As a reed player and band leader, multi-instrumentalist Michael Moss has played with a large eclectic group of musicians including Sam Rivers, Dave Liebman, Bobby Moses, Richie Beirach, Paul Bley, Badal Roy, George Brown, Ben Sidran, Dave Burrell, Michal Urbaniak and William Parker, Larry Roland, Waldron Ricks, Mike Wimberley, Billy Stein, Charles Downs (Rashid Bakr), Ras Moshe, Jackson Krall, Steve Cohn and Chuck Fertal. These are a result of his deep interest in music traditions from all over the globe. Moss visited India and Sri Lanka, where he was able to work with some of the best musicians. In an effort to understand World Music, he has studied music from the Middle East, India and Thailand. Michael Moss is an active participant in the music scene, having founded his own musical groups, Mike Moss/4 Rivers, and Free Energy. Moss is the President of 4th Stream Records, ERG Publishing Co., former-President at Free Life Communication (a musician’s cooperative in NYC), Music Director at Loft in the Sky Jazz Festival in Lexington NY, and past member and founder of the Madison Music Collective in Madison WI. Moss has received numerous Meet the Composer grants and NYSCA grants. 4th Stream Records has released three LPs and two cassettes. Two CDs were also produced by Moss. Intervals was recorded with Billy Stein and a FREE PLAY album with the New York Free Quartet. The NYFQ will release Dream Time, its second album, in 2017. It is currently preparing for its third CD, which was recorded at ShapeShifter Lab in August 2016. This CD will be released on 4th Stream Records in 2017. Moss is currently preparing for a 2017 CD release on 4th Stream Records. It will feature two of Moss’s extended works, C#/Bb and The Old One. The recordings were made at Systems Two in Brooklyn by Jon Rosenberg (sound engineer, mix/master), and performed by The Accidental Orchestra, a Renaissance Jazz Orchestra of 22 members he created to record them. The Accidental Orchestra consists of a horn section and a string section. New York and Philadelphia improvising musicians perform through-composed pieces with large sections for soloing. Members: Jason Kao Hwang, Rosi Hertlein, Fung Churn Hwei (violins), Stephanie Griffin (viola), Lenny Mims and Carol Buck (cellos), Steve Swell (trombone), Vincent Chancey (French horn), and Waldron Mahdi Ricks (trumpet), Richard Keene (oboe), Elliott Levin (flute, tenor saxophone), Ras Moshe (soprano and tenor saxophones), Michael Lytle (bass clarinet), and myself, Michael Moss (Bb clarinet), Steve Cohn (piano), Billy Stein (guitar), Rick Iannacone (guitar/synthesizer), Larry Roland (string bass), Warren Smith (percussion, vibraphones), Badal Roy (tabla), Chuck Fertal (drums), and Michael Wimberly (djembe, African bells and percussion). Moss has worked with Judith Moss and Rosalind Newman as well as Beth Soll and other established dancers. From www.newmusicusa.org
