Roulette in November

From New York’s Roulette:

JAY CLAYTON/JERRY GRANELLI duo “Sound Songs”
Sun Nov 1 – 8:30 PM
Jay Clayton (voice) and Jerry Granelli (drums) are two seasoned, jazz-based players who compose as they go and produce sparkling music of concise, classic proportions, enriched by a contemporary apprehension of Third World and classical innovations. Each musician here has a supreme command of timbre and an ability to get inside the sound of the other. Listening to them explore, expand and contract a musical idea, it’s easy to forget that you’re listening to just a singer and a drummer.

Kaufmann – Gratkowski – De Joode
Mon Nov 9 – 8:30 PM
“The three spontaneously weave compact pieces full of intricate, multi-threaded interaction. (…) The group can construct spare, riveting music from the quiet hush of bristling detailed textures. They can also shape improvisations that build to a full-bore rush of heated intensity. But what stands out most is how they do this with such a highly-developed group sound…” Michael Rosenstein, Signal to Noise magazine. This Trio of Achim Kaufmann (piano), Frank Gratkowski (clarinets, alto saxophone), and Wilbert De Joode (bass) present improvised chamber music at its finest in this rare US appearance!

Jessica Pavone
Tue Nov 10 – 8:30 PM
Brooklyn based string instrumentalist/composer Jessica Pavone, has been active in New York City for the past eight years. She is best known for her work performing all over the world with Anthony Braxton in his current Septet and Twelve+1tet and for her duo project with guitarist, Mary Halvorson, which has been described as “distinct and beguiling…its core is steely, and its execution clear.” (The New York Times). As a composer, Pavone has received grants from the American Music Center and commissions to write chamber music from the MATA Foundation, and the chamber music collectives; Till by Turning and The Eastern Winds. She has been noted as having “the ability to transform a naked tonal gesture into something special” (The Wire).

Chris McIntyre presents To TILT: Original Music for TILT Brass
Wed Nov 11 – 8:30 PM
Composer, trombonist, and producer Chris McIntyre presents New York-based TILT Brass’ two projects, TILT SIXtet and TILT Creative Brass Band, with a full evening of important new Downtown brass music. This event kicks off TILT’s on-going concert series To TILT: Original Music for TILT Brass. To TILT focuses solely on repertoire written for TILT’s distinctive ensembles, with works that often embrace the playerly, composed/improvised hybrid aesthetic developed in New York’s Downtown scene over the past 40 years. The Roulette program features the world premiere of 3 new additions to this body of work, 2 for SIXtet by the legendary Anthony Coleman, and pianist/composer Pete Drungle, and the third by McIntyre for the 10-piece Creative Brass Band. Also featured are pieces by TILT Brass members (Curtis Hasselbring, Nate Wooley) and its esteemed colleagues John King and Nick Didkovsky. The personnel for this special event features a number of the creative music community’s strongest players, including Kevin Norton, Joe Fiedler, Russ Johnson, and both Hasselbring and Wooley.

INTERPRETATIONS: Earl Howard / Edmund Campion
Thu Nov 12 – 8:00 PM
Saxophonist, composer and electronic sound constructionist Earl Howard performs solo works for saxophone and electronics and will also be joined by Koto player Miya Masaoka for an inspired duet improvisation. Mixing formal composition, improvisation and interactive instrument design, Edmund Campion’s music reaches towards the fully articulated sensory experience. Real-time interactive computer and instrument environments will be the focus of the evening, with the composer performing with invited guests including saxophonist Susan Fancher. Related technologies have been developed in collaboration with the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies at UC Berkeley where Campion serves as the Co-director.

The Angsudden Song Cycle with Mike McGinnis and the Angsudden Ensemble
Fri Nov 13 – 8:30 PM
Saxophonist/clarinetist/composer Michael McGinnis has making music with some of the most innovative and creative musicians in New York City since the mid-90’s. The Angsudden Song Cycle is a collaborative project between the composer Michael McGinnis and Stockholm-based artist MuKha. MuKha created a cycle of paintings and poems inspired by Ängsudden, a point in the Swedish archipelago that juts into the Baltic Sea where sea collides with sky in dramatic ways. The poems were then set to music and will be performed by voice and a seven piece chamber ensemble comprised of wooden instruments that are either blown, plucked or struck. The music was composed specifically for musicians who along with being great chamber music players are also great improvisors and explorers on their instruments.

TROPHIES: Alessandro Bosetti w/ Audrey Chen, Kenta Nagai, and Ches Smith
Sat Nov 14 – 8:30 PM
Composer and sound artist. He works on the musicality of spoken words and unusual aspects of spoken communication and produced text-sound compositions featured in live performances, radio broadcastings and published recordings. In his work he moves on the line between sound anthropology and composition often including translation and misunderstanding in the creative process. Field research and interviews often build the basis for his abstract compositions along with electro-acoustic and acoustic collages, relational strategies,trained and untrained instrumental practices, vocal explorations and digital manipulations. Tonight Alessandro is joined with Audrey Chen, Kenta Nagai, and Ches Smith for TROPHIES.

Janine Nichols ROULETTE CHILDRENS CONCERT $5
Sat Nov 14 – 2:00 PM
Janine Nichols (voice), Charlie Burnham (violin), and Brandon Ross (guitar) present songs by Nick Cave, Vic Chesnutt, Neill Cardinal Furio, Chris Moore, Brian Dewan, and more in this fun and interactive concert for kids!

Jody Redhage & Fire in July
Wed Nov 18 – 8:30 PM
“Adventurous cello songstress Jody Redhage” (Time Out NY) is “a new music dynamo…Redhage is cultivating a growing repertoire of indie art song that breaches genre boundaries and makes for stirring listening” (MusicWorks). Singing cellist Jody Redhage presents a night of 21st century art song. The concert features a solo set of compositions Redhage has commissioned for voice, cello, and electronics by some of today’s most talented emerging composers including Missy Mazzoli, Paula Matthusen, and Wil Smith; and a set of her original art songs with her chamber ensemble Fire in July, including talented and versatile improvisers Ken Thomson on clarinet & bass clarinet, and Tim Collins on vibraphone.

Ensemble Tori: Five Directions
Fri Nov 20 – 8:30 PM
Three of Korea’s most vibrant young traditional musicians meet up with three of New York’s cutting edge jazz/new music musicians in a sonic adventure: Ensemble Tori. Five Directions is an extraordinary collaboration led by Yoon Jeong Heo, the renowned Geomungo (Korean zither) player, and featuring a dynamic group of musicians playing composed and improvised music inspired by exuberant Korean folk and classical forms, jazz, and new music. The Tori Ensemble transcends musical borders in its presentation of Five Directions, an acclaimed work mingling jazz, new music, and ancient Korean traditions ranging from shamanistic rituals to pansori vocals. The group features Yoon Jeong Heo (geomungo-zither), Erik Friedlander (cello), Kwon Soon Kang (vocals), Young Chi Min (daegum-flute, changgo-drum), Ned Rothenberg (clarinets, shakuhachi-flute),and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion).

Tim Berne: Los Totopos
Sat Nov 21 – 8:30 PM
Los Totopos is a new band which will be performing new compositions by saxophonist Tim Berne as well as his arrangement of a rarely heard Julius Hemphill suite dating back to 1977. Los Totopos is Matt Michell (piano,electronics), Ches Smith (multiple percussion), Oscar Noriega (clarinets) and Tim Berne (alto saxophone, composer, arranger).

Mysterium
Mon Nov 23 – 8:30 PM
Mysterium – An Electric Soundpainting Septet is the third and latest configuration in percussionist Eric Eigner’s ongoing Mysterium Continuum. It’s aim is to harness the vibrancy, creativity and spirit of improvised music into and through the compositional process, itself improvisational in performance, of Soundpainting. Soundpainting is the universal live composing sign language system created by New York composer Walter Thompson for musicians, dancers, actors, poets, and visual artists working in the medium of structured improvisation. It is one of the best systems that allow the player(s) the freedom to improvise while still achieving intentional structural compositional elements. As an additional challenge, we have set for ourselves to make this band somewhat of a dance band.