FLUX Quartet at Interpretations

December 2, 2009 — Mike

From New York’s Interpretations:

FLUX Quartet premieres David First // Dom Minasi String Quartet
Thursday, December 1o, 2009
8PM at Roulette
20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand)
Earl Howard / Edmund Campion

The 21st Season of Thomas Buckner’s innovative series of new music continues on Decermber 10, 2009, featuring two composer/guitarists premiering new music for two very different string quartets. The FLUX Quartet premieres a new work for string quartet and electronics by eclectic composer and Notekillers guitarist David First, and the Dom Minasi performs new music from Minasi’s new recording Dissonance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder, featuring violinist Jason Kao Hwang, cellist Thomas Ulrich, and bassist Ken Filiano.

David First’s Elegies for the Afterland is an evening length work composed for string quartet and electronics. Drones moving through shifting extended chords tuned to just-intonation ratios provide a field inside which the quartet executes languorous unison melodies, hallucinogenic pitch-bends and deep polyrhythmic rocking. Influenced by numerous world events and circumstances, the title refers to Mr. First’s concern over the planet we are leaving to future generations.

Dom Minasi’s unique string ensemble functions both like contemporary chamber music group and a jazz band, due largely to Minasi’s innovative compositions and the distinct characteristics of the improvising musicians in the ensemble. Minasi’s classical guitar sometimes substitutes for viola, second violin, or cello, diversifying and enhancing richness of the textural palette. With the addition of contrabass and the inter-mingling of parts, this quartet has its own unique sound.

For more information on Roulette:
20 Greene Street (between Canal and Grand)
General admission: $15 ($10 students, seniors, Harvestworks & DTW members; free for Roulette and Location One members) For reservations, call 212-219-8242 or visit www.roulette.org

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American Composers Orchestra – Fresh Orchestral Mix at Zankel Hall

December 2, 2009 — Mike

From NYTimes.com:

“Traditions and Transmigrations” was the lofty title of the program the adventurous American Composers Orchestra presented at Zankel Hall on Monday night to open its 33rd season. The phrase was meant to convey that the chosen works for this concert, ably conducted by Stefan Lano, involved the blending of styles and represented aesthetic journeys for the various composers.

Maybe so. The real news, though, was that of the three world premieres, all commissions, performed here, two were exceptionally interesting: Donal Fox’s “Peace Out” for Improvised Piano and Orchestra, a catchy title for an arresting piece; and Erin Gee’s “Mouthpiece XIII: Mathilde of Loci, Part 1,” a mouthful of a title for a subtle and inventive piece. And two out of three winners is a good result for a new music concert.

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Bohemian in Exile Shows

December 2, 2009 — Mike

Upcoming performances in Detroit:

Friday, December 4th at Contemporary Arts Institute of Detroit: Steve Cohn with Jeff Marx and Joel Peterson

Saturday, December 5th at 2739 Edwin: Cohn/Marx/Peterson plus Dushun Mosley
Piano and sakuhachi player Steve Cohn is a native of San Francisco. In his early days he worked with notables like Sonny Simmons and Eddie Henderson and also spent 2 years in Japan learning sakuhachi. Upon relocating to New York, Cohn started playing strictly improvised music and immersed himself in the scene there, working with Reggie Workman, William Parker, Fred Hopkins, Oliver Lake and others. Two of his records as a leader have earned 4 star ratings in Downbeat and Cohn has received grants from Arts International, Meet the Composer and The New Jersey Council of the Arts.

Michigan native Jeff Marx is a saxophonist who now lives in Chicago. Like Steve Cohn, he also has spent time in the Bay Area and New York. He was originally inspired on the instrument by seeing Detroit saxophonist Sonny Stitt as a youngtser. He’s gone on to work with Donald Byrd, Jim Pepper, Ira Coleman etc. and co lead the group Second Sight with Dave Douglas,Jeff Siegel and John Esposito.

Chicago percussionist Dushun Mosely is known to many of us as co-leader of The Vizitors (with Kenneth Green) and as drummer for Eight Bold Souls. A member of the AACM, he has performed with some of its most famous figures, including Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Abrahms, Don Moye and Douglas Ewart- as well as other important creative musicians like Don Cherry, Anthony Davis and Henry Threadgill.

Joel Peterson, on doublebass, is familiar to most of you folks.

Friday doors at 8 pm. $5-10.
Saturday doors at 8:30, $10 suggested.

Coming Soon:
12/14 Keenan Lawler/Jozef Van Wissem
1/25 Frode Gjerstad/Paal Nilssen Love
3/25 Han Bennink/Frode Gjerstad

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This Week at the ISSUE Project Room

December 2, 2009 — Mike

From NY’s ISSUE Project Room

12/03 @ 8pm – Darmstadt Essential Repertoire Festival (Connie Beckley, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Petr Kotik)
DARMSTADT: “Classics of the Avant Garde” presents its second annual ESSENTIAL REPERTOIRE festival This year’s festival celebrates the 30th anniversary of the seminal New Music New York concerts curated by Rhys Chatham and held at The Kitchen (then on Mercer Street), which put the still-burgeoning Downtown Scene – at the crossroads of minimalism, interdisciplinary performance, and various strains [...]

12/04 @ 8pm – Darmstadt “Essential Repertoire” Festival (Meredith Monk/M6, Jon Gibson, Phill Niblock)
DARMSTADT: “Classics of the Avant Garde” presents its second annual ESSENTIAL REPERTOIRE festival This year’s festival celebrates the 30th anniversary of the seminal New Music New York concerts curated by Rhys Chatham and held at The Kitchen (then on Mercer Street), which put the still-burgeoning Downtown Scene – at the crossroads of minimalism, interdisciplinary performance, and various strains [...]

12/05 @ 8pm – Darmstadt “Essential Repertoire” Festival (Peter Zummo, David van Tieghem, Ned Sublette, Jill Kroesen, Peter Gordon & the Love of Life Orchestra)
DARMSTADT: “Classics of the Avant Garde” presents its second annual ESSENTIAL REPERTOIRE festival This year’s festival celebrates the 30th anniversary of the seminal New Music New York concerts curated by Rhys Chatham and held at The Kitchen (then on Broome Street), which put the still-burgeoning Downtown Scene – at the crossroads of minimalism, interdisciplinary performance, and various strains [...]

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John Hollenbeck – At Le Poisson Rouge, a Big Band Reaches for Bold Sounds

December 2, 2009 — Mike

From NYTimes.com:

People forget that big bands have been places of real aesthetic boldness. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Bill Finegan, Bill Russo, Gil Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Gerald Wilson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Maria Schneider: these were and are no slouches, and there are clear signs that a few younger composer-arrangers will join that list. Let’s start with John Hollenbeck, whose 20-piece Large Ensemble played a superior show at Le Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village Monday night. His music was playful, profound, attentive to the soloists’ strengths and pretty much continuously imaginative — even though the band hadn’t had a gig since March.

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