M.J.F. has been a composer/improviser with experimental and new music groups that have included the Negative Band, Musica Veneris Nocturnus, Stillife, Ghost Duo, Pickaxe and Gods of Rain; and currently plays electric guitar with the Feedback Wave Riders (Free Apocalyptic Improv), Trio Through the Looking-Glass (Chamber Jazz-inflected), and Spectral Dawn Spirits (Power Trio/Post Psychedelic/Ambient Instrumental).
“Though Michael Jon Fink is perhaps best known to readers of these pages as a pianist, having penned and performed several hauntingly beautiful Feldman-inflected (but unashamedly tonal) compositions for California’s Cold Blue label, he’s just as adept at tone painting with a guitar in his hands. Accompanied by percussionist Marcelo Aguirre, sitting behind an impressive array of gongs and cymbals, Fink’s guitar playing was discreet but highly nuanced … in a 40-minute set of delicate improvisations that was warmly received by the public …”
– Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine [from a review of Gods Of Rain at Instants Chavirés , May 27th 2005]
“In Michael Fink’s (solo) improvisation on electric guitar,
rapidly tapped, continuous left–hand arpeggios
built a dark, repressed sonic mass,
lit with little glinting spikes form the right hand
and shaped through a palpable arc…”
– John Henken, Los Angeles Times
| IN CONCERT:
Ghost Duo at Dangerous Curve (2006): duo improv with Marty Walker Cold Blue Music at REDCAT (2006): “I Hear It in the Rain” with Rick Cox, Bryan Pezzone, Barry Newton, Dan Morris and Jonathan Marmor (most) Excellent Music at ROD (2006): trio improv with Marcelo Aguirre (perc./ voice) and Mark Trayle (electronics) Aguirre/ Fink Duo at Maybeck (2006) : “Objects in the River (of Time)” duo improv with Marcelo Aguirre Festival Internacional de la Cuidad de Chihuahua (2005): “Michael Jon Fink in Concert” selected piano solos and improvisations for electric guitar at Teatro de la Cuidad, Chihuahua, Mexico Aguirre/ Fink Duo in Europe (2005):
Almost Deadly Birds at Dangerous Curve (2004): trio improv with Karl Montevirgen and Mark Trayle (Un–)Mapping the Electric Guitar (2004): “Some Dreams in Red/For Sonny Sharrock” (solo improv) Call and Response at REDCAT (2004): “Adorned with Lightning” with Alex Iles, Nick Fink and Jonathan Marmor CalArts Creative Music Festival (2001): trio improv with Wadada Leo Smith and Marty Walker Line Space Line (2001-2004): “A Folio of Large and Small Worlds Ending” (ephemera for solo electric guitar), as Ghost Duo, Ghost Duo + 1 (with Jonathan Marmor) EARJAM I, II, III (2000–2003): solo, as Ghost Duo, improvisations with Vinny Golia, David Ornette Cherry and Karl Montevirgen
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| “Electric guitarist Michael Fink made creative, smart use of his wah wah pedal, building a pleasantly dark, wobbling wall of sound.” – Josef Woodard, Los Angeles Times
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