About/CV

Who would drop out of music school to spend more time making music? Nate Trier, for one – a composer for whom convention is never enough.

Now, Trier is putting his omnivorous musical appetite to good use by creating and performing music that fuses classical chamber music with the freedom of jazz.

His musical journey began with studying composition and jazz piano in college, but his interest in improvisation and new sounds soon led him to spend hours in the school’s music library, absorbing works by John Cage and Terry Riley.

“I began to see the connections between improvisation, chance music, and John Cage’s idea of suppressing the composer’s will. It seemed to me that there was a certain intimacy in common between a chamber group, a jamband, and a jazz quintet,” says Trier.

Trier found a nurturing environment for his ideas in New Haven, CT, beginning with the New Haven Improvisers Collective, and now at Neighborhood Music School, where Trier studies composition with Istvan B’Racz. On the side, he also performs with jazz vocalist Beth Patella, plays in the SCSU Latin Jazz Ensemble, formed and led the ska-jazz group The Skamatix, as well as flexing his music production chops by creating music for movies and remixing MC Lars and Whomping Willows.

“I always tell people New Haven is a big enough city to have people doing really interesting things, and small enough that sooner or later you’ll be rubbing shoulders with them.”

Teaming up with some of those interesting people, Trier has been active in Connecticut, performing with his free improv group Open Spaces, performing with the the New Haven Improvisers collective at the city’s lauded Firehouse12 jazz venue, and most recently, giving a composition recital at Neighborhood Music School. The recital perhaps showcased the composer’s divergent interests best, covering a range of material that ranged from a medievalish setting of Emily Dickinson sonnets (to be accompanied by accordion) to a piece for an improviser accompanied by three radios alternately tuned to music or static.

What’s next for the composer?

Says Trier: “I want to continue to explore the nuanced ways a small group of sympathetic musicians can communicate–or, to put it simply, I just want to be able to continue making good music with good people.”

You can reach Nate at nate.trier at gmail dot com.

Works Performed:

• Like Monkeys Trapped in Cages with the Doors Wide Open – 2012 – for any combination of woodwind, brass, stringed instruments, guitars, and percussion
• Cycles that Surround Us – 2012 – for any large group of improvisers
• Tape Interpolations – 2011 – for improvisers and tape
• Flowchart Jazz #2: Fly You to the Moon – 2011 – for two or more improvisers
• Flowchart Jazz #3 – 2011 – for two or more improvisers
• Patterns – 2011 – for three or more improvisers
• Ample Make this Bed – 2011 – for tenor, alto, and accordion
• Greenwood – 2011 – for flute and clarinet
• Misterioso – 2011 – for flute and piano
• Maija’s Moods – 2011 – for piano
• Duet for Instrument and Radios – 2011 – any instrument and three radios
• Lupes – 2011 – for two electric guitars, alto saxophone, marimba, bass, and drumset
• 29 Blackbirds – 2010 – Level 1 piece for school concert band
• SUCCESS/FAIL – 2009 – for free jazz/rock band, Mayhem Circus Electric
• Brig Primpin’ – 2009 – for free jazz/rock band, Mayhem Circus Electric
• Executioner of the Estate – 2009 – for free jazz/rock band, Mayhem Circus Electric
• Concerto for Conductor and Improvisers – 2009 – for 4-8 improvisers
• Cycles that Surround Us 2 – 2008 – for 4-6 improvisers
• Flowchart Jazz #1 – 2008 – for two or more improvisers
• Zage 3 – 2008 – for two or more improvisers
• Zage 1 – 2007 – for any group of improvisers
• Austin Oughta Know by Now – 2007 – for three or more improvisers
• Ives Been Watching You – 2006 – for three or more improvisers
• Phoenix Rising (contributor) – 2006 – for free-jazz/rock band with two bass guitars
• Flame – 1996 – solo piano

Workshops and Teaching:

• Music teacher, High School in the Community, 2010 – present: band, jazz band, chorus, music theory, music production, history of pop music
• Private lessons, 2008 – present: piano, clarinet, baritone horn, voice, improvisation, composition and theory
• Masterclass instructor, 2012: Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamerica Summer Music Camp: advanced piano, theory, and arranging
• Composition workshop, New Haven Improvisers Collective, 2013
• Improvisation workshop, New Haven Improvisers Collective, 2012: Stockhausen’s “From the Seven Days”
• Improvisation workshop, New Haven Improvisers Collective, 2010: John Zorn’s COBRA
• Afterschool percussion instructor, 2010, Yale School of Music/New Haven Public Schools
• Guest lecturer on jazz history and musicology, 2008, Quinnipiac University
• Improvisation workshop, New Haven Improvisers Collective, 2006: John Zorn’s COBRA

Recordings:

• The Kitchen Sink: In A Silent Way: Live at The Outer Space – 2013
• Mayhem Circus Electric: Groundwaves – 2012
• Nate Trier (with Barry Seroff): Only Numbers Remain – 2012
• Mouth 4 Rusty: Good Men Now – 2012
• Mayhem Circus Electric: Lubricity – 2010
• Various Artists: 20-sided Rhymes (contributor) – 2010
• Nate Trier: Acidic Jazz, Malicious Mashups – 2010
• John D. Venter: Dub In A Pleasant Mood – 2010
• IWADON: Hiroyuki Iwatsuki Tribute Album (contributor) – 2010
• Various Artists: Old Nerdy Bastard (contributor) – 2008
• Absinthe Films: More (incidental music) – 2006

Awards and Miscellaneous:

• Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, 2013
• Neighborhood Music School Merit Award, 2013
• Neighborhood Music School Merit Award, 2011
• DJ, “In the Groove,” University of New Haven’s Jazz in the Morning radio show, WNHU 88.7 FM, 2008-2009
• Curated the New Haven Jazzcast, a podcast to raise awareness of jazz musicians and performances in New Haven, 2006-2007
• “Consultant on struggling musicians,” Happiness Sold Separately, 2005