TIN HAT

Tin Hat biography
Founded in 1997 in San Francisco, TIN HAT formed as a composer's collective committed to creating a purely acoustic music that blurred the lines between composition and improvisation.

Original members Carla Kihlstedt (violin), Rob Burger (accordion/piano), and Mark Orton (guitar) often invited special guests to join them on their recordings, among them such luminaries as Tom Waits and Willie Nelson, along with luminescent friends like clarinetist Ben Goldberg and harpist Zeena Parkins. After Rob Burger left the group in late 2004, Goldberg became a permanent member, along with multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson, a San Francisco native. These new musicians fit easily into the Tin Hat mold as evocative performers, adding new colors, strokes, and textures to the already large canvas that is the ensemble's sound, as evidenced on their last two recordings, "The Sad Machinery of Spring" (Hannibal/ Rykodisc), and the live album "Foreign Legion"(Bag Production). Most recently Tin Hat has been exploring both new and traditional song- craft, incorporating Carla's vocals into the group's sound.

Reviewers note the group blends elements of jazz, folk and classical chamber music to create unique, yet often eerie compositions that seem like the perfect movie score.(Billboard); Their haunting and strangely familiar music... is a soundtrack for the kind of puzzling dream which leaves you sitting awake in the middle of the night... (The New Yorker); Forget the definitions, and simply think of their music as compelling entertainment, rich with whimsy, imagination and intelligence. (Los Angeles Times); and They make music that blends contemporary classical, Eastern European folk, tango, bossa nova and bluegrass, all with a jazz- improvisation sensibility. What comes out of that mix isn't quite like anything else you've heard - and better than that, it's fun to listen to. (New York Daily News).

Nogbad_the_Bad (Ian)