Rob Mazurek

Rob Mazurek is an interdisciplinary artist & abstractivist, with a focus on electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, performance, painting, sculpture, video, film, and installation, who spent much of his creative life in Chicago, and then Brazil. He currently lives and works in Marfa, Texas.

As a composer Mazurek has written over 500 compositions over the past 30 years and has released 80+ recordings on various labels including International Anthem, Nonesuch, Astral Spirits, Corbett vs Dempsey, Cuneiform, CleanFeed, Delmark, El Paraiso, Family Vineyard, Harmonipan, Mego, Northern Spy, Rogue Art, Submarine, Aesthetics, and Thrill Jockey. He has led/co-led many ensembles of various sizes and shapes including Isotope 217, Chicago Underground (Duo, Trio, Quartet, and Orchestra), Alternate Moon Cycles, Alien Flower Sutra, Pharoah and the Underground (featuring Pharoah Sanders), Jeff Parker Duo, São Paulo Underground, and Exploding Star Orchestra.

Originally inspired by a joint commission from the Chicago Cultural Center and Jazz Institute of Chicago, Mazurek founded the Exploding Star Orchestra in 2005 to investigate the city’s avant-garde musical traditions. He brought together a group representing the diversity of the city’s contemporary music scene including musicians from Chicago’s North, West, and South-sides, from the then burgeoning post rock scene to the highly influential AACM and Northside Improvisation Scene. Since the inception the Orchestra has expanded to include musicians from around the world, with an ever-expansive pool of visionaries joining the fray based on the needs of the composition at hand. The group has featured Roscoe Mitchell, Bill Dixon, Fred Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Damon Locks, Jeff Parker, Chad Taylor, John Herndon, Tomeka Reid, jaimie branch, Joel Ross, Mikel Patrick Avery, Macie Stewart, Joshua Abrams, Angelica Sanchez, Ken Vandermark, Mike Reed, John McEntire, Jason Ajemian, Hamid Drake, Matthew Lux, Matana Roberts, Mauricio Takara, Guilherme Granado, Avreeayl Ra, Dan Bitney, Luke Stewart, and more.

Shows