Don Peretz About

________________________________________

Since living in New York Don Peretz has spanned several music scenes, from the progressive jazz movement to session work, covering everything from avant-garde to commercial recordings. He has performed at such iconic New York venues as Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard, Birdland, The Jazz Gallery, 55 Bar, Smalls, and The Knitting Factory. Performing with artists such as Russell Ferrante, Cyndi Lauper, Dave Binney, Bob Mintzer, Donny McCaslin, Jon Herington, Oz Noy, and Jennifer Wharton's Bonegasm w/John Fedchock and Alan Ferber. Tours include Europe and North America; leading his group in such festivals as The Oslo Jazz Fest, Prague Jazz Festival, and the International Association of Jazz Educators Conventions. As a composer, Don's music is published and licensed through Sony/ATV- Extreme Music and Deepdig Records. His music has been featured and synced in film and TV internationally- Netflix, PBS, CNN, HBO, BBC, and A&E. As a session musician in New York City Don has been found covering anything from artist & commercial recording sessions, creative composing and tracking, to playing on several New York Broadway shows.

In 2003 Don released Foremen on the Freshsound Label. Foremen is an acoustic jazz quartet setting that pushes the parameters of form and improvisation. The group toured the US and Europe during the years of 2002-2004.

In 2010 Don's foray into the electronic experiment commenced with AMbean. Released on the Deepdig Label this record features John Roggie, and Oz Noy.

March 2011 saw the release of And Again on the Deepdig Label. Back into a jazz acoustic trio setting, this LP feature bassist Drew Gress and trumpeter Nathan Eklund. With compositional and improvisational contributions from all three members, And Again is saturated with a progressive yet melodic tone.

2012 brings the release of two projects, both on the Deepdig Label- "STIL" is Don's electronica drenched recording project that draws from live improvisation and live analog instruments- fused with digital synths and electronica textures.

Manufactured Regions EP is a duo improvisational project with guitarist Oz Noy that incorporates electronic programming, industrial textures, and live improvisation.

Under the moniker of Humby Square, Don Peretz and John Roggie release "One" on the Deepdig Label in April of 2015. The EP is Peretz and Roggie's incursion into the IDM and Electronic Dance Music world.

January 2016 marks the solo LP release of "Lalita." The Sanskrit term for “playfulness with life's seriousness,” Lalita delves deeply into electronica synth mod layering and experimentation, along with Peretz’ signature drumming. Lalita marks Don Peretz’ third solo electronica release. Peretz describes the record as “a collection of hundreds of composed loops and progressions written over several years, based on observations, experiences, and ideas, distilled into 11 soundscapes.”

Ordinal marks Don Peretz’s fourth solo recording endeavor into the Electronica-IDM realm. The EP’s manipulation of analogue and digital synths, crossed over Don’s live drum improvisations creates a progressive texture and soundscape new to Don’s work. The opening track ‘Farmer’ is an analogue Moog based, glitch-dubstep improvisation, carving through a one-less rhythm base. Don describes… “The songs are all basically in four-four time, but no drum programming at all! Everything is played and tracked in. I want the effect of no bar line or time at all, while still having the groove and pulse be deeply there and connectable.” Ordinal evokes a story-line score for a world in conflict with industry progress, and how beauty exists within that duality.

2019 brought the CONTINUUM EP. Another completely solo endeavor by Don.
“Exploring the space of electronic soundscapes mixed with human performance and ‘time manipulation’ has always been an important therapeutic muse to me. I wanted to delve into issues like technology with humanity, dissonance, inequality, rapaciousness, noise, and general willful ignorance in the information wars- and point to the actual human result. I hope CONTINUUM can try to illuminate that.”
The EP stretches the gamut of electronic progressive music from the techno title track Continuum and free play drums of Vagrant, to the spacial-pensive finale Paul.

DIKSON is Don Peretz's 2021 LP excursion into the improvisational avant-jazz-tronica realm. A band featuring stalwarts of New York's progressive jazz and indie rock scene, DIKSON is an exploration of human instrumental improvisation morphing into song form. Featuring tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin of David Bowie's Blackstar album, New York fusion-guitar-shaman Oz Noy, bassist Dave Edwards, and Paris Monster co-pilot Josh Dion doubling on drums with Peretz.

"I'm always inspired by isolated places or being isolated. I found this town 'DIKSON,' one of the northern most arctic settlements on the north Russian coast that inspired the soundscape of the record. Making and mixing this record during the pandemic was a notion of having short amounts of time with folks, and tons of time composing and mixing alone. Most of the playing sessions were done just before the 2020 pandemic."

Along with performing, arts education is an integral part of Don's career, as he maintains a teaching studio in New York/New Jersey, has on-line students around the globe, as well as clinics and masterclasses internationally. Don is founder of the Streamwell Foundation which supports artist retreats and outreach programs. Born and raised in Southern California, Don's music education led him to the renown Hamilton High School Academy of Music. Don went on to study philosophy, music composition, and percussion at the University of Southern California, before a move to New York City in the mid 1990s where Don attended The Manhattan School of Music.

*Don is a member of Actors' Equity Association and Local 802 Associated Musicians of Greater New York

* Don Peretz endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Evans Drumheads, and HQ practice pads

________________________________________

Contact

newsletter