Genre Classical | ||
Music groups Philip Glass Ensemble (Since 1968), Steve Reich and Musicians Albums Two Solo Pieces, Criss X Cross, Steve Reich - The ECM Recordings, Visitations, In Good Company Education San Francisco State University, California State University, Sacramento Similar Michael Riesman, Andrew Sterman, Lisa Bielawa, Mick Rossi, Peter Zummo | ||
Jon Gibson (born March 11, 1940) is a flautist, saxophonist, composer and visual artist, known as one of the founding members of the Philip Glass Ensemble and as a key player on several seminal minimalist music compositions.
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Education
Gibson studied at Sacramento State University and with Henry Onderdonk and Wayne Peterson at San Francisco State University, where he earned a BA in 1964. His earliest work as an improviser and composer also dates from around this time, when he performed in the New Music Ensemble with composers Larry Austin, Richard Swift, and Stanley Lunetta (Strickland 2001).
Career
Gibson uses various instruments from around the world in his performances of jazz and classical music.
He was a founding member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, with whom he continues to perform today. Gibson performed in the premiers of In C by Terry Riley and Drumming by Steve Reich, as well as Reich's 1967 composition Reed Phase, which Reich wrote especially for him (Strickland 2001).
He has also performed and recorded with other composers, some of them minimalists, including Christian Wolff, David Behrman, Harold Budd, Alvin Curran, Arthur Russell and Frederic Rzewski (Strickland 2001).
In 1973, Gibson's debut solo recording Visitations was released on the Chatham Square label, run by Philip Glass. Visitations is a departure from the structured repetitions of his minimalist contemporaries, instead using field recordings, ambient flutes, synthesizers and free-flowing textures to send the listener on an aural journey. In 1977 Two Solo Pieces was released, also on the Chatham Square imprint, consisting of the droning organ composition Cycles and an untitled solo flute piece.
Gibson is also an accomplished visual artist. Throughout his career he has created numerous graphic text based works laden with musical information. He also created the cover artwork for his solo albums Two Solo Pieces and Criss X Cross.
Discography
Solo
Songs
Pruit Igoe & Prophecies2009
A Gentleman's Honor1993
Music in 12 Parts: Part 1A Retrospective ยท 2010