Noah K
K in Brooklyn, 2015
K in Brooklyn, 2015
Background information
Born (1984-09-11) September 11, 1984
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Composer
  • Musician
  • Producer
Instrument(s)Saxophone, keyboards
Years active2008-present
LabelsHatHut, Underwolf
Websitewww.noahkmusic.com

Noah Flynn Kaplan (born September 11, 1984), known professionally as Noah K, is an American composer, saxophonist, and record producer.

Early life and education

K grew up in Topanga Canyon, California. During high school he performed jazz professionally throughout Los Angeles.[1] In 2002, he composed and performed music on the ABC television series Once and Again.[2] He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Joe Maneri and Jerry Bergonzi.[3] He was Maneri's last student.[4][5] After graduating, K moved to Brooklyn, New York, and traveled monthly to Framingham, Massachusetts for lessons in composition, theory, and improvisation with Maneri until Maneri's death in 2009.[4] K received an MFA in Music Composition from Princeton University[6] in 2015 where his advisor was Steven Mackey.[7] In 2018 he was awarded the Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship from the Princeton University Graduate School.[8] He has been the recipient of composition fellowships from the Tanglewood Music Center[9] and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.[10] In 2022, he received a PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University.[11] He has been Visiting Professor of Music and Adjunct Professor at NYU's Gallatin School, where he co-founded the 4th Wave Music Intensive.[12]

Career

Dollshot

K co-leads the dream pop band Dollshot for which he writes music and performs.[13][14] The band's eponymous debut album was released in 2011 and includes arrangements of songs by Arnold Schoenberg, Francis Poulenc and Charles Ives[15] as well as original songs by Noah K and Wes Matthews.[16] A music video for their song "Lalande", directed by Matt Mahurin, premiered on WNYC's Soundcheck in July 2017.[13] A video for a second single, "Swan Gone", directed by Pablo Delcan, premiered on BlackBook in October 2018.[14] In December 2018, Dollshot performed three songs from Lalande live on WNYC and were interviewed by Soundcheck host John Schaefer.[17]

With Giacomo Merega

One of the musicians on Dollshot is bass guitarist Giacomo Merega, whom Noah K met when they were students in Boston.[18] Their first recording, The Light and Other Things, was made in 2006; the band was a free improvisation trio that included David Tronzo on guitar.[18] The pair also played on Watch the Walls Instead, another set of freely improvised performances, this time in trio, quartet, and quintet formats.[18] They both played on trumpeter Joe Moffett's Ad Faunum[18] and were co-leaders with Moffett on Crows and Motives, a set of improvised pieces that "arose between recording three-voice extracts from one of Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez's settings of L'homme armé."[19]

Noah Kaplan Quartet

Merega is a member of the Noah Kaplan Quartet. Their debut album Descendants was released by Hathut in 2011.[20] It was followed by Cluster Swerve in 2017,[21] and Out of the Hole in 2020.[22] In its four-star review of the album, DownBeat magazine stated, "From track to track there is a consistent sense of rumination, where every intervallic brushstroke feels like the work of a painter meticulously applying and manipulating his medium to the canvas."[23] K has recorded or performed with Joe Morris, Anthony Coleman, Mauro Pagani, Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, Rinde Eckert, Jason Nazary, Mike Pride, Tyshawn Sorey, Mat Maneri, and Joe Maneri.[9]

Collaboration with Hampton Fancher

K began working with writer Hampton Fancher in 2010 when they collaborated on the spoken word cantata Rat Lunch.[24] In 2016 they began collaborating on an opera, Salvation, for which Fancher wrote the story and libretto.[24] The DVD of Michael Almereyda's documentary of Fancher, Escapes (2017), includes a video portrait of Fancher shot by K.[25]

Other

K is the editor of the English edition of Ivan Wyschnegradsky's Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony.[26] He is a co-founder of Underwolf Records and works as a record producer for the label.[27]

Playing style

As a member of his quartet, he has played in a style influenced by the microtonal approach of Maneri.[28] The New York City Jazz Record reviewer of their first album described his playing: "Kaplan's shifting pitches give his flowing lines, sliding across and between notes, even more vocal inflections than a regular hornman might impart, but he tends to be less speech-like in his phrasing and more likely to evoke animal similes in his flexible expressiveness, ranging from pained braying to exuberant crows."[29] More generally, as an improviser, he "is devoted to quarter-tone improvisation and its integration into his music as a structural principle", wrote The New York City Jazz Record.[19]

Personal life

K is married to vocalist Rosie K.[13]

Discography

Year Title Artist Genre Label Ref
2021 Ignotum Joe Morris and Noah K Jazz Glacial Erratic [30]
2020 Out Of The Hole Noah Kaplan Quartet HatHut [22]
2019 Lalande Dollshot Dream pop Underwolf [14]
2017 Cluster Swerve Noah Kaplan Quartet Jazz HatHut [21]
2014 Crows and Motives Noah Kaplan, Giacomo Merega, Joe Moffett Underwolf [19]
2012 Animal Culture Joe Moffett, Noah Kaplan, Giacomo Merega, Jacob William, Luther Gray Not Two Records [31]
Rat Lunch Hampton Fancher & Noah K Alternative Underwolf [32]
Watch the Walls Instead Giacomo Merega, Marco Cappelli, Noah Kaplan with Anthony Coleman and Mauro Pagani Jazz Underwolf [18]
2011 Descendants Noah Kaplan Quartet HatHut [21]
Dollshot Dollshot Dream pop/indie pop Underwolf [33]
2008 The Light and Other Things Giacomo Merega, David Tronzo, Noah Kaplan Jazz Creative Nation Music [18]

Bibliography

  • Wyschnegradsky, Ivan; Noah Kaplan (editor); Rosalie Kaplan (translator). Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony. Underwolf Editions: New York 2017, ISBN 0692883746.

References

  1. ↑ "Noah Kaplan, Artist Profile". enjoyctlive.com. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  2. ↑ "Chance of a Lifetime". Once and Again. Episode 63. April 15, 2002. ABC.
  3. ↑ "Noah Kaplan". Jazz and Tzaz. 232/233. 2012.
  4. 1 2 Maneri, Sonja (2010). Love Notes and Love Lines: My Life with Joe Maneri. Cambridge, Massachusetts. p. 125. OCLC 712651055.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ↑ "The Jazz Session #343: Noah Kaplan". thejazzsession.com. 2 February 2012. 8:38. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  6. ↑ "The Two Hundred Sixty-Eighth Commencement Princeton University" (PDF). www.princeton.edu. 2 May 2017. p. 35.
  7. ↑ Wyschnegradsky, Ivan (2017). Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony. New York: Underwolf Editions. p. 43. ISBN 978-0692883747.
  8. ↑ "Fellowship dinner recognizes the achievements of 26 graduate students". gradschool.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2019-01-05.
  9. 1 2 Snowcap, Bureau347 &. "Noah Kaplan | Outhere Music". outhere-music.com. Retrieved 2018-11-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony. "Meet the Cone Institute composers: Noah Kaplan | New Jersey Symphony Orchestra". www.njsymphony.org. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  11. ↑ "Princeton University Hooding and Recognition Ceremony 2022" (PDF). May 23, 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  12. ↑ "Introduction to a 4th wAVe showcase – Confluence". 31 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  13. 1 2 3 "Weekly Music Roundup: Dollshot & Shabazz Palaces - Soundcheck - WNYC". 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  14. 1 2 3 "BLACKBOOK PREMIERE: Dollshot's Hallucinatory Video for New Single 'Swan Gone'". 2018-10-29. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  15. ↑ Watter, Seth (May 2011). "Eponymous: Dollshot (Underwolf)" (PDF). The New York City Jazz Record. No. 108. p. 28.
  16. ↑ "Dollshot". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  17. ↑ "Dollshot's Experimental Dream-Pop". newsounds. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Broomer, Stuart (August 2012). "Eponymous: Joe Moffett's Ad Faunum (Not Two)" (PDF). The New York City Jazz Record. No. 124. p. 15.
  19. 1 2 3 Broomer, Stuart (March 2015). "Crows and Motives: Noah Kaplan/Giacomo Merega/Joe Moffett (Underwolf)" (PDF). The New York City Jazz Record. No. 155. p. 38.
  20. ↑ "Noah Kaplan". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  21. 1 2 3 Astarita, Glenn (6 July 2017). "Noah Kaplan Quartet: Cluster Swerve". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  22. 1 2 Jazz, All About (2020-10-04). "Noah Kaplan Quartet: Out of the Hole album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2022-06-16.
  23. ↑ Margasak, Peter (August 2017). "Noah Kaplan Quartet: Cluster Swerve". DownBeat. p. 82. Archived from the original on 2018-11-09. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Annie O Presents: Dollshot". 2018-11-02. Archived from the original on 2018-11-02. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  25. ↑ "Escapes". Grasshopper Film. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  26. ↑ "Ivan Wyschnegradsky - Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony - 5:4". 5:4. 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  27. ↑ "Noah Kaplan | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-11-09.
  28. ↑ Margasak, Peter (May 2012). "Noah Kaplan Quartet: Descendants". DownBeat. p. 54.
  29. ↑ Sharpe, John (February 2012). "Descendants: Noah Kaplan Quartet (hatOLOGY)" (PDF). The New York City Jazz Record. No. 118. p. 14.
  30. ↑ "Ignotum". Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  31. ↑ "Animal Culture". nottwo.com. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Rat Lunch". underwolf.com. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  33. ↑ Dollshot. Rosalie Kaplan, voix ; Noah Kaplan, saxophone ; Wes Matthews, piano ; Giacomo Merega, basse. Brooklyn, New York: Underwolf Records. 2011. OCLC 991171591.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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