Chris Coyle

Chris Coyle is a bassist and composer based in Philadelphia, PA. Chris has gained recognition as a versatile performer and creator through an endless quest of listening, learning, collaboration, and curation. He leads his own Jazz/Experimental ensembles: Phantasma Trio, Vaux Taux, and Outside Sound. He has shared the stage with some of Philadelphia's most prominent Jazz musicians: John Swana, Behn Gillece, Doug Hirlinger, Diane Monroe, Joanna Pascale, V. Shayne Frederick, Orrin Evans, Matt Davis, Duane Eubanks, and many others.

Chris has also performed with a wide array of other dynamic ensembles: Relache Ensemble, Son Step, NotSoSilentCinema, Oscuro Quintet, Conjunto Philadelphia, West Philadelphia Orchestra, and Rhinoceri Trio, among others. As a composer, Chris blends Jazz, Chamber, and Experimental traditions, uses harmony and form to explore musical ambiguity, and utilizes an original approach to improvisation. He has been recognized by and received funding from the American Composers Forum, the McKnight Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Chris has performed and done workshops all over the Midwest and Northeast US, in Canada, Germany, and South Korea.

Using grant funding and city resources, Chris has proudly organized community-based music and education projects. These activities have included extensive work with adults with disabilities at art programs in Philadelphia, Boston, and Minneapolis. He has also organized free, accessible concert programming at Philadelphia libraries, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and numerous city parks.

Other areas of musical focus include the history of African American Music, Folk music studies, electronic music, and eliminating self-consciousness from arco technique. Chris grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania, and received a bachelor's degree in Music Performance from Temple University's Boyer College of Music.