Thursday, January 7, 2016
Thursday, December 24, 2015
January 2016
You can see below what we have cooked up for January at Space Exchange:
January 5 will be a particularly intense night for me. I'll first be playing at the Backstage Bar (first time in several years) with Thoth Trio, that's 5-8pm. Then I pack up head over to the Thunderbird Cafe to blow out the night with Sound/Unsound Trio, my group with Josh Wulff on guitar and David Throckmorton on drums. And of course, Thoth Trio the following week at the TBird. We premiered a couple of pieces on our last gig and I hope to have a few more pulled together for that one.
And it's all free.
As noted on the bottom of the image, this starts our fifth year of Space Exchange concerts. What a time it's been! I'd hardly have any work at all were it not for this. That makes me a little concerned that I'm being too complacent in locating more performance opportunities, but on the other hand it's been a great place to develop ideas and work with new people. We believe we've maintained a pretty high standard for our concerts and we intend to continue that for as long as we can.
Looking to the future, I have another performance of my Concerto for Orkestra planned for April 12 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. I want to first of all get it performed at least once more, but also hopefully record an even sharper performance for possible release. Mark your calendars (or whatever the digital version of that action might be) because, who knows if I'll ever get it played again?
January 5 will be a particularly intense night for me. I'll first be playing at the Backstage Bar (first time in several years) with Thoth Trio, that's 5-8pm. Then I pack up head over to the Thunderbird Cafe to blow out the night with Sound/Unsound Trio, my group with Josh Wulff on guitar and David Throckmorton on drums. And of course, Thoth Trio the following week at the TBird. We premiered a couple of pieces on our last gig and I hope to have a few more pulled together for that one.
And it's all free.
As noted on the bottom of the image, this starts our fifth year of Space Exchange concerts. What a time it's been! I'd hardly have any work at all were it not for this. That makes me a little concerned that I'm being too complacent in locating more performance opportunities, but on the other hand it's been a great place to develop ideas and work with new people. We believe we've maintained a pretty high standard for our concerts and we intend to continue that for as long as we can.
Looking to the future, I have another performance of my Concerto for Orkestra planned for April 12 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. I want to first of all get it performed at least once more, but also hopefully record an even sharper performance for possible release. Mark your calendars (or whatever the digital version of that action might be) because, who knows if I'll ever get it played again?
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
December Space Exchange
December 2015 will see the end of four years of Space Exchange concerts. (Not that we're stopping!) I'm sure many would be surprised we've lasted this long. If you attend these shows, first of all thank you for your patronage. I'm happy that we can bring you this series and hope to keep it fresh and interesting. Many many thanks to John Pergal and the Thunderbird Cafe for supporting this idea. And not to lecture, but if you do come to the shows, remember that the Thunderbird is there to sell you food and drinks. It goes a long way if everyone attending buys at least one thing. The shows are free, after all.
December will see more appearances by me than usual. On the 1td, I'll be in the saxophone seat with Blink; we'll also be playing Friday at the James Street Speakeasy & Gastropub. The 8th is Space Exchange standard bearer Thoth Trio, me with Paul Thompson and David Throckmorton. I'll be sitting in on a few things with Ian Gordon on the 15th, and playing here and there on Chris Parker's 2nd annual Chrisparkermas show.
Apart from that, not a lot of things for me to mention for the time being.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Monday, October 5, 2015
In case anyone is paying attention...
Here's the Space Exchange schedule for October. I'll be playing the first two, and happy to have Matt and Chris back in town again. It'll be the last time for Matt for a while, Chris will be returning at least by December. I gave up my leader night to Lina Allemano. This group is her more Ornette-ish combo.
I'll also be playing with Matt and Chris in Silk Sound. We're playing a free concert at Bellefield Hall in Oakland on Oct. 9, 7pm.
Friday, August 28, 2015
Billy Strayhorn and OPEK
Billy Strayhorn famously grew up in Pittsburgh (although, he was born in Dayton OH!), and this year is the 100th anniversary of his birth. So, you don't hear much about Pittsburgh-based tribute concerts, do you? I've known of one or two, with no doubt more planned for his November birthday.
The First Fridays concert series, associated with the Frick Museum, wanted to have at least one concert dedicated to Strayhorn's music and legacy. So wouldn't you know it, one of the people in the organization is an acquaintance, and dropped my name as a possible participant. When contacted and asked if I could do a Strayhorn event, my response was like any good musician's offer of a gig: "Yes, I can do that."
Truth is, I've been a defender of Strayhorn's work for years. That's not hard to do, but there are those who still feel he basically copped Ellington's act. There's probably no question of Duke's influence on Strayhorn (though no more so than Gershwin or Romantic Russian composers). Research has finally started to untangle Strayhorn's works from Ellington's, as Strayhorn was often not given credit in recording notes. I recommend the great book Something to Live For if you're interested, and David Hadju's biography Lush Life is essential reading. While a great contributor to the Ellington organization and legacy, he was in many ways his own man as a composer.
So, Sept. 4, OPEK will play a program of mostly Strayhorn compositions. Follow this link while it's still relevant, for information. Get there early! These events are always very busy.
Did I mention it's free? Or at least, a requested donation. See you there, I hope!
The First Fridays concert series, associated with the Frick Museum, wanted to have at least one concert dedicated to Strayhorn's music and legacy. So wouldn't you know it, one of the people in the organization is an acquaintance, and dropped my name as a possible participant. When contacted and asked if I could do a Strayhorn event, my response was like any good musician's offer of a gig: "Yes, I can do that."
Truth is, I've been a defender of Strayhorn's work for years. That's not hard to do, but there are those who still feel he basically copped Ellington's act. There's probably no question of Duke's influence on Strayhorn (though no more so than Gershwin or Romantic Russian composers). Research has finally started to untangle Strayhorn's works from Ellington's, as Strayhorn was often not given credit in recording notes. I recommend the great book Something to Live For if you're interested, and David Hadju's biography Lush Life is essential reading. While a great contributor to the Ellington organization and legacy, he was in many ways his own man as a composer.
So, Sept. 4, OPEK will play a program of mostly Strayhorn compositions. Follow this link while it's still relevant, for information. Get there early! These events are always very busy.
Did I mention it's free? Or at least, a requested donation. See you there, I hope!
Space Exchange, Sept. 2015
Hello:
If anyone is paying attention, you'll notice I haven't posted here for some time. August saw some Space Exchange cancellations for reasons I won't go into, but we're back to almost-full force on September. (Fishbone is booked at the Thunderbird on the 8th, I could hardly stand in the way of that.) I myself will be just playing the 22nd. You can see for yourself what a great lineup this is, including the return of Colter Harper after two years in Ghana.
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