Kleier, Roger (Wayne)

Kleier, Roger (Wayne), adventurous American guitarist, composer, and improviser; b. Glendale, Calif., Oct. 2, 1958. He began playing the guitar at the age of 13, and later studied composition with Merrill Ellis at North Tex. State Univ. and at the Univ. of Southern Calif, in Los Angeles, developing a strong interest in non-idiomatic improvisation and alternative techniques for the instrument. In 1981 he founded the Los Angeles Improvisers Collective, organizing and presenting numerous concert series in Calif. In 1992 he moved to N.Y. with his longtime partner, Annie Gosfield, with whom he often collaborates and performs. Kleier has been long dedicated to furthering the vocabulary of the electric guitar through the development of alternative techniques, preparations, and digital technology. He has worked in and composed pieces for a variety of new music ensembles, as well as in and for art installations. He has performed and/or recorded with such diverse artists as David Moss, Davey Williams, Elliott Sharp, Carl Stone, and Phill Niblock, among others, toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, and also given composition and improvisation workshops in the U.S. (1995–99) and in Prague (1996). His funding sources have included the NEA, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Meet the Composer; he also held residencies at the Djerassi Foundation in Calif. (1998) and at Harvestworks in N.Y. (1998). His first solo CD, KlangenBang, appeared in 1999. Kleier’s works reveal an eclectic hand, and incorporate a remarkably diverse array of sounds, including orchestral feedback. In addition to numerous works composed in collaboration with Gosfield, these include Fanfare for the Cognitive Elite for Digitally altered Guitars and Percussion (1996), The Cheka’s Cellar for Digitally altered Guitars and Percussion (1996), The Manufacture of Consent for Multiple Electric Guitars (1996), Sighted Sub, Sank Same for Electric Guitar and Digital Delay (1997), We Speak of Deep Autumn for Multiple Electric Guitars (1998), Brickyard for Sampler (1998), The Juan Cortina Suite for Multiple Electric Guitars and Sampler (1998), Lodi for Electric Guitar and Sample Loops (1998), We Speak of Deep Night for Multiple Electric Guitars, Sampler, Prepared Piano, and Percussion (1998), and Los Paseos for Electric Guitar and Electronics (1999).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire