Chris Becker bio (continued):

Recent projects include a Feburary 2008 performance of Like Dirt a collaborative work with choreographer Rachel Cohen and artist Patty Rosenblatt. Like Dirt premiered at The Secret Theatre in Long Island City, NY with live music composed by Becker and performed by Becker, trumpeter Lewis 'Flip' Barnes, vocalist Helga Davis and guitarist Lynn Wright.

In 2006 Becker released his CD Saints & Devils - a suite of ten tracks inspired by Southern music (rural blues, gospel, Cajun) and iconography. Composed, recorded, and mixed by Becker, the CD includes performances by musicians from New York City and New Orleans, including guitarists Lynn Wright and Eyal Maoz, the Reverend Vince Anderson, and long-time music director for Dr. John trumpeter Charlie Miller. Saints & Devils also utilizes samples from recordings made by Alan Lomax (used by permission of the publishers and the Lomax archives) as an integral part of the overall mix. A three-song EP version of Saints & Devils released last year garnered praise and radio airplay here in the U.S. as well as in Yugoslavia, Germany, and Australia.

His recent work includes composing music for choreographer/director Rachel Cohen, including sixteen individual compositions for her evening length dance/theater work If The Shoe Fits (2005). If The Shoe Fits ran for ten performances at the Walkerspace in New York City. New York Times dance critic John Rockwell called the work "…lavish and fully realized…" Rockwell also included If The Shoe Fits in his end of the year list of the best dance performances of 2005.

Becker continues to develop work that utilizes live sound playback with live performance gestures. His Cornell Box (2004) for four speakers and laptop is a live mix in real time using a AudioMulch software and samples of pianist Daniel Kelly improvising in a ersatz "Classical" vein. Dedicated to artist Joseph Cornell, Cornell Box is an aural "box" that surrounds the listener while evoking the interiors of Cornell's mysterious box constructions.

Becker's projects as a composer include collaborative work with visual artists. His CD 200 Birds (1999) was recorded as aural accompaniment for artist Jacqueline Bishop's mixed media installation Terra, which consists of two to four hundred small oil on wood portraits of endangered and extinct birds. Terra showed in several galleries and museums across the US.

Becker also works as a guest arranger for various ensembles, including the New York City quartet The Four Bags who recorded his arrangement of Kurt Weill's Alabama Song with guest vocalist Lainie Diamond for their CD debut.

Becker has received grants and awards from The Louisiana Division of the Arts, Meet The Composer, the American Music Center and The American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP).

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