Avant Music News

John Hollenbeck is one of the rare artists who has mastered the tradition of big band composition while crossing aesthetic borders. His music is a daring mix of pure, heart-on-sleeve lyricism and robust rhythmic propulsion, and an audacious example of the power of big band jazz to express emotions well beyond swing-era clichés. The Ensemble is acclaimed for its rich, panoramic orchestral textures that retain the power of its members’ individual voices. Hollenbeck’s 20-piece ensemble consists of top musicians. Among its ranks are regular Hollenbeck bandmates Matt Mitchell of Claudia Quintet and Theo Bleckmann of Refuge Trio, as well as featured players including saxophonist Tony Malaby, trombonist Jacob Garchik and bassist Kermit Driscoll.

The Hartford New Music Festival debuted Friday in the Studio at Billings Forge with performances of five pieces that fell somewhere between classical experimentalism and avant-garde composition. The concert, “Resonant Bodies,” was the first in a series of three monthly events planned through April to showcase local performers and composers on pieces featuring guitars, percussion and dance.

Jane Moss, the vice president of programming at Lincoln Center, is on a roll. Last fall she brought to fruition the new White Light Festival, with offerings thematically linked by the idea of spirituality in art. On Tuesday, she will follow it up with the Tully Scope Festival.  White Light took a personal, interior view; Tully Scope is about the remarkable indigenous musical scene in our town. It’s about being a New Yorker—which is why we are opening with a Morton Feldman focus.”