Rent Romus
is a force spanning over twenty years of original improvised music, D.I.Y. music production, performance, and curation. He is heavily involved in stretching past the confines of standard music forms performing his original compositions in a wide variety of experimental musical settings as well as presenting and supporting the local artist community at large with his grass-root philanthropic vision for total artistic self expression and freedom from generic branding.
From his very beginnings as a student of Jazz, studying under the tutelage of Stan Getz, Bruce Foreman, Dizzy Gillespie, and drummer Eddie Moore he found himself drawn to the outer realms of music. In 1986 at the age of 18 he founded the progressive jazz sextet Jazz On the Line, as a vehicle for his original compositions. They produced several projects, including In the Moment with Chico Freeman in 1992. In 1997 Romus had the honor of recording with tenor sax master John Tchicai. Tchicai is best known for his work with the NY Art Quartet, NY Ear and Eye Control, and his recordings with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler.
In 2001 Romus re-opened his avant, free music label Edgetone Records where he released three CDs; Avatar In the Field, PKD Vortex, and Guinea Pig Live at the Hotel Utah that reflected his love for interweaving science fiction, horror literature, improvisation, Finno-Ugric traditions, socio-political themes, and the inspiration of Albert Ayler in his music. In 2003 he along side Ernesto Diaz-Infante founded The Abstractions, who released three recordings during their time together.
Since then then Romus' ongoing free improvisational/experimental projects have included the Bloom Project with pianist Thollem Mcdonas and drummer Jon Brumit where they have released two CDs and toured through out the US Midwest.
The Lords of Outland in the meantime have mutated through many incarnations and released Culture of Pain in 2006 and most recently in 2008; You can sleep when you’re dead! The core group consists of drummer Philip Everett, bassist Ray Schaeffer, and noise pedal artist C.J Borosque.
As a producer and artist business activist Rent Romus founded Edgetone Records a new music label since 1991. In his early days as a concert producer he was the Executive Director of Jazz in Flight in the late 90’s as well as the Director of Promotion for the SFAlt Festival 2002-2004. Starting in 2000 he founded Outsound.org under which he is the Executive Director and lead curator of The SIMM Music Series at the Studio 6 Musicians Union Hall, and the famous Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series in San Francisco. In 2002 he founded The Edgetone New Music Summit, a national experimental music festival held in the greater San Francisco Bay Area every summer.
  
photos by Peter B Kaars
click the photo for press copy
"Romus' sax rekindles that flame egregiously, thematic sketches becoming instant excuses for the instruments to coalesce into a gruelling mass of Pollockian sonic painting that plumps on the brain and self-adjusts until your synapses are completely disjointed."
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
"Rent Romus and his Sax are the rudder, guiding the way....his frenzied summersaults lead the band ever upwards towards the sky."
Tobias Fischer, Tokafi
"Romus has been central to the creative music world of the West Coast for a number of years, and he keeps stretching the boundries of originality with each new release." - Frank Rubolino onefinalnote.com/Cadence
"The center piece of the band is Rent Romus with his fantastic sax work, and like his contemporary Zorn, Romus has a long history in the music scene as well as in the established cultural art world working and collaborating with talented musicans."-Jackalblaster
"...master of avant-garde jazz saxophone" - Pete Pardo, Sea of Tranquilty
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Bloom Proejct
Prismatic Season
CD Notes
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