Jefferson Pitcher

Jefferson Pitcher came into the world in Redwood City, California, in 1972 and works today as a contemporary composer and sound-and-video artist from his home in Northern California. Jorge Strunz ranks among his earliest and most persistent influences, and Pitcher studied with him across many years. He completed a bachelor’s degree in American studies at the University of California-Davis. On the West Coast indie-rock circuit he built a long record of performances and releases as a singer-songwriter while fronting the band Above the Orange Trees. During his teenage years he took part in the San Francisco Bay Area punk community, playing in bands and sitting in on volunteer meetings at the landmark 924 Gilman Street space in Berkeley.

His recordings have appeared on the Australian label Camera Obscura, the Spanish imprint Moonpalace, and the U.S. labels Dutch East India, Words on Music, and Tract. He has toured both alone and with assorted ensembles, and he has recorded and performed alongside Pauline Oliveros, Scott Amendola, Fred Frith, Ikue Mori, Okkyung Lee, Christian Kiefer, Mike Bullock, Tim Keiper, David Gibson, Kristina Forester, Ron Guensche, Sarah Jo Zaharako, and additional collaborators. Electric guitar remains his principal instrument; through it he conjures textures resembling birds, boats, engines, and whales moving through dense fog. Although feedback and prepared-guitar techniques dominate much of his work, he also draws deeply on melodic writing and the pared-down language of minimalist composers.

Outside music his reading includes the writings of Pablo Neruda, Federico García Lorca, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Ernest Hemingway. Among his favored musicians are Philip Glass, John Cage, Brian Eno, Kelly Joe Phelps, Niño Josele, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, and Sigur Rós. With Christian Kiefer and Matthew Gerken he is developing a collaborative project centered on American presidential history. His video The Winter of the Dance has screened at the Ann Arbor, Nashville, Sonoma Valley, and Palm Springs film festivals. He currently serves as a graduate fellow in the electronic arts department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and he is married to visual artist and author Keri Smith.