Chris Mosley

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Here's a write up from the Willamette Week:
"Steeped in standard-jazz tradition and trained at Berklee, Mosley is a far cry from your cookie-cutter, guitar-slinging, jazz-school nerd. As interested in Les Voix Bulgares and Ligeti as he is in the innovations of teachers like Screaming Headless Torso's Dave Fiuczysnki and Dave Tronzo of Spanish Fly. Barely in his 20s, Mosley possesses rapid-fire dexterity and a fluidity that is as jazz as jazz gets. And with his interest in nontempered microtonal systems, he's also daringly experimental. Dig the kaleidoscopic possibilities of his fretless guitar work with trio-mates Damian Erskine and ubiquitous drummer Drew Shoals. It's as bold as it is beautiful." 
TIM DUROCHE
Bio
I am Chris Mosley.
I was born and raised in Austin, TX where I began playing music when I was 11 years old. I was very much influenced by and drawn to the playing of the great Austin guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. As I began playing and understanding the style and form of the blues, I began to improvise more and more, in many different ways. By the time I was fourteen, I had recorded a home project of tunes that I wrote, played, and improvised on. This inspired me to search for a deeper understanding of musical form and spontaneous creation which led me quickly to jazz. I began listening to and practicing almost exclusively jazz. I listened extensively to musicians like Keith Jarrett, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Branford Marsalis, Joe Henderson, Cannonball Adderly, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter.... When I was in high school in Colorado, I was fortunate enough to study with the great Dale Bruning, a wonderful jazz guitarist and long time teacher of a young Bill Frisell. The summer before I left for Boston, I was a part of a group called The New Organ Quartet which recorded and released a full CD of original jazz music. I am still intimately connected with the many great young musicians that make up the vibrant creative music scene in the Denver/Boulder area. Few things inspire me more than being surrounded by these wonderful people.
At seventeen, I recieved a scholarship to, and began attending Berklee College of Music where I was a performance major. Despite the surroundings of an over-hyped, over-attended, and inevitably elitist atmosphere, my two years at Berklee turned out to be extremely positive for me musically. I was able to study with Mick Goodrick, Joe Lovono, Jon Damian, Dave Fiuczysnki, Dave Tronzo, Garrison Fewell, and Dave Santoro, among many others. I was also surrounded by some truly fantastic fellow students, whose careers I'm sure I will be following for quite some time. As I grew as a musician, I also grew as a listener and began persuing many different kinds of music. I was very much drawn to bands like the Notwist, and Mice Parade as well as more 'worldly' musics like classical Indian, bulgarian choir, Bartok, and Ligeti. When I started studying fretless guitar with Dave Fiucsynski, I became a devoted student of microtonal music and tuning sytems alternative to our 12 tone equal tempered system. This has led me deep into the world of harmonic structure which is expressed most accurately in the Pythagorean ratio system and, hand in hand with Phi (the Golden Ratio, 1.618....) is the foundation of Nature's many creations.
I recieved the Louie Bellson award my fourth semester at Berklee, but was somewhat chagrined to find that they weren't willing to send me on my way with a tuition check...oh well.
In the fall of 2005 I moved to Portland, OR.  I am currently playing in many different projects around town including Mosley's ExStatic Band and the Chris Mosley Quartet.  I teach private lessons and group seminars at Cadenza Academy in SE.  

3rd person bio:
A rising guitarist on the NW music scene,
Chris Mosley represents the natural evolution
of jazz improvisation and composition. Having
spent two years attending Boston's Berklee College
of Music, he has studied with some of the world's
top musicians including Joe Lovano, Mick Goodrick
and Dave Fiucynski. With his 2006 debut as a leader,
The Miraculous Aspect of Time, Mosley established
himself as a soulful and intelligent improvisor with a
distinct and visionary approach to his compositions,
which utilize fretless and microtonal guitars as well as
the traditional 12-tone.
The Chris Mosley Quartet will be releasing their
new cd, Outside Voices, on Diatic Records
(www.diaticrecords.com) in the summer 2007.

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