{{short description|American composer, musician and producer}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Noah K | image = Noah K.jpg | caption = K in Brooklyn, 2015 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1984|9|11}} | birth_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | genre = {{hlist|Avant-garde|dream pop|experimental|classical|jazz}} | occupation = {{hlist|Composer|Musician|Producer}} | instrument = Saxophone, keyboards | years_active = 2008-present | label = HatHut, Underwolf | website = {{URL|http://www.noahkmusic.com}} }}
'''Noah Flynn Kaplan''' (born September 11, 1984), known professionally as '''Noah K''', is an American composer, saxophonist, and record producer.
== Early life and education == K grew up in Topanga Canyon, California. During high school he performed jazz professionally throughout Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://enjoyctlive.com/2012/04/noah-kaplan-artist-profile/ |title=Noah Kaplan, Artist Profile |website=enjoyctlive.com |access-date=2018-11-21}}</ref> In 2002, he composed and performed music on the ABC television series ''Once and Again''.<ref>{{Cite episode|title=Chance of a Lifetime|series=Once and Again|series-link=|network=ABC|date=April 15, 2002|number=63}}</ref> He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Joe Maneri and Jerry Bergonzi.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2012 |title=Noah Kaplan |url=http://www.jazzntzaz.gr/ |journal=Jazz and Tzaz |volume=232/233}}</ref> He was Maneri's last student.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://thejazzsession.com/2012/02/02/the-jazz-session-343-noah-kaplan/|title=The Jazz Session #343: Noah Kaplan|last=|first=|date=2 February 2012|website=thejazzsession.com|at=8:38|access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref> After graduating, K moved to Brooklyn, New York, and traveled monthly to Framingham, Massachusetts for lessons in composition, theory, and improvisation with Maneri until Maneri's death in 2009.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Love Notes and Love Lines: My Life with Joe Maneri |last=Maneri |first=Sonja |year=2010 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |page=125 |oclc=712651055}}</ref> K received an MFA in Music Composition from Princeton University<ref>{{cite web |title=The Two Hundred Sixty-Eighth Commencement Princeton University |url=https://www.princeton.edu/mediakits/2015/graduation/commencement/2015-Commencement-program.pdf |website=www.princeton.edu |page=35 |date=2 May 2017}}</ref> in 2015 where his advisor was Steven Mackey.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony |last=Wyschnegradsky |first=Ivan |publisher=Underwolf Editions |year=2017 |isbn=978-0692883747 |location=New York |page=43 }}</ref> In 2018 he was awarded the Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship from the Princeton University Graduate School.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fellowship dinner recognizes the achievements of 26 graduate students |url=https://gradschool.princeton.edu/news/fellowship-dinner-recognizes-achievements-26-graduate-students |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920132431/https://gradschool.princeton.edu/news/fellowship-dinner-recognizes-achievements-26-graduate-students |archive-date=2022-09-20 |access-date=2019-01-05 |website=gradschool.princeton.edu}}</ref> He has been the recipient of composition fellowships from the Tanglewood Music Center<ref name=":5" >{{Cite web|url=https://outhere-music.com/en/artists/noah-kaplan/about |title=Noah Kaplan {{!}} Outhere Music |last=Snowcap |first=Bureau347 & |website=outhere-music.com |access-date=2018-11-14 }}</ref> and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.njsymphony.org/news/detail/meet-the-cone-institute-composers-noah-kaplan|title=Meet the Cone Institute composers: Noah Kaplan {{!}} New Jersey Symphony Orchestra|last=Orchestra|first=New Jersey Symphony|website=www.njsymphony.org|language=en|access-date=2019-01-03}}</ref> In 2022, he received a PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 23, 2022 |title=Princeton University Hooding and Recognition Ceremony 2022 |url=https://commencement.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf576/files/documents/Hooding_Program_2022.pdf |access-date=2022-06-16 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616192842/https://commencement.princeton.edu/sites/g/files/toruqf576/files/documents/Hooding_Program_2022.pdf |archive-date=16 June 2022 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He has been visiting professor of music and adjunct professor at NYU's Gallatin School, where he co-founded the 4th Wave Music Intensive.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to a 4th wAVe showcase – Confluence |date=31 March 2022 |url=https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/sections/audio/4th-wave-digital-arts-intensive-2022 |access-date=2022-06-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Career == === Dollshot === K co-leads the dream pop band Dollshot for which he writes music and performs.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/weekly-music-roundup-july-10/ |title=Weekly Music Roundup: Dollshot & Shabazz Palaces - Soundcheck - WNYC |date=2017-07-18 |access-date=2018-11-14 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |url=https://bbook.com/arts-culture/blackbook-premiere-dollshots-hallucinatory-video-for-new-single-swan-gone/ |title=BLACKBOOK PREMIERE: Dollshot's Hallucinatory Video for New Single 'Swan Gone' |date=2018-10-29 |access-date=2018-11-09 |archive-date=2018-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181029165328/https://bbook.com/arts-culture/blackbook-premiere-dollshots-hallucinatory-video-for-new-single-swan-gone/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The band's eponymous debut album was released in 2011 and includes arrangements of songs by Arnold Schoenberg, Francis Poulenc and Charles Ives<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Watter |first=Seth |date=May 2011 |title=Eponymous: Dollshot (Underwolf) |magazine=The New York City Jazz Record |page=28 |url=http://nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201105.pdf|issue=108}}</ref> as well as original songs by Noah K and Wes Matthews.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dollshot-mw0002120090 |title=Dollshot |website=AllMusic |access-date=2018-11-20 }}</ref> A music video for their song "Lalande", directed by Matt Mahurin, premiered on WNYC's Soundcheck in July 2017.<ref name=":0" /> A video for a second single, "Swan Gone", directed by Pablo Delcan, premiered on BlackBook in October 2018.<ref name=":4" /> In December 2018, Dollshot performed three songs from ''Lalande'' live on WNYC and were interviewed by Soundcheck host John Schaefer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newsounds.org/story/dollshots-experimental-dream-pop/ |title=Dollshot's Experimental Dream-Pop |website=newsounds |access-date=2018-12-26}}</ref>
=== With Giacomo Merega === One of the musicians on ''Dollshot'' is bass guitarist Giacomo Merega, whom Noah K met when they were students in Boston.<ref name="GM">{{cite magazine |last=Broomer |first=Stuart |date=August 2012 |title=Eponymous: Joe Moffett's Ad Faunum (Not Two) |magazine=The New York City Jazz Record |page=15 |url=http://www.nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201208.pdf|issue=124}}</ref> Their first recording, ''The Light and Other Things'', was made in 2006; the band was a free improvisation trio that included David Tronzo on guitar.<ref name="GM" /> The pair also played on ''Watch the Walls Instead'', another set of freely improvised performances, this time in trio, quartet, and quintet formats.<ref name="GM" /> They both played on trumpeter Joe Moffett's ''Ad Faunum''<ref name="GM" /> and were co-leaders with Moffett on ''Crows and Motives'', a set of improvised pieces that "arose between recording three-voice extracts from one of Renaissance composer Josquin des Prez's settings of ''L'homme armé''."<ref name="C&M">{{cite magazine |last=Broomer |first=Stuart |date=March 2015 |title=Crows and Motives: Noah Kaplan/Giacomo Merega/Joe Moffett (Underwolf)|magazine=The New York City Jazz Record |page=38|url=http://www.nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201503.pdf|issue=155}}</ref>
=== Noah Kaplan Quartet === Merega is a member of the Noah Kaplan Quartet. Their debut album ''Descendants'' was released by Hathut in 2011.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/album-reviews/noah-kaplan-1.448527 |title=Noah Kaplan|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2018-11-14}}</ref> It was followed by ''Cluster Swerve'' in 2017,<ref name="HH">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/cluster-swerve-noah-kaplan-hatology-review-by-glenn-astarita.php |title=Noah Kaplan Quartet: Cluster Swerve |last=Astarita |first=Glenn |website=All About Jazz |date=6 July 2017 |access-date=2018-11-09}}</ref> and ''Out of the Hole'' in 2020.<ref name=":22" >{{Cite web |last=Jazz |first=All About |date=2020-10-04 |title=Noah Kaplan Quartet: Out of the Hole album review @ All About Jazz |url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/out-of-the-hole-noah-kaplan-quartet-ezz-thetics |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=All About Jazz |language=en}}</ref> In its four-star review of the album, ''DownBeat'' magazine stated, "From track to track there is a consistent sense of rumination, where every intervallic brushstroke feels like the work of a painter meticulously applying and manipulating his medium to the canvas."<ref name=":6" >{{cite magazine |last=Margasak |first=Peter |date=August 2017 |title=Noah Kaplan Quartet: Cluster Swerve |url=http://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/cluster-swerve |magazine=DownBeat |page=82 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109062057/http://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/cluster-swerve |access-date=November 9, 2018|archive-date=2018-11-09 }}</ref> K has recorded or performed with Joe Morris, Anthony Coleman, Mauro Pagani, Peter Erskine, Alan Pasqua, Rinde Eckert, Jason Nazary, Mike Pride, Tyshawn Sorey, Mat Maneri, and Joe Maneri.<ref name=":5" />
=== Collaboration with Hampton Fancher === K began working with writer Hampton Fancher in 2010 when they collaborated on the spoken word cantata ''Rat Lunch''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.standardhotels.com/culture/annie_o_dollshot |title=Annie O Presents: Dollshot |date=2018-11-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181102053534/https://www.standardhotels.com/culture/annie_o_dollshot |access-date=2018-11-09 |archive-date=2018-11-02 }}</ref> In 2016 they began collaborating on an opera, ''Salvation'', for which Fancher wrote the story and libretto.<ref name=":3" /> The DVD of Michael Almereyda's documentary of Fancher, ''Escapes'' (2017), includes a video portrait of Fancher shot by K.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://grasshopperfilm.com/film/escapes/ |title=Escapes |work=Grasshopper Film |access-date=2018-11-11 }}</ref>
=== Other === K is the editor of the English edition of Ivan Wyschnegradsky's ''Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony.''<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://5against4.com/2018/01/17/ivan-wyschnegradsky-manual-of-quarter-tone-harmony/ |title=Ivan Wyschnegradsky - Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony - 5:4 |date=2018-01-17 |work=5:4 |access-date=2018-11-09 |language=en-GB}}</ref> He is a co-founder of Underwolf Records and works as a record producer for the label.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/noah-kaplan-mn0001998910/credits |title=Noah Kaplan {{!}} Credits |website=AllMusic |access-date=2018-11-09 }}</ref>
== Playing style == As a member of his quartet, he has played in a style influenced by the microtonal approach of Maneri.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Margasak |first=Peter |date=May 2012 |title=Noah Kaplan Quartet: Descendants |magazine=DownBeat |page=54 }}</ref> ''The New York City Jazz Record'' reviewer of their first album described his playing: "Kaplan's shifting pitches give his flowing lines, sliding across and between notes, even more vocal inflections than a regular hornman might impart, but he tends to be less speech-like in his phrasing and more likely to evoke animal similes in his flexible expressiveness, ranging from pained braying to exuberant crows."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sharpe |first=John |date=February 2012 |title=Descendants: Noah Kaplan Quartet (hatOLOGY) |magazine=The New York City Jazz Record |page=14|url=http://nycjazzrecord.com/issues/tnycjr201202.pdf|issue=118 }}</ref> More generally, as an improviser, he "is devoted to quarter-tone improvisation and its integration into his music as a structural principle", wrote ''The New York City Jazz Record''.<ref name="C&M" />
== Personal life == K is married to vocalist Rosie K.<ref name=":0" />
== Discography == {| class="sortable wikitable" !Year !Title !Artist !Genre !Label !Ref |- |style="text-align:center;" |2021 |''Ignotum'' |Joe Morris and Noah K |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|Jazz |style="text-align:center;"|Glacial Erratic |style="text-align:center;" |<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Ignotum |publisher= |url=https://glacialerratic.bandcamp.com/album/joe-morris-noah-k-ignotum |accessdate=June 16, 2022}}</ref> |- |style="text-align:center;" |2020 |''Out Of The Hole'' |Noah Kaplan Quartet |style="text-align:center;"|HatHut |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name=":22" /> |- |style="text-align:center;" |2019 |''Lalande'' |Dollshot |style="text-align:center;"|Dream pop |style="text-align:center;"|Underwolf |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name=":4" /> |- |style="text-align:center;" |2017 |''Cluster Swerve'' |Noah Kaplan Quartet |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|Jazz |style="text-align:center;"|HatHut |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name="HH" /> |- |style="text-align:center;" |2014 |''Crows and Motives'' |Noah Kaplan, Giacomo Merega, Joe Moffett |style="text-align:center;"|Underwolf |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name="C&M" /> |- |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="3"|2012 |''Animal Culture'' |Joe Moffett, Noah Kaplan, Giacomo Merega, Jacob William, Luther Gray |style="text-align:center;"|Not Two Records |style="text-align:center;" |<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Animal Culture |publisher= |url=http://www.nottwo.com/mw872 |website=nottwo.com |accessdate=December 31, 2018}}</ref> |- |''Rat Lunch'' |Hampton Fancher & Noah K |style="text-align:center;"|Alternative |style="text-align:center;"|Underwolf |style="text-align:center;" |<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Rat Lunch |publisher= |url=https://underwolf.com/rat-lunch |website=underwolf.com |accessdate=December 31, 2018}}</ref> |- |''Watch the Walls Instead'' |Giacomo Merega, Marco Cappelli, Noah Kaplan with Anthony Coleman and Mauro Pagani |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|Jazz |style="text-align:center;"|Underwolf |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name="GM" /> |- |style="text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|2011 |''Descendants'' |Noah Kaplan Quartet |style="text-align:center;"|HatHut |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name="HH" /> |- |''Dollshot'' |Dollshot |style="text-align:center;"|Dream pop/indie pop |style="text-align:center;"|Underwolf |style="text-align:center;" |<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dollshot|others=Rosalie Kaplan, voix; Noah Kaplan, saxophone; Wes Matthews, piano; Giacomo Merega, basse.|location=Brooklyn, New York |publisher= Underwolf Records |date=2011 |url=http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/991171591 |oclc=991171591|language=English}}</ref> |- |style="text-align:center;"|2008 |''The Light and Other Things'' |Giacomo Merega, David Tronzo, Noah Kaplan |style="text-align:center;"|Jazz |style="text-align:center;"|Creative Nation Music |style="text-align:center;" |<ref name="GM" /> |- |}
==Bibliography== * Wyschnegradsky, Ivan; Noah Kaplan (editor); Rosalie Kaplan (translator). ''Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony''. Underwolf Editions: New York 2017, {{ISBN|0692883746}}.
== References == <!--- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using <ref></ref> tags, these references will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.noahkmusic.com Official website] * {{IMDb name|2666777}} *[https://www.newsounds.org/story/dollshots-experimental-dream-pop/ "Dollshot's Experimental Dream-Pop" | Live In Studio on WNYC] *[https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/notes-from-underground-ivan-wyschnegradskys-manual-of-quarter-tone-harmony/ Notes From Underground article by Noah K and Rosie K (New Music Box)] *[http://thejazzsession.com/2012/02/02/the-jazz-session-343-noah-kaplan/ Jazz Session Interview with Noah Kaplan]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noah K}} Category:21st-century American classical composers Category:Living people Category:American experimental musicians Category:Free improvisation saxophonists Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:Avant-garde jazz saxophonists Category:Avant-garde jazz keyboardists Category:Entertainers from Topanga, California Category:1984 births Category:21st-century American saxophonists Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Jazz musicians from California Category:21st-century American male composers