Iris Lord's band recorded her first C D in 1987 in New York City - A Rose in a Garbage Can = Iris Lord... piano, vocals, Bern Nix...guitar, Al McDowell... bass, Elliot Levin... sax, David Cappella... drums In her live performances, Iris included in her band, basically named 'The Divine Monochord', from time to time, other musicians who were or became well known in the field of avant-garde jazz Inspired by a series of dreams, Iris Lord created her own unique approach to the piano and began writing plays and songs. At her first jazz opera, ' Death, Life, & Patience ', which premiered at New York Citys Town Hall, the acclaimed musician Ornette Coleman directed the play. Iris wrote the book and collaborated on the music with James Blood Ulmer. Onstage, as an actress from an early age, Iris gravitated to N.Y.Cs off-off-broadway theater. In her 2001 show, ' 12 Famous Men ', Iris recounted anecdotes of the famous and infamous characters she met on a career journey of acting awards and accolades, Hollywood screen tests, and involvements with seminal New York city theater scenes. Performing roles such as 'LuLu' in 'The Dutchman', 'Katherine' in 'Suddenly, Last Summer', Iris pursued private acting studies, actor's studio methods of Stanislavski, Grotowski workshops, theater productions and was influenced by methods of Artaud, Brecht, Peter Brook, Living Theater. She went through Reichian therapy with Dr. Alexander Lowen, and became a professional bioenergetic therapist. Entering the field of music, with her band,the divine monochord, she performed in clubs around N.Y.C and produced a series of benefit concerts for Stars for Sane and the Living Theatre, featuring many celebrated artists ...Philip Glass, Cecil Taylor, poet Ira Cohen... and a host of N.Y.s downtown avant-garde arts elite.