John Gunther is a composer and multi-instrumentalist playing saxophones, clarinet听and flute. With a restless musical spirit, he enjoys exploring all forms of jazz, from traditional to avant-garde, as well as classical music, world music听and experimental electronic music.听Gunther has performed or recorded with many notable jazz artists including Dave Douglas, Ron Miles, Christian McBride, Bobby Watson, Wallace Roney, Larry Goldings, Tom Harrel, Dewey Redman, Joe Williams, The Woody Herman Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and The Maria Schneider Orchestra.听His most recent recording, 鈥淪afari Trio鈥� with Brad Shepik and John Hadfield, can be found on the Dazzle Jazz Record Label and his website.
As part of New York City鈥檚 鈥渄owntown鈥� music scene for many years, Gunther听produced five recordings for Creative Improvised Music Projects (CIMP) and is co-founder of the contemporary jazz ensembles听鈥淪pooky Actions鈥� and 鈥淐onvergence.鈥� In 2007, he received an Innovative Seed Grant听to create the Boulder Laptop Orchestra (BLOrk) and to further explore the intersection of music, performance, art and technology.听Gunther鈥檚听work with BLOrk has led to further collaboration with the CU Boulder STEM program exploring informal science education through the arts.听
Gunther studied with saxophonists Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Dave Liebman, Frank Tiberi, Gary Keller and Joe Viola.听He earned a听PhD听from New York University where his research examined incorporating techniques of serial music with improvisation; he earned a master鈥檚 degree at the University of Miami听and a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Berklee College of Music.