Tom Cora

Biography

A longtime fixture of the brand new York Town downtown music picture, cellist, composer, and improviser Tom Cora was most widely known in avant jazz circles, although his eclectic pursuits led him in a multitude of musical directions. Elevated in Richmond, VA, Cora began monitoring cello while an undergraduate in the College or university of Virginia, later on honing his art beneath the tutelage of vibraphonist Karl Berger. His 1979 appearance in NEW YORK coincided using the introduction of a fresh and fertile period for experimental music, and he quickly dropped into a group of likeminded performers who included John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Andrea Centazzo, Butch Morris, and Fred Frith; affected by progressive rock and roll, jazz, and avant-garde structure, Cora developed a unique design, playing guitar-like sawed chords and percussive riffs while amplifying his cello for optimum sound power. A mainstay in the famed Knitting Manufacturing plant golf club, he was an associate of Curlew, Skeleton Team, as well as the American/Western aggregation Nimal, and in addition collaborated using the Dutch anarchist rock-band the Ex lover on a set of LPs, 1991’s Scrabbling in the Lock and 1993’s As well as the Weathermen Shrug Their Shoulder blades. After experiencing melanoma, Cora passed away within the South of France on Apr 9, 1998, at age 44. A month later, an advantage concert happened in the Knitting Manufacturing plant with looks by Fred Frith, George Cartwright, and Zeena Parkins. The double-CD arranged Hallelujah, Anyhow – Keeping in mind Tom Cora premiered around the Tzadik label in 1999.

Quick Facts