Festival 2007

MARK APPLEBAUM Magnetic North

A piece for brass quintet and improvising trumpet soloist. Performed by the Meridian Arts Ensemble and the young virtuoso, Peter Evans, as soloist.

HUANG RUO Trumpets in Time of War
*FONT MUSIC COMMISSION / WORLD PREMIERE*

The distinguished Chinese composer, Huang Ruo, was commissioned by FONT Music through the generous assistance of the Greenwall Foundation. It is written for the New York Trumpet Ensemble (3 trumpets, bass trombone, and string bass), and traditional Chinese singer and instruments.

DAVE DOUGLAS Blue Latitudes

U.S. premiere of renowned trumpeter/composer Dave Douglas’ piece for solo trumpet, chamber orchestra, bass, and percussion.

Conducted by Mark Gould.

Concert admission is $12.50

Links:
Mark Applebaum
Meridian Arts Ensemble
Peter Evans
New York Trumpet Ensemble
Dave Douglas
Mark Gould

Panelists TBA

Free event, no tickets required

Ades Performance Space, Manhattan School Of Music

curated by Mark Gould

JASON PRICE Aries
*WORLD PREMIERE*

A piece for multiple trumpets and electronics.

ROBERT ERICKSON Kryl

A classic contemporary piece for trumpet solo using extended trumpet techniques. Brian McWhorter is the trumpet soloist.

OLIVIER MESSIAEN/BRANDON RIDENOUR End of Times

A meditation on Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, re-orchestrated for electronic ensemble and solo trumpet.

BUTCH MORRIS Conduction

A conducted improvisation by the large brass ensemble, Trumpet Nation. Butch Morris is the ‘Toscanini’ of New Music.

Concert admission is $12.50

Links:
Jason Price
Brian McWhorter
Butch Morris

Dave Douglas & Jeremy Pelt invite very special guest
Eddie Henderson:
Inspiration
with Uri Caine, Vicente Archer, and Clarence Penn

Douglas and Pelt use the occasion of FONT to invite a common inspiration, trumpet master Eddie Henderson. This very special group will perform works by the three trumpeters, highlighting the contemporary sound in jazz and engaging some of the most exciting rhythm players on the scene. This rare event is sure to cause excitement as three of today’s top trumpeters share the stage and inspire each other in new music electric and eclectic.

Links:
Dave Douglas
Jeremy Pelt
Eddie Henderson

Cecil Bridgewater, trumpet
Eddie Allen, trumpet
Rod McGaha, trumpet
Kenny Davis, bass
Carl Allen, drums

Past, present, and future: Two sets of classic hard-bop blowing on tunes made famous by Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan (among others). Cecil Bridgewater’s 35-year career includes extended stays with the groups of Max Roach and Horace Silver as well as the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. His compositions and arrangements have been recorded and performed by Lena Horne, Vanessa Rubin, the Uptown String Quartet, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Eddie Allen’s lengthy and eclectic r’sum’ ranges from Lester Bowie and Muhal Richard Abrams to Jack McDuff and Mongo Santamaria. Eddie has also played in the orchestras of such Broadway hits as Ain’t Misbehavin’, Black & Blue, and Jelly’s Last Jam. New-breed horn man Rod McGaha is a past winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award for Outstanding Jazz Trumpeter who can rightfully claim a place among today’s most promising young jazz players.

Links:
Cecil Bridgewater
Eddie Allen
Rod McGaha

Carlos Abadie-trumpet
Bruce Harris-trumpet
Jeb Patton-piano
Jason Stewart-bass
Pete Polinski-drums

“Then & Now” – Featuring new compositions by young trumpeters Bruce Harris & Carlos Abadie, as well as compositions by other trumpet players of the past and present.

Carlos Abadie:

Jersey City born Trumpet player Carlos Abadie has been on the New York scene for ten years. He got his first start in the city playing every Monday night at Smalls with Jason Linder’s big band, along side such greats as Mark Turner, Myron Walden and of course Jason Linder and Omer Avital. He has also appeared with such greats as Ira Sullivan, Junior Mance, Ray Santos and Arturo Sandoval.

Bruce Harris:

In 2000, Bruce added the Blue Note Jazz Scholarship to his list of achievements, and his journey continued at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College studying under the guidance of Trumpet Virtuoso, Jon Faddis. He has been privileged to share the stage with Marcus Strickland, Curtis Fuller, Don Braden, Jim Rotundi, Billy Taylor, and Dave Brubeck. He can be seen reguarly performing with his Quintet, and Big Band in various clubs in New York City.

Links:
Carlos Abadie
Bruce Harris

WLS, trumpet and electronics
Marcus Rojas, tuba
Okiyung Lee, cello
Rubin Kodheli, cello
Skuli Skerrisson, el bass
John Lindberg, bass with wah-pedals
Martin Obeng, drums and percussion

Seven is a creative music ensemble whose research concerns new explorations into the compositional/improvisational and ankhrasmation musical languages and their systemic practice in performance. Seven investigates the sonic dynamics that are inherited within the relations of instrumental pairing (electric and acoustic), range, weight, and spacial depth. It’s an ensemble largely dominated by low bass clef instrumental elements. In practice the structured improvisation and ankhrasmation languages create a natural tunnel/space which constantly changes at mid range in its velocity/density/sonic ratio levels. The string parts lie between the higher treble clef (trumpet) and the bass clef (tuba) music spectrum.

Links:
Wadada Leo Smith

Trumpeters Gregory Rivkin and Ambrose Akinmusire with
Noah Haidu, piano
Joe Sanders, bass
Steve Johns, drums.

“…Mr. Rivkin is a musical genius and has an exceptional knowledge of both classical and jazz traditions…An extraordinary trumpet-player”
-Paul Mercer Ellington, Leader and Conductor – Duke Ellington Orchestra

“With his persuasive sound, economical improvisatory style and exciting phrases trumpeter Gregory Rivkin tells a story with chords played in imaginative ways and lines that unfolded surprisingly”
Zan Stewart, Newark Star Ledger

“…Lyrical, nicely -flowing and hard swinging lines in true-bop
fashion, very reminiscent of Freddy Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Woody Shaw”
– The International Trumpet Guild Journal

“…Gregory Rivkin sounds like the trumpeter, who used to work in my band – Clifford Brown – ”
-Lou Donaldson, saxophonist, jazz legend

Entering into the phase of his artistic maturity, trumpeter Gregory Rivkin tirelessly continues to shape his open-minded musical vision, style and individuality.

His recent record as a leader is in title “Soft Colors” for “Eroica/ Turn- On Records” label. Gregory’s collaborative work credits are: Elvin Jones Jazz Machine, Johnny Griffin, Benny Golson, Mingus Big-Band to name a few.

Gregory Rivkin is a “Prestige Artist Management” artist.

Ambrose’s conceptual extension into a new musical language is never to the exclusion of beauty. As one who listens intently, he values the fertility of a pause, of communication, of tension. Ambrose began conceptualizing early as a musician, theorizing and experimenting as a catalyst for development. He seeks other genres of music to analyze and expose, drawing inspiration from such musicians as Bjork and Chopin.

Ambrose’s music restructures accepted notions of jazz in a way that reflects his ability to recognize nuances, multiplicities, and patterns. First playing piano at the age of three, his familiarity with music began long before putting his mouth to a trumpet. He is relentlessly opposed to stagnation, seeking movement in both his music and his life.

Before he was eighteen, Ambrose had already performed with such famed musicians as Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Steve Coleman, and Billy Higgins. After graduating Berkeley High School, he moved to New York to begin a full scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Vincent Pinzerella from the New York Philharmonic, Dick Oatts, Lew Soloff, and Laurie Frink.

Throughout his studies, Ambrose continued to tether audiences to his concepts and his sound, performing publicly with Lonnie Plaxico, Stefon Harris, Josh Roseman, Vijay Iyer, Charlie Persip, the Mingus Big Band, and the San Francisco Jazz Collective, to name only a few. His exposure to dynamic modes of playing and to musicians with accumulated experiences only promoted the development of his own distinct musical style.

Currently in a Masters program at USC, and a member of the Monk Institute, Ambrose’s instructors include Terence Blanchard, Billy Childs and Gary Grant. In the past year, he has worked with such artists as Jimmy Heath, Jason Moran, Hal Crook, Bob Hurst, Terri Lynne Carrington, Ron Carter, and Wallace Roney, and performed in Vietnam with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter.

As for a conclusion, there is none. Ambrose’s musical trajectory continues to grow in more than one direction, drawing from the most unconventional sources, unraveling the most comfortable conceptions of limitation. His persistent reevaluations and his aspirations to evolution and beauty carry it to an entirely new space within itself.
Links:
Gregory Rivkin
Ambrose Akinmusire

Jason Palmer Quintet with special guest Greg Osby.
David Negrete – alto, Leo Genovese – piano, Hogyu Hwang – bass, Lee Fish – drums

In early 2005, trumpeter Jason Palmer became an avid player of sudoku. After obsessing on sudoku in the Boston Metro newspaper every day for about a year, he wondered what a piece would sound like if it was composed based on the numerology of the game. On his birthday in February of 2006, he completed the sudoku puzzle in the Metro and resolved to write a piece based on that game. This “mini-suite,” commissioned by the Festival of New Trumpet Music, will be performed in three movements: one based on the numbers given in the game, one based on the numbers needed to complete the game and one based on the completed game.

Links:
Jason Palmer Quintet

Kenny Warren – trumpet
JP Schlegelmilch – keys
Peter Hanson – sax
Jeff Ratner – bass
James Windsor Wells – drums

Nook is a band that explores the areas between rock and free improvised music. It grew out of a series of free improvised sessions and has moved increasingly towards being a platform for composition from all of its members. The band got its name, “Nook,” from the tiny nook of Greenpoint’s Eat Records where they had their first few performances in the spring of 2007. Since then they have performed around the Downtown and Brooklyn scene including a performance in June at The Center for Improvisational Music.

Kenny Warren has been living in Brooklyn for one year during which he has had the opportunity to play a variety of styles from creative improvised music to Balkan music, big band, rock, R&B and jazz. Kenny received his BFA in Jazz Studies from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music in 2006 where he had the honor of studying with Jon Faddis, Scott Whendholt and many other jazz masters. Since graduating Kenny has continued his study privately and at Ralph Alessi’s Center for Improvisational Music. Kenny was born and raised in Denver, CO where we was exposed at a young age to music of some of Denver’s trumpet heroes: Ron Miles, Greg Gisbert, Al Hood and Shane Endsley.

Links:
Kenny Warren

Geoge Colligan – trumpet, etc
Ralph Alessi – trumpet, etc
Shane Endsley – trumpet, etc

Mr. Trumpet is a trumpet trio in which anything can happen. I mean musically. Trumpeters George, Ralph, and Shane are multi instrumentalists, so if they happen to bring other instruments to the concert, then they might play those, too. The music is highly improvisational. You might hear some left wing Bush bashing between songs. Just to give the chops a break. And also because Bush is being a real jerk of a president. But even if you are dumb enough to still support this dangerously corrupt fascist right wing neo-con administration, you can still enjoy an evening of jazzy improvised brass music with Mr. Trumpet. (Offer void in Texas and Kentucky.)

Ralph Alessi has been an active member of the New York jazz and improvised music scene. Alessi has performed with Steve Coleman, Uri Cane, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, Sam Rivers, Drew Gress, and Fred Hersch.

Shane Endsley is a Denver native who is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied trumpet, drums and composition. He has toured with Ani Difranco and Steve Coleman, as well as his group called Kneebody.

George Colligan as a trumpet player was first chair in the Maryland Junior High All State Band in 1983. He won a spot in the University of Maryland College Park Honor Band in 1987, but there was a snowstorm and the concert was cancelled. While attending Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, he played trumpet in the Fell’s Point Dinner Theater production of Kiss Me Kate. As a pianist, he has performed with Cassandra Wilson, Gary Bartz, Benny Golson, Buster Williams, Don Byron, Gary Thomas, Steve Coleman, Eddie Henderson, Richard Bona, Ravi Coltrane, Lenny White, Mike Clark, Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Billy Hart, Mingus Big Band, Al Foster, Gunther Schuller, Lee Konitz, Michal Urbaniak and Stefon Harris, among others.

Links:
Ralph Alessi
George Cooligan
Shane Endsley
Bush is being a real jerk

Kirk Knuffke – Trumpet and Compositions
Brian Drye – Trombone
Evind Opsvik – Bass
Jeff Davis – Drums

Kirk Knuffke is a member of The Nublu Orchestra, as well as Butch Morris’ Orchestra Slang and Kenny Wollesen’s Wollosonic. Kirk has recorded with Butch Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Tony Sherr, Gerald Cleaver, Graham Haynes, Eddie Henderson, Daniel Carter and many more. He has also performed with Dave Douglas, Tony Malaby, Sonny Simmons and Joe Bonner. Kirk has studied improvisation with great jazz artists such as Ornette Coleman, Art Lande and Ron Miles. Kirk currently leads his own jazz and improvisational bands, including the Kirk Knuffke Trio and Quartet.

Links:
Kirk Knuffke

Trumpeter/composer Sarah Wilson has been hailed as “one of the most intriguing and promising composers and trumpeters on the contemporary music scene” by music critic Derk Richardson. Time Out New York describes her music as “evocative, elegant and comfortably familiar at once.” Her 2006 Evander Music CD, Music for an Imaginary Play, featuring Peck Allmond (tenor sax), Steve Cardenas (guitar), Jerome Harris (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums), picked up a “Best in 2006 Bay Area Jazz CD’s” accolade from music critic Andrew Gilbert applauding her as a “a singular jazz artist with a tremendously evocative book of original material.” Known for her work as the musical director and composer of the Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors Festival’s annual giant puppet spectacle for six years, Wilson also directed music for internationally-acclaimed Bread and Puppet Theater. Additionally, she composed music for the American Museum of Natural History’s “Body Art” exhibit including other film scoring projects. Her music has been performed in the U.S. and Europe with her own projects and those led by Kenny Wollesen. Wilson studied with John McNeil, Laurie Frink and Paul Caputo; received multiple funding from “Meet the Composer” grants, the McCord Foundation and the Irene Diamond Scholarship. As a trumpeter, she has performed with Butch Morris, Myra Melford and Kenny Wollesen. After 12 years in NYC, she currently resides in Berkeley, CA.

Links:
Kenny Wolleson
Sarah Wilson

Composition 103 for Seven Trumpets
Taylor Ho Bynum, Tim Byrnes, Forbes Graham, Sam Hoyt, John McDonough, Nicole Rampersaud, Nate Wooley – trumpets

Composition 169 for Brass Quintet
Taylor Ho Bynum, Nate Wooley – trumpets
Mark Taylor – French horn
Reut Regev – trombone
Jay Rozen – tuba

The Festival of New Trumpet Music is honored to have the opportunity to present two major compositions for brass ensembles by Anthony Braxton, one of today’s most innovative and acclaimed living composers.

Anthony Braxton’s Composition 103 (for seven trumpets) features 145 pages of notated music and choreography for seven costumed instrumentalists. Composed in 1983, the 45-minute piece was first performed in 2005, in a fully staged and costumed realization at Wesleyan University celebrating Braxton’s 60th birthday. The FONT performance would be the New York premiere, and only the second performance anywhere, of this major interdisciplinary work.

Braxton’s Composition 169 is one of the seminal pieces in the composer’s oeuvre, yet has never been performed by the intended instrumentation. Originally written for brass quintet (on swivel chairs), 169 consists of an hour of intense and unrelenting rhythmic complexity, contrasting with sections of lush, static harmonies. Braxton never found an ensemble brave enough to tackle the imposing piece, so instead has performed the work in configurations ranging from saxophone quartet to full orchestra. The FONT performance will present the world premiere of the composition with its original instrumentation.

Anthony Braxton is widely and critically acclaimed as a seminal figure in the music of the late 20th and early 21st century. His work, both as saxophonist and composer, has broken new conceptual and technical ground in the trans-African and trans-European (a.k.a. “jazz” and “American Experimental“) musical traditions in North America. Braxton’s extensions of instrumental technique, timbre, meter and rhythm, voicing and ensemble make-up, harmony and melody, and improvisation and notation have revolutionized modern American music. Braxton’s five decades worth of recorded output is kaleidescopic and prolific, with well over 200 recordings to his credit. He has won prestigious awards and critical praise, including the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, and is a tenured professor at Wesleyan University, one of the world’s centers of world music.

Links:
Anthony Braxton
Taylor Ho Bynum
Tim Byrnes
Forbes Graham
Nicole Rampersaud
Nate Wooley
Mark Taylor

Jaimie Branch – trumpet
Toby Summerfield – bass
Frank Rosaly – drums

Princess, Princess is an improvised music trio from Chicago. Formed midway through 2006, Princess, Princess is recognized for it’s unique compositional aesthetic, use of extended techniques, and dashing good looks.

Jaimie Branch is a trumpeter working in the areas of composition and improvisation. In addition to leading her own bands, Jaimie is a member of many groups including: Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Lightbox Orchestra, Toby Summerfield’s Never Enough Hope, Tim Daisy’s Fracture Quartet, Keefe Jackson’s Project-Project, and Yale the Band. Jaimie resides in Chicago where she is an active member in the creative music scene as a performer, recording engineer, and presenter.

Links:
Princess, Princess

Matt Lavelle – trumpet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet, bass clarinet
Mike T.A. Thompson – soundrhythium
Hilliard Greene – bass

Spiritual Power was formed in the summer of 2006 and recorded it’s first cd on the Silkheart record label, which has received great reviews (“Kudos to Lavelle for assembling the best group of his career“- Nathan Turk/signal to noise). This is Lavelle’s version of jazz in the trio format, notably putting trumpet there all alone with bass and drums, following the tradition of Hannibal Marvin Peterson and Roy Campbell. (Though Lavelle switches it up by doubling on bass-clarinet).

Matt Lavelle performs on the rare instrumental double of trumpets and bass clarinet. He has been playing trumpet since the mid 80’s and bass-clarinet since 1998. He has played and plays with Ornette Coleman, William Parker, Sabir Mateen, Mat Maneri, Jemeel Moondoc, Daniel Carter, William Hooker, Steve Swell, Roy Campbell, Ras Moshe, and many others. Noted for his conception of “the natural trumpet” and his vocal approach to the bass clarinet, this is second appearance with FONT.

Links:
Matt Lavelle

JF/SE Duo
These two trumpeters have been collaborating in varous settings over the last few years.  Shane is a member of Jonathan’s Common Thread, a brass line up consisting of Jon, Shane, tubaist Jose Davila and trombonist Tim Albright.
Three years ago Shane composed a feature for Jonathan for a FONT concert at Tonic, with Kneebody.  Now they are writing music for the duo and this concert will mark their second performance.

A Denver native, Shane Endsley is a graduate of the Eastman School where he studied trumpet, drums/percussion and composition. He has toured and recorded extensively with Ani DiFranco and Steve Coleman and has been doing work around NY with Josh Roseman, Dave Binney, Ravi Coltrane, John Hollenbeck and others. He is currently playing in Kneebody, the electro-acoustic quintet based in LA/NY, a trio with Ralph Alessi and Tim Berne called Shank, and Ohad Talmor’s News Reel quintet.

Jonathan Finlayson is a New York based trumpeter and composer, who has performed throughout the United States and Europe with his own groups, as well as those led by Butch Morris, Kenny Wollesen, and Steve Coleman, with whom he has performed and recorded since 2003.

Links:
Jonathan Finlayson
Shane Endsley

Herb Robertson – trumpet
Dave Ballou – trumpet
Drew Gress – acoustic bass
Tom Rainey – drums

Herb Robertson and Dave Ballou have developed individual approaches to the same instrument- the trumpet. Herb has been involved in many influential projects and is widely considered one of the leading improvisers on the instrument. Dave performs in a wide array of settings from improvised to new music.
The concept of this stellar quartet came up with conversations between Herb and Dave during their performances with “The Satoko Fuji Big Band West” whom Dave and Herb have been members in the trumpet section since the beginning.  With mutual admiration for each other’s playing characteristics they always wanted to perform together in a small band setting.  This quartet with Drew Gress on bass and Tom Rainey on drums will be the end result of these discussions. Keep your ears wide open.
“This experimental outfit comprises two intensely inventive trumpeters (Herb Robertson and Dave Ballou) and a flexible rhythm team (the drummer Tom Rainey and the bassist Drew Gress).” Nate Chinen – New York Times

Links:
Herb Robertson
Dave Ballou

Nicole Rampersaud – Trumpet, Cornet
Sean Berry – Tenor Saxophone
Lefteris Kordis – Piano
Kendall Eddy – Bass
Austin McMahon – Drums

For her performance at FONT, Nicole will be performing compositions for her Quintet written specifically for their performance at this year’s Festival. The group’s compositions will explore all things Canadian (eh), including, maple syrup, hosers, the word “sorry”, and much, much more.

Best known for her versatility and unique voice, Toronto-born trumpeter and composer Nicole Rampersaud has become an in demand performer in cities across Canada and the United States. After receiving her Undergraduate Degree from the University of Toronto, Nicole relocated to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music on scholarship, where she studied with John McNeil, Joe Morris, Danilo Perez and Joe Maneri, among many others. Since graduating from the Conservatory in 2006, Nicole maintains a busy performance schedule with a variety of groups that stretch the musical gamut, from Toronto-based Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble to Boston-based middle eastern ensemble Zilzala, and everything in between.

Links:
Nicole Rampersaud

JOHN McNEIL is regarded as one of the most original and creative jazz artists in the world today.  For nearly 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.

His background includes the Horace Silver Quintet, Gerry Mulligan, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. John is equally at home in free and structured settings, and this versatility has put him on stage with artists from Slide Hampton to John Abercrombie.

Links:
John McNeil

Forbes Graham (1:30pm)*FONT MUSIC COMMISSION / WORLD PREMIERE*

Forbes Graham’s (US) music represents the intersection between rationality and irrationality. Between complex numerological structures and tireless intuitive experimentation lies this music – much like architecture it all comes together to create a space that is ultimately, in the end, functional. In Forbes’ music, man, machines, and cultures intersect and are recontextualized. Forbes has played at a number of festivals around the country with various groups including High Zero, Full Force, and The Wire’s Adventures in Modern Music. He will be presenting a new composition, commissioned by FONT with support from the Greenwall Foundation, for Trumpet, 2 Drum Machines, and Computer. The piece explores the composer’s interest in the intersection of mathematics, rhythm, and culture.

Birgit Ulher –
Sean Meehan Duo (2pm)Sean Meehan (US) and Birgit Ulher (Germany) met at Dublin’s i and e festival last year. They have both developed wholly individual sounds and techniques, well beyond the traditional ways of using their instruments. While Meehan plays only the snare drum in a manner that sheds conventional usage and deconstructs the conception and function of the instrument, Ulher plays splitted and multilayered sounds by using extended techniques with mutes and other preparations.

Trumpeter Birgit Ulher originally studied the visual arts, which still have an important influence on her music. Since the early eighties she has been involved in free improvisation and experimental music. Since then she has “established a distinguished grammar of sounds beyond the open trumpet” (jazzdimensions.de). She performs solo, with dancers, working ensembles, and one-time collaborations with musicians from around the world. Current projects include duos with Ute Wassermann, Gino Robair and Damon Smith, UNSK (with Liselotte Norelius, Martin Kuechen and Raymond Strid), Nordzucker (with Lars Scherzberg and Michael Maierhof), and a trio with Lou Mallozzi and Michael Zerang.

Leonel Kaplan –
Tatsuya Nakatani Duo (2:45pm)
Trumpeter Leonel Kaplan (Argentina) and percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani’s (Japan) music can be catalogued inside the fields of electro-acoustic free improvisation, excepting that they play purely acoustic music. Neither experimental, concrete, noise or free jazz, they are constantly stretching the boundaries of instrumental categories; exploring different aspects of time, space and sonic textures, and radically shaping their music to the acoustics in which they find themselves.

Leonel Kaplan has developed a very special approach to the trumpet, which has led him to understand how to take maximum advantage of those aspects of his instrument directly linked to air itself. Thus, the physical nature of the trumpet and the presence of air as the bearer of sound became fundamental points of reference in his quest for a personal language. He has composed music for sound installations, dance and theater; and collaborated with experimental improvisers like Axel Dörner, Michel Doneda, and Lê Quan Ninh, among many others.

Laura Andel with Taylor Ho Bynum & Gamelan Son of Lion (3:30pm)*FONT MUSIC COMMISSION / WORLD PREMIERE*

Composer and conductor Laura Andel (NY/Argentina) premieres a new work commissioned by the Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) with support from the Greenwall Foundation for an unusually eclectic instrumentation which includes cornet, Fender Rhodes, and gamelan instruments. By writing scores that balance composition, textural improvisation, and compositional conducting, Andel creates unique sonic landscapes, sometimes ritualistic, built from musical elements from avant-garde jazz to contemporary classical. The new work will be 15-minutes long and will feature Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, Carl Maguire on Fender Rhodes, the ensemble Gamelan Son of Lion, and Andel’s conduction.

Composer Laura Andel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After living and working in her native Buenos Aires and for several years in Boston, Ms. Andel moved to New York in 2000, where she currently resides. She has conducted her music in New York, Boston, Berlin, Caracas, Buenos Aires and other cities, has received several grants, commissions, and awards for her work from BMI Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Unesco-Aschberg, Rockefeller Foundation, American Music Center, Massachusetts Cultural Council, New York State Music Fund, and the Senate for Culture of the City of Berlin. She has also been a composer fellow at several artist residencies such as Bellagio (Italy), Sacatar (Brazil), Valparaiso (Spain), and in the USA at Yaddo, MacDowell, Music Omi, and Blue Mountain Center. Currently, she leads the Laura Andel Orchestra in several formations. SomnambulisT, her first extended work, was released by Red Toucan Records in 2003. In::Tension, her second extended work, was released by Rossbin Records in 2005.

Gamelan Son of Lion is a new music repertory ensemble and composers’ collective based in downtown New York City. The ensemble uses Javanese-style iron gamelan keyboards made by Barbara Benary, who co-founded the group along with composers Daniel Goode and Philip Corner. Gamelan Son of Lion specializes in contemporary pieces written for the instruments of the Javanese and Balinese gamelan percussion orchestra. The ensemble has been performing since 1976, making it one of the oldest and best known new music/homemade gamelans in the country and has premiered over 150 new compositions by American and international composers in a variety of styles, adding electronics and other instruments as needed. In addition to its new music concerts, the group also presents traditional music of Java and Bali, wayang kulit shadow puppetry, and Indonesian dance. The 6-12 member ensemble has toured in the United States, Indonesia, Canada, New Zealand, and Estonia.

Taylor Ho Bynum is a performer on cornet and various brass instruments, composer, bandleader, and interdisciplinary collaborator with artists in dance, film, and theater. Bynum is committed to the further exploration of the extensions of composition and improvisation pioneered by 20th century masters like Ellington, Ives, and the AACM, but with a third millennial flavor and a trickster sensibility.  He presently leads his Trio, his Sextet, and the nine-piece ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and has developed a body of solo music for cornet and duo work with dancer/choreographer Rachel Bernsen. In addition to leading his own groups, Bynum regularly performs with some of the most innovative figures in creative music, such as Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, and has ongoing collaborations with such artists as Bill Lowe, Jason Kao Hwang, Joe Morris, Miya Masaoka, Stephen Haynes, Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, Nate Wooley, Tomas Fujiwara, and the Fully Celebrated Orchestra. He is featured on over forty recordings, and has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. His work with Anthony Braxton spans over ten years and ranges from duo to orchestra, with recent tours throughout Europe and North America and several new recordings. Their CD Duets (Wesleyan) 2002 has received wide critical acclaim. Bynum’s 2005 CD with SpiderMonkey Strings, Other Stories (Three Suites), has been described as “the best album of the year” (All About Jazz) and “beautiful music and challenging throughout” (The Wire). Two new CDs were released in Spring ‘07: True Events (duo with Tomas Fujiwara; The New York Times calls it “a scintillating album… a duologue crackling with improvisational energy but guided by compositional prescription“), and The Middle Picture (with his Sextet and Trio; which received “four stars” from Downbeat Magazine).

Links:
Forbes Graham
Birgit Ulher
Leonel Kaplan
Laura Andel
Taylor Ho Bynum
Gamelan Son of Lion

Eli Asher, trumpet
Josh Rutner, tenor saxophone
James Hirschfeld, trombone
Red Wierenga, piano
Malcolm Kirby, bass
Ted Poor, drums

Formed in 2001, The Respect Sextet is a powerhouse ensemble dedicated to performing a wide variety of improvisational musics. Relying on their explosive energy, rare telepathy, outstanding musicianship, and a deep friendship, Respect pieces together free improvisations, original compositions, free jazz classics, television commercial jingles, text pieces, jazz standards, game pieces and more into “a whirling collage,” shouts Exclaim! Magazine, “that ransacks and reshapes the entire jazz tradition, from New Orleans march to Misha Mengelberg, Sun Ra to Charlie Parker.” Through its eclecticism, its devotion to improvisation, its predilection towards swing, and its use of toys and “little instruments,” the group has drawn comparisons both to New Dutch Swing and the AACM. Many dialectics are at work (or play) in Respect’s music, in which the serious, heady, and intellectual mingle with the light, comic, and absurd, where compositions alternate with improvisation, and where tight ensemble work coexists with loose, empathic interplay. For its FONT debut, the Respect Sextet presents a trumpet-themed performance of new and original music by its members, exploring the entire spectrum from wholly improvised to fully notated music.

Links:
Respect Sextet

Taylor Haskins – trumpet, keyboards
Jacob Sacks – piano
Joshua Davis – bass
Ference Nemeth – drums

“His two albums…reveal a probing, adroit lyricism and a gift for complex and imaginative composition.” David Adler, Downbeat

“…traditional forms are discarded and the beauty of new forms
revealed.” – Phil DiPietro, allaboutjazz.com

Taylor Haskins comes from the woods of New Hampshire where he began his musical life at an early age, studying the piano from the age of 5 and gravitating toward the trumpet in the school band. Trumpet came naturally to Taylor with very little private instruction, and it led him to full scholarships to both undergraduate and graduate school. Since moving to New York in 1994 Taylor has had the opportunity to play with a wide variety of artists, including the Grammy award-winning Dave Holland Big Band, Guillermo Klein’s Los Guachos, the Richard Bona Group, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Magali Souriau Orchestra, Joey Sellars’ Jazz Aggregation, Isaac Mizrahi, Andrew Rathbun, Jamie Baum, Lee Feldman, and many others. In 1997 he was a semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition. In addition to appearing as a sideman on numerous recordings, Taylor has made two albums of his own compositions, entitled “Wake Up Call” (2003) and “Metaview” (2006). In a recent review of “Metaview”, Cadence magazine said “The trumpeter’s original music creates fresh impressions that last. They’re unforgettable.”

Links:
Taylor Haskins

Trumpet player, improviser, and composer Nate Wooley will present a new piece commissioned by FONT with support from the Greenwall Foundation. The composition, titled “The Seven Story Mountain,” is a piece of music based on two aesthetic themes. One is organic; the ecstatic experience in religion, sex, society, and everyday life. The second is a subjective deconstruction of the elements that make the trumpet a unique instrument.

Besides Nate performing solo amplified trumpet, the piece will use a tape component made up of trumpet and everyday field recordings that cover the elemental spectrum of modern trumpet: attack, decay, timbre, the voice, and frequency. Creating the ecstatic experience will be two of the heaviest hitters in modern improvisation: Paul Lytton (percussion), a man who has been destroying the world’s conceptions of percussion and improvisation as a member of Evan Parker’s trio since the late 60s, and David Grubbs (harmonium), a master of creating pure music out of absolutely everything he touches.

The September 30th concert will be held at the Abron’s Art Center, part of the Henry Street Settlement of the Lower East Side at 8 pm. The first set will be the duo of Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley, on tour to support their new lp out on Broken Research Recordings, followed by the premiere of “The Seven Story Mountain.”

Nate Wooley was born in 1974 in a small fishing town in Northwest Oregon. He began playing trumpet professionally at age 12 with his father’s big band on the Oregon and Washington Coast circuit. After a short stop in Denver, Colorado, where he studied and performed with Ron Miles, Fred Hess, Art Lande, and Jack Wright, he moved to Jersey City in 2001. While maintaining a strong tie to the traditional grounding of jazz music, Nate is very involved with exploding the concept of what the trumpet is physically capable of, evoking “…surrealistic environments from sounds not meant to come from the horn” (Shaun Brady of the Philadelphia City Paper). Recent recordings as a leader include two CDs with his trio, Blue Collar, featuring Steve Swell and Tatsuya Nakatani, and the solo recording, “wrong shape to be a storyteller”. Besides his own projects, Nate is in demand as a collaborator in New York, performing and recording with such phenomenal and varied musicians as Anthony Braxton, Joe Morris, Whit Dickey, Daniel Levin, Wolf Eyes, Graveyards, Double Leopards, Marc Ribot, Assif Tsahar, John Butcher, Alessandro Bosetti, Tony Malaby, Randy Peterson, Matt Wilson and many others. Bill Shoemaker calls Nate, “…one of those rare players who seemingly pop up from nowhere, fully formed and confidently indicating the future of his instrument in contemporary music”, and Dave Douglas says “Nate is the most interesting and unique trumpet player I’ve heard in the last decade….and that is without hyperbole.”

Links:
Nate Wooley

Jeremy Pelt – trumpet, flugelhorn, effects
Frank LoCrasto – fender rhodes, effects
Gavin Fallow – electric bass
Dana Hawkins – drums
Al Street – guitar
Becca Stevens – vocals

Jeremy Pelt celebrates the eagerly anticipated release of his 5th CD and debuts his new band “WiRED”! The CD, entitled “Shock Value: Live at Smoke”, captures the band’s red-hot, electric energy!

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, Charli 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, the Duke Ellington Big Band. Currently, he is member of the Lewis Nash Septet, and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Louis Hayes.

Pelt’s major focus is on writing music for each of his three bands: “Creation“- a sextet consisting of trumpet, alto sax/bass clarinet, vibraphone, guitar, bass and drums. “Noise“- an semi-electric band consisting of trumpet w/ effects, guitar, rhodes, bass and drums, and “The Jeremy Pelt Quartet“- which is trumpet, rhodes, bass and drums. 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 two years in a row by Downbeat Magazine and the Jazz Journalist Association!

Links:
Jeremy Pelt

Ralph Alessi – Trumpet
Jason Moran – Piano
Drew Gress – bass
Nasheet Waits – drums

The Ralph Alessi Quartet is both a showcase for Alessi’s category defying compositions as well as a platform for a who’s who (Moran, Gress, Waits) of jazz’s cutting edge players of the day. The band will release it’s 1st record in 2008 titled “Duel.”

Ralph Alessi – Trumpet
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.

Jason Moran – Piano
Since his formidable emergence on the national music scene in the late 90s, pianist Jason Moran has become a leading light and a man to watch in modern jazz. In almost every category that matters – improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and technological experimentation – Moran has challenged the status quo each time out. Moran has performed as a sideman with such artists as Cassandra Wilson, Joe Lovano, Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Lee Konitz, Von Freeman, Ravi Coltrane, and Stefon Harris. He was the youngest honoree of the New Work Commission by the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Jazziz magazine wrote “Moran is blessed with the courage of his own convictions part scavenger and part seer, fluent in the cut/paste/splice devices of hip hop production.”

Drew Gress – bass
Bassist/composer Drew Gress has performed extensively with artists throughout the vast field of contemporary improvised music. Gress has toured North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia, and has served as Artist-in-Residence at St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and at University of Colorado – Boulder. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer, and currently resides in New York. When Drew is not leading his own ensemble, he can be heard within those of Ralph Alessi, Tim Berne, Uri Caine, Gerald Cleaver, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch, Marc Copland, John Hollenbeck, Tony Malaby, and Mat Maneri.

Nasheet Waits – drums
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. Nasheet has been a member of Andrew Hill’s various bands, Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, and Fred Hersch’s trio. Nasheet’s recording and performing discography is a veritable who’s who in Jazz, boasting stints with jazz notables such 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.

Links:
Ralph Alessi

Amir ElSaffar, Rev. Dr. Mark Harvey, Frank London and Natsuki Tamura

presented by The Eldridge St. Project & FONT

Solo and ensemble trumpet music from an amazing quartet of trumpeters. Focusing on the spiritual and mystical aspects of sound and music, these four world renowned composers/improvisors will perform alone and in different configurations. Each trumpeter brings together many worlds in the omniverse of his music; original and traditional compositions and improvisations blend with personal expression. Using the evocative acoustical and spiritual environment of the historic Eldridge Street Synagogue as a fifth partner, the trumpets shall sound . Invocations, inspirations, and the science of breath.

Described as “one of the important carriers of the Iraqi Maqam tradition,” Iraqi – American Maqam trumpeter and santoor player Amir ElSaffar allows all of his experiences with Iraqi and Western classical music and Jazz improvisation to come together and inform each other.

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.

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.

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.”

This concert is dedicated to Lester Bowie.

Links:
Amir El Saffar
Frank London
Natsuki Tamura

For the 2007 FONT Music Benefit, the festival brings together a consortium of the musician-led, grassroots music organizations in the city, with two goals: 1) raising money to support the educational initiatives of these organizations, with a particular focus on private lessons/mentorship/instruction for young trumpet players; and 2) creating new partnerships amongst these various music organizations, that are all working towards a common cause of supporting creative music but exist in separate micro-niches in the NY scene.

Participating organizations include the Center for Improvisational Music, The Brooklyn Jazz Underground , Arts for Art, Y’all of New York, and Studio WIS Percussion Projects.

Performers:
Representing the Center for Improvisational Music, trumpeter Ralph Alessi will lead the Extension Ensemble, an contemporary brass chamber ensemble that also features Mike Boschen on trombone, Andrew Bove on tuba, Sycil Mathai on trumpet, and Theodore Primus on French horn.

From the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, violist and composer Tanya Kalmanovitch will perform her original music, joined by Anne Mette Iverson and Alexis Cuadrado on bass, with guest (and FONT curator) Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet.

Arts for Art (producers of the Vision Festival) will be represented by FONT co-founder Roy Campbell Jr. and fellow trumpet explorer Lewis Barnes.

In a meeting of special significance, trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater (representing Y’all of New York) and percussionist Warren Smith (Studio WIS) will perform for the first time as a duo. Both musicians had long and fruitful associations with the great Max Roach, whose leadership as an innovator, activist, and organizer remains a major source of inspiration for all of the artists involved in this concert.

And finally, Dave Douglas, the co-founder and artistic director of FONT, will lead an ensemble put together especially for this unique occasion.

Links:
Center for Improvisational Music
Brooklyn Jazz Underground
Y’all of New York
Arts for Art
Studio WIS Percussion Projects