Stratic: self titled

The debut album by Stratic. Formed in 2010, Stratic creates improvised, post-rock music combining acoustic and electronic elements into three layers of sound: electronically processed saxophone, keyboard melodies/textures and drum kit/percussion. With Michael Coleman, keyboards & electronics; Aram Shelton, saxophone & processing via MSP ; Alex Vittum, drums & modular synthesizer.

ASQ: Everything for Somebody

The second album by the Aram Shelton Quartet features six compositions that place the players in familiar and challenging territory, with an eye towards exploring the many pairings available through solos, duos, trios and the full quartet. All four members contribute narrative solos to this album, displaying their individual styles while making a collective music that is joyful, energetic, raw and poignant.  In this quartet, Shelton is joined by Chicagoans Keefe Jackson on tenor saxophone, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Tim Daisy on drums.

Nordeson Shelton: Incline

Incline is the debut album by the duo of Kjell Nordeson and Aram Shelton. Recorded in a cabin in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, the improvisations that make up Incline are shaped by Nordeson and Shelton's musical and personal relationship, rather than incorporating predetermined melodies, structures, concepts or dogmas. The resulting music created by these two is complex and subtle, adventurous and focused.

Arrive: There Was.

The quartet of Aram Shelton, alto saxophone; Jason Adasiewic, vibraphone; Jason Roebke, bass; and Tim Daisy, drums. This is their long awaited third album, recorded in August of 2008 immediately after a two week tour of the eastern US. Beautifully constructed pieces with complex harmonies, detailed sections, and inspired improvising highlights some of the many possibilites of these four musicians.

Track Listing: There Was, Cradle, Lost, Fifteen, Frosted, Golden. Total Time 43:20.

Cylinder.

The San Francisco based collaborative quartet features Shelton on alto saxophone & clarinets, Darren Johnston on trumpet, Lisa Mezzacappa on bass, and Kjell Nordeson on drums.

totally unpredictable, leading to increasing moments of enjoyment with each listen- Stefan Gjissels

Track Listing: The Ear That Was Sold to a Fish, Sung by Dogs, The Deep Disciplines, Crossings, Shells, Four Thoughts, Skipped Rocks, Sink Town, Earthworm. Total Time 52:06.

Aram Shelton Quartet: These Times.

In this quartet, Aram Shelton plays equal amounts of alto saxophone & clarinet, approaching each distinctly while displaying both the large and subtle differences of the instruments. Keefe Jackson contributes on tenor saxophone with a full sound and unique approach to the utilization of extended techniques. Anton Hatwich's bass playing grounds the music and drives it in a compelling way, while Marc Riordan's drums serve as backbone to the rhythmic aspects and a frame to the open sections.

Track Listing: These Times, Rings, Dusk, An Interrupted Stroll, Relief, Rise and Set. Total Time 37:19.

Aram Shelton's Fast Citizens: Two Cities.

The Fast Citizens are the Chicago based sextet of Aram Shelton, Keefe Jackson, Josh Berman, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Anton Hatwich and Frank Rosaly. Formed in 2002 by Jackson, the Fast Citizens have decided upon a rotating leader chair and for their sophomore release Shelton has taken the reins as main composer. The title Two Cities reflects the geographic locale of Shelton, (currently based in Oakland, California), and his continued relationship with the active music scene in Chicago. Focusing on orchestration and structural variety, the Fast Citizens present a stylistically diverse album that includes hard swing, lush ballads, high-energy free improvisation and modern composition.

Track Listing: Two Cities; Big News; Western Promenade; VRC#9; In Cycles; I am Here, You are There; the Twenty-Seven; Wontkins; Easy. Total Time 59:40.

Berman Shelton Walter: Last Distractions.

An album of improvisations by Josh Berman on cornet, Aram Shelton on soprano saxophone & bass clarinet, and Weasel Walter on drums. Recorded in the summer of 2008, this album marks the first time Berman and Walter had played together since 1991. These spontaneously structured, fast-paced dialogues move from high energy extended technique mash ups to open spaced textural noise. The acoustic timbres of the instruments are raw, warm and focused.

Track Listing: Straw Men, Ad Hominem I & II, Broadened Issues, Marginalized, the Opposition, Scapegoats, Phenomena, Bandwagon. Total Time 75:19.

Shelton's bass clarinet work deserves special attention; both brash and nuanced. Invoking the music of Eric Dolphy? Certainly; but Shelton, with Walter's woolly and wild drumming, takes Dolphy to a new planet. In fact, Shelton travels to a galaxy of puzzling endgames that sort sounds into a jigsaw of styles, energies and perspectives. - All About Jazz

Ton Trio: The Way.

The debut album by Ton Trio and the first CD release by Singlespeed Music! Featuring Aram Shelton on alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Kurt Kotheimer on bass and Sam Ospovat on drums. These six compositions by Shelton cover alot of ground from high energy freedom to compositional rearrangement.

Track Listing: The Way, One Last Thing, Internal Frame, External Frame, Switches, Old Thoughts. Total Time 39:40.

Shelton, Kotheimer and Ospovat comprise a trio of utmost conviction.
- Paris Transatlantic

Arrive: Live at Elastic.

The quartet of Aram Shelton (alto saxophone), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Jason Roebke (bass), and Tim Daisy (drums). Recorded live at Elastic Arts in Chicago on December 20, 2007. This is a 4-track recording of Aram Shelton's Arrive which features 5 previously unrecorded tracks and a new interpretation of "All Dressed Up" from their 482 Music self-titled release.

Track Listing: Golden, Fifteen, the Cradle, Frosted, Lost, All Dressed Up. Total Time 48:38.

Remarkably gentle and economical, like a Lee Konitz solo manifest, Arrive is pure and deliberate. Some of the glacially slow movement of composer Morton Feldman creeps in here and there, but the energy of the Chicago players...never flags. Shelton's sax owes much to Ornette Coleman, whose soulful-sweet alto tone Shelton has adopted in faithful homage. -TimeOut Chicago

Aram Shelton's Flockterkit.

Limited release of 100 handmade CD-Rs!

Flockterkit is Aram Shelton on saxophone, Andy Strain on trombone, Caroline Penwarden on harmonium and pump organ, Kurt Kottheimer on bass, Anantha Krishnan on indian percussion and Jordan Glenn on drums.

Track Listing: We Begin, Forward Flock, A Thought to the Past, Reconstructed, Passing Darkly, Lock Step, The Only One, Finished. Total Time 42:42.

Dragons 1976. Self-Titled.

The most recent from the trio of Aram Shelton (alto saxophone), Jason Ajemian (bass), and Tim Daisy (drums). Released in 2007 by Polish imprint Multikulti, it shows the progression these three have made both collectivley and individually since their first album on Locut Music in 2003.

Track Listing: Of Many Things, Loaded, She Lay Sleeping, Hold it High, Too Tight, Found Wanting, the Forewarned.

Shelton and company can tear through free-jazz skronk when necessary, in homage to Ayler, Charles Tyler, Arthur Jones and other feral-tongued players. -Bagatellen

Aram Shelton : Settled EP

Aram Shelton's solo electroacoustic project. The music of Settled invokes moods in a cinematic style inspired by solitary walks, rainstorms with no thunder, fog & mist, the coast, empty city streets, the woods, books & coffee, bourbon & ice, and long afternoons. A bed of sounds created using field recordings & found sounds are combined with live processing of wind instruments, and melodies evolve from the existing tones found within the structure.

Track Listing: Wind, Drown, Rode, Beat. Total Time 29:08.

The duet of Aram Shelton and Icelandic guitartist Steini Gunnarson. Long formed and multilayered improvisations created from acoustic instruments and electronic processing. Gunnarson on prepared guitar and processing via PD, Shelton on alto, trumpet, bass clarinet and processing via MSP.

Track Listing: in Circulation, A Charming Decoy, Constitution (in 3 parts), The Populous, One Early Riser. Total Time 43'48".

Together, they make a singular constructive argument for why people ought listen to music rather than talk about it. Words do no justice. -WNUR

Dragons 1976. Winter Break.

The trio of Aram Shelton (alto saxophone), Jason Ajemian (bass), and Tim Daisy (drums). Founded in 2001, Dragons 1976 takes their name from the Chinese Zodiac animal which represents their birth year. This is the second of three albums so far, serving as a transition between the debut album heard on Locust Music and their most current, the 2007 release on Polish imprint MultiKulti.

Track Listing: One, Brand New, Interlude, Passage, Drifting, Atlantic. Total Time 44:36.

Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens. Ready Everyday.

Formed in 2003 by Keefe Jackson. This sextet consists of Jackson on tenor saxophone, Aram Shelton on alto saxophone, Josh Berman on cornet, Fred Lonberg-holm on cello, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Frank Rosaly on drums. In 2004 they held a residency at Chicago's famous club the Hideout, during which time the group developed a formidable cohesiveness while they developed the music for this album.

Track Listing: Ready Everyday (KJ), Signs (KJ), Band Theme (KJ), Blackout (AS), Saying Yes (KJ), Pax Urbanum (FLH), Course (KJ). Total Time 53'17".

Aram Shelton's Arrive.

The debut album by the quartet Arrive, which features Aram Shelton on alto saxophone, Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, Jason Roebke on bass, and Tim Daisy on drums. Recorded in 2001, released in 2005 by 482 Music.

Track Listing: On Time, All Dressed Up, Because of You, The Return, Johann & Leo.

Shelton advances a postbop to free vocabulary anchored in the past that also draws on the present and expectantly eyeballs the future. The basic elements will be familiar to any student of the 60s New Thing, but Shelton and his band aren’t about rote regurgitation. -Dusted.com

if Arrive is any indication, not only are the next generation of intrepid Chicago improvisers forging their own direction, Shelton has arrived as a composer of some significance.-All About Jazz