Artist description The impassioned and idiosyncratic music of 3 Leg Torso features Béla Balogh on violin, Gabe Leavitt on cello, and Courtney Von Drehle on accordion. With a collective background that includes experience in classical, avant-rock, klezmer, jazz, free-improvising and punk, the trio covers a broad range of material: from original compositions that fall in the New Music category, to selections from all over the world, ranging from Argentinean tangos to French musette to Middle Eastern and Eastern European pieces. At times they sound like a string quartet and at other times like a wild third world folk band.

Music Style klezmer/contemporary classical/tango

Musical Influences Kronos, Muzsikas, Stravinsky, Piazzolla

Similar Artists Kronos Quartet, Astor Piazzolla, Quartetto Gelato

Artist History 3 Leg Torso is an ensemble with one foot in modern chamber music, one foot in Eastern European music and one foot in the telepathic territory of free-improvisation. Since their inception in February 96, they have participated in Portland’s International Performance Festival; were one of the featured acts at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts’ DaDa Ball; have made multiple radio appearances and have collaborated with many of Portland's top choreographers. During the summer of 1997, 3 Leg played a successful East Coast tour, with stops at the Knitting Factory and CBGB’s Gallery. Most recently they have just completed scoring music to a United Nations funded documentary on AIDS in Thailand and a new film by academy award winning animator Joan Gratz. They have just released their first CD.

Group Members 3 LEG TORSO Béla Balogh: Violin Gabe Leavitt: Cello Courtney Von Drehle : accordion Béla Balogh , a first generation American, started playing violin when he was four years old, studying under his father, a conductor and touring concert violinist, and his grandfather, leader of a Hungarian gypsy orchestra. Later he studied with Sister Jeanette Wood, Sister Anne Cecil Daigle and Hollis Taylor. After playing classical violin for many years, Béla drifted into the dark world of rock and roll, performing with the bands Greased Priest, The Willies and Lobe, a progressive rock band in which he started working with Courtney Von Drehle. Béla speaks fluent Hungarian with his family, friends and even people he doesn’t know, causing a bit of a stir on city buses and with the DMV whenever he gets pulled over for a missing headlight. Because of this wonderful gift, Béla enjoys a clean driving record. Gabe Leavitt, a veteran of guitar and electric bass, turned to the cello as his main instrument after listening to Bach’s cello suites while in the throes of a flu induced fever. He uses many extended techniques to explore and extract a broad range of sounds from the cello, at times providing melody and percussion simultaneously. Composer, multi-instrumentalist and improviser, Courtney Von Drehle, took up the accordion out of a love for things that went “Oom” closely followed by “Pah.” Fortunately this hasn’t effected his career in a negative way. He has been commissioned to write scores for theater, dance, performance art and television, and his music has been played on the John Peel Radio Show in England, Dutch National Radio and National Public Radio in America. He has a B.A. in music from Marylhurst College and has performed throughout Europe and the U.S. Other current projects include the Topiary Kings and P.O.D.

Albums 3 Leg Torso

Location Portland, OR - USA

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