Daren Burns' First Solo Album Features Faculty Member Wadada Leo Smith and Fellow CalArts Alumni

July 10, 2012
All About Jazz

Bassist, composer and educator Daren Burns [1] (John “Drumbo” French of Captain Beefheart [2]) has released Fear is not the Natural State of Civilized People, on Urban Nerds Records, a label Burns founded in 2009. ... Described as a “post-fusion recording for the new world”, Fear is not the Natural State of Civilized People, features some of the best recorded work from the brash, multi-textured, avant-garde jazz trumpet player, Wadada Leo Smith [3] (AACM [4], Anthony Braxton [5], John Zorn [6]). It also includes longtime collaborators, and fellow California Institute of the Arts alumni, Sarah Phillips [7] (piano), Scott Collins [8] (guitar and loops) and Craig Bunch [9] (drums).  Read story [10]