Surrealestate

Sprawling Los Angeles is home to the improvisatory and new music oriented ensemble Surrealestate. Founded in 1996, Surrealestate consists of musicians who come from multifarious Western and non-Western musical backgrounds. Free-form improvisations, self-generated scores, and interpretations of existing compositions by such artists as American firebrand Charles Ives and jazz legend Ornette Coleman are all game terrain for this sax, guitar, bass, and percussion toting ensemble. Surrealestate has performed in a variety of venues throughout California, from art galleries and rock clubs to new music festivals and high school gymnasiums. A first CD released in 1998, Contrafactum, captures the imaginative group waist deep in sonic explorations. It would have made Magritte, Dali, and Ernst proud.