Biography
Philadelphia jazz artists, Bigtruck, emerged from a piano based quartet with urban sound sensibilities, into a drum, bass,
sax trio launching bright and twisted aural trajectories that curve there and back. After losing their pianist in early 2004, and
without a chordal instrument, they set about finding other ways to nail chords together, hit sevenths, and otherwise
trans’lectrify. Bigtruck took to the streets and stages of coffee shops, jazz festivals, alt/jazz mecca Tonic, The Khyber &
other Philly venues, numerous arts productions, benefits, and collaborations with Moxie Dance Collective, vocalist Monica
Macintyre and explored improvisation with members of Headlong Dance Theater.
Mark Monteith took to the electric guitar after some less than impressive stints on piano and violin, later drawn to the
versatility & atmosphere of the upright acoustic bass. Surrounded by all kinds of music, he started composing in the mid
eighties. Mark wrote and improvised live soundscapes for Pig Iron Theater Company’s “Anodyne”, winner of the Barrymore
Award for best sound design, and with Moxie Dance Collective at The Arts Bank, Painted Bride and Kimmel Center. He has
played guitar, drums and bass in experimental, indie and jazz projects, plucked with Amy Pickard and the Cradlers, studied
Gnawan rhythms, and performed revving the engine of a sixty ton crane with members of Kronos Quartet at the Colly Soleri
Music Center at Arcosanti. Mark built the double bass used on Blowout from scratch while living over a woodshop there
and continues to be inspired by hybrid pairings like Sonic Youth opening for Sun Ra.
Chris Wierzbicki grew up listening to old jazz records while everyone around him was into pop and rock, and never stopped.
He started playing piano at age six, and over the years has expanded his instrumental capacity to include trumpet, guitar
and drums. Chris played in numerous musical configurations, concert bands, marching bands, jazz bands, guitar in rock
band Sandy Duncan’s Glass Eye and in folk /rock duo Wiggly Path. He Has written and recorded over 10 hours of original
music in his home studio between the years 1998 and 2004, also playing in several prog rock bands before finding a nitch,
“thank the good lord” in the much underappreciated Philly jazz scene. His one man show and label, Underbeard, produced
several singles and a jazz soundtrack for a local gospel choir’s trip to Africa.
Mark Dunn was inspired to play saxophone by “The Sound of Sonny” by Sonny Rollins. He formed a weekly open-mic band,
called “C What Happens” earning one fellow mate the title of Australian Record Industry Jazz Talent of the Year. He also
developed chops with a Latin American band, Clave Latina. Following a move to Sydney and busking for a year every
Saturday night on the Harbour, Mark experimented with a saxophone quartet, performing jazz, TV themes, and whatever
else popped into their heads and horns. He then worked with a thirty piece big band, playing swing tunes arrangements as
part of a wailing wall of saxes, trumpets and trombones. Most of all, he’s managed to listen more than play.
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