PUZZLE
OF LIGHT is the name of the performance group of Michael & Sandy Bashaw. While the personnel varies, PUZZLE OF LIGHT always includes musicians with individual musical backgrounds
and experience ranging from jazz and rock to ethnic and world music.
These blended influences produce a distinctive "New World" sound
that is both original and familiar; a repertoire that is traditional and
experimental. The current group's instrumentation includes Michael Bashaw
on flutes,
harmonica, whistles, vocals, kalimbas, balafons, and exotic handmade instruments;
Sandy Bashaw on guitar, melodica, kalimbas and vocals; Dick Roll on electric bass; John Taylor on drums; and Erich Reith on percussion. Their
educational
programs use instruments from all over the world to illustrate
traditional musical forms and to introduce improvisational concepts.
LISTEN:
Tiramisu
Always SayGoodby
With a diverse repertoire and love of improvisation, PUZZLE OF LIGHT can fashion
an evening of music to fit any event. They hosted a reception for, and
created a performance with, principal members of the Sarajevo Circle
theater
company at the first anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords
in Dayton, Ohio, November 1996. Held in Bashaw's studio loft and
attended
by international heads of state, diplomats, peace keeping groups and
international
press, this powerful and emotional performance moved many in
the
audience to tears. During a visit to Bosnia in June, 1999, PUZZLE
OFLIGHT
was asked to perform at Sarajevo's International Music Festival for the
year
2000. In November, 1999, they performed with the Sarajevo Philharmonic
during
the Dayton Peace Accords Anniversary celebration.
They perform as the group described above, and in larger settings as the Theatre of Sound Ensemble, playing Bashaw's Sound Sculptures. The Bashaws created and recorded an improvised musical work, CHINA MEMORY,
for Michael Lyons, former vice president of the Royal Society of
British
Sculptors. In spring, 1998, the music was played as part of Lyons'
twenty
year retrospective at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in Wakefield,
England.
The CD, CHINA MEMORY, is now available in limited edition. On several
occasions, the Sound Sculpture Ensemble has been joined in concert by
Steve
White (Blue Man Group, NY), Gordon Gottlieb (NY Philharmonic
percussionist,
instructor at Julliard) or Jamey Haddad (Berkeley School
instructor,
Paul Winter Consort; on tour with Paul Simon).
In 1998, PUZZLE OF LIGHT created and recorded incidental music for The Dream
Catcher, an independent film by Ed Radtke. On July 22, 2000, Michael and PUZZLE OF LIGHT gave a Sound Sculpture concert
at Fallingwater, the house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for the Edgar
Kaufmann family, located in Mill Run, Pennsylvania.
* * *
"Their music is a living melting pot which mixes jazz, world and folk music in a perpetual movement of invention and transformation. Easy to listen to, their compositions are an ode to peace and harmony, a song dedicated to nature. They communicate a profoundly spiritual vision of art and music." Gerard Nicollet for EcouterVoir Dossier, No 124 Avril 2002 "original genre-blending sound, emphasis on instrumental work, improvisational impulses and heavy use of percussion . . . [Puzzle of Light] is a title fitting for the band and its intricate musical journey through the elastic regions of light, time and space." Don Thrasher, Dayton Voice, April 23-29, 1998; Jan. 7-13, 1999.
"the most interesting and inventive troupe of music-makers in our area . . . so diverse that it's beyond categorization" . . . "Go ahead and try to fit PUZZLE OF LIGHT into our preconceived . . . notions of what things are supposed to sound like. [they] have chapels to fill with sound, rocks to play, grand adventures to undertake. Just thank your lucky musical stars that they always come back here to share the things they learned. " Ron Rollins Dayton Daily News, May 2, 1998.
INDIVIDUAL
BIOS
MICHAEL
BASHAW - artistic director
Sculptor/musician Michael Bashaw is well known for his Sound Sculpture concerts,
installations and collaborations, appearing in a variety of venues and
events. Performing Arts Series -- Hope College, Holland, MI 1994;
University
of Dayton 1996; Beloit College, Beloit WI, 1998; Clark State Community
College, Springfield, OH, 1998; Edison State Community College,
Sidney,
OH 1998; Earth Rhythms 99, for the benefit of Aullwood Audubon Center
at Shiloh Church, Dayton, Ohio in April, 1999. He performed at Wright State
University, Dayton, Ohio with Grammy winner Paul Winter, and was twice commissioned
to create works at Winter's home in Litchfield, Connecticut.
His
Sound Sculpture Ensemble performed for the International Sculpture Center's
1996 Conference in Providence, RI. Dance Company Collaborations include:
the Maori National Dance Ensemble of New Zealand; Dayton Contemporary
Dance Company; University of Dayton Dance Company; and Rhythm in Shoes.
Bashaw taught at the award winning Dayton Living Arts Center. He
worked as
a resident artist for the Dayton Art Institute, and continues as a resident
artist for the Muse Machine in Dayton, Ohio. He has conducted workshops
and residencies in hundreds of schools and art centers in the
tri-state
area, and is on the artists roster of the South Carolina Arts
Council.
He was a featured artist/presenter at the national Muse Machine teacher
training conference in Colorado Springs, CO, July, 1999.
Michael and Sandy returned June 24, 1999 from a trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia i Herzegovina
with the Sister Cities delegation from Dayton, Ohio. While in Bosnia,
they performed for children in the hospital in Sarajevo, and for an
international
audience of dignitaries at a reception given by U.S. Ambassador Kauzlarich. Michael Bashaw currently lives and works in Dayton, Ohio.
SANDY
BASHAW - artistic director
Sandy started her professional musical career at the age of 18, recording
a folk album for the Vanguard Recording Society. With acoustic
guitar
as her main instrument, she has performed professionally over the years
in a variety of genres (folk, blues, rock, western). She has had
the privilege
of sharing the stage with artists such as: Odetta, Ramblin' Jack Elliot,
Eric Anderson, Maria Muldaur, John Renbourne, Tom Paxton, Dougie MacLean,
Riders in the Sky, and Peggy Seeger & Ewan McColl. In addition
to solo
appearances, she is currently creating and playing traditional and
experimental,
improvisational music with PUZZLE OF LIGHT, as well as with the Sound
Sculpture Ensemble. Her own compositions, naturally influenced by
the ethnic
music forms she studied, are presented in her own artistic voice. Some
of Sandy's songs have been sung by folksingers Bill Staines and Peggy
Seeger.
In November, 1999, Sandy & Michael hosted a soiree for members of
the
Sarajevo Philharmonic at Michael's studio loft.
Sandy currently lives and works in Dayton, Ohio.
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