Bassist and multi-instrumentalist James Ilgenfritz entered the world in Monroe, Michigan, on November 16, 1978. Early on, non-musical figures shaped his outlook, among them beat poets William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, writers Herman Hesse, Franz Kafka, Ken Wilber and Thich Nhat Hanh, comic book artists Matt Wagner and Frank Miller, visual artists Egon Schiele, Andrew Wyeth, Marcel Duchamp, and filmmakers David Lynch, John Waters, Stanley Kubrick. His schooling proved equally varied, encompassing summer sessions at the Interlochen Center for the Arts between 1992 and 1996, a diploma from St. Mary Catholic Central High School in 1997, and a brief period at Eastern Michigan University.
In 2002 he completed a B.A. in jazz and contemporary improvisation at the University of Michigan, working there with Ed Sarath, Steve Rush, Diana Gannett, and Stuart Sankey. While still based in Michigan he performed regularly with Bill Brovold’s Larval and with saxophonist Dan Bennett. After relocating to New York State he pursued further instruction from bassists Norm Damschroder, John Lindberg, Mark Helias, and Mark Dresser. Between 2005 and 2006 he spent time in San Diego enrolled in the master’s performance program at the University of California, San Diego, where he concentrated on studies with Dresser, cellist Charles Curtis, and Max/MSP originator Miller Puckette.
Ilgenfritz eventually settled in Brooklyn, New York, and has since collaborated with a circle of like-minded improvisers that includes Gary Lucas, Andrew D’Angelo, Chris Speed, Lukas Ligeti, Steve Swell, Michael Formanek, David Krakauer, Eyal Maoz, and Tim Berne. Among the groups he leads or co-leads are the Anagram Ensemble, Trio Caveat, Trichotomy, Sound Infusion Creative Music, and Hypercolor. He also serves as a facilitator for the International Society for Improvised Music, an organization founded by Sarath and Sarah Weaver to foster cross-disciplinary creativity and improvisation. He has traveled extensively across the United States and Canada, appeared often in New York City with numerous ensembles, and more recently taken up Soundpainting, the multidisciplinary conduction language developed by Walter Thompson. With trombonist and fellow sound painter Sarah Weaver he co-conducts and performs in the touring ensemble Weave.
