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Recommended Recordings of Paul Stranahan

by Unlimited Staff April 27, 2017

Paul Stranahan is a percussionist (drums, gongs, marimba), composer, and music teacher. Paul has also been a band leader since 1999 when he decided he wanted to focus on the kind of creative music that is his passion. He has released a double CD “Gong and Singing Bowl Improvisations” on the Infinite Number of Sounds label. He has three Cds of modern jazz by the Paul Stranahan Trio and two Cds of the progressive fusion group PSI-Paul Stranahan’s Insomnia.

He played drums and wrote several songs on the avant/metal band Red Side Visible’s “Enter Entropy” album. He recorded two Cds with the experimental band Broadview Collective. He is also plays drums, gongs and singing bowls with Night Terrors and is on their soon to be released recording of all improvised pieces. Abstract Logix, a progressive instrumental magazine, said of PSI , “ As a drummer leading an ensemble with self-penned compositions Paul is occupying a mantle that few can approach.”

A career highlight for Paul was when in 2010 his Trio and Red Side Visible were 2 of the 4 American bands out of hundreds of applicants that were selected to perform in Belfort, France at FIMU (Festival International de Musique Universitaire).

PSI Paul Stranahan's Insomnia

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Climbing Somewhere

The Ep

"The band draws from diverse styles of music including jazz, progressive rock, fusion, avant-garde, metal, funk and anything else it might like to on any given night. It aims to strike a balance between structured compositions and free form improvisations."(cdbaby)

Gong & Singing Bowl Improvisations

"Don't miss this one of a kind performance of a master percussionist performing on ancient Tibetan bowls and Gongs. Stranahan, a skilled craftsman plying his art, employs an array of various-shaped gongs, metallic and quartz crystal bowls, with the resulting differences in tonality manifesting before our very ears. By using sticks and mallets, including a special striker to gently rub the rim of a bowl, he fills the space with vibrations meant to be received by the whole body." (facebook)

The Art of Knowing - Paul Stranahan Trio

The album is a collaborative effort that mixes structured compositions with high level improvisations. The Paul Stranahan Trio was selected out of hundreds of USA bands to go to France and perform in Belfort, France for FIMU. (Festival International de Musique Universitaire). The members of the trio at the time were Chris Herald on alto sax, Jeremey Poparad on electric bass and Paul on drums. All three thought it would be a good thing to have a good quality CD to sell with the lineup that was making the trip and that’s how “The Art of Knowing” came into being. The CD is a collaborative effort with all members contributing compositions.(paulstranahan)