Peyton Pleninger is an emerging tenor saxophonist, improviser, bandleader and conceptualist, forging a personal path that challenges the boundaries of what it means to be a musician. Pleninger’s experience involves a variety of disciplines centered around music, which also includes astrology, painting and sculpture, botany, construction, massage and medical inquiry.

Pleninger worked as a mentee of Milford Graves, from spring 2019 until Graves’ passing in early 2021, assisting daily in multi-disciplinary efforts. Summer 2019 focused on botany and garden work, which evolved into constructing a greenhouse in the winter that year. 2020 began with focus around conducting and documenting various scientific experiments around sound, vibration and cardiology, which led to constructing sculptures demonstrating some of the concepts discovered. Pleninger played an integral role in helping Graves prepare artwork and archival materials for his retrospective exhibit Milford Graves: A Mind Body Deal at the ICA Philadelphia, as well as for the post-humous exhibits Heart Harmonics: Sound, Energy and Natural Healing Phenomena at the Fridman Gallery and Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency at Artist's Space.