Rob Mazurek

Rob Mazurek, born in 1965 in Jersey City, NJ, started making music on the Chicago Sound scene in the mid 1980’s. Since then has developed into one of the most compelling and critically acclaimed composers, cornetists, and improvisers of his time. He became well known on the genre-defying Chicago circuit in the 1990’s, developing and composing for numerous groups including Chicago Underground Orchestra/Duo/Trio/Quartet and Isotope 217.

From the mid 90’s to present Mazurek continues to push the boundaries of sound projection with new, exciting and critically acclaimed ensembles that he leads, composes for, and plays in including: Exploding Star Orchestra (featuring the late Bill Dixon and Roscoe Mitchell), Pharoah and the Underground (featuring Pharoah Sanders), Starlicker, Sound Is Quintet, Mandarin Movie, Ekundayo (featuring Naná Vasconcelos), Pulsar Quartet, Skull Sessions and Sao Paulo Underground, all of which possess their own distinct musical personalities. Mazurek performs with his ensembles at major festivals and concert halls in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Mazurek's musical career spans over 25 years, during which he has released 41 recordings of nearly 200 original compositions on numerous labels, including: Thrill Jockey, Delmark, Cuneiform, Aesthetics, Mego, and Submarine. Mazurek’s vibrant sonic palette defies categorization. The range of his talent and vision have allowed him to collaborate with icons of jazz, rock, modern classical, pop, noise, hip-hop, and world music, including Bill Dixon, Pharoah Sanders, Roscoe Mitchell, Yusef Lateef, Fred Anderson, Mike Ladd, Fred Hopkins, Tortoise, Naná Vasconcelos, Kassin, Marcelo Camelo, and many others.

In 2010, Mazurek was awarded the Commissioning Music/USA grant from Meet the Composer to develop a multi-media work in collaboration with Marianne Kim. World premieres of the work are planned for late 2012. In 2011, Mazurek was commissioned by the Jazz & Wine Festival in Cormons, Italy to compose and perform his “Violent Orchid Suite.” Mazurek was commissioned by the Sant’Anna Aressi Jazz Festival in Sardinia, Italy to compose and perform his “Transgressions Suite” for Exploding Star Orchestra.

Mazurek continues to develop as a solo and multi-media artist (sound, painting and video), with recent performances, exhibitions and artist residencies at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas (where his paintings hang on the office walls); Abbey Royal de Fontevraud in France; Galleria Coletivo in São Paulo, Brazil; Le Grande Fabrique in Dieppe, France, and Oville Experience in Puglia, Italy. Mazurek is currently working on an electro-acoustic science fiction opera based on the 10 volume “Book of Sound” written by poet/writer/alchemist/film maker Helder Velasquez Smith.