Bright Dog Red (BDR), an improvising collective from Albany, New York, fuses free improvisation, electronica, jazz, hip hop, psychedelia, and noise music.

“Starting as a jazz-meets-hip-hop jam band with a loosely-defined membership, Bright Dog Red has become a fixture on the NYC jazz and improvisation scene” (Jazz Journal).

BDR debuted in September 2015. In short time, the band’s “spirited and inspired” (Blue In Green Radio) performances have generated comparisons to “Mahavishnu Orchestra meets Digable Planets” (Paul Schulman), “electronic Ahmad Jamal,” (Don Lucoff), and to other psychedelic, jazz fusion, and hip hop luminaries.

In September of 2019, BDR released “How’s by You?,” the group’s second album for the influential Ropeadope Records label. The band’s critically acclaimed Ropeadope debut, “Means to the Ends,” was released in October of 2018.

Founded by drummer and composer Joe Pignato, BDR is comprised of a rotating cast of players. Recent performances have featured founding members Cody Davies (electronics) and Anthony Berman (bass), as well as recurring members Eric Person, (alto and soprano saxes), Mike LaBombard (tenor sax), Tyreek Jackson (bass), and Matt Coonan (poetry and freestyling).