Adrian Klumpes

An Australian pianist best known as a member of the experimental post-jazz trio Triosk, Adrian Klumpes is both classically trained (a former conservatory student) and an accomplished straight-ahead jazz pianist (as well as the director of high school jazz band by day), but his pursuits tend to take him far beyond the conventions of these fields. As not only the principal melodic and harmonic voice in Triosk but also the primary wielder of the sampler and other means of electronic manipulation by which they achieved their unique fusion of traditional jazz elements with avant-garde ambient textures, Klumpes was central to fulfilling that group's minimalism-inspired vision. His own solo debut recording, issued, like Triosk's two full-lengths on the eclectic London-based Leaf Label, emphasizes just how central he is. The heavily-processed output of a single, piano-only recording session, its timbral and textural palette is virtually indistinguishable from that of Triosk's work, although formally it strays even farther from any residual notion of "jazz," winding up closer to contemporary classical in the minimalist tradition. ~ K. Ross Hoffman, Rovi