Joshua Abrams | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
Genres | Avant-garde jazz, minimalism |
Occupation(s) | Musician |
Instrument(s) | Double bass, Guimbri |
Years active | 1990–present |
Member of | Natural Information Society |
Formerly of | The Roots, Town & Country |
Joshua Abrams is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the double bass and guimbri.[1][2]
While living in Philadelphia in the late 1980s, Abrams was a member of Square Roots, a street music group that developed into The Roots. He moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1991, and played in Chicago house bands for several years before forming Town & Country in 1998 with Ben Vida, Liz Payne, and Jim Dorling. Abrams was the house bass player at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge and for several years he played a weekly club date with Tortoise's John Herndon and Jeff Parker.[3] He was a member of Mike Reed's Loose Assembly and Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble.[4][5] In 2003, he played bass on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's album Yanqui U.X.O..[6] He has worked as a studio musician on recordings made in Chicago, such as Jandek's Chicago Wednesday; Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Beware and albums from Chicago musicians such as Joan of Arc, David Grubbs, and Sam Prekop.[7][8][9]
In the early 00's, Delmark released his acoustic quartet album Cipher and Lucky Kitchen released his solo soundscape albums.[3] He recorded albums under the name "Reminder" for Prefuse 73's Eastern Developments label and Easel.[3][10] In 2010, Abrams started the band Natural Information Society releasing albums by Eremite Records.[11][3] In 2018 he received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award.[7]
As a film composer, Abrams has written music for director Steve James and for Life Itself, The Interrupters, The Trials of Muhammad Ali, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, and the documentary series America to Me.[1][12][13] He performed and composed music for the play At Twilight by Simon Starling, with Theaster Gates at Documenta 13, and in exhibitions by Lisa Alvarado.[7][14][11]
With Town & Country
With Joan of Arc
With Nicole Mitchell
With Mike Reed
With Dave Rempis
With others