Gianni Gebbia - alto saxophone, flute
Matthew Goodheart - piano
Garth Powell – percussion
Special guest David Wessel - electronics

Listening to Zen Widow is like flipping through a sheaf of pages ripped from a sketchbook: sometimes you get fully worked out pictures, at other times drawings too fragmentary to do more than intrigue and bemuse. . . These are striking conjunctions of disparate materials, like a musical equivalent of the Surrealist game of “exquisite corpses.”
- Cadence Magazine

Formed in the spring of 2003, the members of the Zen Widow trio have earned solid reputations for pushing the edges of contemporary jazz and improvised music. They share a quest for seamless interaction, built upon a broad base of style and genre that gives life to the manifold directions of their music. With an international lineup featuring Sicilian Gianni Gebbia and Bay Area members Matthew Goodheart and Garth Powell, the group has performed to critical acclaim throughout the US and Europe, including performances at the San Francisco Alternative Jazz Festival, Seattle Polestar Festival, Werkstatt für Improvisierte Musik (Zürich), Festival Jazzwelten (Dresden), Umestusiumetnosti (Celjie, Slovenia) and many others. They have also collaborated with many notable improvisers, including Fred Frith (guitar), Sue Schlotte (cello), Christoph Irmer (violin) and George Cremaschi (bass). Zen Widow has just released their third CD SCREAMING IN DAYTIME (MAKES MEN FORGET) with the great trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith, a tribute to the late great tenor saxophonist and composer Glenn Spearman. The disc will be availlable soon at the pfmentum website. Their first CD ZEN WIDOW, an eclectic mix of pieces ranging from 17 seconds to 8 minutes, received enthusiastic reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Their second disc QUODLIBET, is an exploration of collage form, combining melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic fragments from jazz, popular, and classical music from many eras.

Zen Widow will be joined by David Wessel for a portion of their concert at CNMAT.

Gianni Gebbia
Saxophones - Flutes
Born in Palermo, Italy, where he still resides, Gebbia is perhaps best known for his circular-breathing technique developed through his studies of Sardinian folk music and the Sardinian bagpipe. An extremely versatile musician with a prominent international reputation, he frequently finds himself in a great variety of collaborations including traditional jazz players, free improvisers, DJ’s, Butoh dancers. In addition to touring extensively in Europe, North America, and Asia, he also has an extensive list of CDs to his credit.

Matthew Goodheart
Piano
Performing professionally since age 17, native San Franciscan Matthew Goodheart has gained an international reputation as an improviser, composer, and sound artist. His works have been performed throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, and have been featured at the International Spectral Music Festival, June in Buffalo, Klappsthulfest, and The Illuminations New Music & Arts Festival, among many others. He has been the recipient of the Nicola DiLorenzo Award, the A.H. Miller Prize in Composition, the New Langton Arts Award, and a William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Honorary Fellowship. In addition to numerous solo CDs, he has recorded as part of Zen Widow, the Glenn Spearman Trio, the Marco Eneidi Creative Music Orchestra, and Gino Robair’s “I, Norton: An Opera in Realtime.” He has performed with such luminaries as Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Glenn Spearman, Gianni Gebbia, Vladimir Tarasov, and Jack Wright, and works frequently with the new music ensemble sfSoundGroup. He is the founder and curator of Evolving Door Music, and has lectured and taught internationally, including Mills College, Eastman School of Music, Cal Arts, the Music Conservatory of Coimbra in Portugal, and Istanbul Teknikal Univeristy. He is presently a candidate in advanced standing at the University of California at Berkeley, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in music composition.

Garth Powell
Drums
For a Percussionist/Composer, time, rhythm, and pulse are undeniable, non-negotiable components of the craft. Yet, the sonic domain remains for many, a peripheral concern. Timbre is not only of equal importance; it is an integral part of the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic construct. All four exist in the parallel sub-division of frequencies and waves. This relationship demands understanding, discipline, and mastery. In Powell’s music, these elements are meticulously combined, creating a transcendent force enveloping the listener. Ultimately, we are drawn into the ecstatic, and the inexplicable. He has performed throughout North America and Europe, and was featured at the Copenhagen Jazz festival, Curva Minore Festival, San Francisco Alternative Music Festival, Olympia Improvised Music festival among others, and is currently a Rastascan, Roadcone, Leo, Evander, and 9 Winds recording artist.