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A member-by-member look at this avant-jazz super group
The
New York Times described Kamikaze Ground Crew (11/1) as “by
turns an oom-pah-pah circus band, an earnest pit orchestra, and
a bluesy septet.” As co-founder, composer, and multi-instrumentalist
Gina Leishman describes the band: “K. G. C. is indeed something
of a super-group these days —old friends who are all at the top
of their game, each a band-leader in their own right.”
To
take stock, here’s
a member-by-member look at the many projects and accomplishments
of this talented group of musicians and composers.
 |
| Gina
Leishman |
Gina Leishman
There is probably an instrument that Gina Leishman doesn’t play, but it’s
hard to imagine. Besides being a vocalist, she plays piano, accordion, pump-organ,
ukulele, alto and baritone saxophones, and the bass clarinet. The native of England
and former student at the Vienna Conservatory combines her instrumental prowess
with compositional talent—she’s written operas, performance pieces,
and theater scores. She leads Mr. Wau-Wa, a band that focuses on the songs of
Bertolt Brecht, and performs under her own name with self-described “infrequent
regularity.”
Doug Wieselman
A multi-instrumental threat, K.G.C. co-leader Doug Wieselman plays
a wide variety of reed, string, and percussion instruments. He’s
also a skilled composer, whose music underpinned the Oscar-winning
Holocaust documentary The Long Way Home. Much of his soundtrack
work (including music composed for the Kamikaze Ground Crew’s The Comedy of
Errors) can be found on his 2004 Tzadik records release, Dimly
Lit: Collected Soundtracks 1996-2002.
 |
| Peter
Apfelbaum |
Peter Apfelbaum
Berkeley native Apfelbaum was only a senior in high school when
he formed his first Hieroglyphics Ensemble. Though he has worked
with a wide variety of innovative musicians, blending groove, world
music, and blazing improvisation, it has been his work under the Hieroglyphics
banner that has defined his career. Their album, Signs of Life, “revealed
not only a compelling vision of jazz in the present, but with
the onset of the millennium, what jazz might yet become” (The
Essential Jazz Records, Vol 2; Mansell Publishing, London & New
York, 2000).
 |
| Steven
Bernstein |
Steven Bernstein
This year has seen two major projects by trumpeter Steven Bernstein
come to fruition: His Millennial Territory Orchestra, which grew
out of his work on Robert Altman’s 1994 film Kansas City, released
its debut album, MTO Volume 1; and his longtime pop-cum-lounge
act Sex Mob put out its sixth album, Sexotica. Besides
serving as a sideman to artists as diverse as Sting, David Murray,
and Ryuichi Sakamoto, arranging horn charts and composing film
scores, Bernstein also has three phenomenal albums in Tzadik Records’ “Radical
Jewish Culture” series to his credit: Disapora Blues, Diaspora
Soul, and Diaspora Hollywood.
 |
| Noah
Bless |
Noah Bless
After receiving his BA degree in Classical and Jazz Performance
from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, trombonist Noah Bless
moved to New York in 1990. He hit the Latin and Big Band scene, touring
with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Willie Colon, Eddie Palmieri, the Chico
O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and Tito Puente, while taking
hometown gigs with the Vanguard Orchestra, the Latin Legends
Band, and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.
 |
| Marcus Rojas |
Marcus Rojas
It’s rare to find a tuba player who reaches beyond orchestral work.
As a result of his versatility, Marcus Rojas has played with reggae legends
Sly and Robbie, jazz great Lionel Hampton, industrial rockers Foetus, and
the American Symphony Orchestra. He’s been a regular sideman with
Henry Threadgill, and played regularly with downtown luminary John
Zorn and with Steven Bernstein and guitarist Tronzo in the trio
Spanish Fly.
 |
| Kenny
Wollesen |
Kenny Wollesen
Drummer Kenny Wollesen has manned the sticks for an astonishing
variety of acclaimed musicians. He’s lent his loping rock beat to
Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, and Norah Jones; and he swings with the
best jazz musicians, including Bill Frisell, John Zorn, and Myra
Melford (appearing 11/4). A Bay Area native, he is now a fixture
on the downtown jazz scene in New York as a founding member of
the New Klezmer Trio, with his band The Wollesens, and as a very busy
session and club drummer.
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