DETAILED BIO

Performance

More than 1,000 group and solo performances of original jazz, progressive rock, electronic music, and improvised music in the U.S., China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Mexico, Russia, Tuva, England, and Germany.

In North America

Performances at festivals, concerts, and clubs on both coasts and in Mexico, including NEARfest, WOMAD, Seattle Improvised Music Festival, Seaprog, Baja Prog (Mexico), Festival AlterNativo (Mexico), Chrome Hearts (Los Angeles), Nor Cal Prog (SF Bay Area), Orion Studios (Baltimore), New Jersey Prog House, Bumbershoot Arts Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Northwest Folklife Festival, ArtsEdge Festival, Olympia Experimental Music Festival, Columbia Gorge Amphitheater, Experience Music Project, On The Boards, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Henry Art Museum, Egg Lake Faire, Seattle city parks, and the Sonarchy live radio hour.

Prominent artists that Dennis has opened for include Soft Machine, Sting, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, and the Trey Gunn Band.

In China

  • Performed in the 1996 Beijing International Jazz Festival with LAND, followed by 10 concerts in Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Kunming, and Chengdu.
  • Organized a 20-concert tour of Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, and Guangzhou (Canton) for The Vagaries, including performances televised throughout China and neighboring countries as part of the 1991 China International TV Festival.
  • Concert tour of Beijing, Chengdu, and Guangzhou in 1991 with Identity Crisis, including a performance broadcast by Chengdu TV.

          These were among the first extensive unofficial concert tours undertaken by Western bands in China.

  • Solo concerts at Sichuan Music Conservatory, Sichuan Radio, Chengdu TV, Southwest China Art Institute, Chengdu Workers' Cultural Palace, and several universities.
  • Collaborative performances with well-known Chinese musicians Cui Jian, Wang Yong, ADO, Liang Heping, Zhang Xing, Firefly Band, Cobra, He Yong, Huang Qiang, and Zhu Ling.

In East Asia

  • Numerous group and solo performances in Taiwan, at venues including the New Phase Arts Center, Tainan Municipal Cultural Center, the Living Room, May Jam Festival, Feelmore Jazz Club, The Wall, Dog Pig Art Cafe, and National Cheng Kung University.
  • Concerts in Hong Kong and Macau with LAND in 1996.

In Siberia / Central Asia

  • Voice of Nomads Festival, Ulan Ude, Buryatia, Russia 2014
  • MuzEnergo tours of Russia, 2014 & 2015 (roughly 20 concerts, mostly in Siberia)
  • Ustuu Huree Festival, Tuva 2015
  • Krasnoyarsk Jazz Festival, Russia 2019

In Europe

  • Recorded two albums in Germany with Earthstar in 1979/80, in association with electronic music pioneer Klaus Schulze.
  • Recording session and performance in Munich in 2007 with the international jazz-rock quartet Ting Bu Dong.
  • Sonic Rock Solstice Festival, England 2016 (with Nik Turner & Flame Tree)
  • First International MoonJune Music Festival, Jajce, Bosnia-Hercegovina, 2022

Grants

  • Recipient of two U.S. Department of State grants (Fulbright-Hays) for my participation in the 2014 and 2015 MuzEnergo Tours of Russia.
  • Recipient of grants from the Malcolm S. Morse Foundation, Earshot Jazz, and the Washington State China Relations Council for LAND's appearance in the 1996 Beijing International Jazz Festival.
  • Recipient of grants from the Arts International Fund for U.S. Artists Abroad (in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation) and the Washington State China Relations Council for The Vagaries' tour of China
  • Recipient of Seattle Arts Commission, King County Arts Commission, and Jack Straw Foundation Artist Support Program grants as co-producer of the Tenth Seattle Improvised Music Festival.
  • Recipient of a 2007 Artist Support Program residency from Jack Straw Foundation to complete Views from Chicheng Precipice, a CD of radically reimagined East Asian traditional music.
  • Recipient of a 2016 Artist Support Program residency from Jack Straw Foundation to complete Giant Steppes, a CD of radically reimagined Central Asian traditional music.

Mixed Media

  • With The Vagaries, represented the United States in the 1991 China International TV Festival (1991)
  • Subject of two TV specials produced by Chengdu TV, China (1990, 1991)
  • Composed music for the Spectrum Dance Theater production "Eyeplay" at Broadway Performance Hall, Seattle (1983)
  • Performed in "Cobrew," a music and dance event combining John Zorn's "COBRA" and Lisa Nelson's "Tuning Score," at the 1999 Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation.
  • Composed music for gallery installations for painter Daryl Trivieri at Semaphore East, New York City (1985)
  • Featured on the soundtrack to Robert McGinley's film Shredder Orpheus, winner of first prize at the Baltimore and New Orleans independent film festivals (1988)
  • Collaborated with soundtrack composer Stephen Thomas Cavit on the score for the documentary film Fallon, NV: Deadly Oasis by director Amie Williams (2004)
  • Collaborated with soundtrack composer Stephen Thomas Cavit on the score for the documentary film Ginney Ruffner: A Not So Still Life, by director Karen Stanton (2004)
  • With cellist Lori Goldston, created live soundtracks to classic silent films at Pike Street Cinema, Seattle (1994)

Writings on Music

Event Production / Other

Compositions