Bassist, bandleader, and composer
Todd Sickafoose probably performs before his largest live audiences when backing alternative folk singer/songwriter
Ani DiFranco, and he can be heard on such
DiFranco CDs as 2005's
Knuckle Down and 2006's
Reprieve. Much of his musical career has been devoted to the avant-garde and creative jazz world, however, and he has garnered considerable acclaim as a jazz sideman as well as leader of his own Todd Sickafoose Group. Like violinist
Jenny Scheinman,
Sickafoose is a West Coast native who moved east to New York City, becoming a key member of the Brooklyn jazz scene during the 2000s. While in California, the San Francisco native studied in Los Angeles with
Charlie Haden and
Mel Powell before returning to the Bay Area and joining
the Scott Amendola Band and
Scheinman's quartet; he can be heard on CDs such as
Amendola's eponymous debut recorded in 1999 and
Cry from 2003, as well as
Scheinman's 2000 Live at Yoshi's. In 2000
Sickafoose released his first CD as leader of his own band, Dogs Outside on the Evander label. He also toured and recorded with genre-bending San Francisco singer/songwriter
Noe Venable.
Sickafoose moved to Brooklyn in 2005, and when not touring with
DiFranco could often be caught leading his own band or performing with groups such as Jenny Scheinman's Shalagaster at clubs like Barbès in Brooklyn or 55 Bar in Greenwich Village. In February 2006 the second Todd Sickafoose Group CD, Blood Orange, was released on the Brooklyn-based Secret Hatch record label. In addition to
Sickafoose, the core quintet heard on the album includes tenor saxophonist
Ben Wendel, trombonist
Alan Ferber, guitarist
Justin Morell, and drummer
Ches Smith. Several guest musicians are also featured, including avant jazz guitarist
Nels Cline, whose own largest audience during the 2000s came from his recruitment into the lineup of
Wilco.
Sickafoose's most ambitious recording yet as a leader arrived in June 2008:
Tiny Resistors on Cryptogramophone featured a eight-piece group with
Sickafoose on a variety of instruments (piano, Wurlitzer, vibraphone, marimba, and more) in addition to acoustic and electric basses. With sweeping, multi-layered compositions for the core octet supplemented by guest appearances from
DiFranco and violinist
Andrew Bird, the recording also displayed the bandleader's social and environmental consciousness on pieces such as "Pianos of the 9th Ward" and "Bye Bye Bees." While maintaining his alliance with
DiFranco,
Sickafoose continued leading his own ensemble into the 2010s while also serving as bandmember in a number of notable creative jazz groups led by others, including violinist
Scheinman's Mischief & Mayhem quartet also featuring
Cline and drummer
Jim Black, and drummer
Allison Miller's quartet featuring
Scheinman and pianist
Myra Melford. ~ Dave Lynch