dragons 1976.

The trio of Aram Shelton, Jason Ajemian and Timothy M. Daisy.
All highly active in Chicago's creative music scene, Dragons 1976 formed in a natural way after playing together for several years. They released their first album On Cortez through Locust music in 2003.

Largely improvisational, the music of Dragons 1976 focuses on their individuality while using composed parts to guide the form and structure. While rooted in and heavily influenced by music of the jazz avant-garde, their music is never bound to it's tradition, as each of the members is influenced by a wide array of styles including minimalism, folk, rock, electronic and free improvisation.

Dragons 1976 has toured the eastern parts of the United States several times over and has released three albums, including On Cortez (Locust Music), Winter Break (Singlespeed Music), and their most recent album Dragons 1976, released by the Polish imprint MultiKulti.

Winter Break was self-released as a limited 150-copy run and sold at live shows during their three week summer tour in 2006. It has been re-released under the imprint Singlespeed Music and is now available directly from Singlespeed or through CDBaby.

"The most striking aspect of Dragons 1976’s music is their concern for form and structure. Its foundation is given by compositions within which the players can make decisions, thus leaving more or less room for improvisation, solos and group interaction. The result is a music whose development is determined by the opening head, but not at the cost of spontaneity and freshness. Moreover, open and totally improvised sections are also marked by this aspect. Combined with the musicians’ technical skills, one gets music of great cohesion and unity that never loses its way, no matter how far it ends up from its starting point."

Mathieu Bélanger www.panpot.ca June, 2006

listen:

Dragons 1976: s/t MultiKutli 2007 $15.00

Dragons 1976: Winter Break Singlespeed Music $12.00