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ABOUT

MAST /\\\

MAST2.photo.Alex Elena.jpg

“ambitious and deeply engaging” - NPR 


“an engaging panoply of sounds” - Wall St Journal 

 

“..captures the engaging blend of electronic music, jazz and hip-hop that’s been thriving in the underground. What once sounded like the future has arrived right on time.” - LA Times

 

“He thinks big, real big…musically deep stuff…” -  LA Weekly 

 

“Ambitious L.A. polyinstrumentalist MAST outdoes himself..” -  LA Record 

 

“MAST is mixing free-jazz with left-of-center instrumental rap beats, and this record thrusts him into the ever-popular jazz/hip hop conversation." - Downbeat 

 

“The man’s approach to electronic music not only incorporates a whole lot of organic sounds — it feels composed with an ear tuned to jagged jazz and dark pop, which makes him kin to folks like Flying Lotus, Thundercat” - SPIN 

A Philadelphia native now residing in Los Angeles, Tim Conley is a jazz musician, composer, producer and electronic musician. His solo electronic project MAST draws together different sonic elements and channels them out through intense live performances. With a composers mind and a jazz musicians desire for exploring new improvisational realms, MAST incorporates crushing beats, live guitar and keyboards and has journeyed throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Japan.  

On Jan 26th 2018 MAST will release his 3rd LP “Thelonious Sphere Monk”, a cosmic journey reinterpreting the great Thelonious Monk Song Book in celebration of his 100th birthday. The 16 track LP features a diverse cast of extraordinary musicians including Chris Speed, Brian Marsella, Makaya McCraven, Jason Fraticelli, Dan Rosenboom and more. Each contributing instrumental virtuosity which these Thelonious Monk compositions demand. Tim pays homage to the significant history of Thelonious Monk and his esteemed compositions while bringing them into the future using modern electronic bleeps, bloops and beats in concert with the Low End Theory, Los Angeles Beat culture Conley is a part of.  Harmonious with the mystical and metaphysical hand painted cover art by Japanese artist Tokio Aoyama, each track created is a unique world unto itself and the listener travels from one musical planet to the next on the spaceship Monk.

The 2nd MAST album "Love and War_" was released Oct 2016 via Alpha Pup Records. "Love and War_" is a conceptual album set up as a 3 Act play structure and features Taylor McFerrin, Tim Lefebvre, Makaya McCraven, the Fresh Cut Orchestra, Andrée Belle and more. Other notable MAST albums include the 2014 debut “Omni” featuring soul-navigating vocal gestures of Anna Wise (Sonnymoon, Kendrick Lamar), way-out raps from Brainfeeder/Warp's Jeremiah Jae and lullaby serenades from Low Leaf.  Two conceptual EP’s “Omniverse; Verse 1” and Omniverse; Verse 2" soon followed "Omni" all via Alpha Pup Records.

Recently Tim was awarded a Jazz Residency Grant from the Kimmel Center (home of the Philadelphia Orchestra) to commission a new work along with three other composers.  The 4 movement piece titled "Life Mosaic: reflections on Birth, Adolescence, Maturity and Death" was an electronic/classical/jazz hybrid performed by Tim with the Fresh Cut Orchestra, an 11 piece Jazz Orchestra and debuted June 2014. Since then the Fresh Cut Orchestra has released 2 albums on Ropeadope Records, featuring Tim on guitar and electronics, and garnering 4 Stars from Downbeat. 

Tim has performed at the world famous Low End Theory in LA, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Lincoln Center in New York City and has had music featured on Mary Anne Hobbs BBC, Gilles Peterson BBC Radio and Nosey Apple Beats 1. He has also performed at Festivals like the Halifax Jazz Festival in Nova Scotia, Gilles Peterson’s World Wide Showcase in Tokyo and The Disco Biscuits Camp Bisco in upstate New York. Along his journey Tim has performed with Jose James, Mark Guiliana, Taylor McFerrin, Tim Lefebvre, Makaya McCraven and shared the stage w/ the Flaming Lips, Mew, Teebs, Mono/poly, Samiyam, Ras G, and Daedelus etc…

PRESS

Mast and Anna Wise Team for Jazz-Beat Bubbler ‘Red’ Kendrick Lamar collaborator sings on L.A. producer's new 'Omni' LP
MAST "Love and War_" Downbeat Review
BBC 6 Gilles Peterson London Jazz Festival and Ninja Tune
XLR8R The Letting Go featuring Taylor McFerrin
Noisey Vice Robert Christgau on the Genius of Thelonious Monk The Dean reviews MAST's 'Thelonious Sphere Monk,' Monk's own 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses 1960,' and Ornette Coleman's 'Ornette at 12/Crisis.'
LA Times Overrated/Underrated: A forward-looking Monk tribute, and the limited appeal of going 'Solo' Chris Barton
How Kamasi Washington Revived Jazz-Funk Jazz musicians are returning to the hybrid style, putting their own twists on the 1970s genre in records with crossover appeal. Wall St Journal
YOU'LL SOON KNOW W/ TIM PARKER, AL NATHER & ITOA MASTthe Letting Go feat Taylor McFerrin
New York Magazine Winter Jazz Fest preview Loud, Wild, Improvised MAST Nublu Thelonious Sphere Monk
LA Weekly How Low End Theory Inspired Jazz Musician Tim Conley's MAST Project
Resident Advisor Andrew Ryce Review MAST - Omni Alpha Pup
World Wide FM Gilles Peterson Morning Mari*’s Album of the Week, 12 – 17 Feb MAST, THELONIOUS SPHERE MONK [WORLD GALAXY / ALPHA PUP RECORDS, 2018]
NPR THE CALIFORNIA REPORT Musical Reinvention: From Breakup Anthems to the Beatles Songbook Andrew Gilbert
Pulp Lab POP CULTUREQ+A with Tim Conley, MAST /\\\ – Thelonious Sphere Monk, “Round Midnight” – FIRST LISTEN
exclaim The Night Drive feat Tim Lefevbre Josh Johnson MAST Love and War
Vinyl Factory Jazz legend Thelonious Monk reinterpreted in new MAST album Written by Gabriela Helfet
WBGO the CheckoutMulti-Instrumentalist Tim Conley, As MAST, Sails Troubled Waters with 'Love and War' By SIMON RENTNER
stereogum Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz – January 2018 Phil Freeman
Bandcamp Daily  MAST Meets Monk…With Electronics Phil Freeman
UPROXX Premiere: LA Multi-Instrumentalist Mast’s Thelonious Monk Cover ‘Let’s Cool One’ Is Quirky And Sarcastic  CAITLIN WHITE Makaya McCraven Jonah Levine

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