The Milo Fine Free Jazz Ensemble was founded as Blue Freedom by Milo Fine (with Scott Munsell and Steve Dokken) in 1969. During the next six years, a procession of musicians, including Gary Matala, Dean Granros, Rick Barbeau, Greg Anderson, Joe Smith, Dave Madson, Jeff Johnson (not to be confused with the Mr. Johnson who leads the Teenage BoatPeople), Dwight (Richard) Marriott, Spencer MacLeish, Gary Knox, Tom Lewis, Carei Thomas, Michael Yonkers, Mark Maistrovich, Anthony Cox, Scott Newell, Curtis Wenzel, John O’Brien, and Nick Radovich passed through the group as its name changed to Blue Freedom’s New Art Transformation, and, in 1973, the Ensemble. Two years later (1975), after an introduction arranged by Newell, Fine teamed up with Steve Gnitka to become the Ensemble’s nucleus. The core of the group’s appearances in the Twin Cities have been rooted in self-determination. Since 1970, Milo has produced a continuous series of concerts at six Minneapolis venues. (A seventh, at Homewood Studios, is running concurrently with the Ensemble’s ongoing concerts at the West Bank School of Music.) In addition to this series, and other Minneapolis/St. Paul performances, which have involved collaborations with Newell, O’Brien, Cox, Lane Ellwanger, Pam Scheiner, Jason S. Shapiro, Elliot Fine, Nathan Smith, Davu Seru, Andrew Lafkas, Charles Gillett, Derek Bailey, Dave Stone, and others, Milo and Steve have, as a duo, and in tandem with other musicians (the group Borbetomagus, André Jaume, Wolfgang Dauner, Amy Sheffer, Raymond Boni, Joe McPhee, et. al.) presented their work in France, Germany, Switzerland, and New York. Milo has also appeared in Chicago with Gutter Cleaners (1982-1992), an improvisational music/movement duo he co-founded with dancer Susan J Sperl; in London as a participant in Company Week ’88 curated by Derek Bailey, where he collaborated with over a dozen musicians, including Bailey, Lol Coxhill, Peter Kowald, Gavin Bryars, Conrad Cook, LaDonna Smith, and Dennis Palmer; and in Austria (1996/1997) as a member of the Reform Art Unit (with Fritz Novotny, Sepp Mitterbauer, Walter Malli, Paul Fields, et. al.). He returned to England (London, Sheffield, and Leeds) in 2003 for a six and a half week intensive, participating in sixteen private and public events — including an appearance at the Freedom Of
The City festival — with thirty-one musicians. These artists included two (Tony Wren and Marj McDaid) he initially worked with in 1982 when they visited Minneapolis/St. Paul, eight (Paul Shearsmith, Paul Hession, John Jasnoch, Charlie Collins, Alex Ward, Mick Beck, Alan Wilkinson, and Roger Turner) he first met and/or played with at Company Week ’88, as well as Derek Bailey, Phil Wachsmann, Matt Hutchinson, Hugh Davies, Gail Brand, Alex Ward, Marcio Mattos, Sunny Murray, John Edwards, Tony Bevan, and John Russell. In 2004 Milo traveled to Wesleyan University (Connecticut). In addition to appearing in workshop, colloquium, and concert settings, he joined Anthony Braxton for a recording session. The Wesleyan concert also featured Lafkas and Andrew Raffo Dewar, a trio which went on to present concerts in Baltimore and Philadelphia. (For the latter event, they were joined by Jonathan Fretheim.) Milo’s other work outside of the Ensemble includes, in the 70s and 80s, being a periodic collaborator in Newell’s groups — Reykjavik Gold and the Keith Miller Trio (aka Newell/Miller/[Tom] Prideaux) — as well as O’Brien’s ensembles (often with Gnitka.) Additionally, during that time he occasionally partnered with Scheiner, Jean Decker, et. al. He also recorded with the Teenage BoatPeople, Gordon Heimer, Walter Zuber Armstrong, Borbetomagus, and, in 1999, the Gorge Trio. (Public appearances in these configurations were, in the case of the Boat People, few, in the case of the Gorge Trio, nonexistent, and, for the remainder, one-time events, though Groid, an offshoot of Gordon Heimer, featuring Milo and Terry Ingram, presented their work regularly, if infrequently for nearly two years.) From 2000-2005, Milo worked in a variety of groups with Seru, Lafkas, Gillett, Ed Rodriguez, N. Smith, O’Brien, Cox, E. Fine and others. One of these groups, the trio Discussion Unit, was the direct result of Milo’s reestablishing contact with Anthony Cox in 2003 after more than two decades. With Seru replacing J. T. Bates in 2005, the group became Charcoal, which, as part of the 2006 Minnesota sur Seine festival, collaborated with Evan Parker. (Three years after its founding, Charcoal became a quartet with the addition of Stefan Kac.) In 2007 and 2008, Milo partnered with Roger Turner for a concert, Tim Hodgkinson for a recording session, 
and Didier Petit for an ’08 Minnesota sur Seine festival set. (Milo convened a trio with Didier and Viv Corringham for a recording session in 2009, and this trio played it’s first concert the following year.) 2007 also marked the founding of Trio Raro: Milo, Andrew Raffo Dewar, and Davu Seru. Milo and Davu collaborated with Taylor Ho Bynum for a 2009 concert, and that same year found Jeff Johnson reactivating the Teenage Boatpeople, with Tim Mauseth as the third member. Currently, Milo’s most regular colleagues with and outside the Ensemble include Seru, Gillett, Newell, O’Brien, Viv Corringham, Stefan Kac, Paul Metzger, Elaine Evans, and Aerosol Pike (Philip Mann/Ryan Reber/Rick Ness).
(Anyone who bothers to make their way through this maze of personal/professional relationship dynamics will note that it is primarily just that. Overall, these interfacings are of greater import to Milo than the many venues he’s played outside those which house his focus on self-determination, the meagre funding he’s rarely managed to procure, or the odd residency and other collaborative ventures (i.e.; dance, theater) which occur from time-to-time. (Much of this information does, however, and of course, find its way into formal resumés utilized in conjunction with his mainly futile attempts to procure funding; an activity, which , for Milo, is fraught with ambivalence and untenability, which is not surprising, as these attributes are integral components of his world view.)
Born 1/22/52, Milo has played drums since 1961 (informal studies with Elliot Fine); piano since 1966 (studies with James Allen 1966-67); B Flat clarinet since 1974; alto clarinet since 1992; and E flat clarinet since 2002. (He also played bass clarinet from 1989-1997.) His initial contact with the marimba was in 1959, and he returned to it in 1990. In 1980, Milo invented the m-drums, a percussion kit made up of “found objects”, broken cymbals, and the like attached to a practice pad set. In 1987 this kit evolved into the m-drums II, which incorporates low tech electronics; that, in turn, he also utilizes with the B flat clarinet, marimba, and electronic piano.
(photos by Charles Gillett)