Bruce Friedman is a trumpeter based in the Southern California area. He has studied trumpet with Marco Blaauw, Uan Racey, James Stamp and others. After earning his Bachelors Degree at Humboldt State University, he earned a Teaching Credential in Instrumental Music at CSU Los Angeles. He has performed in a broad spectrum of musical styles. These include Jazz, Free improvisation, Symphonic, Pop Music, Brass Ensemble, and Musical Theater.

Recent performances of Contemporary Composition include "Treatise" by Cornelius Cardew, with the Wholesale Orchestra and with a performance of the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen. This included "Halt" for trumpet and bass;"Tierkreis", arranged for trumpet with two acoustic guitars, and improvised ('intuitive') music from "The Seven Days". Recent music workshops attended have been led by John Butcher, Wolfgang Fuchs, Charlemagne Palestine, and Ellen Burr.

He has played numerous gigs with the improvisation ensemble Surrealestate. His own Jazz group, with Ron Hershewe on guitar, has worked frequently in the Southern California region. He's done countless Brass Quintet gigs. He played two seasons in the Pacific Palisades Symphony. He's done Musical Theater in Los Angeles. At the Stella Adler Theater, he did Stephen Sondheim's "Saturday Night". At the Odyssey Theater, he did "Archie and Mehitabel", (Don Marquis/George Kleinsinger). Additionally, he toured Japan with a tribute to the 1950's pop group The Platters, played often during holidays at the 6-Flags Magic Mountain Park with Skip Waring's, and was with the Mariachi of The Ballet Mexicapan in East L.A., for two seasons.

CD releases include his own "Landscape With Figure", a duo improv CD with Scott Fraser playing guitar; "O.P.T.I.O.N.S.", improvised music for electro-acoustic chamber ensemble; and "Reflections", a West Coast styled Jazz Standards project, with Ron Hershewe on Guitar and Mike Flick on Bass. He also participated on Rich West's CDs "Bedouin Hornbook", "Heavenly Breakfast", and "Known Universe", and is included on one John Troubee recording. Future projected CD releases include "Edge Study", an improvised duo with Motoko Honda, for trumpet and keyboard synthesizor; a recording of New Music(s) for Trumpet and Electronics, as well as "Tiny Trumpet Tunes For Tiny Tots", improvised trumpet melodies for toddlers.

Examples of the graphic music notation used for O.P.T.I.O.N.S. are included in a book on contemporary music notation entitled Notations21, by Theresa Sauer. This book is patterned after a 1960's publication Notations by John Cage. More information pertaining to O.P.T.I.O.N.S. can be found at this website on the 'Improv Score' page. This CD has not yet been linked to the 'Recordings' page of this website. It can be previewed at CDBaby.com . Further information about Notations21 can be found at the website Notations21.net .