Thu

9/30/2010

8:30pm

Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Ensemble: “Inanna” & Taylor Ho Bynum’s Spider Monkey Strings

Edgefest

• $30 General Admission
• $15 Students (limited availability)

• TWO RIVERS ENSEMBLE:
• Amir ElSaffar, voice/trumpet/santour
• Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone
• Tareq Abboushi, buzuq
• Zafer Tawil, violin/oud/Arabic percussion
• Carlo DeRosa, bass
• Nasheet Waits, drums
• SPIDER MONKEY STRINGS:
• Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet
• Kyoko Kitamura, voice
• Jason Hwang, violin
• Jessica Pavone, viola
• Tomas Ulrich, cello
• Pete Fitzpatrick, guitar
• Joe Daley, tuba
• Luther Gray, drums

Event Details

Two Rivers Ensemble: A follow-up to his previous works for the sextet that have integrated the traditional Iraqi maqam into a contemporary jazz setting, Amir ElSaffar’s new composition, "Inanna," moves beyond the duality of the maqam and jazz traditions into harmonic and melodic languages that use the microtonality but are not restricted to a mode, and rhythms that are not bound to meter. “Inanna” by Amir ElSaffar has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2009 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. This performance is also supported in part by a 2010 project grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs.
http://www.myspace.com/amirelsaffar

Taylor Ho Bynum performs original music he has written specifically for his ensemble Spider Monkey Strings. Named after two mythical tricksters, Anansi the Spider of West Africa and the Monkey King of China, the group has performed a diverse range of extended suites with a genre-defying spirit and an amiable sense of humor since 2002. The band first took shape as a string quartet with cornet and guitar created to perform music Bynum wrote for a short film score. He later added tuba and drums and began writing eclectic long-form works for the ensemble, adding voice to the mix in 2008. The group has released two critically acclaimed CDs. 2005’s Other Stories (Three Suites) (482 Music) was described by Time Out New York as “an excellent record of colorful, sprawling compositions.” The ensemble’s second album, Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12 Records), was released in 2009; AllAboutJazz wrote “each repeated listen uncovers correspondingly more depth to the artistry of this heartfelt and challenging project...an exuberant yet weighty release.” Bynum will perform his compositions from both albums, including the title suite from the newest record, which features text from the award-winning novel Madeleine is Sleeping by his sister, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum.
www.taylorhobynum.com

These performances are sponsored in part by a grant from Meet the Composer and the MetLife Creative Connections program.

Amir ElSaffar

Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar is an accomplished jazz and classical trumpeter who has collaborated with various artists, including Cecil Taylor, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, and Daniel Barenboim, and was the winner of the 2001 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet competition. In 2002, ElSaffar put his New York career on hold to immerse himself in the music of his father’s ancestral past, the Iraqi maqam. He traveled to Iraq, throughout the Middle East and to Europe pursuing masters who could impart to him this centuries-old oral tradition. He became versed in maqam, and learned to play the santoor (Iraqi hammered dulcimer) and to sing, and now leads Safaafir, the only ensemble in the US performing Iraqi maqam in its traditional format. He has also created new techniques for the trumpet that enable microtones and ornaments that are characteristic to Arabic music but are not typically heard on a trumpet. In 2008, Amir received a commission from the Made in Chicago Festival to assemble a 17-piece ensemble and write for it arrangements of the Two Rivers Suite: then performed at Millennium Park in Chicago and again the following year at Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors Festival. In 2009, Amir received two commissions: one from the Jazz Gallery and Jerome Foundation for the creation of a new work called Within Between that premiered in February 2010; and one from Chamber Music America for Inanna, which makes its premiere at Edgefest 2010. www.amirelsaffar.com

Rudresh Mahanthappa

Guggenheim fellow and 2009 Downbeat International Critics Poll Winner (“Rising Star-Jazz Artist” and “Rising Star-Alto Saxophone”) Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative young musicians and composers in jazz today. Named Alto Saxophonist of the Year for 2009 by the Jazz Journalist Association, Rudresh has incorporated the culture of his Indian ancestry and has fused myriad influences to create a truly groundbreaking artistic vision. As a performer, he leads/co-leads seven groups to critical acclaim. His recent release for Pi Recordings Kinsmen featuring Carnatic saxophone legend Kadri Gopalnath (September 25, 2008) has been named one of the Top Jazz CDs of 2008 by numerous news sources including the New York Times, NPR, BBC, Boston Globe, slate.com, JazzTimes, and the Village Voice, to name just a few. His previous quartet release for Pi release Codebook (September 26, 2006) was named one of the Top Jazz Albums of 2006 by The Village Voice, Jazztimes, and The Denver Post and received rave reviews from Downbeat, wired.com and Science Magazine. In Europe, Codebook received the esteemed “CHOC DE L’ANNÉE” (album of the year) for 2007 in France’s Jazzman, 4 stars in the UK’s Jazzwise, and received the “Bollino di Marzo” from Italy’s Musica Jazz. As a saxophonist, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Mahanthappa holds a Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music degree in jazz composition from Chicago’s DePaul University. He now teaches at The New School University. Rudresh Mahanthappa currently lives in New York where he is clearly regarded as an important and influential voice in the jazz world. Rudresh K. Mahanthappa uses Vandoren reeds exclusively. Mahanthappa is also a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. www.rudreshm.com

Tareq Abboushi

A graduate with honors from William Paterson University with a B.M. in Jazz Piano Performance, Tareq Abboushi has been playing the buzuq for ten years, starting at the National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah, Palestine, and continuing in New York City. He has performed with such notable musicians as Simon Shaheen (Symphony Space), David Brosa (The United Nations, Saint John the Divine Cathedral), Omar Farouk Tekbilek, and Dan Zanes (Prospect Park’s Celebrate Brooklyn Festival). He has also performed with groups in Boston, Washington DC, Maine, Colorado, Toronto, and Chicago, and has given numerous lecture demonstrations about Arabic Music at Columbia University, NYU, Juilliard, The Museum of the City of New York, and the Children’s Museums of Brooklyn and Manhattan. He is part of many groups in the New York area and is leading and composing for his own quintet SHUSMO, playing mostly original compositions of Arabic/Jazz fusion. Since releasing their first album “One” in February 2005, the quintet has taken part in various festivals: Atlantic Antic Festival, Sounds of the City Festival (NJPAC), the Jerusalem Festival, Festival du Monde Arabe (Montreal), Sephardic Music Festival (Joe’s Pub), and the NextNEXT series at BAM.

Zafer Tawil

Zafer Tawil is an accomplished Palestinian musician based in New York City. He is a virtuoso on oud, violin, qanun, and is a master of Arabic percussion. He has performed with numerous musicians ranging from pop star Sting to Arab music virtuosos such as Simon Shaheen, Chab Mami, Bassam Saba, and George Ziadeh; to avant-garde composer/performer Elliot Sharpe, among many others. Zafer has also composed music for a number of films, and has held workshops on Arabic music at many universities in the US.

Carlo DeRosa

Since moving to New York City in 1993 Carlo De Rosa has had the opportunity to work with many great artists in the Latin and jazz world. This has led to diverse musical and cultural experiences and has allowed Carlo to work with a wide variety of artists. He collaborates and performs with many great artists including Vijay Iyer, Allison Miller, Ingrid Jensen, Sam Newsome, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mark Shim, Luis Perdomo, Dave Allen, Chembo Corniel, Lucian Ban, Andrea Brachfeld, Amir ElSaffar, Elio Villafranca, and Victor Prieto. As a US Jazz Ambassador in 1999 Carlo traveled to South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. His New York club engagements have included the Blue Note, Birdland, Zinc Bar, 55 Bar, Smalls, Visiones, Fat Cat, Knitting Factory, Detour, Smoke, Kavehaz, Sweet Rhythm, Jazz Standard, Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Tonic, Satalla, CBGB’s Lounge, Barbès, Zebulon, Iridium, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Cornelia Street Café, La Lanterna Caffe - Bar Next Door, Makor, Town Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Jazz Gallery. Having given clinics and master classes around the globe, Carlo is no stranger to the classroom. Since earning his Masters Degree at Manhattan School of Music he has developed teaching affiliations with the Drummers Collective, National Guitar Workshop, Henry Street Settlement and Long Island University. Proficient, creative, clearly an in demand bassist, Carlo De Rosa is earning a reputation of very high standards. www.carloderosa.com

Nasheet Waits

Nasheet Waits, drummer/music educator, is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist Frederick Waits. Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation to which Waits added influences from his father, as well as mentor Max Roach. It was Max that first gave Nasheet’s formidable talent international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the famed percussion ensemble M’BOOM. One highlight of Nasheet’s tenure with M’BOOM was the live concert with special guests Tony Williams and Ginger Baker. Nasheet’s talent came to the attention of reedman Antonio Hart, who asked Waits to originate the percussion chair of his first quintet. Waits remained a standing member of Antonio’s various ensembles, recording three albums and touring nationally and internationally in noted venues, jazz festivals, and live television and radio performances. Nasheet remained a member of Antonio’s group through 1998. Most recently Nasheet has been a member of Andrew Hill’s various bands, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, and Fred Hersch’s trio. The 2001 recording “Black Stars” with the Bandwagon, featuring Sam Rivers, was named the “Best CD of 2001” (Jazz Times, Jan 2002). Nasheet’s recording and performing discography is a veritable who’s who of jazz, boasting stints with such notables as Geri Allen, Mario Bauza, Hamiett Bluiett, Abraham Burton, Ron Carter, Marc Cary, Steve Coleman, Stanley Cowell, Orrin Evans, Stefon Harris, Andrew Hill, Bill Lee, Jackie McLean, The Mingus Big Band, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Greg Osby, Joshua Redman, Vanessa Rubin, Antoine Roney, Wallace Roney, Jacky Terrason, Bunky Green, and Mark Turner. Waits has recorded and toured extensively in Africa, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States. Amidst his performing, recording and touring activity, Nasheet teaches private lessons, stressing a personal approach to the drums and music. He has been heralded for his musicality and creativity by such virtuosos as Ed Thigpen, Max Roach, Andrew Hill, and Stanley Cowell. True to his personal philosophy of the necessity to balance tradition and modernism, Waits collaborates and performs regularly with a wide range of artists. He remains dedicated to exploring his role and creative path in music. www.nasheetwaits.com

Taylor Ho Bynum

Critics have called Taylor Ho Bynum “a young brass master and compelling composer” (Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix), “a remarkable writer, improviser and bandleader” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com) and “one of the most exciting figures in jazz’s new power generation” (Steve Dollar, Time Out Chicago). The Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasak adds, “Taylor Ho Bynum cemented his reputation as one of the most compelling and progressive trumpeters and bandleaders currently active, at home in every corner of the creative-music map.” Bynum’s expansive resume includes collaborations with both his contemporaries and legendary figures alike, most notably the iconic saxophonist/composer Anthony Braxton, with whom he has performed and recorded extensively over the past decade. His most recent releases as a leader/co-leader include Tomas Fujiwara & Taylor Ho Bynum’s Stepwise (NotTwo), Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings’ Madeleine Dreams (Firehouse 12), Positive Catastrophe’s Garabatos Volume One (Cuneiform), The Thirteenth Assembly’s (un)sentimental (Important), and the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet’s Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths (hatOLOGY). He is also a member of such groups as Jason Kao Hwang’s Edge, Myra Melford’s Happy Whistlings, and the large ensembles of Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor. In addition, he is a founding partner of Firehouse 12 Records, the vice president of Dave Douglas’ the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music), and the president of Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation. www.taylorhobynum.com

Kyoko Kitamura

Kyoko Kitamura was born in NYC, raised partially in Tokyo, worked as a journalist in Paris, Tokyo, and NY, including a stint in the Middle East as a Gulf War reporter. Add to it a childhood piano training at Juilliard Pre-College division, and perhaps one can begin to understand Kitamura’s late bloomer status in the downtown NY music scene, and her oddball improvisational and compositional style. Highly active as a sideperson, another rarity for a vocalist, she has performed and/or recorded with leading improvisers including Anthony Braxton, Reggie Workman, Steve Coleman, Jim Staley, Jay Clayton, Art Lande, and Taylor Ho Bynum, and can be heard on such albums as the critically acclaimed Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings release “Madeleine Dreams” (Firehouse 12 Records 2009), Jamie Baum’s “Solace” (Sunnyside Records 2008), Steve Coleman’s “Lucidarium” (Label Bleu 2004), and Laura Andel Electric Percussive Orchestra “In::tension:.” (Rossbin Records October 2005). She also co-leads Go-Zee-Lah, a Japanese-pop/rock-influenced improvising trio featuring Yayoi Ikawa (piano) and Harris Eisenstadt (drums), which will be featured this year at the legendary Vision Festival in NYC. AllMusicGuide calls her “a major asset...Kitamura is an expressive vocalist who knows how to be quirky and eccentric but is also quite musical.” She performs in the U.S. and in Europe. In New York City, she can often be found as sideperson or band leader at Roulette, the Stone, the Brecht Forum, the Jazz Gallery, the 55 Bar and the Local 269. www.kyokokitamura.com

Jason Hwang

Jason Kao Hwang (composer, violin/viola) has created works ranging from jazz, classical, “new” and world music. Both Coda Magazine and All About Jazz selected “Stories Before Within” by his quartet EDGE, as one of the Top Ten CDs of 2008. Mr. Hwang also leads Spontaneous River, an orchestra of string improvisers. As a violinist, he has worked with many artists, including Reggie Workman, William Parker, Anthony Braxton, Butch Morris and Henry Threadgill. In 2009, the Jazz Journalists Association nominated Mr. Hwang “String Player of the Year.” As composer he has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey State Council on the Arts and others. His chamber opera, The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown (New World Records), was named one of the top ten opera recordings of 2005 by Opera News. www.jasonkaohwang.com

Jessica Pavone

Active in New York for the past decade, Jessica Pavone is best known for her work with the iconic Anthony Braxton, and a cadre of his former students that includes guitarist Mary Halvorson and cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum. In addition to leading her own bands, such as Army of Strangers and The Pavones, she has also performed in ensembles led by Matthew Welch, Matana Roberts, Elliot Sharp, and Jeremiah Cymerman, as well as such collective groups as the Mary Halvorson/Jessica Pavone Duo and The Thirteenth Assembly. As a composer, she has earned grants and commissions from the Aaron Copland Recording Fund, the American Music Center, The Kitchen, MATA and the group Till By Turning, which recently presented the European premiere of “Quotidian” at Faust’s Klangbad Festival 2009 in Germany. Her discography features more than 30 recordings, including recent releases from the Anthony Braxton 12+1tet, Taylor Ho Bynum & Spider Monkey Strings and William Parker. www.jessicapavone.com

Tomas Ulrich

Cellist-composer Tomas Ulrich received music degrees from Boston University and the Manhattan School of music. Jazz Now has characterized him as “the total package. incredible chops, great imagination, and superb pitch. He fulfills the roles of bassist, guitarist, and additional horn player and is endlessly talented and creative.” After attending a performance by the great Soviet cellist Mstislav Rostropovich at the age of eight, Mr. Ulrich was inspired to begin his musical journey on the cello. In addition to the traditional classical repertoire, Mr. Ulrich’s work clearly demonstrates the influence of such diverse artists as Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Dmitri Shostakovich and Olivier Messiaen. Mr. Ulrich has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as Anthony Davis, Joe Lovano, Gerry Hemingway, Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton, Simon Shaheen, Herb Robertson, Dominic Duval, Ben Allison, Kevin Norton, Ted Nash, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Mark Whitecage, Mark Feldman, Jason Hwang, Gregor Huebner, Ivo Perelman, Dom Minasi and Ken Filiano. He is also a member of the Diller-Quaile String Quartet, which premiered his Quintet for Trumpet and Strings (featuring guest soloist Herb Robertson) in May of 1996. He has written music for theater, film, and instrumental performance and has concertized in Europe, Japan, South America, Canada, and throughout the United States. Mr. Ulrich can be heard on more than sixty CDs in a wide variety of musical styles and settings.

Pete Fitzpatrick

Pete Fitzpatrick has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe as a solo act and as a part of many different groups. He studied music composition at Hobart College and guitar performance at Berklee College of Music. In the late 1900’s/early 2000’s he led the Boston experimental pop band The Pee Wee Fist, which featured a rotating roster of musicians and often included accordion, theremin, tuba, banjo, and musical saw, alongside more traditional rock and roll instrumentation. While in Boston, he also played banjo in the Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, guitar in Naftule’s Dream (avant-klezmer-free-jazz on John Zorn’s Tzadik label), and drums with disco-goth group Green 4. Pete was also a long-time member of the art-country-rock band Clem Snide, playing guitar, banjo, euphonium, Omnichord, and tape recorder. He has also lent his euphonium and trumpet skills to Apples in Stereo, Mary Timony, and Golden Smog. Since moving to Brooklyn, New York in 2004, Pete has played under various names (both solo and with a band), finally settling on Falcatross for the Fall 2009 release of Sprung on Scone Tone Records. While in New York, he has played with various experimental musicians like Taylor Ho Bynum, Abraham Gomez Delgado, Zeno deRossi, Jessica Lurie, Raz Mesinai, and he is currently a member of the genre-bending Spider Monkey String Ensemble and the latin-cosmic-jazz big band Positive Catastrophe. Pete was a fellow at the Sundance Composer’s Lab in 2004, and he is currently scoring an upcoming full-length documentary on outsider artist Eugene Andolsek. www.petefitzpatrick.com

Joe Daley

Joseph Daley (tuba) is a musician/composer/educator specializing in new/contemporary music, jazz, and improvisation. He has studied at the Manhattan School of Music attaining a master’s degree in music education. He has received fellowships in music composition from the National Endowment, MacDowell Colony, Music Omi and Geraldine R Dodge Foundation. Mr. Daley has performed and recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Cole, Far East Side Band, Sam Rivers, Ellery Eskelin, Liberation Music Orchestra, Gil Evans, Carla Bley, Taj Mahal, Jayne Cortez, George Gruntz, Gravity, Ebony Brass Quintet, Paradigm Shift, Dave Douglas, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Craig Harris, Spider Monkey Strings and Hazmat Modine. www.josephdaley.com

Luther Gray

Drummer Luther Gray was born March 10, 1972 in New Orleans, LA. His family moved to Washington, D.C. where, as a teenager, he started playing drums in punk rock bands. Though largely self-taught, his musical training involved drum lessons from Kim Martin, Larry Bright, Steve Bagby, and Mickey Newman. In 1995 he graduated the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Music, after which he taught privately and performed in the Washington DC area with, among others, Butch Warren, Cecil Payne, Webster Young, Tsunami, Jenny Toomey, Bob Butta, and Buck Hill. Upon moving to Boston in 2000 he resumed teaching private drum lessons and has played with Joe Morris, Anthony Braxton, Jay Hoggard, Joe McPhee, Cameron Brown, Allan Chase, Joseph Daly, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Ida, Geoff Farina, Andrew White, Rob Brown, Bill Lowe, Taylor Ho Bynum, Raqib Hassan, Bill Pierce, Mitch Seidman, Steve Swell, Joe Beck, Fred Anderson, Ken Vandermark and many others. Luther has performed in festivals and concerts across the country and abroad. He has recorded for the Simple Machines, Hat Hut, Riti Rec, Skycap, Clean Feed, Xeng, Atavistic, and Jardis labels, among others. In addition to his performing schedule Luther teaches art and music at an after-school program for elementary school children. www.myspace.com/luthergray