Discography
Flounder 2021
Flounder’s first CD and digital release on Cure-All Records combines the freewheeling groove and grit of mid-century blues and jazz with the intimacy and instrumental interplay of chamber music. This release is a culmination of two years worth of composing and performing a wealth of original material, specifically written by composer and guitarist David Dvorin for the group’s unique instrumentation. Combining both retro and futuristic timbres, the release blends a playful rhythmic feel with bold explorations of harmony and texture.
Goggle 2021
The members of Goggle, the sax quartet based in Northern California and Santa Fe, have worked with everyone from Anthony Braxton, Vinny Golia, Yusef Lateef, Roscoe Mitchell, to ROVA, but the group has a sound all their own. From its opening salvo to its mesmerizing fadeout, their first CD and digital release on Cure-All Records engages the listener with storytelling full of twists and turns. The album—eight original compositions, one group improvisation, and a spellbinding piece manifested with vocalist Mantra Plonsey (plus two bonus remixes available on Bandcamp)—showcases these composer/performers’ collective ability to mix tradition with innovation, jazz improv with classical, world and pop, to create a singularly unique world of music.
Dan Plonsey, Randy McKean & Cory Wright 2020
An offering from the ever-prolific Dan Plonsey featuring saxophone and clarinet trios performed by we and Cory Wright. The joy of improvising and pioneering brand new compositions with two of my favorite musicians–there’s a certain giddiness, but also a first-time focus as we’re navigating uncharted waters. Studio wizard John Finkbeiner captured it all at New, Improved and mixed and mastered this gem.
Tumble 2019
Recorded during bassist Bill Douglass’s three-year tenure with the band, this diverse set features propulsive, multi-layered originals by guitarist Sean Kerrigan, freer experimental compositions from McKean and mbira player Robert Heirendt, and innovative arrangements of classic tunes by Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter.
Pac and Seep 2018
The second release from my duo with drummer Jon Bafus was recorded at Gold Lion Arts in Sacramento on December 18, 2017, by Jon, and mastered by Joseph Davancens. This music is a celebration of friendship and the end of 2017!
Pac and Seep 2017
The first release from my duo with drummer Jon Bafus was recorded live on February 12, 2017, by Patrick Hills at Earth Tone Recording Company in Sacramento. Tunes include the Ornette-inspired Zipline, the riff-twisting Patting Pendant, the intricate/escstatic Decorative Poison, and two free improvs.
Tumble 2017
Tumble’s first CD release, Music for Trio features the unique combination of guitar, reeds and mbira (a kalimba-like instrument from Zimbabwe) playing intricate originals and innovative arrangements of Wayne Shorter’s Down in the Depths and the spaghetti western theme Lascialo Andare.
Beaucoup Chapeaux 2016
Beaucoup Chapeaux is part Parisian bistro and part Italian café, Greek taverna and Bulgarian kafana, Piaf singing in Albanian while dancing tango, music antique and modern re-imagined for you to fall in love with.
Bristle 2015
Bristle’s second CD release, Future(s) Now(s), features seven inventive, irreverent, often outlandish compositions that de-and re-construct familiar musical genres and pillage the farthest corners of jazz past and present.
Gargantius Effect 2012
Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)
This digital release documents GE’s August 2011 tour of Northern California with special guest and fellow Sonologist Han-Earl Park (+1), Gino Robair (+2), and Scott Looney (+3).
“Gargantius Effect… slip in and out of something approaching Webern-ian counterpoint… explore the outer limits of timbre, especially on the epic ‘Old Robots Never Rust’. Campbell’s violin slides are an excellent foil to the more vocal qualities in Park’s improvising, not to mention similar devices used by multi-reedist Randy McKean as the trio converge and diverge in pitch space…. The improv is always edge-of-seat energetic.” Marc Medwin (New York City Jazz Record)
Bristle 2012
Bristle’s first CD release, Bulletproof, crams modern jazz, chamber music and garage rock into the same clown car and hits the road running. Bulletproof’s tracks range from the lead-off Notlob, inspired by John Zorn’s cut-up method and titled after Monty Python’s Dead Parrot sketch, to the Art Ensemble-ish atmospherics of Attica. While the band offers fresh innovation with the graphic score Budmo Jiggler, they also interpret 1960’s legend and Ornette Coleman contemporary Lemuel Crook’s freebop classic Revolution. McKean’s riff-based, quasi-talk show theme Settlin’inin’ contrasts with Wright’s contrapuntal, compartmental vehicle Boxcar Bob. Drizzle mixes light showers with heavy solos from clarinetist Wright and company.
Zap! 2012
Zap! is the collaboration between the multi-faceted reeds of Randy McKean and the live electro-acoustic manipulations of David Dvorin. Using the framework of improvisation, contemporary jazz and art music, this digital release contains echoes of such diverse sources as vintage science-fiction, Edison cylinder recordings, hillbilly swing, bird-song, obsolete sounds, and comic books.
Wild Horsey Ride 2012
One evening in summer 2012, Wes Steed recorded Randy McKean skronking away in a small locked room in Steed’s house in Sacramento. Later that same night, in a seemingly-related event, McKean’s car caught on fire as he drove it back up the hill to his native Grass Valley. McKean and his instruments made it out alive, as did the audio document Randy McKean’s Wild Horsey Ride, wherein Mr. Steed roundly thrashed and manipulated McKean’s sounds appropriate to the occasion.