, XTC, and Tom Waits, with guardian angel Ornette Coleman looking on... Lilting yodels, screams and growls issue forth any given moment from these virtuosic players, with playful chuckle always nearby.

Amy Denio, whose last name rhymes with Ohio. is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and improviser. She has been commissioned to compose and produce music for Italian National Radio, film makers, Peter Vogt and Lars Larsen, the Run/Remain Ensemble, the Pat Graney Dance Company, and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Her work has resulted in 8 CDs and I Grammy nomination. Based in Seattle, she records and collaborates with the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, Cipher and Blowhole. Other recording highlight her past work with Curlew, the Tone Dogs, the Entropics,,, and as a solo hometaper.

Former ,Swiss ice hockey stag', Wädi Gysi is another profilic member of the European improvising community, playing and recording with John Zorn, Chris Cutler, Hans Reichel, Michael Gerber and countless others. He has toured Japan and Russia, and has played festivals in North and South-America He had received numerous awards for his ground-breaking style which combines the raw energy of punk music and free jazz with the melodicism of world soul music.

Michael Gerber has been commissioned to compose music for theatre and dance, and has paved the way for other classical bass players to over to free jazz and beyond. Hailing from the improvised music scene in Switzerland, he is considered one of the finest contrabassists in Europe with his excellent precision and unabashed passionate expression. He has, collaborated with W?di Gysi for many years in groups such as nuage du courage, Blauer Hirsch and Die Hand, and he has collaborated with Christy Doran in jazz festivals all over the world.

Drummer/percussionist Will Dowd first played in Europe at the age of eleven, hanging out rhythms along with Beatles tapes on the sun roof of a VW bus, while driving around France and Switzerland with his family. He has since returned several times with fellow Tone Dogs, Amy Denio and Fred Chalenor. He has been active as a freelance drummer in the Seattle area, participating in over a dozen album projects with a wide variety of artists.