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Brent Bowman

Brent A. Bowman is a music educator and a musician. At Berklee College of Music he played with Al Di Meola, Tiger Okoshi, Mick Goodrick, Abraham Laboriel, Oliver Nelson II, Steve Swallow, Jeff Stout, Gerry Beaudoin and Wayne Naus. He has performed with Candy Johnson, Gerry Beaudoin, was band leader for the European U.S.O. touring group "Montage". He shared the stage with Bob Hope, The Carpenters, The Temptations, The Four Tops. The O’Jays, Captain and Tennille, KC and the Sunshine Band and The Ohio Players. In the USA, he has toured with Tiny Tim, George Goebel, Frank Fontaine, The Inkspots, George Jessel, Frank Gorshin, and the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

In Kansas City, he has performed with the Al Pearson Band, Dave Haas Orchestra, Abel Ramirez Band, New Vintage Big Band, Vince Bilardo Band, KC Kix Band. He also has played in the St. Joseph (MO) Orchestra and Lawrence (KS) City Band. He has jammed with KC local greats Sonny Kenner and Carmel Jones and has performed music for the The Alvin Ailey Dancers, City in Motion Dance, and KC Contemporary Dance.

He was a founding member of the Southeastern Ohio Symphony, Red Bridge Arts Festival and co-founded the Topeka All-City String Festival. Recent projects have been Brother Iota Space Rock (produced 18 Albums) and River Cow Cosmic Orchestra (produced 22 albums). His mentors at Berklee College of Music: Joe Viola, John LaPorta, Bob Patton, Andy McGhee, Gary Burton, William Lacey, Jan Konopasek (B.M.); The University of Akron: Sherman VanderArk and Wallace H. Nolin (M.M.); The University of Kansas: George Duerksen, Paul Haack, and Rudolph Radocy (Ph.D.).

Awards

The University of Akron - Outstanding Alumni Award, University of Akron Delegate for Rockhurst College Presidential Inauguration; United School District #501 Topeka, KS - Co-Founder Topeka All-City String Festival, Nationally Registered Teacher-Music Educators National Conference; Center School District Kansas City, MO - Technology Award from Boatmen's Bank of Kansas City, Teaching Award-Missouri Alliance of Arts Education, Teaching Award-International Innovations in Education Association, Recognized Educator-Learning Magazine, Excellence in Teaching nomination - Kansas City Star Newspaper, Founder of the Red Bridge Arts Festival and authored $25,000 grant from Missouri Arts Education Task Force; Blue Valley Schools USD#229 Overland Park, KS - Director of "Children As Music Composers" project, District Master Teacher of the Year Award, Excellence In Education Award, Outstanding Educator "Sunflower Award", Certificate of Honor for Outstanding Contributions from Emporia State University, Winner of Kindest Kansas Citian Award, Nominated for Kansas Teacher of the Year.

Gear

Alto Saxophone - Selmer Paris Mark VI (1971), Mouthpiece - Meyer 5 , Ligature - Silverstein, Reeds - ALTA Ambipoly. Tenor Saxophone - Conn 10M (1937), Mouthpiece - Brillhart 3* Level Air, Reeds - ALTA Ambipoly, Flute - Haynes Almadeus AF600, Keyboard - Nord Electro 5D, Piano - Baldwin grand. [email protected]

Tags

River Cow Cosmic Orchestra - press clips: "Overall, I found the music genuinely fresh and exciting, as this experienced band has presented a varied set with melodic and rhythmic interest, with plenty of interplay and drama. I especially enjoyed the Pointer horn. But, at the end of the day, it was all just plain fun, holding my interest for several listens through the program. CD Review of "Go Wake The Rooster" - Roger Atkinson, Kansas City Jazz Ambassador "...They create very open and wide structures and take time to develop things. Their improvisations originate on stage or in studio without much pretension. This results in very captivating music that is never in a hurry and working very consequent to its goal..It's just there.” Dolf Mulder, Vital Weekly, Netherlands "I sincerely believe this is the best creative venture I've ever heard from a Midwestern group of cows & give it my MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as well as the "PICK" of this issue for "best creative jazz"! " Rotcod Zzaj - Zzai Productions - Improvijazzation Nation “The best song in the world, right now this morning is… “Investment Bankers” by the River Cow Orchestra. Kansas City outfit. I just heard about them yesterday and I’m digging their chill.” Jack Pribek - Snake Oil - music web blog “That approach (River Cow Orchestra's) was what Kansas City was once famous for "jazz musicians who cut new ground" or hoped to "each time they played.” David Knopf - Richmond Daily News “Ah yes, …improv at its best. To classify the sound as jazz" where most (of their band) members have a lot of experienceb" would be too limiting. The improvisation created newer and deeper textures.” Cory Streeter - The Kansas City Star newspaper "The pieces, or excursions as the trumpet player E. E. Pointer put it, took the audience through a journey of styles from psychedelic to funk, acid jazz, traditional jazz and contemporary classical music in the likeliness of Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, Charles Mingus, even Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Little surprises, like a musical quote from the Wizard of Oz and Middle Eastern melodies, Pointer rang out in one of the "excursions" took me out of my trance." - Nihan Yesil, KCMetropolis.org "River Cow Orchestra takes free form jazz and turns it into an experience that delights not only the ears, but the eyes"and the mind as well. As the orchestra begins each piece, it invites the audience to join an original journey, one that begins only in that moment and ends vibrantly but only with a memory, because that exact performance will neither be seen nor heard again. Members of the audience listen as the sounds build and blend and excite. They watch as colors swirl and flow and energize. They feel the mood as it mellows and then bellows. Then, the audience leaves with a smile, because they’ve been not to a concert but to an event. " - Sara D. Seidel Vice President, Friends of the Farris Theater Richmond, Missouri, Letter to the Kansas Arts Commission Touring Roster "And then the music began to fill the air that Saturday evening. I felt as if I was being transported through time" to a different era, the era of Jazz clubs; where Jazz was truly the “music of the streets”; where Jazz was truly alive. I imagined hearing Louis Armstrong playing away on his trumpet while Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday scatted along with him. The music flowed so seamlessly, that it was hard to tell when one song ended and when another one began! But the greatest surprise was learning that ALL of the music that was played that night was 100% improvised! " - Jenny Gray, Performance Review “They create very open and wide structures and take time to develop things. This results in very captivating music that is never in a hurry and working very consequent to its goal.” Dolf Mulder - Vital Weekly, Netherlands

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Primary Instrument

Saxophone, alto

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Credentials/Background

Berklee College of Music – B.M. 1976 The University of Akron – M.M. 1981 The University of Kansas – Ph.D. 1988 Educational mentors: Robert M. Lacey, Berklee College of Music Joseph E. Viola, Berklee College of Music Dr. Wallace H. Nolin, The University of Akron Dr. Sherman D. VanderArk, The University of Akron Dr. George L. Duerksen, The University of Kansas Nationally Registered Music Educator - Music Educators National Conference Certified Orff Music Educator (Levels 1 &2) - American Orff-Schulwerk Association National Conferences presentations: National Science Teachers Association - Boston National Association for Gifted Children - Kansas City Music Educators National Conference - Indianapolis, San Antonio, Washington, D.C. The University of Kansas Symposium of the Psychology and Acoustics of Music - Lawrence, Kansas State and Regional Conference presentations: Kansas State Capitol Technology in Education Fair - Topeka Metro Area Council for Computers in Education - Kansas City Missouri Alliance for Arts Education - Kansas City Missouri Arts Education Task Force - Saint Louis Missouri Music Education Association - Osage Beach, Missouri School District presentations (Missouri): Center, Raytown, Kansas City, Maryville, Grain Valley, Independence, Fort Osage School District presentations (Kansas): Blue Valley, Topeka, Kansas City Published Research: Dissertation Abstracts International Kansas Music Review, The Music Researcher's Exchange Proceedings of the Research Symposium on the Psychology and Acoustics of Music Proceedings of the Symposium on Practice and Research in Music and Visual Art Education and Music Therapy Teaching experience: 38 years pre-K through graduate level college, 50+ years private lessons, alto saxophone

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

https://www.youtube.com/user/RiverCowOrchestra https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC88UVdONcdo_Kwc-ZvnHKQg https://www.reverbnation.com/rivercoworchestra https://soundcloud.com/wetcows