Biography |
Kemmerer, Wyoming circa 1900, Photo J.B. Roberts
John Dikeman was born in Nebraska and grew up in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Thanks to the extreme isolation of his hometown, he spent most of his free time practicing and studying music. He quickly discovered the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, John Zorn, and Albert Ayler and instantly connected to the unmatched expressive power of free jazz. Dikeman started performing professionally at the age of 16 and recording at 17.
Dikeman left Wyoming in 1999 to study saxophone and composition at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Later, Dikeman would study with free jazz legends Joe Maneri and Milford Graves, who was one of his primary instructors during his brief stay at Bennington College.
Dikeman then moved to New York City, and later Philadelphia. He performed regularly within the free jazz and free improvisation circles throughout the east coast. Some of his collaborators include: Toshi Makihara, Sam Shalabi, Jack Wright, Stefan Dill, Jon Barrios, Jonathan Vincent, Zack Fuller, Ava Mendoza, Raed Yassin, Daniel Carter, Jonathan Fretheim, Mike Barker, Darren Pickering, Kevin McHugh, Lukas Ligeti, Jeff Arnal, Chris Forsyth, Tatsuya Nakatani, Mike Pride, Nate Wooley, Reuben Radding, Blaise Siwula, George Cremaschi, Ty Cumbie, Kurt Heyl, Damon Smith, Ben Hall, John Voigt, John McLellan, Scott Verrastro, Jean Derome, Gordon Allen, Nicolas Caloia, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Sharks Without Fins, Bryan Eubanks, Masashi Harada, Katt Hernandez, Jonathan Leland, Keefe Jackson, Cristina Menendez, Andy Hershberger, Daniel Barnidge, Markus Eichenberger...
In 2004, Dikeman moved to Cairo, Egypt. In the three years he was there, he worked regularly as a performer, studio musician, and teacher. He performed as a soloist with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, played and traveled throughout North Africa with Nubian pop star Mohamed Mounir, led his own jazz bands which performed weekly in downtown Cairo, performed and recorded with DJ Haze, played countless weddings and party’s with The Riff Band, and served as the saxophonist in most Egyptian bands that needed one. He also performed at the Lebanese improvised music festival, Irtijal, in 2005 and 2006.
John moved to Amsterdam in December of 2007, after a brief stay in Budapest, Hungary.