Ken Field (born January 26, 1953) is a

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. Since 1988 he has been a member of the electrified modern music ensemble

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is an American musical group founded in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in 1980.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 226-7 The music of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic is almost ent ...

, with whom he has recorded eight CDs.

Career

Field has been Composer-in-Residence at the

Ucross Foundation The Ucross Foundation, located in Ucross, Wyoming, is a nonprofit organization that operates an internationally known retreat for visual artists, writers, composers, and choreographers working in all creative disciplines. History Founded in 1981 ...

, Wyoming, the Fundación Valparaíso, Spain, the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

, and the

Atlantic Center for the Arts Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists’ community and arts education facility providing artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with contemporary artists in the fields of composing, visual, litera ...

, Florida. He has performed for President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, and with former

J. Geils John Warren Geils Jr. () (February 20, 1946 – April 11, 2017), known professionally as J. Geils or Jay Geils, was an American guitarist. He was known as the leader of The J. Geils Band. Growing up in New York City, Geils became interested in ...

frontman

Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Peter Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946 in The ...

. Ken Field is a

Vandoren Vandoren is a manufacturer of mouthpieces, reeds, and accessories for the clarinet and saxophone families. History Vandoren was founded in 1905 by Eugène Van Doren (1873-1940), a clarinetist for the Paris Opera. The original location was eventua ...

Performing Artist. Field has also composed music for animation, film, and dance, including music for children's television program

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

. Field was named a Finalist in Music Composition by the

Massachusetts Cultural Council Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in 2017.

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble

Field leads the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, a

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

-inspired improvisational brass band. Their 2008 release ''Forked Tongue'' appeared on best-of-year lists in the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' and the Estonian ''

Postimees ''Postimees'' () is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 ...

'', as well as on lists in Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas, Wisconsin, and New York. ''Year of the Snake'', the group's 2003 debut release, was included on best-of-year lists from

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that di ...

Radio, the ''

Gambit Weekly ''Gambit'' (formerly ''Gambit Weekly'') is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based free alternative weekly newspaper established in 1981. ''Gambit'' features reporting about local politics, news, food and drink, arts, music, film, events, environmental ...

'', and the Italian station

Radio Popolare Radio Popolare (or RP) is an independent radio station based in Milan, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterra ...

. The group has performed at the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

, the Puffin Cultural Forum, Berklee Performance Center, and numerous other venues, and has been nominated for a

Boston Music Award Founded in 1987, the Boston Music Awards are a set of music awards given annually that showcase talent in the Boston, Massachusetts, area. Past shows have featured such notable talent as Aerosmith, Paula Cole, Esperanza Spalding, Boston, Rubyhor ...

, and several

Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' and ...

/ WFNX Best Music Poll awards.

Personal life

Field married the filmmaker

Karen Aqua Karen Aqua (February 2, 1954-May 30, 2011) was an American filmmaker and animator. Early life Aqua was born in 1954 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and grew up in the nearby town of Forty Fort. She graduated in 1972 from Wyoming Valley West Senior H ...

in 1984.

Discography

*''Subterranea'' (1996) *''Pictures of Motion'' (1999) *''Tokyo in F'' (2000) *''Year of the Snake'' (2003),

Innova Recordings Innova Recordings is the independent record label of the non-profit American Composers Forum based in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was founded in 1982 to document the winners of the McKnight Fellowship offered by its parent organization, the Minneso ...

*''No Such Animal'' (2006),

*''Under the Skin'' (2006),

*''Forked Tongue'' (2008),

Cuneiform Records Cuneiform Records is a record label in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1984, the label releases an mixture of musical styles, all with a Rock in Opposition aesthetic, including progressive jazz, jazz fusion, the Canterbury scene, and electr ...

*''Live Snakes'', a live album (2014), Accurate Records *''I Want That Sound'', (2016),

*''Iridescence'', (2020), Ravello Records *''Transmitter'', (2021), Neuma Recordings

Other work

Field has undertaken residencies and conducted workshops at a number of US universities. He was formerly on the faculty of the Music Maker School, where he taught saxophone and flute. He also hosts ''The New Edge'', a weekly radio program on

WMBR WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and commun ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, and curated and co-directed Cultural Constructions, an intercultural music performance project. Field is Vice-President of the Board of Directors of Cambridge, MA based Tutoring Plus of Cambridge, President of the Board of Directors of JazzBoston, and a member of the Organizing Committee of the

HONK! ''Honk!'' is a musical adaptation of the 1843 Hans Christian Andersen story ''The Ugly Duckling'', incorporating a message of tolerance. The book and lyrics are by Anthony Drewe and music is by George Stiles (of the British songwriting duo S ...

Festival of Activist Street Bands. Field is Master of the Studio of Music Business, Composition, Performance, and Soundtrack Design with The Beijing DeTao Masters Academy (DTMA), a high-level, multi-disciplined, application-oriented higher education institution in Shanghai, China.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Ken American male composers 21st-century American composers American male saxophonists Living people 1953 births 21st-century American saxophonists 21st-century American male musicians