FONT Honors Wadada Leo Smith
Benefit for the Festival of New Trumpet Music
58 North 6 Media Labs
September 13, 6:00-9:00PM
58 North 6th, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
September 13,
A gala concert and celebration of Wadada Leo Smith, benefiting the Festival of New Trumpet Music. Smith performs with Pheeroan akLaff, with tribute performances by Dave Douglas, John Zorn, and others. Please help support FONT Music by joining us in a celebration of one of the country’s greatest trumpet players and musical pioneers.
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet-player, multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser has been active in the creative contemporary world music for over thirty years. As an improvisor-composer, Smith has studied a variety of music cultures (African, Japanese, Indonesian, European and American) and has developed a jazz and world music theory and a notation system to fully express this music which he calls ‘Ankhrasmation.’
He taught at the University of New Haven 1975-1976, the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY 1975-1978, and Bard College 1987-1993. He is currently a professor of Music at the California Institute of the Arts, and is the director of the MFA program in African American Improvisation. He is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Mr. Smith’s awards include: Islamic World Arts Initiative of Arts International 2004, Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program 1996, Asian Cultural Council Grantee to Japan June-Augast 1993; Meet the Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program 1990; New York Foundation on the Arts Fellowship in Music 1990; Numerous Meet the Composer Grants since1977; and National Endowment for the Arts Music Grants 1972, 1974, 1981.
Louis’ Legacy
Louis Armstrong House Museum
September 14 at 2:00PM
September 14
3hree For Louis: Eddie Allen (leader/trumpet), Cecil Bridgewater (trumpet), James Zollar (trumpet), Bruce Barth (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), Carl Allen (drums)
FONT Music kicks off the 2008 season with a celebration of Louis Armstrong and a look ahead. Eddie Allen and 3hree For Louis reexamine and reflect on the modern legacy of trumpet genius Louis Armstrong.
“I feel that every trumpet player playing jazz pays tribute to Louis every time they play. So instead of taking some of the tunes he made famous and trying to imitate his greatness, I decided to do new arrangements of every tune,” says leader, Eddie Allen. Eddie Allen has performed with Joe Henderson, Art Blakey, and Mongo Santamaria. He currently plays with Steve Turre & Bob Stewart. Cecil Bridgewater has performed with Horace Silver, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, and Max Roach. James Zollar has performed with the Ellington Orchestra and currently plays with Marty Ehrlich and Don Byron.
Tickets are $15.00. This price includes the concert PLUS a tour of the Louis Armstrong House and Museum. House opens at 12 Noon. Also, Michael Cogswell’s official Louis Armstrong House & Museum book, “Louis Armstrong, The Offstage Story of Satchmo,” will be on sale for $24.99, 40% off usual retail price of $39.99 – All proceeds from sales of the book go directly to the Louis Armstrong House Museum.
New Music
Le Poisson Rouge – September 15 & 17 at 7:30PM
DROM – September 16 at 7:30PM
September 15
Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Scott Colley (bass), Darrel Green (drums)
“We are a quartet playing original compositions with the purpose of providing a platform for spontaneous and adventurous explorations.”
Jeremy Pelt arrived in New York in 1998 after graduating from Berklee College of Music. Once he got there, it wasn’t long before he started being noticed by a lot of top musicians in the city. His first professional Jazz gig was playing with the Mingus Big Band. That gig lead to many long-lasting associations with many of the talent in the band, and a great opportunity for growth. Since his arrival, he has been fortunate enough to play with many of today’s and yesterday’s Jazz luminaries, such as Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Charlie Persip, Keter Betts, Frank Foster, John Hicks, Ravi Coltrane, Winard Harper, Vincent Herring, Ralph Peterson, Lonnie Plaxico, Cliff Barbaro, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Short, Bobby “Blue” Bland, The Skatalites, Cedar Walton, and many, many more. Jeremy has also been featured in a variety of different bands, including the Roy Hargrove Big Band, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, and the Duke Ellington Big Band. Currently, he is member of the Lewis Nash Septet, and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Louis Hayes. His work earned him a huge write-up in the Wall Street Journal by legendary Jazz writer and producer Nat Hentoff. His performances have received rave reviews from publications around the world. After a reading of Pelt’s biography and discography, it’s easy to see why Pelt was voted Rising Star on the Trumpet five years in a row by Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalist Association!!
Since 1991, trumpeter/composer/educator Ralph Alessi has been an active member of the New York jazz and improvised music scene as both sideman and leader. Called “…a highly-in-demand, adventurous virtuoso who can handle just about anything” (L.A. Weekly), Alessi has performed and recorded with the likes of Steve Coleman, Uri Caine, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Sam Rivers, Drew Gress, Fred Hersch and many other of the great innovators in improvised music. As a leader, Alessi has four recordings to his name: Hissy Fit, Vice Virtue, This Against That (voted one of the top ten records of 2002 by Jazz Times) and the recently released, Look featuring his band, This Against That. In the coming year he will release 2 more recordings, one being a quartet project featuring Jason Moran. As an educator, Alessi has been a member of the faculties at Five Towns College and the Eastman School of Music. He is currently the founder and director of the School for Improvisational Music (www.schoolforimprov.org), a non-profit entity currently holding improvisational music workshops in Brooklyn. Since 2002, he has been on the jazz faculty at New York University.
September 16
Mark Isham (trumpet), Nels Cline (guitar), Tyler Parkinson(DJ)
Mark Isham presents: Cover Art – A modern remix of film music and standards performed by an unconventional group of musicians. This remarkable band is based around a DJ playing in combination with acoustic instruments, and featuring Isham’s singular trumpet. Isham’s latest interest and new focus brings him full circle to fuse his signature roots as a pioneer in electronic music with his world-renowned trumpet sound. This new DJ-based group improvises and remixes classic standards as well as jewels from Isham’s own expansive repertoire of film music.
Mark Isham’s dynamic and diverse musical career has included a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, A Clio, and multiple Grammy, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his material both as a composer and a recording artist/instrumentalist. His wide range of talents and eclectic musical interests have produced over 90 film scores and several albums of electric jazz, classic acoustic jazz and New Age
music in addition to dozens of special projects and recordings. As a trumpet player he is highly in demand and has been a guest soloist for some of today’s top recording artists in jazz, pop, rock, classical and country music.
September 17
Avishai Cohen Triveni: Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Omer Avital (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums); The Amir ElSaffar Quartet: Amir ElSaffar (trumpet), Vijay Iyer (piano), Francois Moutin (bass, Eric McPherson (drums)
Triveni, a Sanskrit word meaning “the place where the three sacred rivers meet,” is jazz-trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s new trumpet/bass/drums trio. Continuing the long-standing tradition of jazz trios without a harmonic/chordal instrument into the world of today, TRIVENI runs freely in the realms of hard-bop, straight-up funk, with a bit of avant-garde thrown into the mix. The trio features the bass playing of Omer Avital and Nasheet Waits on the drums. After leading a similarly-configured trio on his debut CD “The Trumpet Player” (FreshSound New Talent), Avishai has since explored the sounds and structures of African music with Lionel Loueke (featured on Avishai’s latest release “After The Big Rain” (Anzic Records), funk (with Me’shell Ndegeocello), folk/pop (with singer Keren Ann) and modern jazz. Now Avishai presents the new sound of TRIVENI.
Trumpeter Amir ElSaffar’s acclaimed 2007 release, Two Rivers, which blends the traditional Iraqi Maqam with various forms of improvised music, was one of the Village Voice’s “Rookies of the Year” in 2007 and was described by WNYC as a “beautiful and sophisticated mix.” Now, with the debut of his new quartet, ElSaffar continues to explore new sonic possibilities, combining his highly emotional, ornate, quarter-tone inflected trumpet playing with the harmonically and rhythmically inquisitive piano stylings of Vijay Iyer, Francois Moutin’s virtuosic and intricate bass playing, and the hard-grooving drums of Eric McPherson.
New Trumpet Underground
Cornelia Street Café
September 18-20
September 18
8:30PM
Hooper Piccalero: Lauren Strobel (trumpet), Danilo Henriquez (trumpet), Matt Plummer (trombone/bass trombone), Derek Beckvold (bari sax)
Unafraid of either complexity, repetition, silence or lyricism, Hooper Piccalero creates refreshing musical landscapes. The Boston-based quartet “specializes in textural scrabbles reminiscent of early Art Ensemble sides, as well as quirky spoken-word oriented pieces like ‘What the F**k,’ in which the title is ritualistically repeated like some kind of Balinese monkey chant” (Time Out NY).
Drawing from influences including the aforementioned Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra, Hooper Piccalero uses spoken word and theater in many of their compositions. In their piece “No Vignettes”, they phone NPR host Steve Inskeep. In other compositions, they involve the audience with in-concert surveys or directly with musical contributions.
Hooper Piccalero is comprised of four classically-trained musicians; their vocabulary of extended techniques affords the opportunity for pyrotechnic displays but also beautiful melodic statements. Their
repertoire is mostly original, consisting of a variety of composed material, graphic scores and game pieces – but it also includes pieces by John Zohn, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Christian Wolff and Norman Bolter.
Hooper Piccalero members have performed or recorded with Art Lande, Anthony Coleman, Slavic Soul Party, the DaHa Orchestra (lead by Andrew D’Angelo and Curtis Hasselbring), Summit Brass, Cleo Parker Robinson dance, the Rubblebucket Orchestra and timba band La Bolá.
Performing throughout North America, Hooper Piccalero has played at the Stone and the Jalopy Theater in New York; NOW Series in Toronto; Jordan Hall, the Lily Pad, and the Boston Public Library in Boston;
Radio Bean in Burlington; the Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee; and the Ennui Cafe in Chicago.
9:30PM
Up the Turret Mil: Rich Johnson (trumpet/laptop), Aaron Jennings (guitar), Eivind Opsvik (bass)
Celebrating the release of his first solo recording for Loyal Label, Johnson will be playing music from his new CD with help from the electronic-acoustic duo “Opsvik & Jennings.” “Up the Turret Mil” is a mix of trumpets, guitars, and pianos with laptop glitch, sampling, and musique concrète. Many of the songs began as experiments with laptop and electronic-acoustic treatments on the trumpet, and bridge Johnson’s many influences – from free jazz to folk music. Based in NYC since 1998, Johnson plays in a wide variety of groups from British style brass bands, laptop duos, big bands, Brazilian music, brass quintet, and free jazz freak-outs. Originally from northern Minnesota, Johnson began studying classical trumpet in grade school and came to New York to study jazz. Johnson has contributed as a sideman to a number of projects including Jason Rigby’s critically acclaimed 2006 recording, “Translucent Space,” Ryan Green & Scott Anderson’s “Tive Razão,” and Opsvik & Jennings’ “Commuter Anthems” on the Rune Grammofon label.
11:00PM
Hampton Roads: Lewis Barnes (trumpet), Rob Brown (alto sax), Darius Jones (alto sax), Todd Nicholson (bass), Warren Smith (drums)
Most directly influenced by Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Booker Little, and Thad Jones, Lewis Barnes is Virginia born, City of New York reared and a Howard University graduate. He creates music with bassist William Parker’s critically acclaimed quartet (which includes Rob Brown on saxophone and Hamid Drake on drums), The Little Huey Orchestra, and The Inside The Songs of Curtis Mayfield project (with Amiri Baraka, Leena Conquest, Darryl Foster, Sabir Mateen, and Dave Burrell). He also contributes his trumpet to Greg Tate’s collective Burnt Sugar, which includes a host of tremendous and outstanding musicians. Lewis has also worked and/or recorded with saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, The Holmes Brothers, Norah Jones, drummer William Hooker, the JC Hopkins Biggish Band, Chris Becker, Noizland, and numerous other musical projects. He’s written and recorded original music for two films by Actress/Cinematographer Sandye Wilson, “So Many Things to Consider” and “Notsoprivatethoughts.”
www.myspace.com/lewisflipbarnes
September 19
8:30PM
Chris DiMeglio’s Imaginary Sextet (*FONT commission*): Chris DiMeglio (trumpet), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Dave Miller (drums), Ras Moshe (tenor saxophone/flute), Todd Nicholson (bass), Catherine Sikora (tenor & soprano saxophones)
Chris DiMeglio is a trumpeter, composer, and vocalist living in Astoria, Queens. He has performed with Daniel Carter, Steve Dalachinsky, François Grillot, Jason Kao Hwang, Daniel Levin, Nate McBride, Frank Rosaly, Blaise Siwula, Steve Swell, and at the Festival of New Trumpet Music, the Protest Heaven Jazz and Improvised Music Series, the RUCMA Series, the Aperto New Music Series, and on WKCR’s Live Constructions show. His first recording as a leader, “The Open Field,” was recorded in July 2007 and will be released in September 2008. Chris’ new Imaginary Sextet consists of musicians who were invited to share their unique and beautiful musical personalities. The music “commissioned by FONT Music” is largely through-composed and blurs some of the lines between composition and improvisation. Chris will probably sing at some point too.
9:30PM
Antripodean Collective: Scott Tinkler (trumpet), Carl Dewhurst (guitar), Ken Edie (drums)
Improvising powerhouse and all round fire-starter Scott Tinkler heads to NY to perform exclusively at FONT this September. Joining him are fellow Australians Carl Dewhurst on guitar and Ken Edie on drums, forming what has to be one of the Australia’s most incendiary trios. Scott has performed and recorded with the likes of Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Tony Malaby, Jeff Watts, Mark Helias and Billy Harper but is best known for his many CD releases as a leader.
“Tinkler has the best tone, technique, articulation and inventiveness of any Australian trumpeter I’ve ever heard…..For sheer bursting excitement there can be few anywhere to match him” – John Clare SMH
“Above all there was the trumpet of Tinkler. He ripped at the harmonic fabric of Angel with tiny, impossibly poignant cries and on Circle of Trust alternated blasts of white light with great smears of sonic emotion. This was Australian jazz at its best.” – John Shand SMH
11:00PM
John McNeil/Bill McHenry Quartet: John McNeil (trumpet), Bill McHenry (tenor sax), Joe Martin (bass), Jochen Rueckert (drums)
John McNeil is regarded as one of the most original and creative jazz artists in the world today. For over three decades John has toured with his own groups and has received widespread acclaim as both a player and composer. His highly personal trumpet style communicates across the full range of contemporary jazz, and his compositions combine harmonic freedom with melodic accessibility. John’s restless experimentation has kept him on the cutting edge of new music and has kept him from being easily categorized.
Although his background includes such mainstream jazz groups as the Horace Silver Quintet, Gerry Mulligan, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, John is equally at home in free and structured settings. This stylistic versatility has put him on stage with such disparate artists as Slide Hampton and John Abercrombie, and shows itself in the combination of free and structured elements found in his CDs recorded on the OmniTone label from 2003 to ’06.
Rediscovery, John’s latest release (co-led with fellow individualist and tenor icon Bill McHenry), takes the free/structured approach to a different level as they redefine the harmonic boundaries of a number of forgotten or neglected jazz classics.
September 20
8:30PM
Nabaté Isles + 5 (*FONT commission*): Nabaté Isles (trumpet/flugelhorn), Jaleel Shaw (alto saxophone/flute), Stacy Dillard (tenor & soprano saxophones), Manuel Valera (keyboards), Matt Clohesy (bass), Johnathan Blake (drums)
Nabaté Isles + 5 exhibits a plethora of unique and versatile musicians who he’s had the pleasure to work with for a few years. The set will feature a wide array of compositions by Nabaté, including a piece commissioned by the Festival of New Trumpet Music. Nabaté has performed and recorded with great artists including Mos Def, James Newton, Charli Persip, Steve Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Lonnie Plaxico, Mike Longo, Oliver Lake, Christian McBride, Freda Payne, the Mingus Big Band, the José Limon Dance Company, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently an adjunct professor of Music Technology at Bloomfield College and trumpet instructor at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Middle School Jazz Academy.
9:30PM
Phil Slater (trumpet), Jim Black (drums), Chris Tordini (bass), Carl Dewhurst (guitar)
Phil Slater is a trumpeter and composer based in Sydney, Australia. He is the leader or co-leader of several prominent Australian groups, including Band of Five Names and the Phil Slater Quartet. He has performed with various artists both in Australia and abroad, including Lou Reed, Bobby Previte, Jim Black, Barney McAll, Mike Nock, Missy Higgins, Karaikudi R. Mani, Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra. He has released two recordings as a leader: Strobe Coma Virgo (2002), and The Thousands (2007). Phil will be performing at Font 08 with Jim Black, Chris Tordini and Australian guitarist Carl Dewhurst.
11:00PM
John Carlson’s Buzz: John Carlson (trumpet), Frank Carlberg (piano), Eric Hipp (tenor sax), Shawn McGloin (bass), TBA (drums)
John Carlson is a jazz trumpet soloist, composer and clinician. He has achieved national recognition through tours and recordings with Grammy-nominated Either Orchestra, the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet, the Machito Orchestra, the Palladium Orchestra, the Ken Shaphorst Ensemble and the David Berkman/John Carlson Duo. A member of the band Slavic Soul Party, John is also co-leader of Dharma Nau, Perfumed Scorpion and leads the group Free Range Rat.
John has been on over twenty national tours as well as in Canada, Europe, and Japan. As a recording artist, John has been a featured soloist on over thirty albums and has performed and/or recorded with numerous jazz artists including Bob Brookmeyer, Julius Hemphill, Sam Rivers, Chocolate Armeteros, John Tchicai, Dave Liebman, George Garzone, Tito Puente, Mike Stern, Cab Calloway, Burton Green, Butch Morris, Warren Smith, Billy Hart, Jay Rosen, Douglas Yates, Joanne Brackeen, Matt Wilson, Armen Donelian and John Medeski.
“John Carlson is a magnificent trumpeter, able to move with equal grace in the realms of both Clifford Brown and Michael Ray…he displays a great improvisational command.” – Robert Spencer, Cadence Magazine
John Carlson’s Buzz is a shared improvisational force that performs compositional material from the past to the present, original and otherwise.
Invocation and Introspection
Solo Presentations
Eldridge Street Synagogue
September 21 at 3:00PM
September 21
Frank London, Nate Wooley, Natsuki Tamura, Mark Harvey, Pam Fleming
New Yorker Frank London, trumpeter with Lester Bowie, John Zorn, LL Cool J, Levon Helm, and the Grammy award winning Klezmatics, has been influential in the growth of new Jewish music, particularly in its spiritual aspects as on his Tzadik recordings Nigunim and Invocations.
“Nate [Wooley] has striven to blur the demarcations between tonality and texture, extreme sound and the protracted use of silence, nervous energy and an almost painful amount of patience. His trumpet playing is a obscene distillation of Booker Little, Leo Smith, Axel Dorner, and Bill Dixon. The scary part is how powerfully “Nate” this distillation is. His solo shows have made me revisit all of my childhood fears while he has enough straight up jazz prowess to rival almost anybody in New York.” – Tabitha Brown, Vices Online
Japanese trumpeter and composer Natsuki Tamura “shrewdly creates a sound world that while completely his own also hints at the mythological and musical folklore of Asian and European cultures….a persona no less self-contained than that of early, wandering bluesmen like Robert Johnson or Charlie Patton.”
From Boston, the Rev. Dr. Mark Harvey is leader of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Professor at MIT, an expert on Ellington and Thoreau, and an influence on countless musicians. His voice is of the rugged individualistic New England spiritual heritage.
Pamela Fleming is an exceptionally emotional and liquidly lyrical trumpet / flugelhorn player and composer. She has toured the world as part of the Burning Brass, the sizzling all-woman horn section that backed reggae legend Burning Spear on a couple of classic albums. She’s also played with Natalie Merchant, Bonnie Raitt, Sarah McLachlan, Indigo Girls, Dennis Brown, Maxi Priest, NYC Reggae Collective, Rachelle Garniez, Metropolitan Klezmer and Isle of Klezbos.
Brass and Avant-Jazz
The Living Theater & BRICstudio
September 21-23
September 21
Clean Feed Festival at the Living Theater
8:00PM
The Empty Cage Quartet: Kris Tiner (trumpet), Jason Mears (woodwinds), Ivan Johnson (bass), Paul Kikuchi (percussion)
The Empty Cage Quartet consists of four musicians – saxophonist Jason Mears, trumpeter Kris Tiner, percussionist Paul Kikuchi, and bassist Ivan Johnson – who have been praised consistently by critics as one of the most powerful and substantial new jazz groups to emerge from the American West Coast. Recorded during a hot summer in Los Angeles, Stratostrophic, their first record on Clean Feed, is a fiery set of original compositions that ranges from shuffle swing to free jazz blowouts, minimalist percussion loops to complex modernist gestures, funky stomps, odd-meter marches, robotic grooves, heavy rock, and nearly everything in between. The music is vigorous and methodic yet tender and reflective, dead-serious yet open to the occasional wry, sideways irony. As Wadada Leo Smith expresses in his liner notes, these young musicians are certainly on a path “to reach the whole truth of a creative music”. www.mtkjquartet.com
9:30PM
Dennis González (trumpet), Rachiim Ausar-Sahu (bass)
Trumpeter Dennis González has recorded 30 CDs as a leader. Among his partners we find John Purcell, Prince Lasha, John Blake, Pheeroan akLaff, Alvin Fielder, Kidd Jordan, John Carter, Michael Sessions, the brothers Nels and Alex Cline, Louis Moholo, Elton Dean, Keith Tippett, John Stevens, Dudu Pukwana, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders, Jim Dvorak, Charles Brackeen, Frank Lowe, Andrew Cyrille, Malachi Favors, Roy Hargrove, Fred Hopkins, Oliver Lake, Max Roach, Cecil Taylor, Henry Grimes, Ahmed Abdullah, Mark Helias, Ellery Eskelin, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Jr., Olu Dara, Douglas Ewart, Famoudou Don Moye, Hamid Drake, Mike Thompson, and many more. His trio Yells at Eels, with sons Aaron and Stefan, is celebrating its ninth year of existence.
Rachiim Ausar-Sahu, best known for his work with Abdullah Ibrahim, and for his multi-denominational choir, Voices of the Faith, is a highly respected bassist, composer, lyricist, and educator. The Brooklyn born and raised native has toured much of the world over the last twenty-five years. Formerly a Professor of Jazz Studies and Jazz Performance at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, he is currently Musical Director for the Pangea Theater Company in New York City. He has played with such different musicians as Mary Lou Williams, Barry Harris, Phyllis Hyman, Onaje Allan Gumbs, and Andrei Strobert.
September 22
Performances and Workshops at BRICstudio
5:30PM
Roy Campbell and Dennis González lead a masterclass with the York College Blue Notes
7:30PM
York College Blue Notes: Tom Zlabinger (director)
The York College Blue Notes are a high school big band in residence at York College. The members of Blue Notes are New York City public high school musicians who are alumni of the York College Summer Jazz Program sponsored by College Now. In addition to performances at York College, the Blue Notes have performed at the Afrikan Poetry Theatre, FIGMENT* imagination island (on Governor’s Island), the Greenwich High School Jazz Festival, the Jamaica Arts & Music Festival (JAMS), the Louis Armstrong House, Minton’s Playhouse, the St. Albans Jazz Festival, and the Vision Festival. The Blue Notes have been on the same bill with such musicians as saxophonist Lou Donaldson, the hip-hop/violin group Nuttin’ But Stringz, bassist William Parker, and trumpeter Ray Vega.
www.myspace.com/yorkcollegebluenotes
8:00PM
Roy Campbell/Dennis González Quartet
See September 21 for information on Dennis González.
Roy Campbell, Jr. (trumpet, flugelhorn) has been leading his own bands for over three decades. Presently he leads Tazz, the Pyramid Trio, Shades and Colors of Trane, the Last Messengers, and the collective band Other Dimensions in Music. He is a leading innovator on his instruments and a renowned composer and arranger, and he has toured Europe, America, and Japan. All of his Delmark CDs have risen high on critics’ and readers’ polls; Ethnic Stew and Brew was the #3 CD of the year in 2001, according to Jazz Times.
“Roy Campbell is a monster trumpeter. He’s the latest in a long line that has extended from Navarro through Brownie through Booker Little and beyond.” – Robert Iannapollo, Cadence Magazine
9:00PM
FONT Jam Session hosted by Roy Campbell and Dennis González
September 23
Brass Night at BRICstudio
8:00PM
Reut Regev and the Brassix Ensemble (*FONT commission*): Reut Regev (trombone/other brass instruments/percussion), Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet/other brass), Mark Taylor (French horn/other brass), Frank London (trumpet/other brass), Jay Rozen (tuba), Igal Foni (drums/brass percussion)
Reut Regev, Trombonist, composer, and educator, was born and raised in Israel. Since arriving in NYC in 1998, Reut has taken part in various musical projects, playing jazz, Latin music, improvised and contemporary classical, klezmer, rock, and more. She has worked with Anthony Braxton, Butch Morris, Frank London’s Klezmer All-stars, Firewater, and Grupo Irek, among many others. Throughout the years Reut also worked on many projects of her own or co-lead with her husband, drummer Igal Foni, including her current project R*TIME, with which she has recently recorded her debut album. Reut Regev was awarded the title “Best new talent of 2004” by All About Jazz Magazine. “Funk-driven trombonist Reut Regev could signal the beginnings of the jazz equivalent of alternative rock’s Riot Grrrl phenomenon of the early 1990’s.” – New York Times
For FONT Music this year, Reut will lead a musical game of sorts. Reut Regev and the Brassix Ensemble: Brassy! Funky! Warm! Weird! Fun!
9:00PM
Butch Morris and TRUMPET NATION
A FONT Music tradition, Trumpet Nation is a unique amalgam of twelve (maybe more) trumpeters’ sounds.
Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris is an American jazz cornetist, composer, and conductor. Morris came to attention with saxophonist David Murray’s groups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Morris has gained notice and acclaim directing various ensembles in what he calls Conduction: a type of structured improvisation where Morris directs and conducts an improvising ensemble with a series of hand and baton gestures.
Drummer Charles Moffett conducted improvisations of jazz musicians in the 1970s, and Morris credits Moffett as a major influence. In his travels and many recorded conductions, Morris has worked with a wide variety of musicians.
In Memory of Woody Shaw
FONT @ The Jazz Standard
September 25-28
This series will be the culmination of the two week Festival of New Trumpet Music with sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM, addt’l 11:30 PM set on Friday and Saturday nights.
September 25
Ingrid Jensen with Tim Hagans and Eric Vloeimans (trumpets), Gary Versace (piano and Rhodes), Matt Clohesy (bass), Jon Wikan (drums)
For the first night of the FONT / Woody Shaw tribute series, a trio of Trumpets will come together (with three of Ingrid’s favorite sidemen) to perform a mix of originals and arrangements of music directly associated with Woody Shaw. The night promises to take the listener on a voyage through many moods, sounds and stylistic feels, reminiscent of the eras of Woody and beyond.
Ingred Jensen can be heard with the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra, the IJQ with Geoffrey Keezer, Project O, Nordic Connect and a number of New York-based bands. In 2003 she was nominated, for the second time, (alongside trumpeter Dave Douglas) for a Jazz Journalist Association Award in New York and is seen yearly in the top five of the Downbeat Critic polls in the Talent deserving wider recognition category. Ingrid was featured on Gil Evans’ Porgy and Bess at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, under the direction of Maria Schneider and was also a guest in the festival’s “Tribute to Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard,” alongside Terence Blanchard, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Kenny Garrett. Some of the many musicians she has performed and or recorded with include: Steve Wilson, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Dr.Lonnie Smith, Marc Copland, Bob Berg, Gary Thomas, Gary Bartz, Jeff Hamilton, Bill Stewart, Terri-Lynn Carrington, Geoffrey Keezer, Billy Hart, George Garzone, Chris Connor, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, Frank Wess, Dr.Billy Taylor, and the DIVA Big Band.
Tim Hagans was with the orchestras of Stan Kenton (1974-1977) and Woody Herman (1977) before moving to Sweden (1977-1981) where he played with Sahib Shihab, Ernie Wilkins’ Almost Big Band, the Danish Radio Orchestra (which was then directed by Thad Jones), and Dexter Gordon. After returning to the U.S., he taught at the University of Cincinnati and recorded for the local MoPro label. Hagans taught at Berklee (1984-1986), and then in 1986 he started working with Joe Lovano and Fred Hersch. Later, he has made records with Bob Belden, Joe Lovano, Rick Margitza, John Hart, and the Yellowjackets, and has worked with the big bands of Bob Mintzer, Maria Schneider, and the Gil Evans orchestra. Tim Hagans has recorded several Blue Note albums as a leader.
Dutch trumpet player Eric Vloeimans (b. 1963) is regarded as one of Europe’s best performers with an extraordinary talent for playing original music with outstanding quality. Vloeimans prefers recording original compositions on his many award winning CD’s, however he can often be heard performing a wide variety of tunes. As a composer he does not feel restricted to one particular style, and he has managed to create an evocative, harmonic language of his own. His writing is fresh and creative, yet not without feeling and respect for tradition. Eric Vloeimans is unique among many of Holland’s top international jazz artists in that he does not shy away from playing beautifully. He is a rare musician that has mastered the complete range of the trumpet, from the energy laden high notes to the soft, velvety, almost wooden sounds. The talent and the expressive power of Eric Vloeimans’ music have been honoured by his winning the Dutch Edison Award four times, the Elly Ameling Prize of the City of Rotterdam, the Boy Edgar Award and the prestigious Bird Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival. (Scott Yanow, All Music Guide)
September 26
The Afro-Caribbean Side of Woody Shaw
Brian Lynch with Terell Stafford and Paolo Fresu (trumpets), Orrin Evans (piano), Essiet Essiet (bass), Ignacio Berroa (drums), Little Johnny Rivero (percussion)
Terell Stafford has been hailed as “one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Known for being a gifted and versatile player with a voice all his own, Stafford combines lyricism and a deep love of melody with a spirited, adventurous edge. This uniquely expressive, well-defined musical talent allows Stafford the ability to dance in and around the rich trumpet tradition of his predecessors while making his own inroads. Since the mid-1990’s Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, the Kenny Barron Sextet, the Frank Wess Quintet, the Jimmy Heath Big Band, and the Jon Faddis Orchestra. Currently he is a member of the Grammy-nominated Vanguard Jazz Orchestra which was established by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis and has been playing at the Village Vanguard for over 33 years.
Paolo Fresu (born in Berchidda, Sardinia, on February 10, 1961) is a trumpet and flugelhorn jazz player, as well as an arranger of music, and music composer. Fresu picked up the trumpet at the age of 11, and played in the band Bernardo de Muro in his home town Berchidda. Fresu graduated from the Conservatory of Cagliari in 1984 in trumpet studies under Enzo Morandini, and attended the University of Musical and performing arts in Bologna. Fresu currently teaches at the Siena Jazz National Seminars, as well as jazz university courses in Terni, and is the director of Nuoro Jazz Seminars in Nuoro, Italy. Fresu composes music for theatre, poetry, dance, radio, TV, and film.
September 27
The Woody Shaw Legacy Ensemble: Brass Knights’: Victor Lewis (drums/music director), Sean Jones, Nick Roseboro, and Ezana Edwards (trumpets), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Dwayne Burno (bass)
www.WoodyShaw.com/BrassKnights
September 28
Dave Douglas with Randy Brecker and Josh Evans (trumpets), Uri Caine (piano), Matt Penman (bass), Clarence Penn (drums)
In the final concert for FONT Music 2008, Dave Douglas and Randy Brecker team up to remember Woody Shaw by playing original material and pieces Shaw famously played over the years with great bandleaders. Compositions by Horace Silver (of whose bands both Douglas and Brecker are alumni), Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon, and others.
On hand is also young trumpet wiz Josh Evans, who came up under the tutelage of saxophonist Jackie McClean. The three trumpeters will perform with a rhythm section familiar to Douglas fans: Uri Caine, piano; Matt Penman, bass; and Clarence Penn, drums.
Grassroots Classical
St. Mark’s Church
September 27-28 at 2:00PM
September 27
dung: Joe Drew, Hugo Moreno, Peter Kuan, Dolf Kamper, Curtis Ebey (trumpets); Nigel Rawles (drums); Pemberton Roach (bass); Mic Rains (guitar)
As long as there has been music, there have been trumpets. Whether it’s the cupping of the hand against the lips, blowing into the horn of an animal, or buzzing the mouthpiece of a brass instrument, humans have always had an innate sense of how to trumpet.
Beginning in the Stone Age in southeast Asia, trumpeters began to gather in groups to share techniques, music and to play together. The Indian word for conch shell (a beloved type of trumpet all over the world) is “dung”. When the word migrated to the landlocked Tibet, it became the root word for all their various trumpets. As the word crept towards the West, it also became a shorthand for trumpet gatherings as well. These gatherings were very informal and diverse. It could be a chance meeting of 2 trumpet players, exchanging calls on a rooftop, or it could be a force of 1,000 trumpeters assembled for a sonic assault on an invading army.
Until the mid-20th century, dung were always considered somewhat of a secret, although it’s next to impossible to keep the sound of a dung from attracting onlookers. In the late 1960’s, American and European trumpeters began to arrange public dung performances. Today’s dung carry on this long aural tradition, presenting a variety of repertoire that showcases the entire range of what the trumpet can do. www.myspace.com/dungchoir
September 28
Anti-Social Music: Jaime Branch, Tim Byrnes, Geoff Chirgwin, Jon Malko, Jacob Wick, and Nate Wooley (trumpets); John Altieri (tuba); Chris Bacas (soprano sax); David Durst (air organ); Drew Fleming (guitar); Bradley Kemp (bass); Andrea La Rose (flute); Pat Muchmore (bass drum/trombone); Kamala Sankaram (accordion/voice); Josh Sinton (bari sax); Charles Waters (alto sax); John Wriggle (trombone)
Do you like trucks’ Of course you do. Who doesn’t? They’re big. They’re loud. They’re animals ready to go on a rampage. Yep. Big, robotic, gear-driven animals with an appetite for diesel and “in the Monster genus of trucks” ethyl alcohol.
Anti-Social Music itself is much like a truck. It’s big. It’s loud. I think they’re already starting to rampage back there. And, of course, we all know about Anti-Social Music’s love of all things ethyl alcohol. They put it on burgers. (Veggie burgers, mostly.) They put it in their cereal instead of milk. They breast feed their young with it.
Much the same way Anti-Social Music is about to breast feed you. You, the concertgoer, eagerly anticipating the moment when your Anti-Social mothers whip out their ethyl-filled teat and allow you to suckle, that sweet, sweet mother’s milk we call Chamber. Yep, that’s the kind of mother Anti-Social Music is. She’ll breast feed you til you’re 8 and keep you in Pampers until you’re 12. But only 12. If you’re not poopin’ on the big boy potty by then, you’re out on your ass.