Graduating with a bachelor’s in music at the University of Michigan in 1998. Patrick Cress was schooled by Donald Walden’s strict jazz theory and Donald Sinta’s brilliant classical mind. It was there that he conceived the concept for Telepathy (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, upright, drums), his brainchild, after heavy influences of Ornette Coleman and Tim Berne. Founded in March 2002, Telepathy has recorded three albums, as well as performed both nationally and internationally. The group features some of the Bay Area's finest musicians and has played for diverse audiences from San Francisco’s Bruno’s and ODC Theater, Berkeley’s Jazz House, to L.A.’s the Mint, Santa Monica’s Temple Bar to Portland’s Mt. Tabor Theater and Vancouver’s Sugar Refinery.
Patrick also co-directs and composes for, Bay Area based, Octagon. The group consists of four dancers, four musicians, and one painter with the premise of pairing improvised dance with improvised music and painting, and choreographed dance with composed music and painting. The group has performed in San Francisco’s ODC theater and L.A.’s Electric Lodge.
Patrick is a co-founder, composer, and performer for the rock trio Ah LaRocca, since 1998. The band plays well-crafted Taurean rock and roll with soothing vocal silkiness, angst-ridden, head-bangin’ rock, and cerebral brain-twisters with influences of Blonde Redhead and Jim Black.
Patrick has helped form the Bulkley/Cress electronic duo which combines two very intuitive improvisers that have developed a unique language from their work in Telepathy since March, 2002. The duo creates layers of texture via live loops and samples while exploring the limits of their well-developed acoustic sounds. Cress (alto and baritone saxophones) lays down dense textures and melodies using an effects processor and loop station while Bulkley (drum set) helps to wrap the music into a tasty morsel and fill in the gaps with his live/recorded samples. The Bulkley/Cress duo streches the limits with heavy hitting, booty-shaking groove and myriad textural nuances all in the same set.
Patrick also co-directs the Bay Area's own Odd Shaped Case Record Label releasing and promoting new recordings since 2001. Odd Shaped Case is an independent label, distribution, and production company based in San Francisco focusing on promoting new music derived from the musical cultures of the Balkans and Middle East, Jazz/Improvistion, and Electronics through supporting new recordings, concerts, and publications. OSC is managed in a co-op format by the artists themselves (some 9 official bands and countless offshoots.) This has allowed OSC complete creative freedom while maintaining a company structure that is self-supportive.