Trio Tritticali
And LO! With a gust of wind over rooftops, following a minor explosion of rosin, perlon, maple and graphite, Trio Tritticali came into being. In a six-armed, three-headed blur, they dazzle with booty-kicking string powers. It’s Josie and the Pussycats meets the Modern Jazz Quartet. It’s George Clinton with lipstick, Thelonius Monk with a ticket around the world, and Jean-Luc Ponty in a dress. It’s all that and a pair of drumsticks, for the souped up quadri-Tritticali is fortified with the hard-driving beats of drummer Wayne Dunton.
In civilian guise they are known as mild mannered Helen Yee, plain jane Leanne Darling, and Loren Dempster, the boy next door, freelance string forces in multiple musical genres. Helen cavorted among cellos and viola in the band Invert, and lets hammers fly with the yangqin as part of Music from China. Loren weaves amazing soundscapes for choreographers Merce Cunningham and Chris Ferris, lays it down in the Dan Joeseph Ensemble, and shines as a part of Anti-Social Music. Leanne is crazy with the multiple loops and viola, jammed middle eastern style with the Near East River Ensemble, and rose to the spotlight winning the NYIT award for best original music in 2007. Infused with the force of the Tritticali, they leap across islands, peninsulas and continents, creating a new universe of string sound! Trio Tritticali is here!