Short bio:
Briggan Krauss is a New York based saxophonist/composer/sound artist. He is a founding member of Sex Mob and has worked with many of the most prominent musicians on the New York creative music scene and beyond. He leads several of his own projects as well as collaborating with many other improvisers and composers.
Long bio:
Saxophonist, composer, and sound artist Briggan Krauss received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle, Washington), where he studied electronic music and advanced theory with the composer Jarrad Powell. While in Seattle, Briggan met many amazing musicians with whom he continues to collaborate. He also joined the legendary avant-electric group Pig Pen, which was the beginning of an ongoing association with Pig Pen leader Wayne Horvitz. In 1994, he moved to Brooklyn, New York where he lives today.
Over the past fifteen years, Briggan has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell, Skerik, Eyvind Kang, Robin Holcomb, Anthony Coleman, Steven Bernstein's Sex Mob, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Skuli Sverrisson, Jim Black, Ikue Mori, Joey Baron, Kato Hideki, Satoko Fuji, The New York Composer's Orchestra, and many others. As a studio musician, he can be heard on recordings by artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Trey Anastasio, Joan Wasser, and Antony. He has also participated in several shows produced by Hal Willner, including tributes to Neil Young, Doc Pomus, and Leonard Cohen, playing alongside artists such as Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Laurie Anderson, Beth Orton, and Cat Power, among many others.
In addition to appearing on more than forty recordings as a sideman, Briggan has also led several projects, including the innovative trio Good Kitty, which he formed with clarinet/tenor saxophonist Chris Speed and drummer Mike Sarin. Good Kitty recorded its first CD for Knitting Factory Records in 1996.
In 1998, for his subsequent recording project, Briggan collaborated with Pig Pen leader Wayne Horvitz on keyboards and fellow Sex Mob member Kenny Wollesen on drums in the trio 300. The groupÕs self-titled debut recording on Knitting Factory Records garnered notable critical acclaim, twice making the Jazziz Magazine Critic's Top-Ten recordings of 1998.
Over the course of nine months in 1999, Briggan created Descending To End, a solo studio project that received excellent reviews by the music press. More recently, he received a commission from Roulette New York, with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation, to compose and present a program of new music. The result was Lensing, a chamber piece for eight musicians and conductor, which premiered at Roulette in April 2002.
Today, Briggan continues to work with electronic music. He has self-released the CDs Object #1 and Object #2, which are part of a series of releases dedicated and inspired by the work of a particular visual artist. In addition to studio projects, he performs live electronic music in duo and trio settings with several musicians, including Wayne Horvitz, Jim Black, Skuli Sverrisson, and others. He also collaborates with the abstract painter and filmmaker Raha Raissnia on a variety of projects called Systems. Together they have presented Systems in New York City galleries, in performance venues, and at the Anthology Film Archives. Briggan also collaborated with Kato Hideki on a ten-channel sound and video installation called Zure, which was shown at Diapason Gallery in New York for the month of April 2007. His electronic music was recently featured on WPS1 Art Radio.
Several jazz and new music publications in the United States, Europe, and Japan have featured interviews with Briggan and reviews of his work. In the 2002 Downbeat Magazine critic's poll, Sex Mob was awarded Best Beyond Band and Best Acoustic Jazz Band TWR. Briggan was also named in the Alto Saxophone TWR category in both 2002 and 2003. The CD Unspeakable by guitarist Bill Frisell, on which Briggan appeared, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2004. Sexotica, the most recent album by Sex Mob, was nominated for a Grammy Award for 2007, also in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category.