The Two Separate Gorillas CD is here!

Two Separate Gorillas (2SG) formed in 1997 as a partnership between bassist Owen Green and reedman, Marc Mylar to explore their various experimental, progressive musical leanings. These two had worked together in various groups and ensembles since the early 1980’s including The Instigations and Vlad The Inhaler. They had also performed in their own groups, which included Green with Blewto and Mylar with Bar Code Ranch.

During the existence of these earlier aggregations both of our principals met and worked with many other talented, skilled musicians in the Los Angeles area. Realizing that many of these players had not often had the opportunity to “stretch out” and improvise, Owen Green considered it worthwhile to form an ensemble to invite these musicians to play as guests to do just that.

Owen Green’s grounding in 1970’s progressive rock as well as other forms of experimental and new music prompted the development of skeletal musical framework structures to allow the other musicians plenty of room to work within and around. Marc Mylar’s solid jazz background was a natural fit with this setup. Their live performances contained many memorable extended instrumental excursions and improvisations which are well represented on this CD (A bonus CD made up entirely of live improvisations is available).

To further enhance this CD project’s diversity, not to mention defy genre, the hallmarks of 2SG’s live traditions have been engaged along with the use of the studio as an instrument unto itself. This was facilitated by Marc Mylar’s extensive recording engineering experience as well as his professional pursuits as a computer programmer. The tracks included here contain structured songs, completely improvised pieces along with electronically generated and processed compositions. In many cases, numerous combinations of these elements have been utilized, along with generous doses of humor and wit.