Colin Stetson

Colin Stetson ( b. 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American jazz musician (alto saxophone, baritone and bass saxophone, clarinet, flute, French horn ).

Life and work

Colin Stetson studied from 1997 at the University of Michigan at Roscoe Mitchell, Donald Sinta, and Christopher Creviston; then with Steve Adams and Henry Threadgill. During this time he founded the formation transmission ( which later gave rise to the transmission Trio with Andrew Kitchen and Eric Perney ). In 1998 he played with the Detroit jazz-rock band Larval ( Larval 2, Knitting Factory ). He then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Stetson has also worked with the band People's Bizarre, Fred Frith, Peter Kowald, Ned Rothenberg, and Kenny Wollesen, also he was a member of the bass saxophonist tour band Arcade Fire. In 2002 he participated in the Tom Waits albums Alice and Blood Money; with Waits, he also appeared in David Letterman's Late Show. 2002 Stetson presented a limited edition live CD single, 2003 followed by a full album, Slow Descent. 2008 solo album New History Warfare, Vol 1 was released, followed by New History Warfare Vol 2: Judges (2011 ), in which Laurie Anderson participated and New History Warfare, Vol 3: To See More Light (2013, with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver ). Stetson is also heard on recordings by Anthony Braxton and Bon Iver. In 2011 he joined in a duo with Mats Gustafsson at the Vancouver Jazz Festival ( Stones, Rune Grammofon, 2013). Stetson currently lives (2013 ) in Montréal.

Stetson works without overdubs. With its reminiscent of John Surman and Eric Dolphy circular breathing technique he plays without stopping, seemingly endless arpeggio arches, where he sings in the same instrument or screams. Thus caused by difference tones polyphonic structures that Stetson miked in clued recording technology to record breathing, key noise and room resonances with and give the intake more space.