The music of Earl Howard includes intricate saxophone playing as well as electronics produced both live and on tape. More recent accomplishments from this New York-based artist involve a combination of chamber music performed with acoustic instruments and electronics. Howard first began performing professionally in the '70s -- his relative youth, as well as the niceties of spelling separate him from the earlier pianist, composer, and guitarist Earle Howard, although there is also a wide gap stylistically. Earl Howard graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1974. Almost immediately he began focusing on composing for and performing with musicians form the jazz tradition. One of his closest collaborators during his career has been the pianist and composer Anthony Davis. This artist recorded Howard's composition entitled "Particle W" for the Gramavision label. Another performer who is fond of Howard's pieces is percussionist, bandleader, and composer Gerry Hemingway, who cut a version of " D.R. (Auricle)" for solo percussion. An album entitled Strong Force, issued on the Mutable label in 2003, is considered one of Howard's masterworks, reaching great levels of musical inspiration due to the work of both the composer and his talented crew of musicians. Davis and Hemingway both take part, augmented by Anne Lebaron on harp and Ernst Reijseger on cello. ~ Eugene Chadbourne