Sunday, April 21, 2013

Kong Nay, Ben Allison, Marc Ribot, Rudy Royston @ Asia Museum 4/19/13

It was a wonderful event.  It was about an hour in total.  The first 1/2 was a Kong Nay solo.  It was wonderful.  He plays a Chapei Dong Veng.  Something like a guitar and it sounds awesome.  Here's some youtube stuff.  His voice is great, too.  He sings about everything things.  He does one giving to thanks to spiritual leaders.  Then one praising Mothers.  Then one about a bird. It very beautiful.

Then we got jazz trio improvised piece which was awesome.  I presume it was to give Kong Nay a little break.  We all loved it.  Then Kong Nay came back out. I believe the trio was still improvising, but having Kong Nay take the lead.  They did 3 first about how great music is.  Then they took a bow and then did an encore called "Dance for a Soulmate". 

The one thing was beautiful and wonderful.

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/video-exclusive-song-kong-nay-master-mekong-delta-blues'

Tomas Fujiwara's Red Carpet @ I-Beam 4/18/13

Now that I go to Shapeshifter Lab so much, I feel like I can go any where.  I-Beam is a great place but it does a feel out of the way - probably because I'm used to so much people around.  It also took me about a 45 min to get they are 35 min to get back.  I got to 30 minutes of the show and it was phenomenal and worth it.  It is one of the things stops from going more often.  I'm spoiled, I admit it. 

Loren Stillman,  sax
Matt Pavolka, bass

Tomas Fujiwara, drums

It was awesome.

Sam Newsome / Jim Black Duo @ Zürcher Studio 4/17/13

Then we got an amazing duo.  They had never played together before than they were awesome.  They did another 45 min set after a little break in between sets.  Jim is always a treat.  It was improvised and awesome.

Sam Newsome Solo @ Zürcher Studio 4/17/13

It's an art gallery on the East Side on Bleeker.  Very nice to seem music in the East Village again.  I heard Henry Grimes might come next month.

Sam is a nice to see solo.  She is very talented.  I got there a little, but it was probably a 45 minute set.

It was to see if sitting because of columns and everyone there is no elevation for the performers.  It works for because I can see standing and it's fine.

Slobber Pup @ The Stone 4/16/13

Oh yeah!  I would call this avant jam.  It was amazing.  Trevor Dunn played electric bass  the guitar was awesome.  I really got caught up in the drums a lot of the time.  Jamie is as stellar as always.  This band played so way together.  It was always improvised and all amazing.

Just so you know, they just raised the set price to $15.  It makes sense when you think about the outstanding musician who plays all week.  If you go, try to bring exact change.

SLOBBER PUP Jamie Saft (organs, keys) Joe Morris (guitar) Trevor Dunn (bass) Balazs Pandi (drums)

Instant Composers Pool (ICP) @ Littlefield 4/13/13

Yes, it was ICP light without Misha Mengelberg, but it was still outstanding.  I love Han Bennink and the horn section ans string section were phenomenal.  It was great.

http://www.littlefieldnyc.com/event/240385-instant-composers-pool-icp-brooklyn/
The 10-piece, Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra has earned worldwide acclaim for its inventiveness, musical genius, and unpredictable stage antics. The group includes world-class improvisers Han Bennink on drums, Michael Moore on clarinet and alto saxophone, Ab Baars on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Tobias Delius on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Thomas Heberer on trumpet, Wolter Wierbos on trombone, Tristan Honsinger on cello, Ernst Glerum on bass, and Mary Oliver on viola and violin.

From ragtime to swing, composed pieces to improvisation, bop to free jazz, classical to carnivalesque, the ICP Orchestra continues to be at the forefront of the creative music that they have been so influential in founding, proliferating and supporting over the last five decades.


BOUT THE MUSICIANS:

Han Bennink (drums) is a co-founder of the ICP, long-time associate of Misha Mengelberg, and one of the most in-demand drummers in Europe. He has performed and recorded with jazz musicians such as Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, as well as European improvisers such as Peter Brotzman, Derek Bailey, and Willem Breuker. He trained as a graphic artist and has exhibited work in several media, including sculptures from found objects that can include broken drum heads and drumsticks; he also designs many of his own LP and CD sleeves. More: www.hanbennink.com.

In addition to playing solo concerts and his own trio, Ab Baars (clarinet, tenorsax) is a regular guest with the EX, Cor Fuhler, Michael Moore, and Michiel Scheen. Since 1990, his main focus has been on the Ab Baars Trio, which led to tours with Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd; a collaboration with the Nieuw Ensemble, shakuhachi player Iwamoto and conductor Butch Morris at the festival Improvisations. Baars has also worked with Francois Houle, John Carter, Roger Turner, Sunny Murray, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Gerry Hemingway among others. More: www.stichtingwig.com.

Tobias Delius was born in Oxford, England but grew up playing tenor saxophone in Germany and Mexico. In 1984 he moved to Amsterdam where he studied briefly at the Sweelinck Conservatorium. Since 1990 Delius leads his own 4tet with Tristan Honsinger, Joe Williamson, and Han Bennink; APA INI is currently a quartet with Hilary Jeffery, Wilbert de Joode & Serigne Gueye. He can also be heard in Available Jelly, Sean Bergin’s MOB, Cor Fuhler’s Corkestra, and Georg Graewe Quintet. In 2004 Delius was awarded the Boy Edgar Prize, the Netherlands' most prestigious award in improvised music. More: www.doek.org.

Ernst Glerum studied classical double-bass at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. During his studies he joined contemporary music ensembles (ASKO ensemble) as well as improvised music groups (Curtis Clark, Hans Dulfer, JC Tans, Theo Loevendie). He frequently performed with such artists as Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Uri Caine, Teddy Edwards, Benny Maupin, Jimmy Knepper, Jamaladeen Tacuma, John Zorn, Bud Shank, Art Hodes, Don Byron and many others. Besides ICP and the Amsterdam String Trio he performs in the Guus Janssen Trio, Michiel Scheen Quartet, Trio Continuo, Trio Bennink-Borstlap-Glerum and Available Jelly. He doubles on piano in Glerum Omnibus with Clemens van der Feen and Owen Hart. More: www.ernstglerum.nl.

Thomas Heberer (trumpet) was born in 1965 in Schleswig, Germany, and studied at the Conservatory in Cologne until 1987. Since then he has performed with musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Pina Bausch, Dave Douglas, Maria Joao, Howard Johnson, Bob Moses, David Moss, Evan Parker, E. L. Petrowsky, Enrico Rava, Alex Schlippenbach, Elliott Sharp, Tomasz Stanko and Attila Zoller. Thomas is member of several ensembles such as the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, European Jazz Ensemble, Aki Takase Quintet, Tome XX and of course has a duo with bassist Dieter Manderscheid. www.thomasheberer.com.

Born in New England, the cellist Tristan Honsinger studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. By the '70s, the Trans-American had moved to Amsterdam. Since a memorable set of concerts in Berlin in 1988, released on the much sought-after FMP box set, Honsinger has been a fairly regular member of Cecil Taylor's groups, including the now-disbanded European Quartet with Harri Sjöström and Paul Lovens, including an unusual combination that performed at the Total Music Meeting in November 1999: the Cecil Taylor Ensemble with Franky Douglas, Tristan Honsinger and Andrew Cyrille.

Michael Moore was born in Arcata, California, where he played in clubs and attended school before moving to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music. There he worked with Joseph Allard, Jaki Byard, Joe Maneri, Gunther Schuller, George Russell and others. After spending two years in NYC he moved to Amsterdam, where he has lived since 1984. He currently works with Available Jelly, Jewels & Binoculars, Franky Douglas, Achim Kaufmann, Dave Douglas, Fred Hersch, Benoit Delbecq, Eric Boeren, Paul Berner and others. His own projects include the White Widow Quartet, the Monitor Trio w/ Cor Fuhler and Tristan Honsinger and the Michael Moore Quintet. More: www.ramboyrecordings.com.

Mary Oliver was born in La Jolla, California, and studied at San Francisco State University (Bachelor of Music), Mills College (MFA) and the University of California, San Diego where she received her PhD in 1993 for her research in the theory and practice of improvised music. Her work as a soloist encompasses both composed and improvised contemporary music; she has premiered works by Richard Barrett, John Cage, Chaya Czernowin, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, George Lewis and Iannis Xenakis among others and worked alongside improvising musicians such as Ab Baars, FURT, Tristan Honsinger, Joelle Leandre, George Lewis, Phil Minton and Evan Parker.

Wolter Wierbos can be heard on more than 100 CD’s and LP’s. Like many Dutch brass players Wierbos started out in a ‘fanfare’ (brass band), switching from trumpet to trombone when he was 17. Since 1979 he has performed with with Henry Threadgill, The Ex, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (led by Alexander von Schlippenbach), the European Big Band (led by Cecil Taylor), Sonic Youth, the John Carter Project, Mingus Big Band (Epitaph, directed by Gunther Schuller) and many others. He is currently active with Gerry Hemingway Quintet, Franky Douglas’ Sunchild, Bik Bent Braam, Albrecht Maurer Trio Works, Nocando, Carl Ludwig Hübsch’s Longrun Development of the Universe, Frank Gratkowski Quartet, Available Jelly and Sean Bergin’s MOB. More: www.wolterwierbos.nl.

http://downtownmusic.net/icp-orchestra-04-13-2013#
Ab Baars Han Bennink Tobias Delius Ernst Glerum Thomas Heberer Tristan Honsinger Michael Moore Mary Oliver Wolter Wierbos

Friday, April 12, 2013

Rudresh Mahanthappa's Gama @ LPR 4/11/13

This was amazing!  It was so engaging!  They just released CD called "Gamak".  They did play during Winter Jazzfest, but I didn't see them.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting a 90 minute set of this greatness. They were all phenomenal

Rudresh Mahanthappa, Alto Sax
Francois Moutin, bass
Dan Weis, drums

Eli Yamin Quartet @ Dizzy's 4/9/11

I wanted to see Evan Christopher, who I've never seen outside of New Orleans.  It was good.  Fun and NOLA style.  I did really the piano as well.  I was sitting at the bar and it was somewhat annoying that the staff was talking so much. I don't recall hearing so much talking at Dizzy's before and I have sit over there before.  It wasn't too hard to drown them out for the most part, it was fun lively music.

Eli Yamin Quartet Featuring Evan Christopher
CD Release - Louie’s Dream
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
7:30pm, 9:30pm | Dizzy's Club Coca Cola
Cover: $25
Student: $15 (Select sets with Student I.D.)
With Evan Christopher, clarinet; Nicki Parrott, bass; LaFrae Sci, drums
New York jazz and blues expert Eli Yamin has one foot in the past and one in the future with both his traditional jazz group and his new release Louie’s Dream.  Buoyed by New Orleans clarinetist Evan Christopher, versatile bassist Nicki Parrott, and genre-crossing drummer LaFrae Sci, these sets are sure to be adventures into new territory.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Vituoso @ Rubin Museum 4/3/13


It was an interesting conversation about music and the brain.  I was really tired, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Seth talked about how rhythm is everywhere.  A child that grows up in a home with no music can still absorb rhythm everywhere.  I know I've experienced music in a bus going by or the printer at work.  They also talked about how enjoyment of music is based on what we've already heard.  It was all very interesting.

The Virtuoso
Brainwave

Tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain explores why rhythm is the most primal sense we humans possess with neuroscientist Seth Horowitz.