5/19 8:30pm
Sat.
Gowanus Jazz Fest presents City Band plays Monk Dreams, Hallucin
CITY BAND plays Monk Dreams, Hallucinations and Nightmares featuring Alan Ferber, John Carlson, Douglas Yates, Jeremy Udden, Gary Wang, Mark Ferber, Brian Landrus, Kenny Pexton, Max Seigal, Ben Holmes, Albert Leusink, Nicholas Urie and Frank Carlberg For this concert City Band will perform new recompositions based on the music by Thelonious Monk and related subjects. In addition to the scored parts the pieces will highlight the varied personalities of the bend members through open improvisational spaces. Of Carlberg's recent release for this instrumentation, Federico On Broadway , New York Music Daily writes: Nobody writes more viscerally creepy, carnivalesque music than jazz pianist Frank Carlberg. It’s more Lynchian than Felliniesque, and features Carlberg conducting the 12-piece band as well as leading them from the piano. One of the main themes here is a Simpsons-style carnivalesque motif: if this was a Simpsons episode, it would be the one where the tsunami comes upriver and knocks out Homer’s nuke plant while everybody’s at the circus. Individual voices in the band converse in an wryly animated “what are we doing here?” vein as the group shifts from one surreal, often disquieting interlude to another. Variations on an eerie march appear in several places, strange music box themes take centerstage and then disappear, most vividly on a surreal marionette dance titled Tricks. They evoke a frenetic, urban Mingus bustle on the aptly titled Rat Race and maintain the out-of-breath tension with The Chase, Carlberg’s glittering cascades setting up alto saxophonist almost crushingly morose lines. As vivid, cinematic music, it packs a wallop, just as you would expect from this composer with a band this size.
5/19 10pm
Sat.
Gowanus Jazz Fest presents Endangered Blood featuring Chris Spee
ENDANGERED BLOOD featuring Chris Speed, Oscar Noriega, Trevor Dunn and Jim Black. Endangered Blood is a burning acoustic jazz quartet - four experienced musicians in their prime, playing at their best. On their self-titled debut CD, Chris Speed (tenor saxophone), Oscar Noriega (alto saxophone and bass clarinet), Trevor Dunn (bass) and Jim Black (drums) carry on the genre-pushing, limitless experimentation of bands like Alas No Axis, The Claudia Quintet and Electric Masada (all of which include EB members). Endangered Blood also is an urgent example of the jazz tradition's continuing power to inspire musicians to reinvent, reinterpret and re-shape. Most of all it is a celebration of long-term commitment - to friendships and to music itself. Endangered Blood was formed in 2008 to play at a benefit for a friend's cancer treatment - thus their original name, The Benefit Band. Longtime friends and collaborators Chris Speed and Jim Black should need no introduction to fans of cutting edge music. Their work together has included some of the most influential avant-jazz of the last twenty years- in their own bands like Human Feel, Pachora, Yeah No and Alas No Axis, and with other artists like Uri Caine and Tim Berne’s bloodcount. Trevor Dunn is one of the top bassists of his generation, known both for his legendary avant-rock band Mr. Bungle and for his extensive work with John Zorn and Mike Patton. Multi-reedist Oscar Noriega may be a new name to many listeners, but his relationship with Speed and Black stretches back over twenty years. Awareness of his role as an underground force in the New York jazz world is rapidly expanding due to his recent work with Lee Konitz and especially as a member of Tim Berne's new quartet Snakeoil. The music on their debut CD reflects this history and its members' lifelong love for the jazz tradition. Original pieces by Speed like "Plunge," "Rare," and "Elvin Lisbon" continue his relentless push to unify his musical obsessions - pre and post-Coltrane jazz, Eastern European music, and avant-rock. "Uri Bird" demonstrates a powerful engagement with bebop. "Iris," unlike any other piece in the Speed catalogue, shows the influence of New Orleans- particularly a visit to the Iris Mardi Gras parade. "Epistrophy," of course, is an arrangement of the Thelonious Monk classic, maintaining the spirit of Monk in the inimitable voice of Endangered Blood. Other pieces, like "Tacos at Oscar's" and "Andrew's Ditty Variation 1" celebrate the powerful and longtime friendships that form the true backbone of Endangered Blood - the alchemy between musicians whose lives and music have been intertwined for decades.
5/21 9pm
Mon.
The Gate::In Example::Kosack/Sinton/Udden
9 pM:The Gate: Dan Peck - tuba & comp., Nate Wooley - trp., Tom Blancarte - bass, Brian Osborne - drums::10 Pm:In Example: Eliot Cardinaux - piano, Isaac Luxon - guitar::11 PM:LizKosack-piano,JoshSinton-low reeds,JeremyUdden-higher reeds $10 SUGGESTED
5/24 8pm
Thu.
Vidal/Greenblatt/Hundertmark/O'Brien/McCraven
Geoff Vidal - Tenor Saxophone/ Tatum Greenblatt - Trumpet/ Joe Hundertmark - Guitar/ Michael O'Brien - Bass/ Malaya McCraven - Drums/ Special guest - Daniel Kelly - Piano/ $10 suggested donation for whole night/ 2 Sets at 8pm & 9:30pm
6/2 8pm
Sat.
Save the Date #5:Tessa::Asthma::Dietrick
8 pM: Douglas Detrick-trumpet::9 Pm: Tessa w/ Brad Henkel, Nathaniel Morgan, Jonathan Goldberger and Max Jaffe::10 PM:YouGiveMeAsthma w/ Owen Stewart-Robertson & Brooke Herr & ??? Presented by j. sinton & PromNight Records $10 Suggested Donation
6/16 8:30pm
Sat.
Tomas Fujiwara & the Hook-Up::JoshSinton&Co.
8:30 - Tomas Fujiwara&theHook-Up w/ Tomas Fujiwara, Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson, Brian Settles and Jonathan Finlayson::9:30 - Josh Sinton & Co. $10 Suggested Donation
6/25 9pm
Mon.
Shelton/Halvorson/Walter & Shelton/Sinton & Minerva & PascAli
8:30 pM: PascAli: Pascal Niggenkemper & Sean Ali - basses::9:30 pm:Aram Shelton - alto clef reeds, Mary Halvorson - guitar, Weasel Walter -drums::10:30 Pm:Aram Shelton - alto clef reeds, Josh Sinton - bass clef reeds::11:30 PM: Minerva: JP Schlegelmilch - piano, Pascal Niggenkemper - bass, Carlo Costa - perc. $10 SUGGESTED
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