Denman Maroney

Born in 1949, Denman Maroney settled in New York City and built his career as an acoustic pianist. Although the leading figures of bop reached his ears early on, his stronger interests lay with twentieth-century composers, adventurous improvisers, and the ambient textures of both city and countryside environments. After completing high school he pursued formal training at Bennington College in Vermont from 1969 to 1971, at Williams College in 1971, and at the California Institute of the Arts from 1972 to 1974. Among his principal teachers were Bill Dixon, Jimmy Garrison, James Tenney, John Bergamo, Ingram Marshall, and Morton Subotnick. Exposure to this circle of forward-thinking mentors prompted him to develop extended bowing and sliding methods applied directly to the piano strings, using objects placed on them in combination with keyboard work to produce fresh resonances and dissonances. He named the approach “hyperpiano,” and over time he has honed the inside-the-instrument procedures to generate distinctive voicings that other players have since adopted. Maroney also favors mixed and irregular meters, frequently setting them against one another. While earlier pianists such as Cecil Taylor, Burton Greene, and Fred Van Hove had explored similar rhythmic strategies, Maroney has earned recognition for refining and expanding the practice. Support for his work has come through grants and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, the New York State Council for the Arts, and additional sources. His collaborators have included Mat Maneri, Leroy Jenkins, Mark Dresser, Ned Rothenberg, Dave Ballou, Earl Howard, Dave Douglas, Gerry Hemingway, Robert Dick, Kevin Norton, Tim Berne, and Min Xiao-Fen.