Please visit our new Special Projects section for several exciting and unusual concert programs, including silent films with Laurel & Hardy and from the former Soviet Union!
ARTIST NEWS:
Don Byron
As part of a commission celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River Settlement, Don Byron premiered “Tide,” a new work for piano, clarinet and string quartet at The Egg in Albany, N.Y. on April 12. The piece focuses on the Industrial Revolution and its effect on the River and the dramatic cultural changes of the 20th century. The event also featured the world premiere of commissions by violinists Mark O’Connor and Daniel Bernard Roumain.
In March, another recent commission (by Meet The Composer & the NY State Fund), Byron’s “7 Etudes” for piano and voice was premiered by pianist Lisa Moore in Buffalo, and also performed in New York City and at SUNY Purchase.
Byron also recently collaborated with Czech vocalist/violinist Iva Bittová, performing with her in various trios – with drummer Hamid Drake in France, with guitarist Marc Ribot in Saratoga, California, and with pianist Lisa Moore at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut.
Please visit the program page for new band projects, including a new jazz quartet, a Gospel-influenced quintet, and a reunion of Byron’s klezmer band featuring the music of Mickey Katz.
Iva Bittová
Bittová’s collaboration with bass virtuoso George Mraz is documented on the new CD “Moravian Gems” (Cube-Metier), a crystalline set of Czech folks songs arranged and interpreted with a jazz sensibility for a quartet featuring pianist Laco Tropp, pianist Emil Viklicky and Bittová’s breathtaking vocals. Another collaboration paired her with the Wendy Osserman Dance Company for “Out of Place,” a piece that premiered in March at the Hudson Guild Theatre featuring Osserman’s choreography for her company and Bittová’s violin, vocals and dancing.
A brief US tour with the Skampa Quartet from Prague followed in April, featuring Leos Janacek’s “Folk Poetry” song cycle and including performances at the Library of Congress in DC and at Carnegie/Zankel Hall in New York (see also “Video of the Month,” from a performance in Slovakia)
She also recently collaborated with clarinetist Don Byron, performing with him in various dynamic trios – with drummer Hamid Drake in France, with guitarist Marc Ribot in Saratoga, California, and with pianist Lisa Moore at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut.
Bittová returned to Europe in July for series of solo concerts and select performances with the quartet featured on “Moravian Gems.”
Dafnis Prieto
The release of Dafnis Prieto’s new, third album “Taking The Soul for a Walk” in May also signifies the launch of his own label, Dafnison Music. Extending his previous quintets to a sextet, Prieto gives himself a larger canvas and palette for his compositional strokes and penchant for beautiful counterpoint melodies over a multitude of polyrhythms. The compositions grew out of a commission by Chamber Music America. The CD features saxophonists Peter Apfelbaum and Yosvany Terry, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, pianist Manuel Varela, bassist Yunior Terrry, and guest flutist Itai Kriss. The CD release was celebrated during a 4-night run at the Jazz Standard from June 19-22. Stellar reviews of the CD can be found in the press section of this site. Dafnis is featured on the cover of the August issue of MODERN DRUMMER Magazine.
Ron Miles
Ron Miles has played an essential role in guitarist Bill Frisell’s expansive musical universe for more than a decade (including Frisell’s brand new album “History, Mystery”) almost as long as the trumpeter has made ingenious use of Frisell’s marvelously elastic sonic palette. The trumpeter’s latest collaboration with Frisell is a new quartet featuring bassist Reginald Veal, best known for his extensive work with Wynton Marsalis, and drummer Matt Wilson, a highly creative bandleader in his own right. The band debuted in 2007 at the University of Colorado Boulder with a repertoire of Miles originals and classic compositions by the likes of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Duke Ellington. The quartet, which showcases the potent emotional chemistry between Miles and Frisell, is available for select performances in 2008 and 2009.
New York premiere: August 12-14 at the Jazz Standard (see program page for details).
Edward Simon
Edward Simon presented his Ensemble Venezuela in June at the San Francisco Jazz Festival Spring Season’s “Fiesta Venezuela.” He will perform as a member of a Latin All-Star group led by flutist Orlando “Maraca” Valle at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 19&20. He is the subject of a cover story in the current issue of Chamber Music Magazine, together with his brother, drummer Marlon Simon.
Tin Hat
After a long break from touring, Tin Hat recently debuted a program of new material at recent concerts in Berkeley and at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga. They will perform music from the Tin Hat Trio album “The Rodeo Eroded” live with choreographer Lawrence Goldhuber’s “Big Man Arts” company at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA, on August 23rd.
After gaining attention with his scores for the feature film “Sweetland” and the award-winning documentaries “The Real Dirt On Farmer John” and “Orthodox Stance,” Tin Hat guitarist Mark Orton was hired to compose the music for “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond,” a new film based on a long-lost screenplay by Tennessee Williams, to be released this fall.
Tin Hat violinist Carla Kihlstedt premiered her ambitious evening-length multimedia theatrical production “Necessary Monsters” in February at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which co-commissioned the piece in partnership with Alverno Presents and the National Performance Network Creation Fund. 2 Foot Yard, Kihlstedt’s band with cellist Marika Hughes and percussionist/guitarists Shahzad Ismaily, released its second album “Borrowed Arms.”
Tin Hat clarinetist Ben Goldberg recorded two new projects, both featuring trumpeter Ron Miles: a quintet with saxophonist Joshua Redman and the extraordinary rhythm team of bassist Devin Hoff and drummer Ches Smith (also know for their duo “Good for Cows”), and a quartet with guitarist Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola (see also Special Projects). CD release details TBA soon.
The Bay Area’s upcoming “Hornucopia Festival” will feature Tin Hat’s Ara Anderson with his group “Iron & the Albatross” on September 10th at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage.
