Numinous Opposum
AVoigt, IDavis, MGuberman - Find the Burrow and Bury Your Head

Info

In 1977, when Andrew Voigt co-founded the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, music was at an odd intersection of the jazz and classical traditions. ROVA changed this in important and everlasting ways. Twenty-six years later Andrew continues to work the pure, sinus tones of piccolo, C-flute, and bass flute, the furry sawtooth purr of the sopranino and alto saxes, and to express new sounds with microtonalities, multiphonics, passing tones, breath sounds, and a growing array of things not heard before.

In '99, Morgan Guberman, Oakland's extraordinary vocalist/bassist teamed up with Andrew for recordings and tours. Morgan suggested North Carolina drummer Ian Davis as a good match for the restrained realms Andrew and Morgan were exploring. Two weeks of back-to-back gigs and the trio wanted to record the furtive and courageous music they'd been playing together. This happened at Myles Boisen's Guerilla Recording in November '01. The resulting two-plus hours of tape have been crystalized down to Numinous Opossum "Find the Burrow and Bury your Head" - an Umbrella Recordings release - and the result is fine.

Breath-quiet. Surprising small explosions in at least four voices. Probing melodies. Ghostly, gut-wrenching bass. Skittering vocals. Percussive splinters of metal and wood. An Opossum. At night. Numinous.

Andrew Voigt studied with John Adams and John Handy at the San Fransisco Conservatory of Music, Roscoe Mitchell of the Art Ensemble of Chicago at Roscoe's farm in Lansing Michigan and with the Japanese Imperial Gagaku Ensemble in Tokyo, Japan. Sometimes known for being the missing "V" in the acronymically named sax quartet ROVA, which he co-founded in 1977 and left 10 years later, Andrew recorded a dozen lps/CDs for ROVA as well as many more under his own name with Radu Malfati, Harold Carr, Gino Robair, Ed Herrmann, Anthony Braxton, and J.A. Deane.

Ian Davis started drumming at 15 as an R&B drummer with The Barons, playing gigs on the South Carolina “chittlin’ circuit” with Earl Davis, George McCauley, Craig Washington, Phil Griffin, and "Cool" John Ferguson. He played folk and fusion in the 70’s, alt-pop, improvisational, and big band music in the 80’s, and played with Blue Chair, Mind Sirens, Bicentennial Quarters, Trailer Bride, and Chris Stamey/Kirk Ross in the 90’s. He was host drummer for 6 years at the Carrboro Arts Center monthly jazz jam. He moved to the Bay Area in ’95 and played with Mills College-based large improvising ensemble Micro Collective Orchestra along with Scott Rosenberg, Matt Ingalls, Morgan Guberman, Brian Pearson, Brian Kane, and many others. After returning to North Carolina in ’97, he organized the Micro-East Collective, a structured improvisational orchestra similar in design to Micro. He and composer-performer-producer-engineer Chris Stamey have recorded and produced 3 CDs for Micro-East. Ian also manages Umbrella Records. He currently plays in improvisational duos with Jason Bivins (guitar), Mahlon Hoard (soprano and tenor saxes), Onomata, a pulse-based improvising quartet, Unstable Ensemble, a Bloomington-based improvising ensemble, and The Dave Fox Quartet (Greensboro, NC). Recently, he's been invited to do a few gigs with Eugene Chadbourne. In September 2000, he toured with Andrew Voigt, Morgan Guberman, and Toshi Makihara as part of the music and dance group Corpus Ludens. By virtue of coast-spanning employment, the collaboration with Andrew and Morgan continues. Ian also records improvisational performers during house concerts sponsored by the Triangle’s Alliance for Improvised Music.

Morgan Guberman is a composer, performer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist residing in Oakland, CA. His work encompasses electronic solo and chamber music with an emphasis on free improvisation, as well as avant garde and classically notated scores. Several compositions have been utilized by dancers, filmmakers, and performance artists, and have received radio play throughout Europe, Japan, Russia, Australia, and the United States. He has toured throughout the United States and Europe as a solo artist playing contrabass, a vocalist in a prog/punk/art rock band called Spezza Rotto, an electric bassist playing the music of Scott Rosenberg in the quintet Skronktet West, and with former ROVA saxophonist Andrew Voigt and Micro East Collective founder Ian Davis in the trio Numinous Opossum.

Musician's Discography

Andrew Voigt

Andrea Centazzo & the Rova  Bay (2000) Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
J.A. Deane  Nomad (1995) Flute, Sax (Alto)
Rova  Cinema Rovaté (1978) Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sopranino
Rova  Daredevils (1979) Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sopranino
Rova  This, This, This, This. (1979) Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Sopranino)
Rova  Removal of Secrecy (1979) Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Sopranino)
Rova Saxophone Quartet  As Was (1981) Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
Rova  Saxophone Diplomacy: Live in... (1983) Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
Rova  Favorite Street (1983) Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sopranino
Rova  Crowd (1985) Clarinet, Sax (Alto)
Rova  Beat Kennel (1987) Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sopranino
Various Artists  Yearbook, Vol. 3 (1998) Sax (Alto)
Numinous Opossum (2003)