Barrel Full of Projects By Kris Colongeli-Hamill
	Alex Meixner ’98 is working on a new compact disc, a nontraditional offering from his new jazz group Papa Tantchev’s Furious Four. Perhaps best known locally as a member of his father’s touring ensemble the Al Meixner Trio, Meixner’s work with the new group adds to a resume that already lists performances on a Grammy award winning polka album as well as performances in some of the world’s most famous concert halls. A member of a family that has been performing music in the United States for four generations, the multi-talented Meixner began his musical studies at the age of four with piano and piano accordion. As he progressed, he branched out on drums, diatonic accordion, bass guitar, and trumpet, which is now his main instrument. He first performed professionally in 1982, when he and his two sisters comprised the ethnic folk ensemble Meixner Kinder. He continues to work with his father’s group in the summer months—a group that also includes Mark Heinsman ’99—hitting the festival circuit from Pennsylvania to Colorado. Popular with young audiences as a form of alternative music, the Al Meixner Trio plays polkas, waltzes, contemporary tunes, and European folk music appreciated by older enthusiasts seeking to preserve and identify with their ethnic heritage. Although Alex is studying predominantly classical jazz musics as a trumpet performance/music education major here at Ithaca College, he maintains his roots in the folk music of his Austrian ancestors by performing and preserving the authenticity and integrity of the folk music, while also developing his own styles. Believing that all musical forms and backgrounds contribute to each other, Meixner’s new jazz group Papa Tantchev’s Furious Four features a drummer from Bulgaria, Gueorgui Tantchev, who is a graduate student at Ithaca. The group converts American jazz tunes and plays them in odd, asymmetric time signatures common to Slavic/Balkan folk music. Using nontraditional jazz instruments such as the button accordion and the tapan Bulgarian drum (a wooden drum played with two different kinds of sticks that produce unusual timbres), the group’s unique sound will be captured on the CD they intend to market this summer. In 1996, Alex’s third solo album, Familiar Faces in New Places, was released on cassette and compact disc on the Euro-Class Music label. The album includes original compositions like "Lee & Leon’s Polka" and "R & C’s Polka." Infusing the album with marangi and Dixieland twists, Meixner plays all of the instruments heard on the album including diatonic button accordions, keyboards, drums, bass, flugelhorn, and trumpet. His many accomplishments include the Grammy award, which he and his father earned as guest musicians on Walter Ostanek’s album Music and Friends, performances at the Lincoln Center and at National Music Educators conferences, a performance of a classical trumpet piece with the London Symphony Orchestra, and a PBS television performance as an accordion soloist with Sandy Duncan. Amid touring, recording, and studying, Meixner works as a staff recording engineer at River’s Bend Recording in his hometown, Laurys Station, Pennsylvania. Following graduation he plans to continue working with mentors like faculty member Steve Brown, and with groups like the Tony Klepec Ensemble and Range of Motion. He hopes to pursue graduate work in jazz trumpet performance and to eventually enter the teaching profession. Photo by Bill Truslow