Karlton Hester and Hesterian Musicism: Biography (short)
Karlton Hester: Karlton E. Hester, Ph.D. (composer/flutist/saxophonist),
began his career as a composer and recording artist in Los Angeles where he
worked as a studio musician and music educator. He received his Ph.D. in composition
from the City University of New York Graduate Center and is currently Director
of "Jazz" Studies at the University of California in Santa Cruz. As
performer on both flute and saxophone, he is music director of the Fillmore
Jazz Preservation Big Band and Hesterian Musicism. Hester is currently music
director of Hesterian Musicism, founding director of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation
Big Band in San Francisco and served as the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz
Studies at Cornell University from 1991-2001. His formal study included Harry
Nelsova and Paul Renzi on flute, Joe Henderson and John Handy in "jazz"
improvisation, composition with Bruce Saylor and Robert Starrer, as well as
lessons with Frank Chase and Bill Tremble on saxophone.
Hester specializes in premeditated, spontaneous and electro-acoustic composition.
His compositions span a wide range; from numerous solo cycles for various woodwinds
to chamber configurations, music videos and electro-acoustic symphonic works
written in an eclectic array of styles. He has been the recipient of fellowships,
grants and commissions from the National Endowment of the Arts, New York Foundation
for the Arts, New England Council of the Arts, Arts International, and ASCAP,
amongst others. His albums include 21st-Century Musicism (2005), Harmonious
Soul Scenes 2000; Musicism for the Sake of Love; Hesterian Liberation; Reconstructive
Musicism; Karlton Hester and the Contemporary Jazz Art Movement; Hesterian Musicism;
Dances Purely for the Sake of Love; Musicism for Your Imagination and Sacred
Musicism, Harmonious Soul Scenes 2000 and others.
"Hesterian Musicism reveals him to be a composer with a breathtaking
range of materials that are skillfully wrought in both refreshing chamber configurations
and his impressive 12-piece Contemporary Jazz Art Movement." --- Downbeat
Hesterian Musicism: As a composer Hester has continued to evolve the trans-harmonic
style he calls Hesterian Musicism since the early nineteen seventies. His music
involves a fission of Afrocentric and Western tonal, modal, quartal, serial,
and electronic elements into an expressive voice that defies simple categorization
as either premeditated or spontaneous composition. The range of his works spans
from numerous solo cycles for
various woodwinds to chamber configurations and electro-acoustic symphonic works
written in an eclectic array of style. Originally nurtured in New York, Hesterian
Musicism is a continuation of his former Bay Area based ensemble, The Contemporary
Jazz Art Movement (1970s & 80s). He has recorded his own compositions, since
the early 1970s, featuring the Contemporary Jazz Art Movement on earlier albums
and Hesterian Musicism on more recent recordings. Hester continues to perform
with both East and West Coast members of Hesterian Musicism.
Hesterian Musicism is not only the name he coined for his performance ensemble,
but it also designates Hester's compositional and improvisational process. Hesterian
Musicism is the creative process through which Karlton Hester's compositional
and performance style merge to give rise to aesthetic environments where other
musicians, kinetic and visual artists, and poets can meet to produce new art
forms through imaginative effort. Its philosophical basis involves an intrinsic
freedom of expression, focused and disciplined spontaneity, and a structural
basis that explores the creative components of diverse sources from the whole
earth. Intrinsically interdisciplinary, Hesterian Musicism has presented numerous
concerts in collaboration with other artists, such as painters, dancers and
choreographers, poets, as well as a number of performances featuring African
musicians on traditional instruments. [Click
here for the full set of information on Hesterian Musicism.]