Paul Cram - Composer, Performer

Bandleader, Producer, Improviser, Tenor Saxophonist, Clarinetist

As an award-winning bandleader, arranger, film and concert music composer, Canadian tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and jazz iconoclast Paul Cram had a multi-faceted career that bridges the milleniums. From Vancouver to Toronto to Halifax he has forged a mature and unique voice that cuts across jazz, classical, world and beyond genres to capture a metaphorical “middle kingdom” between Europe, Asia, and America.

"We live in dire times for live music. Good acoustic spaces are disappearing and it's hard to present deep listening in a sports arena. We need to rezone the suburbs, bring back cozy sounding venues within walkng distance from home where we can reconnect and together reclaim our humanity through shared and active listening."

Composer

"I started out playing in R&B bands and burlesque houses. It was a professor Shearer in my second year theory class at the University of British Columbia, who recommended me for composition. I then learned analysis with the teachers there. Meanwhile I was influenced by the creative music scene going on off campus. After UBC I decided to pursue a career outside academe as a composer/improvisor. The application of principals of melodic development and long form composition derived from the late classical masters (Stravinsky/Bartok/Schoenberg/Ligeti etc) in combination with electric orchestration, Zappa, Braxton, Ellington, Taylor, Mingus etal and all kinds of improvistion provided a broad palette to move forward with ..."

Bandleader

" I have been involved in several projects at or near the center of whatever driving force was on the go at the time. The memorable collaborations have been The New Orchestra Quintet and NOW Orchestra, the Kings of Sming, Hemishperes, Upstream Ensemble and most recently Ellis, Tanguay and Cram and A Love Upstream. I became a bandleader with the release of my first solo album "Blue Tales in Time" in 1980 and started the Paul Cram Trio and toured Canada extensively. I formed the Paul Cram Orchestra in 1987 and reformed it again in 1998. There have been many side projects along the way. "

"...to enlist introspection and tribal dynamics in an effort to spread the exhilaration of freedom, joy and comfort in the moment"

Producer

" For the past several years I have been the Artistic Director of Upstream Music Association, an organization I helped co-found in 1990, that produces collaborative concerts in Atlantic Canada of local, national and international artists (Barry Guy, Fred Frith, Lisle Ellis, Matt Brubeck, Lori Freedman, Wilbert deJoode, Han Bennick, Pierre Tangauy and many more) who share passion and commitment to exploration. Through ongoing creative orchestra workshops Upstream has developed new works and given graduating musicians a reason to stay in Nova Scotia. Currently, The Guerrilla Orchestra is Upstream's Creative Orchestra Laboratory for workshopping new compositions."

Tenor Saxophonist/Clarinetist/Improvisor

"I was lucky in a way to grow up in a period before recordings ruled our lives utterly. The first music I ever played or really heard was the sound of me trying to play the clarinet. Then it was playing live in a community concert band . Then it was seeing Buddy Rich and Cannonball Adderly live at age 10. Somehow the first record I ever bought was John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme". It corresponded with taking up the tenor sax, Louie Louie, teenage R B Stan Getz and psychedelia, then more jazz, Mingus then free jazz, then multiphonics, classical concertos, Sun Ra, World Sax Quartet, Evan Parker. Braxton. Sam Rivers, Julius Hemphill, Dexter Gordon Gene Ammons Charlie Parker came later - not a linear path,,,Recently making headway again on clarinet..."

 

CURRENT TRAJECTORY

Paul Cram is full-time free-lance composer/performer. He is the sole proprietor of his career and in addition to his media work currently leads several live music ensembles: Guerrilla Vacation, Halifax Sax, Sunrise Orchestra and ETC. In his capacity as a leader of his own bands, he works independently of the Upstream Music Association where he is Artistic Director. Upstream is a non-profit organization that funding from government and foundations to produce and present collaborative projects with local and visiting artists in the Halifax area. Occasionally Upstream has presented his projects and facilitated international transactions when appropriate.

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION AND MARKET

Mr.Cram resides in Atlantic Canada in Dartmouth, part of the Halifax Regional Municipality and while Nova Scotia is a fabulous “staging” area for creating and developing music in a relatively quiet and uninterrupted environment, there are limited performance opportunities locally . He typically performs his original music for quintet, sax quartet or octet in the Halifax area five or six times a year. Lately he is more and more heard performing in other centres.

HISTORY and EDUCATION

Born 1952 in Victoria, B.C. Canada.1960-1970 private lessons with Mr. Knighton, Dave Quarin and Carl Kellett along with Kiwanis Concert Band and garage bands.1970-74 on the road with R&B bands. Composition studies Elliot Weisgarber,and Cortland Hultberg at University of British Columbia graduated with Bachelor of Music1978. Co-founded the New Orchestra workshop in Vancouver in 1977. Banff School of Fine Arts, Winter Session 1980 with Sam Rivers, Fredric Rzewski, Dave Holland, and Karl Berger, Collaborations with Bill Smith, Maury Coles, Al Neil, Don Druick, Paul Plimley, Lisle Ellis, James Young, Gregg Simpson and others. Ongoing research. Worked in Toronto from 1982 to 1987 and co-founded Hemispheres Orchestra. Re-located to Nova scotia in 1988 and co-founded The Upstream Ensemble in 1990. He is married to theatre director Mary Vingoe and has two grown daughters, Katharine and Laura.

CURRENT INSTRUMENTS

Selmer Tenor Saxophone, Selmer Bb A Clarinets
Digital Audio Workstation with iMac Intel Core Duo with MacOS 10.4.11
Emagic Logic Pro 8 digital audio software