Roger Kleier

Guitarist and composer Roger Kleier grew up in the L.A. area. He began playing music at the age of 13, after hearing Jimi Hendrix and Captain Beefheart on the radio. Kleier went on to study composition at North Texas State University and the University of Southern California, and it was during this time he became interested in improvisation. In 1981, he co-founded the Los Angeles Improvisers Collective. In addition to this, Kleier recorded with Stan Ridgeway during the '80s. He relocated to N.Y.C., and during the '90s collaborated with various downtown musicians including Samm Bennett and Marc Ribot. He has received many grants, including those from the NEA, Meet the Composer, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Kleier has performed at new music venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe, often with longtime collaborator, pianist, and new music composer Annie Gosfield. He performs on her 1998 Tzadik release, Burnt Ivory and Loose Wires, and had his own release, Klangenbang, released on Rift Records. His work with New York avant garde mainstays like Elliott Sharp maintained his status in the virtuoso underground, leading to the release of his brooding and eclectic Deep Night, Deep Autumn on Starkland Records in 2001.