Explosion
…of which won him the first Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Composer’s competition in 1993. As artistic director of the Monk Institute’s Jazz Ambassadors, he toured Africa in the spring of 1995 and produced their debut CD. He can also be heard on record in groups led by drummer Jeff Williams and pianist Hiromi Saito. Ben Monder leads his own trio (Son…
The Breathing of Statues
…Haram” As well, his long-running world music group Sangha combines his oud and compositions with Persian and Indian music. Grdina’s plans for East Van Strings? “I’d like to get us playing more frequently but it’s tough with a dream group because everyone has insane schedules. Musically I want to keep performing the repertoire and let it take on a ne…
Her Eyes Illuminate
…, were comfortable, and played like we were hanging out in a basement. In that space is where I find people play the most free.” For more info: gordongrdina.com/haram; Haram in Studio video….
Genera
…her it brings together his classical music interests with free improv. The common factor is a keen awareness of 20th century music in its various manifestations and a fascination with the structure and organization of sound in both composition and improvisation. “I’ve been very influenced by the music of John Carter and Steve Lacy, primarily because…
Tyft
…ing his Berklee days…is emphatically not Kurt Rosenwinkel…[Jensson’s] jagged electric guitar power chords vie for attention with intimate acoustic interludes and experimental noise, sometimes all in the same track. Tyft can be a jittery listen, with Black’s concussive drums and D’Angelo’s alto squeals brashly inserted amidst quieter, even austere se…
Stories to Tell
…n griots, Southern bluesmen and downtown-scene alchemists [and] manages to make his pieces speak coherently, and in a unified voice.” – Nate Chinen, New York Times ****1/2 “Dreamy/frenetic soundscapes, dual-lead guitar heroics, haunting Celto/Afric vocals, avant-jazz weirdness – it could almost be the soundtrack to a lost Wachowski Brothers film….On…
(co)incidents
…Eastern European influences sit well with François Houle…[Houle’s] breadth is one of his chief virtues, and the music here gives him plenty of opportunities to drift from cool jazz to free-form to klezmer…This is a disc of which Nodwell can be genuinely proud. The very beautiful, slow-moving opening to ‘The Eagle and the Wolf’ would move the most i…
The Songlines Story
…musicians are listening to and giving their imaginations free rein to work with. The website is fully searchable by keyword, but we’ve also updated the genre/style designations applied to releases to facilitate sorting the music via the pulldown genre menu. For sort purposes, rather than trying to pinpoint specific combinations of genres and styles…
Phoenix
…nd is Music Director of the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. For more information: www.patrickzimmerli.com, www.coloradocollege.edu/summersession/musicfestival/ScottYooBio.htm home.earthlink.net/~takeishi/id1.html…
Train Song
…tured classical music her whole life and was seeking more freedom, so we tried to combine form and structure with improvisation. Rather than having one long solo, everybody may have little sections where they improvise on a strict chord sequence within the rhythmic structure, as if the improvisation is a continuation of their part. I’d been interest…
