PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE - ZEN FOR PRIMATES

For Immediate Release
Bummer Tent Records

Miriam Huertas 610-433-4436

ZEN FOR PRIMATES HAS JUST RELEASED THEIR 6TH CD

“Mary Anne’s Dead Husband Was My Stella Novagratz” is Zen’s most ambitious CD to date.

Featuring Guest appearances by Jazz Legends Bob Dorough (Composer/vocalist of School House Rock on ABC-TV and the only vocalist ever on a Miles Davis recording) and Bill Goodwin (Grammy winning Producer and drummer with Tom Waits, Phil Woods, Gary Burton) plus the New York City Ballet’s Principal Trombonist, Rick Chamberlain and saxophonist Bruce Kapler of the Dave Letterman CBS Late Show band, this CD brings a new dimension to the notoriously minimalist Zen sound. And yes, Bill Goodwin is the first and only drummer ever to grace a Zen recording. Other than the angelic chorale work by the female choir ACCO and the great improvisational additions by young stars Jay Rattman (sax and clarinet) and Peter Kodama (violin) it’s really just the same old Zen For Primates. Reflecting on Drinking, Smoking, Living, Dying, Perfection, Sheep-herding, Indecision, Insanity, Cannibalism and Italian Food. Ummmm, delicious

MUSIC LEGENDS CONTINUE TO JUMP ON THE “ZEN FOR PRIMATES” BAND WAGON

Legendary studio wizards Eddie Kramer and Ed Stasium and David Letterman Band Sax player Bruce Kapler, are among the latest industry notables to rave about Zen For Primates and question why the band is not a household name - or at least asked to dinner once in a while.

Eddie Kramer, a Grammy Award winner who has worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Traffic talked about Zen For Primates in a recent TV interview…….

"I first saw Zen For Primates last year with a friend of mine Bruce Kapler, the sax player from the Letterman Band, On the way to the theatre, he had told me that they were probably going to do "Whole Lotta Love" and I said that's going to be interesting. I did Zeppelin II and I mixed "Whole lotta Love" so I was very curious to see what this odd looking band was going to do with it. I was blown away! It was so funny and it was so dry and so reserved and yet punchy. T. Roth's delivery at the end is just spectacular….and the solo! Forget it! When it hit the solo I almost fell out of my chair. It was great!

"I think that Robert Plant would probably laugh his ass off if he saw this."

"I really like Zen For Primates and what they are trying to do and I think that the musicianship is of a very high caliber. T. Roth, the lead singer is just amazing. And I was very taken with the odd-ball sense of humor which really appealed to me. It was actually quite dark which even appealed further to my twisted British sense of humor. I thought it was marvelous actually, I think they deserve to be on Broadway. .

Or no…maybe they should stay Off-Broadway because there's a certain cache about it being an underground, very left of center kind of band. And I think the irreverence made it for me. There's not enough irreverence in this world."

Ed Stasium, The Grammy winning producer for The Ramones, Talking Heads, Mick Jagger. Living Colour and Reverend Horton Heat has strong convictions about the band:

“Zen For Primates is a collaboration of the most amazing group of musicians I have ever seen. They don't follow the main stream core of the music business, which in this day and age settles for artists which are clones of other acts .”

Sax player and arranger Bruce Kapler of the Late Night with David Letterman band has recently become a champion of Zen For Primates.

“It's more the artistic endeavor in this unique and personal sound that they create, that is Zen For Primates. In a musical world where sameness is rewarded I find it an inspiration. And it's comforting to know that Zen For Primates is out there.”

"I think that seeing Zen perform is absolutely essential. Years ago before I'd ever seen them, I had one of their CDs and it was great. It was interesting and very personal, different music. But having seen them, that CD becomes this sort of soundtrack for your mind's eye and you remember the look on T's face when he sings, the wonderful facial expressions, the deadpan comedy and that cynical humor. You remember the instrumentation..It's just a violin, a saxophone, a guitar and Jodi's strange cello with the beauiful face on it."

"This is not a band. This is not a group. This is very close to being wonderful Off-Broadway theatre."

"It's interesting that people think it's a lot of improvisation, that it's sort of free form. That's certainly not the case. The arrangements are very complex. They're very well worked out and rehearsed and they're crafted to a unique instrumentation that has a lot of textures. And you know it's funny, they're kind enough to ask me to sit in when I go out to see them, but it's never on the originals."

"One of my favorite covers that they do, and they do some very interesting covers, is "My Sharona"

T.has this distainful look on his face, rolling his eyes , delivering these lyrics with perfect enunciation as if to say, "Listen folks, these are really what the lyrics are and you guys bought tens of millions of these albums."

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For more information contact Bummer Tent Records at 610-433-4436 or mh@bummertent.com