Serving the San Francisco Bay Area New Music Community

                    
Tom Djll
Trumpet, keyboards, electronics, composer, writer
Tom Djll studied electronic music with Stephen Scott at the Colorado College, working with the EMS Synthi 100 system at Packard Hall. He spent the years 1981-1993 working with the Serge Modular Music System before enrolling in Mills College Contemporary Music Program, where he extended his quest to develop and integrate a personally developed extended trumpet language into an electronic sound environment, while also pursuing advanced improvisation studies, formally, with Pauline Oliveros, and, informally, with Jack Wright. While at Mills, Djll concentrated on microtonal composition, split-tone trumpet technique, and computer music. He also worked extensively with Chris Brown, resulting in contributions to Brown’s recordings LAVA (Tzadik) and DUETS (Artifact).

Further refinement of trumpet languages and free improvisation with his band GROSSE ABFAHRT was undertaken from 1999 – 2010, with international CD releases resulting on the Emanem, Creative Sources, and Setola di Maiale labels. Beginning in 2012, Djll gradually re-introduced electronics into his sound-set. The results are heard in projects such as hackMIDI (extreme electro-mechanical piano music), the hardcore free-noise trio BEAUTY SCHOOL, piano + analog electronics in TENDER BUTTONS (with Tania Chen and Gino Robair), delicate environments in EUPHOTIC (with Cheryl Leonard and Bryan Day), austere acoustic spaces with KOKUO (Kanoko Nishi-Smith, John McCowen, Jacob Felix Heule, and Kyle Bruckmann) and ongoing sessions and performances within the lively and ever-evolving Bay Area scene, with playing partners old and new (including but not limited to Tim Perkis, Amanda Chaudhary, Jordan Glenn, Rova, Clarke Robinson, Suki O’Kane, Matt Ingalls, Tom Nunn, bran(…)pos, and Karen Stackpole.

"“Tom Djll has taken the trumpet as far beyond its silver, snarling vernacular as it is possible to go, and as far from the extended technique proponents as Bill Dixon is from Roy Castle. Djll’s trumpet extensions are in some respects no different to what early jazzmen used as punctuation devices or timbral effects. Few have gone as far as Djll, though, in making such articulations the entire substance of a piece, and none have gone so far in the development of split-channel playing." - The Wire

"...the music is intensely quiet, with instrumental sounds approaching room ambience. Dropping into sustained quietness like this requires great trust between the collaborating improvisers, with the opportunity to take the lead — and the danger of ruining the music — never closer. It is one of the highest states of improvised music." - East Bay Express (writing about Grosse Abfahrt's VANITY)
Photo Albums (click to view photos):
Videos
KOKUO with special guest Håvard Skaset from Norway
Solo: pocket cornet, bent toy megaphone and modular synthesizer
Conducting the Golden Gate Improviser's Orchestra, Second Act, SF, 2016
Tender Buttons at Second Act, SF, 2016; live video processing by Bill Thibault
CDs on which Tom Djll appears:
ArtistTitleLabelNumber
Tom Djll THISTLE
Artist: Tom Djll
Title: THISTLE
Label: Soul on Rice Productions
Label page on this site: Soul on Rice Productions
Soul on Rice Productions
Tom Djll SPEED OF SILENCE
Artist: Tom Djll
Title: SPEED OF SILENCE
Label: Soul on Rice Productions
Label page on this site: Soul on Rice Productions
Soul on Rice Productions
Tom Djll TWO WINDOWS
Artist: Tom Djll
Title: TWO WINDOWS
Label: Soul on Rice Productions SRPD06
Label page on this site: Soul on Rice Productions
Soul on Rice Productions SRPD06
Bruckmann/Djll/Heule/Nishi-Smith Brittle Feebling
Artist: Bruckmann/Djll/Heule/Nishi-Smith
Title: Brittle Feebling
Label: Bandcamp
Label page on this site: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Tim Walters Shatter in Place
Artist: Tim Walters
Title: Shatter in Place
Label: Bandcamp
Label page on this site: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Moe! Staiano's MOE!KESTRA! Two Forms of Multitudes: Conducted Improvisations
Artist: Moe! Staiano's MOE!KESTRA!
Title: Two Forms of Multitudes: Conducted Improvisations
Label: Pax Recordings PR90261
Label page on this site: Pax Recordings
Pax Recordings PR90261
Myles Boisen Guitarspeak
Artist: Myles Boisen
Title: Guitarspeak
Label: Rastascan Records BRD 017
Label page on this site: Rastascan Records
Rastascan Records BRD 017
Jack Wright and Bhob Rainey Signs of Life
Artist: Jack Wright and Bhob Rainey
Title: Signs of Life
Label: Spring Garden Music 010
Label page on this site: Spring Garden Music
Spring Garden Music 010
Tom Djll Mutootator
Artist: Tom Djll
Title: Mutootator
Label: Soul on Rice Productions SRPD 01
Label page on this site: Soul on Rice Productions
Soul on Rice Productions SRPD 01