Mark Trayle, born Mark Evan Garrabrant (January 17, 1955 in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

– February 18, 2015 in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

) was a California-based musician and sound artist working in a variety of media including live electronic music,

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, installations, and compositions for

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

s. His work has been noted for its use of re-engineered consumer products and cultural artifacts as interfaces for electronic music performances and networked media installations.

Biography

Mark Trayle studied composition at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

with

Homer Keller Homer T. Keller (b. Oxnard, California, February 17, 1915; d. Upland, California May 12, 1996) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He graduated from Oxnard Union High School in Oxnard, California in 1933, after which he a ...

, and at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

with

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve ...

David Behrman David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) is an American composer and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of Columbia Records' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of Terry Riley's ''In C''. ...

, and

David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is a composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known for his work in American experimental music. Rosenboom has explored various forms of music, languages for improvisation, ...

. Under Berhman's tutelage he began building hybrid digital-analog electronics and used those (often with electric guitar and homemade performance interfaces) throughout the 1980s. From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s his work focused on the use of alternative performance interfaces to guide algorithmic compositions, as well as composing for and performing with

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

. He also made his first sound/media installations during this period. In 1996 he moved from the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

area to Southern California to teach at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...

. Soon after, he composed a number of pieces for acoustic instruments with electronics. True North, Periodic Transmissions at Regular Intervals (are not allowed), and Propagation, Reflection, and Absorption are entirely acoustic in nature but use electronics and sensors to create real-time scores for the performers. Later works such as bitpool, sierranevada, and Bender use electronics that allow the players to trigger electroacoustic sounds. Trayle's music has been the subject of articles in ''Strumenti Musicali and Virtual'' (Italy), ''Keyboard'', and "Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Century" (Grove/Atlantic), and he has written articles for ''Leonardo Music Journal'' (US/UK) and ''MusikTexte'' (Germany). He has recorded for the Artifact,

Atavistic Records Atavistic Records is an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known for its no wave and free jazz recordings. Atavistic has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Pinetop Seven, Sw ...

CRI CRI or CRi may refer to: Organizations * Canadian Rivers Institute, for river sciences, University of New Brunswick * Cancer Research Institute, New York, US * Centro de Relaciones Internacionales (International Relations Center), Universidad Nac ...

, Creative Sources, Inial, Los Angeles River, Elektra/

Nonesuch __NOTOC__ Nonesuch may refer to: Plants * ''Lychnis chalcedonica'', a wildflower * ''Medicago lupulina'', a wildflower Places and structures *Nonesuch, Kentucky *Nonesuch Island, Bermuda *Nonesuch Mine, Michigan *Nonesuch Palace, mis-spelling of ...

, and

Tzadik Tzadik ( he, צַדִּיק , "righteous ne, also ''zadik'', ''ṣaddîq'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadiqim'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The ...

labels. He taught in the Herb Alpert School of Music at

from 1996 - 2015. Mark Trayle died on February 18, 2015, of pancreatic cancer, in his home in Ventura, CA.

Performance

Trayle has performed and exhibited at experimental music and new media venues and festivals in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He has received grants from Arts International,

American Composers Forum The American Composers Forum is an American organization that works for the promotion and assistance of American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minn ...

, The Japan Foundation and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. Commissions have come from

Radio Bremen Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...

, Champs D’Action, Ensemble Zwischentoene,

Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, also known as KNM Berlin, is a music ensemble for contemporary music based in Berlin, Germany. The ensemble was founded in 1988 in East Berlin, by students of the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". The players ...

, and Ensemble Mosaik. He has been an artist-in-residence at

STEIM STEIM (STudio for Electro Instrumental Music) was a center for research and development of new musical instruments in the electronic performing arts, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Beginning in the 1970's, STEIM became known as a pioneering cen ...

, and

The LAB The Lab is a not-for-profit arts organization and performance space located in San Francisco's Redstone Building. Since 1984, The Lab has hosted performances and projects by artists including Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, David Wojnarowicz, Barry M ...

Discography

* ''Five Lines'' (quintet project with Casey Anderson, Jason Kahn, Norbert Möslang,

Günter Müller Günter Müller (born October 20, 1954) is a German sound artist who originally performed as a percussionist and drummer, active primarily in free improvisation. He was born in Munich, West Germany, but has lived in Switzerland since 1966. Bac ...

) Mikroton Recordings * ''Timelines Los Angeles'' Jason Kahn Creative Sources * ''Stationary'' (duo project with

Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo. He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar, and started working on circuit be ...

) Creative Sources * ''Goldstripe'' Creative Sources * ''Boundary Layer'' (

) Tzadik * ''Die Zeit, Eine Gebrauchsanweisung'' (Michael Wertmueller) GROB * ''Luminous Axis'' (

Wadada Leo Smith Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith (born December 18, 1941) is an American trumpeter and composer, working primarily in the fields of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. He was one of three finalists for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for ''Ten Free ...

) Tzadik * ''RPM::MHZ'' Artifact * ''Music for Woodwinds & Electronics'' (

Vinny Golia Vinny Golia (born March 1, 1946) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation. Career As a composer, Golia fuse ...

+ Mark Trayle)

Nine Winds Nine Winds is an American jazz record label that was founded in 1977 by Vinny Golia. Golia is a self-taught musician who plays over fifty woodwind instruments, in addition to brass. In the early 1970s, he believed it was impossible for musicians ...

* ''Transmigration Music'' (compilation) CDCM/Centaur * '' Light Upon Light'' (Wadada Leo Smith) Tzadik * ''The Extended Flute'' (

Maggi Payne Maggi ( or ) is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947. History Early history Julius Maggi (1846–1912) ...

) CRI * ''State of The Union'' (compilation) Atavistic * ''Wreckin' Ball'' (The Hub) Artifact * ''Etudes and Bagatelles'' Artifact * ''Computer Network Music'' (The Hub) Artifact * ''Imaginary Landscapes'' (compilation) Elektra/Nonesuch * ''Yes, Philip, Androids Dream Electric Sheep'' (Daniel Rothman) Los Angeles River Records * ''

Heart's Reflections ''Heart's Reflections'' is a two-disc studio album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. The album was released on May 16, 2011 via Cuneiform Records label. Reception Glen Hall of ''Exclaim!'' stated "Trumpeter Smith wears his love for ...

'' (Wadada Leo Smith) Cuneiform

References

External links

*Golden, Barbara. “Conversation with Mark Trayle.�
''eContact! 12.2 — Interviews (2)''
(April 2010). Montréal: CEC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Trayle, Mark 1955 births 2015 deaths American male composers American composers California Institute of the Arts faculty Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from pancreatic cancer