Michael Brenneis' projects

As Leader / Collective

The Improvisor's Workbench is a brand new undertaking that I'm working on with Brad Townsend and Mark Siegenthaler. The parameters thus far are a freely improvised live electronica/groove-improv. We'll get some promo stuff posted up here pretty soon. We are currently shopping around for a Tuesday night hang. Any suggestions?

Another newish project. Executive Tea Set is largely a straight-ahead repertiory ensemble, with increasing numbers of original tunes by members of the group. The group consists of Geoff Brady on Vibraphone, Mark Siegenthaler on Piano, Brad Townsend on bass and me, Michael Brenneis, on drums.

Geoff Brady and I formed the Active Percussion Duo in 2001, we perform sporadically for audiences of all ages, often with special guests. Check out the cd.

I formed Tomato Box in 1999 to excercise some composing and improvising muscles in a rule-free environment. The bands pinacle of live performance activity occurred in the early years of this century. We did some regional touring and had a great time meeting and performing with other folks of like mind. We especially enjoyed playing double bills with our pals in Birth and Happy Apple. Tomato Box is still available for performances when the planetoids are in a predetermined allignment and the ozone levels are particularly low. So far we've released two cds (available here or through CDBABY) which continue to get pretty good airplay on a number of community and college radio stations.

The Ten Sleeps Trio was active during 2002, 2003 and 2004. I wrote the music for this group partially as a compositional challenge, writing in a jazz-rock-fusion vein for a trio without bass, and to delve into some of the ideas that I was hearing at the time from groups like Jim Black's Alas No Axis, the Cuong Vu Trio, Tortoise, and Ronald Shannon Jackson. The name comes from what I understand to be a Native American method of measuring distances by the number of days taken to traverse. The Ten Sleeps Trio included Dan Venne on Guitar, Todd Munnik on Clarinet and Alto, and myself on drums and electronics. Dan is now living in NYC, and Todd is pursuing other interests in Appleton, WI. There are no recordings of this group currently available, but we did record an album a couple of years ago, which is currently on the shelf. Literally, it's on a hard disk that is on a shelf. I'm considering reforming the group and doing some more recording in the near future. We'll keep you posted.

Albert is a band in which some pals and I get together to play some kick-ass power-pop-nerd-rock. The web site is here. And you can get the Albert debut cd from CDbaby here.

As Band Member

The Sean Michael Dargan Band

Chick Singer

The New Breed Quintet

Alison Margaret Jazz Ensemble

Kyle Henderson's Blue Eyed Soul

Other Stuff

Read about Rattle Tick Buzz Records here.....

cd artwork I've been designing the artwork for cds for the last few years. It has been very rewarding and enjoyable. I continue to line up more work in this area, so email me and lets talk about your project.

custom drumbuilding I've been building my own drums, I can build some for you too.

Check out my gigging schedule, come by and say hello.

freelancing Freelancing is cool.

As Leader / Collective
	The Improvisor's Workbench is a brand new undertaking that I'm working on with Brad Townsend and Mark Siegenthaler. The parameters thus far are a freely improvised live electronica/groove-improv. We'll get some promo stuff posted up here pretty soon. We are currently shopping around for a Tuesday night hang. Any suggestions?
	Another newish project. Executive Tea Set is largely a straight-ahead repertiory ensemble, with increasing numbers of original tunes by members of the group. The group consists of Geoff Brady on Vibraphone, Mark Siegenthaler on Piano, Brad Townsend on bass and me, Michael Brenneis, on drums.
	Geoff Brady and I formed the Active Percussion Duo in 2001, we perform sporadically for audiences of all ages, often with special guests. Check out the cd.
	I formed Tomato Box in 1999 to excercise some composing and improvising muscles in a rule-free environment. The bands pinacle of live performance activity occurred in the early years of this century. We did some regional touring and had a great time meeting and performing with other folks of like mind. We especially enjoyed playing double bills with our pals in Birth and Happy Apple. Tomato Box is still available for performances when the planetoids are in a predetermined allignment and the ozone levels are particularly low. So far we've released two cds (available here or through CDBABY) which continue to get pretty good airplay on a number of community and college radio stations.
	The Ten Sleeps Trio was active during 2002, 2003 and 2004. I wrote the music for this group partially as a compositional challenge, writing in a jazz-rock-fusion vein for a trio without bass, and to delve into some of the ideas that I was hearing at the time from groups like Jim Black's Alas No Axis, the Cuong Vu Trio, Tortoise, and Ronald Shannon Jackson. The name comes from what I understand to be a Native American method of measuring distances by the number of days taken to traverse. The Ten Sleeps Trio included Dan Venne on Guitar, Todd Munnik on Clarinet and Alto, and myself on drums and electronics. Dan is now living in NYC, and Todd is pursuing other interests in Appleton, WI. There are no recordings of this group currently available, but we did record an album a couple of years ago, which is currently on the shelf. Literally, it's on a hard disk that is on a shelf. I'm considering reforming the group and doing some more recording in the near future. We'll keep you posted.
	Albert is a band in which some pals and I get together to play some kick-ass power-pop-nerd-rock. The web site is here. And you can get the Albert debut cd from CDbaby here.
As Band Member
	The Sean Michael Dargan Band
	Chick Singer
	The New Breed Quintet
	Alison Margaret Jazz Ensemble
	Kyle Henderson's Blue Eyed Soul
Other Stuff
	Read about Rattle Tick Buzz Records here.....
cd artwork	I've been designing the artwork for cds for the last few years. It has been very rewarding and enjoyable. I continue to line up more work in this area, so email me and lets talk about your project.
custom drumbuilding	I've been building my own drums, I can build some for you too.
	Check out my gigging schedule, come by and say hello.
freelancing	Freelancing is cool.