Che Chen is an improviser, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist and show organizer based in Queens, NY. An energetic presence in New York City’s experimental underground since the early 2000s, he has tread an idiosyncratic path from noise duo True Primes to studying guitar in Mauritania and improvising with veterans and upstarts from NYC’s creative music scene. In 2012, he and “plywood crate” player Rick Brown founded 75 Dollar Bill, a group with flexible personnel whose hybrid music synthesizes modal and rhythmic concepts from the “non-Western” world, Sun Ra’s space chords and the minimalist and No Wave histories of their hometown. Organizing concerts has always been a parallel activity for Chen, stemming from a firm belief that music is social and must take place in community. He has organized hundreds of DIY shows in New York City including the monthly series Fire Over Heaven at Outpost Artists Resources since 2017.
chechen.bandcamp.com/
75dollarbill.bandcamp.com