Music

March 4, 2017

FONT Music in the Spring!

Join us for our Spring performance on March 15. Nadja Noordhuis, trumpeter and FONT Music Board member, will perform with her Quintet!

Don’t miss this special FONT Music Spring Event at The New School on March 15th

The Nadje Noorduis Quintet

Nadje Noordhuis – trumpet
Sara Caswell – violin
Gary Versace – piano, accordion
Matt Clohesy – bass
Obed Calvaire – drums

Click here to check out an interview with Nadje on our blog

March 15th – 7pm

THE NEW SCHOOL
Glass Box Performance Space – 1st floor
55 West 13th Street, NYC

$20 suggested donation to FONT – Students are FREE

Click here to RSVP & Invite Others

July 20, 2015

The Doctor Is In: Eddie Henderson On Life As ‘The Funk Surgeon’

Eddie Henderson's latest album is Collective Portrait. Jimmy Katz/Courtesy of the artist — Eddie Henderson’s latest album is Collective Portrait.
Jimmy Katz/Courtesy of the artist

Eddie Henderson had no choice. His mother was a dancer at the original Cotton Club, and counted Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan as friends. His birth father was in a major vocal group, The Charioteers. And his stepfather was a doctor to the stars: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly and more. With all of that talent surrounding him during childhood, he just had to turn out a jazz musician.

Read more at NPR.org

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/15/386086679/the-doctor-is-in-eddie-henderson-on-life-as-the-funk-surgeon

March 12, 2014

FONT Canada preview: Nigel Taylor

Sunday, March 16, ”Trumpet Generations”
(Doors open at 8, Music starts at 830pm)
185 avenue Van Horne
(for venue info contact )

Nigel Taylor (Saskatchewan/Montreal): solo trumpet/amplifier

Teachers: Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to study with Laurie, but I did study with Jon McNeil who is a long time friend and colleague of hers. He would sometimes mention her and her pedagogy. My other trumpet teachers include Lou Ranger during my time at UVIC and Miles Newman from Saskatchewan before that. More recently I studied with Anthony Coleman, Joe Morris, and several other NEC faculty during my time in Boston.

Influences: Greg Kelley, Nate Wooley, Peter Evans, Axel Doerner, Don Cherry, Kevin Drumm, Merzbow, Morton Feldman, …I think this list might get long now that I’ve exited from trumpet players so I’ll stop there.

Current Projects: I’ve been on tour in the States for a few weeks now playing with several different people and I’m leaving on another mini Canadian tour right after the CFONT festival. These dates have all been free improv. When I’m finally at home for awhile in April I’m going to spend some time writing for a group of Boston musicians I’m bringing up to Montreal for a recording session in May. I also have a collaborative project with electro acoustic artists Max Alexander and Eric Powell that I’m hoping to spend more time on when I get back to Montreal.

On the Side/Hobbies: I have an 11 month old son, so most hobbies these days are baby related ones. We like to spend time in the parks in Montreal, which when the weather is nice are really beautiful and lively with people.

I knew I wanted to play the trumpet when: My older brother plays the trumpet and my father used to. I think when I was little I just wanted to be able to do what they did so I started playing it pretty early in my life. I always liked playing it when I was younger…I think me and the trumpet argue with each other more these days then we did then.

Performance Highlight: It’s hard to pick just one, so many gigs are rewarding but unique. A recent highlight was playing at a house show in Boston with guitarist Chris Cretella. We played right after Joe Morris and Patrick Kuehn. Was one of those nights that the music just seems to go all the right places without you having to force it anywhere, and the audience was really listening and got that it was good. It’s really a great feeling when the whole experience of the performance is good and not just some elements of it.

Dream Band: hmmmmm, thats a tough one! I’m tempted to put people from radically different genres or times together but who knows if that would make a fruitful venture so…….I’m going to leave this one alone!

Fun Fact: I used to be really into juggling. I was once Ben Mulroney’s stunt double on a Canadian TV show called “Corner Gas”. If you ever see Ben juggling torches while riding a unicycle…

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August 1, 2012

FONT’s 10th Anniversary Festival

FONT Music Presents: The 10th Anniversary

The Festival of New Trumpet Music

September 8 through October 7, 2012 – in NYC and Brooklyn – The Festival of New Trumpet Music, directed by Dave Douglas, presents its 10th Anniversary Festival, a multi-genre, multi-venue celebration of new trumpet music by the instrument’s most creative players and composers. Hailed as “a grand highlight of the musical season” by The New Yorker and “a cross-stylistic extravaganza” by The New York Times, FONT Music reaffirms its status as one of the most adventurous and consistently innovative music festivals in the New York scene.

From Dave Douglas: “For our tenth festival we decided to go back to the full month model—a blowout of creative music that spans generations and genres that is our biggest festival since the early days when we had residency at Tonic. We’re book-ending the festival with two great free events: Stephanie Richards’ Rotations Rotations and Claudio Roditi with the West Point Jazz Knights. In between we’ve commissioned creative pioneers like Charles Tolliver, Tom Harrell, and Jack Walrath, and emerging talents like Adam O’Farrill, Alicia Rau, Bruce Harris, and Douglas Detrick. We’re really excited to co-curate with yMusic at Rockwood Music Hall, bringing up the NO BS! Brass Band from Virginia. I am also proud to present my own new project featuring singer Aoife O’Donovan on music from Be Still. I hope you will join us for this exciting and varied program! I am proud to be part of the group of ambitious musician/curators who have worked hard to support and expand the field through this festival’s programming.”

2012 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Saturday, September 8, 6:30-7pm – Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jane’s Carousel – DUMBO, between the Brooklyn & Manhattan Bridges. FREE!

FONT’S 10th Anniversary Celebration and Grand Opening – Rotations, Rotations by Stephanie Richards Rotations, Rotations is a site-specific performance composed and directed by Stephanie Richards, who will be joined by nine moving brass and percussion players performing with the nostalgic sounds of the carousel’s “mechanical band”. Personnel includes Kirk Knuffke and Ben Holmes on trumpet, Brian Drye and Jen Baker on trombone, and Andrew Munsey, Nick Jenkins and Kenny Wollesen on percussion. Wardrobe stylist Sarah Maiorino and movement direction by Mark DeChiazza.

September 13-15 – The Jazz Gallery all concerts 9 & 10:30pm, 290 Hudson St, NYC. Thursday 9/13 1st set: $15.00 | $10.00 for Members, 2nd set: $10.00 | $5.00 for Members. Friday and Saturday 9/14-5 both sets $20.00 | $10.00 for Members.

Thursday, September 13 – Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble – Pre-Concert Talk at 7:30pm. Chamber-Jazz quintet Douglas Detrick’s AnyWhen Ensemble gives the world premiere of its Chamber Music America-commissioned The Bright and Rushing World: Suite for Five Musicians. (The Bright and Rushing World: Suite for Five Musicians has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2011 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.)

Friday, September 14 – Adam O’Farrill Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill performs new music with Luis Perdomo, piano; and Burniss Traviss, bass and Nasheet Waits, drums, and will be joined by a special guest on trumpet.

Saturday, September 15 – Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet performing new, “thoughtfully tumultuous” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times) music for his sextet.

Wednesday, September 19 – The Checkout: Live from 92YTribeca featuring Dave Douglas Quintet with special guest Aoife O’Donovan. 92YTribeca, 8pm, 200 Hudson St, $12.00, The Checkout Live from 92YTribeca Co-produced by The Checkout-WBGO & NPR

Dave Douglas Quintet with special guest Aoife O’Donovan – CD Release Concert – Dave Douglas describes the title of his new release, Be Still, as “aspirational.” The continually evolving trumpeter and composer settles down for a ballad-like set that presents a series of hymns and folk songs with an intensely personal connection. Be Still brings out the most lyrical side of Douglas, and introduces both a newly configured Quintet, and an important new collaborator, vocalist and guitarist Aoife O’Donovan.

Thursday and Friday, September 20 and 21 – Speyer Hall, University Settlement – 8pm, 184 Eldridge St, NYC.

September 20 – The Spaces In Between with Sao Paulo Underground – Cornetist Rob Mazurek and choreographer/artist Marianne Kim’s FONT-commissioned collaboration grown out of the meditative environments of Mazurek’s solo performances at the Rothko Chapel, in Houston, TX and at the Abbaye Royale de Fontevrau, France.

September 21 – TILT Brass performs music by Dave Ballou, the latest installment of Nate Wooley’s 7-Storey Mountain, and the New York premiere of Louis Andreissen’s De Volharding for brass sextet and a cast of special guests. Tickets available HERE

Sunday, September 23 – The Village Zendo – 7pm, 588 Broadway, NYC, Suite 1108. $20 Suggested Donation, www.villagezendo.org

Villagers and Trumpet: FONT Music at the Village Zendo – Natsuki Tamura and Josh Deutsch each present duo sets of their music in an intimate and diverse concert at the beautiful Village Zendo

September 26-27 – Smalls Jazz Club – Sets at 7:30, 9 and 10:30pm, 183 West 10th St, NYC, $20, www.smallsjazzclub.com

Wednesday, September 26 – Dave Chisholm’s Calligraphy, Jean Caze Group, Jon Crowley’s Heart of Darkness

Thursday, September 27 – Alicia Rau’s aRAUz, John Raymond Group, David Weiss Group

September 30 – Rockwood Music Hall – Doors 6:30pm, 196 Allen St, NYC, $12, Rockwood Music Hall

Sunday, September 30 – 7 pm – yMusic – 8pm – No BS! Brass Hailed by NPR’s Fred Child as “one of the groups that has really helped to shape the future of classical music,” yMusic is a sextet of young performers equally comfortable in the overlapping classical and pop music worlds. yMusic will be premiering a FONT-Commissioned work by Andrew Norman. No BS! Brass Band is a powerful brass band that embraces the spirit of New Orleans into its original East Coast modern funk.

October 4-7 – Jazz Standard – Showtimes 7:30 and 9:30 with an 11:30 set on October 5 and 6, 116 East 27th St, NYC. Jack Walrath, Charles Tolliver and Tom Harrell all perform new music commissioned by FONT Music.

October 4 – Jack Walrath

October 5 – RETROFORWARD ™, Charles Tolliver & Music Inc/Continuum

October 6 – Tom Harrell

October 7 – West Point Jazz Knights featuring Claudio Roditi – The exciting, post-bop oriented trumpeter Claudio Roditi joins the West Point Jazz Knights in a concert of new music by Roditi. FREE!

June 2, 2012

New FREE Monthly Series at Sam Ash NYC

Hosted by Matt Lavelle, this new monthly series will present trumpeters from all walks of life. This month, Amir El Saffar will be presenting a clinic on “Trumpet Micro Tones and learning the Maqam”. Amir ElSaffar (born near Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an Iraqi-American trumpeter and vocalist. In addition to being a classical and jazz trumpeter, he is also a skilled interpreter of Iraqi maqam, which he sings and plays on santur. In 2002 he began studying the maqam tradition in Baghdad and London, with Hamid al-Saadi, one of the most renowned maqamsingers in Iraq. He has released a CD of this music and also applied maqam techniques to his trumpet playing. ElSaffan has performed with Cecil Taylor, Simon Shaheen, Randy Brecker, Miya Masaoka, Rudresh Mahanthappa, and Samir Chatterjee.

August 24, 2011

CELEBRATE KENNY WHEELER AT THE JAZZ STANDARD

THE 9TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF NEW TRUMPET MUSIC
CELEBRATES TRUMPETER/COMPOSER KENNY WHEELER AT THE JAZZ STANDARD

(New York City, NY) – JAZZ STANDARD, one of the nation’s premier jazz clubs, presents the 9th Annual Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) series, “Kenny Wheeler Celebration,” from Thursday, October 20, through Sunday, October 23, 2011. Program schedule and artist bios are outlined below.

The FONT series celebrates Kenny Wheeler, one of the most creative and iconic of progressive trumpeters. Wheeler, a Canadian residing in the UK since 1952, celebrated his 81st birthday this year. He will make a rare New York appearance in this series devoted to his music and vision.

The Festival also presents a cadre of progressive New York trumpeters, among them Ingrid Jensen, Shane Endsley, Nate Wooley, Jonathan Finlayson, Tony Kadleck, and Jon Owens. As part of this celebration, Kenny Wheeler will be featured with Ingrid Jensen + Brass, will play his music alongside John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, and will also convene a New York Quintet, featuring Jon Irabagon, Craig Taborn, Matt Brewer, and Rudy Royston.

Kenny Wheeler commented on being honored by FONT Music and returning to NYC: I first came to New York in the late 40′s. I was with a big band attached to the American forces and I had joined with the sole purpose of getting to New York. I just wanted to find and maybe talk to Miles. I couldn’t find him but in the process I had a really short (even for me) conversation with Charlie Parker. I was so disappointed I had missed Miles that it wasn’t until hours later I realized I had actually spoken to Bird! By that time though New York had gone from being in my head to being in my blood, heart and soul. It’s where most of the Jazz I listened to before and after that trip was born.

Although I have played in New York a few times over the years every time I come back I still feel the same excitement I felt that first time I visited all those years ago. For me New York is the place to play. The fact that I am being honored with a New York week and that so many fantastic trumpet players are involved is overwhelming. I am so proud and, before my nerves get the better of me, I would just like to say thank you to all of the people who have put this event together and thank you to New York for giving me the opportunity to come back and play here again.

June 14, 2011

SWELTER next Tuesday with TILT

Performance #1 – 3:30pm (approx 35 mins)
Performance #2 – 5:00pm (approx 35 mins)

June 21, 2011
Central Park Boat Lake

In 2010, Make Music New York presented an extraordinary performance of Xenakis’ Persephassa from boats in the Central Park Lake, named one of the year’s top ten classical performances by New York Magazine and Time Out New York. Building on this phenomenal response from audiences, critics, and the City of New York itself, MMNY turned to MATA with the challenge of creating something entirely new and magical for the Lake in 2011.

On June 21st, MATA presents TILT Brass and friends performing SWELTER, a large-scale musical event in Central Park as part of Make Music New York. The performance brings together dozens of brass players positioned around Central Park Lake to play a new ambient music-scape by three Australian sound artists Julian Day, Luke Jaaniste and Janet McKay, which the audience will experience from row boats on the water.

SWELTER is part of Day, Jaaniste & McKay’s ongoing project Super Critical Mass, which has appeared in various spaces around the world since 2008. MATA leads the charge with this event in presenting the project’s US Premiere. In each event, Super Critical Mass brings together large numbers of the same kind of instrument (e.g. 30 clarinets, 80 flutes) and uses simple instructions to create complex and beautiful site-specific works. The instructions respond to different skill levels so that a wide range of players can participate, from young performers through to world-class professionals.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED!!

swelter-topimage

It’s not too late! To be involved as a performer, you’ll need to attend two rehearsals, as well as a dress rehearsal on the day of the performance, between Saturday 18th and Tuesday 21st June. You’ll work with the sound artists as well as the stellar musicians of New York’s own TILT Brass. The experience will be unique, explorative and lots of fun, and is open to professionals and skilled amateurs alike!

Please see our website,www.matafestival.org for details or contact Artistic Director Yotam Haber at .

January 10, 2010

Forward to Philly

If you can’t make it to NYC for this weekends Forward Flight series and you’re close to Philadelphia, check out three of the great groups on Sunday, Jan 17 at the Ars Nova Workshop at International House Philidelphia.

Ars Nova Workshop, in partnership with the New York-based Festival of New Trumpet (FONT), is pleased to present the first annual FONT Philadelphia mini-festival showcasing three adventurous projects. Curated by Taylor Ho Bynum and Dave Douglas.

Open Circuit International Trumpet Ensemble

Taylor Ho Bynum (USA), cornet
Jean-Luc Cappozzo (France), trumpet
Franz Hautzinger (Austria), trumpet
Joe McPhee (USA), trumpet
Itaru Oki (Japan/France), trumpet
Herb Robertson (USA) , trumpet
William Parker (USA), bass
John Betsch (USA/France), drums

Meridian Arts Ensemble + Dave Ballou

John Ferrari, drums
Daniel Grabois, horn
Benjamin Herrington, trombone
Brian McWhorter, trumpet
Jon Nelson, trumpet
Raymond Stewart, tuba
Dave Ballou, trumpet

Chicago Underground Duo

Rob Mazurek, cornet + electronics
Chad Taylor, percussion

International House Philadelphia
3701 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104 Map
Price: $12 General Admission
TICKETS

September 16, 2009

Free Tickets to a Clean Feed Show

FONT is offering free tickets for this weekend’s Clean Feed double bill: Bay Area trumpeter Darren Johnston and NYC’s own Kirk Knuffke. Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 8pm, at the Cornelia Connelly Center in NYC.

With Bobby Bradford coming to town in a couple weeks for the next FONT series we decided to get things going with a little pop quiz.

“Name 3 brass players Bobby Bradford has recorded alongside during his career (either as a sideman or a leader.) First 10 people that email us at with a correct answer get one free ticket.”

Bobby will be in NYC October 3 & 4 accepting FONT’s Award of Recognition, and performing alongside Baikida Carroll, David Murray, Marty Ehrlich, Mark Dresser, Benny Powell, and Andrew Cyrille.

September 12, 2009

nyfa artist fellowships

The NYFA just posted links to their 2010 fellowship grants.

You can get more info on the grant HERE.

July 4, 2009

FONT of interest

Last weekend Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT) was in full force: presenting a commissioned set of pieces by Nadje Noordhuis; offering 17 trumpeters free sessions with Laurie Frink; a free ensemble master class with John McNeil and his Quartet; and concerts by eight other hard-to-categorize brass players and performers. FONT has a newly configured site that will aggregate posts about new brass music (aw, shucks, they’re aggregatin’ my solo trumpet post right now) and feature recordings and video of the recent performances.

FONT was co-founded by Roy Campbell, Jr. and myself in 2003. It’s now a nonprofit (though still all-volunteer) organization dedicated to commissioning, presenting, and disseminating new and unusual brass music of all varieties. In October FONT will continue with a series of concerts at the Jazz Standard in NYC. Cornetist Bobby Bradford will be on hand for the occasion.

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