Selected Discography

The Middle Passage

Michael Eaton

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Michael Eaton - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Many saxophonists inspired this project with their solo playing: Dave Liebman, John Butcher, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Gianni Gebbia, Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Mark Turner, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and Branford Marsalis.

A special thanks to Tom Walsh for assigning solo saxophone at Indiana University and to Dave Liebman for relating his experiences on the art of solo playing.

All improvisations or compositions by Michael Eaton except The Search for the Golden Raintree, which is composed by Jerry Morris.

"The Middle Passage" is loosely inspired by a book of the same name by James Hollis.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Bob Stander at Parcheesi Studio.
Logo design by Austin Glassco.
Album art by Joel Cammarata.
Cover design by Heather Basile.
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  1. 1
    Glass Half Empty 4:06
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  2. 2
    Moment by Moment Making 4:31
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  3. 3
    Puer Aeternus 6:43
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  4. 4
    Logic of the Commons 2:33
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  5. 5
    The Useless Tree 5:21
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  6. 6
    The Search for the Golden Raintree 5:07
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  7. 7
    The Sun Is New Each Day 4:27
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  8. 8
    Glass Half Full 3:39
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  9. 9
    Something in Nothing 3:39
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tertium organum

frank glover

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Mastered by Jeremy Radway
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  1. 1
    Tertium Variation 1 5:35
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  2. 2
    Tertium Variation 2 2:47
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  3. 3
    Tertium Variation 3 4:38
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  4. 4
    Tertium Variation 4 3:28
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  5. 5
    Tertium Variation 5 3:49
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  6. 6
    Tertium Variation 6 3:53
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  7. 7
    Tertium Variation 7 3:49
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  8. 8
    Tertium Variation 8 4:46
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  9. 9
    Tertium Variation 9 6:26
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  10. 10
    BONUS TRACK 1: AILTIRE 6:16
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  11. 11
    BONUS TRACK 2: THE LAST SIREN 5:24
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  12. 12
    BONUS TRACK 3: RAINBRAILLE 8:16
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The Maximal Effect

Symbiotique

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The Maximal Effect is the second release from Symbiotique, the electroacoustic duo of Michael Eaton and Seth Andrew Davis. The album consists of eight improvisations featuring Eaton on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute and Davis on laptop/electronics. The Maximal Effect follows up the duo's 2020 eponymous release, Symbiotique, which inaugurated Mother Brain Records.
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  1. 1
    The Maximal Effect 7:28
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  2. 2
    Radiance Number Eight 9:20
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  3. 3
    Maman 6:12
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  4. 4
    Accumulation By Dispossession 8:26
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  5. 5
    Plastic Capitalism 22:12
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  6. 6
    Dream of the One Sentenced to Death 6:20
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  7. 7
    Erdgeist 9:20
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  8. 8
    Via Affirmativa 8:40
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Symbiotique

Davis & Eaton

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Since 2017, Seth Andrew Davis & Michael Eaton have been organizing and playing together in Second Nature Ensemble and Social Ecology Project, exploring group improvisation and composition. With “Symbiotique”, Davis & Eaton play as a duo. “Symbiotique” consists of 8 tracks where Davis & Eaton explore each other's compositional and improvisational voices, ranging from free improvisation to heavily processed electro-acoustic explorations.


“Symbiotique” is the inaugural release of Davis & Eaton’s record label Mother Brain Records. Mother Brain Records is a Kansas City based label focusing on improvised and experimental musics.
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  1. 1
    Swamp Thing 8:00
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  2. 2
    SR388 3:24
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  3. 3
    Galactic Peace 5:12
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  4. 4
    Distress Call 3:40
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  5. 5
    Flight to Zebes 1:18
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  6. 6
    Battle with Ridley 4:00
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  7. 7
    Mother Brain 3:14
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  8. 8
    Symbiotique 11:52
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Tenor Triage

Tenor Triage

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Brooklyn’s Tenor Triage unites the saxophone camaraderie of Michael Eaton, James Brandon Lewis, and Sean Sonderegger into a freewheeling and outward bound spin on a classic matchup. The band’s chemistry melds harmolodics and firey, hymnic free jazz to heavy hitting groove and gritty polyphony. “Tenor Triage”, outlines their vision through original music plus a deep cut composition by Dewey Redman, joined by bassist Brad Jones and drummer Calvin Weston (both alumni of Ornette Coleman’s ensembles). The tenors dedicate “Tenor Triage” to their late bandmate, harmolodic guitar master Bern Nix.
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  1. 1
    The Beat Down 7:05
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Presence

Brad Whiteley

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For his sophomore album, pianist Brad Whiteley delivers Presence, a set of artfully textured originals tailormade for his top-flight band featuring Michael Eaton on tenor saxophone, Tom Guarna on guitar, bassist Matt Pavolka, and longtime drummer Kenneth Salters, who also played on Whiteley’s debut, Pathless Land. That album, an Editor’s Pick for DownBeat in June, 2014 in which critics dubbed Whiteley “an exciting young artist to watch” set the stage for the pianist as a composer and improvisor. Presence takes Whiteley’s artistry to a new level, demonstrating his ability to incorporate a world of influences into a warm, engaging whole, led by his hooked-filled writing and fluid pianism. The album is also somewhat of a Destiny Records family affair. Eaton, Guarna, and Salters have each released their own albums as leaders on the label, and Whiteley has filled the piano/keyboard chair on five Destiny albums aside from his own. Recorded at the world-renowned Avatar Studios (now the Power Station at BerkleeNYC) by Destiny’s own George Shalda, the outstanding musicianship of Presence shines with impeccable warmth and clarity.
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  1. 1
    Dusk 7:34
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  2. 2
    Sunset Park 7:49
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  3. 3
    The Unwinding 7:02
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  4. 4
    Sinking Feeling 7:15
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  5. 5
    Everything Changes 5:20
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  6. 6
    Presence 6:54
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  7. 7
    When We Met 6:14
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  8. 8
    Demagogue 5:47
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  9. 9
    Dawn 5:55
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  10. 10
    K Car Funk '83 5:26
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  11. 11
    A Dark Day 7:02
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Toy Box

Paul Bertolino

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CDs AVAILABLE HERE:
https://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00IRPJRL
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  1. 1
    Don't Be So Sure 3:13
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  2. 2
    Inaccuweather 2:43
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  3. 3
    Super Sam 3:36
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  4. 4
    Typical Girl 2:59
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  5. 5
    Thick As Thieves 3:58
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  6. 6
    Sophisticate's Mall 2:17
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  7. 7
    Sun House In Malibu 2:51
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  8. 8
    Give Rest To My Mind 3:42
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  9. 9
    Now I'm Late 4:06
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  10. 10
    Brigadoon Closes Soon 4:28
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  11. 11
    Face Among The Proud 3:01
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  12. 12
    The Girl I Used To Know 3:00
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  13. 13
    Light Of The Day 3:47
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Selected discography

Darkness Made Light

Kyle Quass' Special Guests

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The genesis of this project was a Chatterbox gig the spring of 2016. After the gig Michael Eaton planted the seed for recording this group and moved forward with setting up an old school two tenor blowing session. The result is this recording, and for that I owe Michael a huge debt of gratitude for both inspiring the recording and also helping bring it to fruition.

However, all music is the sum of ones experiences and every project the product of a community. There is no way to recognize or thank everyone who in some way contributed to this project, but I would especially like to thank the following people:

Mark Tuttle. My long time friend, mentor, and partner in crime. A continual source of inspiration.

David Baker. Teacher and mentor, I cannot underestimate his influence on my life. May he Rest In Peace.

Jon Heagle. Whose input, feedback and encouragement during the initial stages was instrumental.

Rachel Caswell. Without whose help I could not have pulled this project together.

Additionally, I could not have completed this project without the support of Cory Smythe, Julian Douglas, Jacob Belser and Adam Davis. And, of course, my wife Heather Robinson. They are my sounding boards, my support network, my family.

Last but not least, I am pleased and grateful to have two of my favorite people and musicians anchoring the rhythm section, Jeremy Allen and Ben Lumsdaine.

Thank you for your consideration. I hope you enjoy the music, we enjoyed making it.
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  1. 1
    Silent Scream 6:26
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  2. 2
    Mercy 8:35
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  3. 3
    Multiple Worlds 8:07
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  4. 4
    Miniatures 7:03
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  5. 5
    Frenemy 6:18
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  6. 6
    A Moment Of Silence 4:13
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  7. 7
    Darkness Made Light 7:28
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David Andrew Moore - Personal Mythologies (2014)

Anderson/Eaton/Minkoff (2013)

George Mel - Streams of Consciousness (2010)

(x)tet (2009, rec. 2007)

Saxophone Cartel (2004)

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