2008: Go-go Fight Master

Aaron Bennett, John Finkbeiner, Vijay Anderson, Lisa Mezzacappa

“Heavy-Metal-Country-Jazz” that embraces both the avant-garde and the straight-ahead. Drawing on all forms of world, popular and folk music to create their refreshingly unique sound, Go-go Fightmaster is led by San Francisco Bay Area composer/saxophonist Aaron Bennett.

Aaron Bennett graduated from Cal Arts with a masters degree in Jazz Performance in 1995. At Cal Arts he studied extensively with Ismael Wadada Leo Smith. He currently plays music in the bay area as an active member of the following bands: Marco Eneidi's American Jungle Orchestra, The Scott Looney, Full Throttle, Go-Go Fightmaster, electro-magnetic trans-personal orchestra, the Vijay Anderson Quartet.

Vijay Anderson has had the pleasure of performing/recording with Lynn Johnston, Vijay AndersonAdam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra, Musical Genius, Baculum, Aaron Bennett’s Go-Go Fightmaster, The Facing East Dance Company, the Adam Lane Trio (featuring Vinny Golia), Josh Allen, Marco Eneidi , the Smith Dobson Jr. Quartet, and the Dystemic Octet. He holds a B.A. in music from San Francisco State University . At SFSU, he studied with Eddie Marshall, Francis Wong, Wayne Wallace and Hafez Modirzadeh. He continues to play in various groups throughout the bay area as well as leading his own group, The Vijay Anderson Quartet.

Able-bodied and addle-brained, right-handed engineer and multi-instrumentalist John Finkbeiner hails from Waukegan , Illinois. John has studied engineering with Myles Boisen; guitar with Morris Acevedo, Myles Boisen, and Richard Festinger, and drinking straw with Aaron Bennett.

John plays or has played with, among others, these bands: Guerrilla Hi-Fi, Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra, The Highlander II’s, Sir Dance-a-lot, Aaron Novik’s Gubbish, The United Brassworkers’ Front, Go-go Fightmaster, The Quiet Storm All-Stars, The Electro-Magnetic Trans-personal Orchestra, The Scenty-Gents, Optimist International, Sparklecock, etc.

Lisa Mezzacappa’s music lives in the intersection of improvisation and composition. Her projects as Lisa Mezzacappaa doublebassist, composer, curator and collaborator explore new contexts for developing interactive musical languages and experiences. She has studied with Michael Formanek, Henry Threadgill and Steve Coleman, and has performed and workshopped with the Sun Ra Arkestra, Meredith Monk, Bob Moses, Myra Melford, Art Baron, Terry Riley and David Murray, among others. She was artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts (2006) and the Banff International Jazz Workshop (2000), holds an MA in ethnomusicology from UC Berkeley (2003), and a BA in music from the University of Virginia (1997). She is composer-in-residence at Djerassi Resident Artists Program in fall 2008. Lisa has been awarded grants from American Composers Forum, the City of Oakland and Meet the Composer. She currently performs in nearly a dozen original jazz, pop and chamber ensembles in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lives.

Artist (photo by Photographer)