Dave Douglas, Roy Campbell and Jon Nelson Present
The 4th Annual Festival Of New Trumpet Music - September 15-October 15
“The Festival of New Trumpet Music has become a contender among New York's jazz-concert series." --Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“The Festival of New Trumpet Music, a/k/a FONT Music, has evolved into a summer institution." --Nate Chinen, The Village Voice
“...feeling inspired by the flat-out excellent lineup at this year's Festival of New Trumpet Music." --Time Out New York
In addition to the curators, The 2006 FONT Music Festival will feature an incredible array of trumpet artists including Maurice Brown, Ingrid Jensen, Steven Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt, Marcus Belgrave, Sean Jones, Avishai Cohen, Ralph Alessi, John McNeil, Ron Horton, Mark Gould, Peter Evans, Micah Killion, David Krauss, and many others!
Director Dave Douglas, along with co-directors Roy Campbell and Jon Nelson, proudly announce the 2006 schedule of events for the fourth annual Festival of New Trumpet Music - aka FONT Music, taking place September 15 through October 15! This year the Festival opens with a bang on Opening Weekend, September 15-17, with trumpet players uptown, downtown, midtown, and even in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (see below for full details). For the first time FONT Music has taken a role in creating new music by commissioning five trumpeter/ composers. With assistance from the Greenwall Foundation this series will take place at Makor on October 3, 4, and 5. FONT Music 2006 will also feature a series of FREE masterclasses and $10 concerts to take place at The Yamaha Artist Services Center on Sundays (9/17, 9/24, 10/1 and 10/8), featuring top players from the classical and new music genres. The final event of the Festival, on October 15, will be dedicated to an all-star benefit concert for The Fund For Public Schools, aimed at helping to keep music alive and well in New York's City's public school system.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, a non-profit entity, will shine a spotlight on the multifariousness of the current state of trumpet music with performances by more than forty-five of the most revered and acclaimed trumpet artists in the world.
FONT Music 2006: OPENING WEEKEND - 9/15-17
9/15, 8-12 PM-Eric Biondo & Beyondo-Small & Medium, Ben Neill & Mutantrumpet-XIX, Scott Forrey & Vector Trio In Collaboration With The Williamsburg Jazz Festival. The Heineken Stage @ Rose, 345 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY, tel 718 599 0069 or click on www.wjazzfestival.com, tickets are $10.00
Small and Medium is a duo co-lead by trumpeter Eric Biondo and drummer/lap top artist Chris Vatalaro (both from the group Antibalas). This acoustic/electronic duo combines influences of afrobeat, electronica, funk, jazz and storytelling. Trumpet melodies will emerge from beds of swinging beats, forward moving improvisations and operatic interludes. Some of the songs involve specialized microphone system that fits into the pipes of the trumpet creating sounds comparable to what a baby hears in the womb.
Ben Neill is a composer, performer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro- acoustic instrument. The mutantrumpet was originally designed with the help of synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog and was further developed at the Steim Studios in Amsterdam. The instrument has three bells, two sets of valves, a trombone slide and is a fully functional MIDI controller. In Neill's live performance, laptop computers merge the mutantrumpet with live digital audio and video. In addition to controlling electronic sounds in real time, Neill literally plays the moving pictures, making the images an extension of his instrument. XIX is a new project by Neill that explores the expressive qualities of 19th century romanticism with live instruments and new digital technologies. Futuristic sounds of Neill's mutantrumpet coombine with live interactive video by artist Bill Jones; bassist John Conte and drummer Jim Mussen add live grooves to the mix.
Vector Trio, Scott Forrey (trumpets, loops, and electronics), Gary Rouzer (electric bass, loops, and electronics), Marshall Hughey (drums and landscape percussion) began life in 1996 as a septet, the brainchild of trumpeter/composer Forrey. In 2002 Vector became a trio as they began making use of electronics, including looping devices and effects processors, to expand the possibilities of the smaller unit. Their work to date is showcased in their all-original CD, Plot Twist (2004) and Live in DC (2005), recorded at Sangha Caf and Velvet Lounge. Vector Trio is a project designed to explore freedom and possibility in three voices, contextualized by cultural disharmony. Vector Trio's newest CD, Paths Unknown, will be released on September 1, 2006.
Opening Weekend Event:
9/16, 8:30 PM-Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell - A Living Tribute To Don Cherry Featuring a performance of Cherry's “Symphony For Improvisers" Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th Street, call 212 501 3330 for tickets or click on www.kaufman-center.org. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show.
Roy Campbell and Dave Douglas perform original music and interpretations of Don Cherry's pieces with their own quartets. Then both ensembles unite to play Cherry's seminal piece, “Symphony for Improvisers," featuring bassist Henry Grimes who played on the original recording forty years ago. Other important improvisers featured in this celebration of Don Cherry's 70th birthday include bassist William Parker, drummers Andrew Cyrille and Hamid Drake and saxophonists Mixashawn and JD Allen.
Opening Weekend Event:
9/17-First Day of The Yamaha Seminar Days-FREE masterclasses (3-5 PM) and $10 concerts (6:00 PM) every Sunday at The Yamaha Artist Services Ctr The Yamaha Artist Services Center is located at 689 5th Ave Masterclass: David Krauss, Co-Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet, and Trumpet Ensemble I Performers: David Krauss, Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion Works by: Terry Riley, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alban Berg, Gareth Flowers, Jonathan Harvey, Paul Rutti
Opening Weekend Event:
9/17-Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen (8 PM), Ambient Assault featuring Maurice Brown (9:30 PM) Tonic, 107 Norfolk St., between Delancey & Rivington, call 212 358 7501 or click on www.tonicnyc.com In collaboration with FONT Music, The Williamsburg Jazz Festival presents two prominent artists on the Williamsburg Scene. Opening the night, Rick Parker's Ambient Assault will feature New Orleans trumpet great, Maurice Brown. Other members are Rick Parker (trombone and effects), Sam Barsh (keyboards), Mark Guiliana (drums), Kyle Struve (drums). Long time Williamsburg denizens Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen will co-lead the closing band in a marriage of avant-garde and groove, featuring Kyle Struve on drums and Gavin Fallow on bass.
The Williamsburg Jazz Festival is in it's fourth season and runs from September 10th through the 17th.
FONT Music Schedule of Events:
Yamaha Seminar Days - Free Masterclasses & $10 Concerts Every Sunday (9/17, 9/24, 10/1 and 10/8) The Yamaha Artist Services Center is located at 689 5th Ave, masterclasses are from 3-5 PM, concerts at 6 PM. 9/17-Masterclass: David Krauss, Co-Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet, and Trumpet Ensemble I Performers: David Krauss, Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion Works by: Terry Riley, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alban Berg, Gareth Flowers, Jonathan Harvey, Paul Rutti
9/24-Masterclass: TBA
Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet and Trumpet Ensemble II Performers: Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion, Peter Evans Works by: Charles Whittenberg, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Evans, Toru Takamitsu, Sofia Gubaidulina
10/1-Masterclass: Atlantic Brass Quintet
Concert: The Contemporary Brass Quintet Performers: The Atlantic Brass Quintet Works by: Sam Headrick, Jan Bach, Bernard Rands, John Manning, Silvestre Revueltas
10/8-Masterclass: Panel Discussion on Through Composed and Improvised Music for Large Ensembles - with David Sanford, Dave Douglas, Dave Ballou, and others TBA Concert: The Music of David Sanford Performers: The Pittsburgh Collective, Meridian Arts Ensemble Works: Selections for Big Band written for the Pittsburgh Collective and Directed by David Sanford, Corpus for Brass Quintet and Drum Set.
This concert will announce the release of the Pittsburgh Collective's debut CD, and the CD release of Sanford's work entitled Corpus, recorded by the Meridian Arts Ensemble.
FONT Music at The Jazz Standard, 9/19-9/24 116 East 27th street. sets at 7:30 & 9:30 PM, 11:30 PM set on Fri & Sat. For more information and reservations call 212 576 2232 or click on www.jazzstandard.net 9/19-Avishai Cohen, Jeremy Pelt, Keyon Harrold - “Out Of The Battlefield" With Jonathan Blake on drums, Jason Lindner on piano and Barak Mori on bass Trumpet Avishai Cohen is one of the most in demand trumpet players in New York and around the globe. His diversity has allowed him to perform and record regularly with folk/jazz vocalist Keren Ann, Jason Lindner, Roy Hargrove, Third World Love, as well his own band. Cohen blends his love of African music, traditional jazz and his Israeli heritage to create a dynamic musical experience focusing on rhythmic exploration, unusual compositional forms and groove. His second CD as a leader, “After the Big Rain," will be released in the Winter of 2006. www.avishaicohenmusic.com.
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, 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. However, Pelt's major focus is on writing music and leading his three bands: “Creation," “Noise" and “The Jeremy Pelt Quartet."
Keyon Harrold is one of the top up and coming trumpeters on the scene today, as well as a noted hip-hop producer, working with the likes of Charles Tolliver, David Weiss, amongst many others. This versatile and eclectic artist draws his influences from jazz greats such as Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and Woody Shaw, and hip-hop legends such as Common, Kanye West, Tribe Called Quest and many others.
9/20-Taylor Ho Bynum & Stephen Haynes Double Trio
With Mary Halvorson & Allan Jaffe on guitars and Tomas Fujiwara & Warren Smith on drums Taylor Ho Bynum and Stephen Haynes have a ten-year musical relationship, from co- leading the cooperative brass ensemble Paradigm Shift to anchoring the trumpet section of Cecil Taylor's present large ensemble. For the Festival of New Trumpet Music, they debut a new project, as they combine two brass/guitar/drums trios into a double-image sextet. The members of this cross-genre, cross-generational ensemble range in age from twenty-five to seventy-two, and range in experience from indie rock to ragtime and from Motown to Stomp, but all the musicians share a deep commitment to the pursuit of creative music.
9/21-North by Northeast-Canadian music for Trumpets and Rhythm led by Ingrid Jensen and Lina Allemano. A collective event featuring original compositions by both trumpeters as well as works by noted Canadian composers. The groups will be backed by Jon Wikan on drums and percussion TBA on bass, TBA on chords.
Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen has been highly visible on the jazz scene for over 15 years, making award winning recordings, performing globally at festivals and clubs, and establishing herself as a first rate educator at high-schools, universities and jazz camps. She currently has five CDs out as a leader and can be heard on countless others, including Grammy award winning Maria Schneider's, Concert in the Garden. Her latest recording, At Sea, on the ArtistShare label has garnered rave reviews and she continues to split her time traveling and playing with her own groups and as a side-person, as well as teaching part- time at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the New School in New York.
Lina Allemano is a Toronto jazz trumpeter and composer with an established career playing, recording and touring internationally with numerous groups. In addition to fronting her own band, Lina Allemano Four, she is also a permanent member of the improvising trio “N," Tim Posgate's Jazzstory and Horn Band, and Jane Fair/Rosemary Galloway Quintet. Lina appears on over twenty recordings including Lina Allemano Four Concentric, William Carn/Lina Allemano Old Souls, Tim Posgate Jazzstory, Jane Fair/ Rosemary Galloway Waltz Out, and NOJO Highwire. Lina was winner of the 2005 National Jazz Awards' CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award and she was nominated for the 2005 Canadian Independent Music Awards Favorite Jazz Artist and the 2005 National Jazz Awards Trumpeter of the Year. Upcoming releases in 2006 include Lina's second CD as leader, Lina Allemano Four, “Pinkeye."
9/22-Marcus Belgrave, Sean Jones, Greg Glassman-A Tribute to Lawrence Williams With Dave Pier on piano, Danton Boller on bass and Quincy Davis on drums Greg Glassman, Sean Jones, and Marcus Belgrave are all friends and fans of one another, Marcus being a mentor to both Greg and Sean. They will gather for a tribute to the late unsung hero of modern jazz composition, Detroit drummer, Lawrence Williams, playing three sets of their own music, as well as many Williams originals. These are three true creative trumpet voices, coming together out of pure love of the music of Lawrence Williams - a night not to be missed.
9/23-Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra Performing Don Cherry's “Relativity Suite" His nine piece ensemble, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, recently completed a year and half long residency at the Jazz Standard in NYC, and has just completed their first recording, Baby Loves Jazz, produced and arranged by Mr. Bernstein, and featuring vocalists Sharon Jones and Babi Floyd, along with keyboard master John Medeski. The disc will be released in August by Verve records - it accompanies a book by Andy (Ropeadope) Hurwitz. On 9/23 Bernstein will lead this band through a very rare performance of Don Cherry's “Relativity Suite," originally recorded on February 14, 1973, and released that same year.
9/24-Dave Douglas & Graham Haynes Play The Small Group Music of Don Cherry Dave Douglas (trumpet), Graham Haynes (cornet), Henry Grimes (bass), Andrew Cyrille (drums), JD Allen (tenor sax) A never-before-heard collaboration, revisiting and reinterpreting the music of one of America's greatest visionaries. Graham Haynes is an American cornetist and trumpeter. His father is legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes. He was a founding member of Steve Coleman's M-Base collective and he has also played with David Murray, George Adams, Ed Blackwell, Cassandra Wilson, and Bill Laswell.
FONT Music at Tonic. 107 Norfolk St., between Delancey & Rivington, showtimes are 8 & 9:30 PM, TKTS are $12, for more information and TKTS call tel 212 358 7501 or click on
9/17-Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen, Ambient Assault Featuring Maurice Brown (see info under Opening Weekend)
10/7-Thomas Heberer, Rob Henke and The Washington Street Players, playing the music from “Footnotes" - original music by Rob Henke SSH Group: Norbert Scholly (electric guitar, computer), Thomas Heberer (trumpet, e - piano), Frank Schulte (electronic keys, turntables, soundmanipulation). This project is a dedication to two visionary pioneers of modern electro-acoustic music. The Cologne based muicians were always fascinated by the visionary power of the spaceman Sun Ra and the sorcerer Miles Davis, who combined new instrument techniques and different playing styles into a new unique cosmos of sounds.
Rob Henke's tunes come from a simple January idea - sit quietly in a room with a trumpet and some music paper, capture whatever melody is floating around. Name the tune after the first person who comes to mind (no cheating!). Repeat. Stop and record when you have a small pile of tunes. The result nods to jazz of the 30's, Ornette, and American minimalism. Other stuff too, but that's for listeners to decide. All of the musicians involved have been working together in various combinations for many years. This, more than any other factor, is what (hopefully) gives strength and beauty to the music. The completion of this project was made possible by a generous grant from the Aaron Copland Foundation. Rob Henke (trumpet), Jody Espina (alto and soprano saxes), Rolf Sturm (guitars), Jim Whitney (bass), Pete McDonald (drums)
10/8-Ralph Alessi and School For Improvised Music (www.ralphalessi.com), David Weiss Point of Departure Quintet David Weiss has distinguished himself through finding flexibility and innovation in music that has it's roots in the mainstream. He has worked with Jaki Byard, Frank Foster and Jimmy Heath and has studied with fellow trumpeters Tommy Turrentine and Bill Hardman. His arrangements/transcriptions have appeared on over 80 CDs, including recordings by Abbey Lincoln, Freddie Hubbard, and Rodney Kendrick. In 1996 Weiss recruited some young, first-call New York musicians and composers to form the New Jazz Composers Octet. The collective quickly established itself as the “sound of the new jazz mainstream" (Ben Ratliff, New York Times) and was praised for their ability to “stretch hard bops kind-of-unstretchable formula (Jim Macnie, The Village Voice). The CD was also lauded as a “gem" and received a Critic's Pick as one of the Top 5 Albums of the Year in JazzTimes. David Weiss- (trumpet), J.D. Allen (tenor sax), Nir Felder (guitar), Luques Curtis (bass), TBA (drums).
FONT Music at Joe's Pub Located at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette St., showtimes are 9:30 PM, TKTS are $15.00, for more info and to purchase TKTS click on www.joespub.com, or call Tele-charge at 212 239 6200 9/28-David Glukh and Mark Gould David Glukh International Ensemble is one of the most unusual ensembles performing on the concert stage today. Eclectic by repertoire and design, the group is creating new forms of expression by combining a vast, ever expanding repertoire, consisting of diverse musical traditions from around the world. The ensemble's second CD, featuring traditional klezmer and world fusion improvisatory original compositions, was released in November 2005.
Mark Gould is the former co-principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is in demand internationally as a soloist and a teacher, and is on faculty at The Juilliard School. He is also the director of the New York Trumpet Ensemble, the Main Street Band and his controversial ensemble Pink Baby Monster. Angel Records has recently released Gould's wonderful new album, CAF 1930. This recording pairs the trumpet and guitar in “cantabile style" performances that exploit the natural melodic strength of the music and Mark's considerable operatic and jazz experience. 9/29-The Rodriguez Brothers Group featuring Michael Rodriguez and Brian Lynch The Festival of New Trumpet Music is proud to present new Latin trumpet music: The Rodriguez Bros. music is an exciting new combination of contemporary jazz harmony with Afro-Cuban influences. This concert brings together Michael Rodriguez, an important new voice in Latin jazz, with seasoned veteran Brian Lynch in a premiere collaboration. Don't miss this unique meeting of the horns!
Trumpeter/composer Michael Rodriguez was inspired to pursue music as a career by his father, who is the drummer, Roberto Rodriguez. Michael has performed and toured with pianist Eric Reed and is a member of the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. He has also worked with Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Quincy Jones, Joe Lovano, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Carla Bley Band, Eddie Palmieri Septet and the Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra. In December of 2003 Michael recorded on Charlie Haden's Grammy award winning album featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Joe Lovano, entitled Land of the Sun. Michael has also recorded on Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra's latest album entitled Not in Our Name. www.rodriguezmusic.com
48-year-old trumpet master Brian Lynch is a respected insider within both the hardcore bebop and Latin communities. He's as comfortable negotiating the complexities of clave with Afro-Caribbean pioneer Eddie Palmieri as swinging through advanced harmony with bebop maestro Phil Woods. He's worked in recent years with Buena Vista Social Club alumnus Barbarito Torres, dance remixer Joe Clausell, and the members of the influential Latin alternative group Yerba Buena. He arranges for Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima and producer Shinichi Osawa, has written string charts for Phil Woods, and has played with such pop luminaries as Maxwell, Prince, and Sheila E. www.brianlynchjazz.com
FONT Music Commissions - New Trumpet/New Music/New York at Makor-Steinhardt Building 35 West 67th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Showtimes are 7:30 & 9:30 PM, TKTS are $15. For more information about Makor, call 212 601 1000 or click on www.makor.org Made possible with generous assistance from the Greenwall Foundation
10/3-Peter Evans (7:30 PM), Cuong Vu (9:30 PM)
The Peter Evans Quartet features Evans (trumpet/piccolo trumpet), Brandon Seabrook (electric guitar, amplified banjo, analog electronics), Tom Blancarte (double bass) and Kevin Shea (drums). Evans presents a new set of maximalist insanity featuring a quartet comprised of familiar collaborators. A FONT Music/American Music Center commissioned work.
Cuong Vu's latest recording, “It's Mostly Residual," is available through ArtistShare. Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a new generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing talents to a wide range of artists including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Cibo Matto, Mitchell Froom, and Chris Speed. The trumpeter has recently been on tour with The Pat Metheny Group.
10/4-Du Yun with Micah Killion and The Practical Trumpet Society (7:30 PM), Mark Gould and the New York Trumpet Ensemble (9:30 PM)
10/5-Amir El Saffar (7:30 PM), Jonathan Finlayson-Common Thread (9:30) (w/Shane Endsley-trumpet, Tim Albright-trombone, Marcus Gilmore-drums, Matt Brewer-bass) When Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar traveled to Baghdad, he fell in love with maqam, a soulful, improvisational music played in Iraqi coffeehouses, homes and mosques for centuries. But political turmoil has left the genre endangered, as its masters have fled. Soon, ElSaffar would take leave of his jazz career in New York - where he performed with Cecil Taylor, Billy Hart and Randy Brecker - to travel through Europe and study maqam under exiled masters, learning the santur, a hammered dulcimer. For FONT he brings together an ensemble to integrate maqam with jazz. ElSaffar (trumpet, santur, vocals) performs with: Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone), Carlo DeRosa (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Zaafer Tawil (percussion, oud, violin), Tareq Abboushi (buzuq, percussion), Hakan Ali Toker (qanun, accordion), Dmitri Mikelis (oud). In addition to his work in the traditional realm, Amir has developed a new approach to playing the trumpet, which utilizes the microtuning and ornaments that are characteristic to Arabic musical instruments but are not typically heard on the trumpet. He has performed on trumpet with Egyptian violinist Alfred Gamil, Palestinian violinist Simon Shaheen and Qantara, and Shusmo.
Every so often one may arrive at a space-where one feels rooted in a routine and understanding. Yet this feeling of stability almost inevitably gives way to a recurring and ongoing inquiry of dynamism and stasis as it pertains to the human condition. Strange Stasis is a sonic meditation on this process: phases of resolve altering into the unresolved, only to return to their original state. Through the use of resonant timbres, and through the juxtaposition of target consonances and dissonances, evoking the ongoing shifts of stasis through time.
Noted as a trumpeter and composer of exceptional merit, Jonathan Finlayson is an active member of the creative music scene of New York. He's garnered press from such publications as The New York Times, Time Out, and DownBeat. A long-standing veteran of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, having joined the band before he graduated from high school. Jonathan has performed on several recordings and maintains a busy tour schedule across the United States and at prestigious European festivals and clubs. As a bandleader, he has presented original music performed by two groups of his own, “Common Thread" and his Quartet, at various venues. Jonathan has also performed wth a wide array of musicians including Jason Moran, Nasheet Waits, Ravi Coltrane, Meshelle Ndegeocello, Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, Ralph Allesi, Magic Malik and Abbey Lincoln.
“New Trumpet Underground" at The Cornelia Street Caf first night 830, 930 & 1030, fri, sat 9 & 1030. 29 Cornelia Street, call 212 989 9319 or click on www.corneliastreetcafe.com 10/10-Amy Horvey - The Perspective of Disappearance-solo trumpet (8:30 PM), Bart Miltenberger (9:30 PM), Jordan McClean (10:30 PM) In this performance, the solo trumpet, played by Amy Horvey, will be used as a laboratory for a performative journey through the architecture of the instrument's acoustic identity - an attempt to rethink the concept of “trumpet" from a different perspective, farther from the cultural idea of “what the trumpet is" and closer to its acoustical properties. Amy will be playing Giacinto Scelsi's “Quattro Pezzi per Tromba," as well as new works by Cecilia Arditto and Isak Goldschneider, and a theatrical work by Canadian composer Ryan Purchase based on an anecdote by Russian humorist Daniil Kharms.
UK-born trumpet player Bart Miltenberger is a lyrical and melodic player who first appeared in FONT Music in Trumpet Nation on the opening night of the 2nd annual Festival. He has studied with the Maestro Dennis Sandole (best known as John Coltrane's teacher) and was an American Composers Forum grant winner in 2003. He has worked with a variety of artists including Fathead, G-Love and Special Sauce, Conjunto 23, The Digable Planets, Jon Faddis, James Moody, Dave Liebman, Tyrone Brown, Farid Barron, and Tom Lawton. In addition to his group The Chance Trio, Miltenberger regularly performs with Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound and Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph. The Chance Trio is a one-of-a-kind Philadelphia-based acoustic trio, started in 2001 by Miltenberger (trumpet, flugelhorn), Matt Davis (acoustic guitar), and Michael Taylor (upright bass). They perform music influenced by jazz, blues, folk, rock, and the avant-garde with a quiet intensity straight from the heart. The Chance Trio's debut album, Marnee Birds, is available in stores and online at www.thechancetrio.com Jordan McClean is a charter member, lead trumpeter, featured soloist and contributing composer for The Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. He can also be heard as featured soloist with Medeski Martin and Wood, Cyro Baptista, Butch Morris, Daniel Carter, Roy Campbell Jr., Shoko Nagai, Jeremia Lockwood, Volney Litmus, Chin Chin, Eternal Buzz Brass Band, Akim's Dhafusion, Pransemble, Velour Music, and countless other NYC based and international ensembles. www.fireofspace.com 10/11-Jacob Varmus Quintet, www.jacobvarmus.com (8:30 PM), Jacob Varmus (trumpet, cornet), Nate Radley (guitar), Toru Dodo (piano), Yoshi Waki (bass), Brian Woodruff (drums), John McDonough & Brilliant Coroners (10 PM), www.libertylakedaycamp.com/BC/ Punk, funk, heavy metal, trip-hop, techno - not words typically used when describing Thelonious Monk's music. However, these are words used to describe Brilliant Coroners. More of a “Thelonious Monk cover band" than a jazz outfit, this NYC based sextet takes Monk's music and updates it for the 21st Century.
10/12-Jeff Kaiser/Tom McNalley (8:30 PM), Gordon Allen & Nate Wooley Quartet (10 PM) Jeff Kaiser (quarter-tone trumpet, processing)/Tom McNalley (electric guitar)- Improvisations using live electronic processing of quarter-tone trumpet and electric guitar. Jeff Kaiser has played with groups led by Vinny Golia, Steuart Liebig, Michael Vlatkovich, Eugene Chadbourne and others, as well as his own ensembles The Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet, The Choir Boys and more. He writes his own audio processing software (using Max/MSP) and is currently working on a commission for choir involving live processing of the vocalists. He plays a quarter-tone trumpet made by Joe Marcinkiewicz.
Recently relocated to Los Angeles, guitarist Tom McNalley has worked as both a sideman and a leader. He has performed with a wide variety of musicians, including Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Jeff Kaiser and John Zorn, as well as with his own groups.
Gordon Allen was born in toronto and lives in montreal. He has played across canada and in the U.S. with the likes of William Parker, Jean Derome, and Steve Lacy. Allen studied at the Banff Centre with Dave Douglas, George Lewis and many others. He is working on the release of a solo electro accousic recording. He practices trumpet in his kitchen. Candian trumpeter's NYC debut. His quartet, co-led with Nate Wooley and featuring Andrew Greenwald on drums and Reuben Radding on bass plays spontaneous music.
Nate Wooley grew up in a Finnish-American fishing village in Oregon. He has spent the rest of his life trying musically to find a way back to the peace and quiet of that time by whole-heartedly embracing the space between complete absorption in sound and relative absence of the same. He began playing trumpet professionally at age 13 with his father, and after studying he moved to Colorado where he studied more with Ron Miles, Art Lande, Fred Hess, and improvisation master Jack Wright. His tenure with Jack began to break Nate out of self-imposed molds and into the sound world that he has embraced as his own.
10/13-John McNeil & Ron Horton, with special guest Dave Douglas (9 & 10:30 PM) Two contemporary jazz masters come together for the first time to create an exciting new brass project! www.mcneiljazz.com, www.ronhorton.net
10/14-Butch Morris & Trumpet Nation (9 PM), Ted Daniel (10:30 PM) The legendary Butch Morris leads a legion of trumpets through a uniquely enthralling new piece, continuing a FONT Music tradition!
Ted Daniel began studying trumpet in elementary school. He began his professional career playing local gigs with his childhood friend, the legendary guitarist, Sonny Sharrock. He briefly attended Berklee School of music and Southern Illinois University before a tour of duty will U.S. Army Bands. After his dischagre, Daniel began his recording career on Sonny Sharrock's first album Black Woman. His second recording was with a band he co-lead (Brute Force) with his brother, Richard Daniel. The self-titled recording was produced by Herbie Mann. Since then, Mr. Daniel has participated in over thirty published recordings with such great artist such as: Archie Shepp, Dewey Redman, Andrew Cyrille, Sam Rivers, Billy Bang and Henry Threadgill. He has held workshops at Amherst College, Bennington College, Williams College and the University of Hosei in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Daniel has produced three albums under his own name, The Ted Daniel Sextet, Tapestry and In The Beginning. Daniel has been the recipient of a NEA compositional grant and awarded Talent Deserving Wider recognition from Downbeat Magazine. Presently, Mr. Daniel is writing and performing with his new group, the International Brass and Membrane Corporation (IBMC). This trio was conceived as a flexible and expandable creative music performance group which utilizes instruments from the brass and membrane instrument families.
Festival Of New Trumpet Music Benefit Concert for The Fund For Public Schools at St. Mark's Church In The Bowery, October 15, 2:00-5:00 PM, reception following in The Parish House. $20.00 Suggested Donation 131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Ave.) Tel 212 674 6377
This special fund-raising event will feature many of the fine 2006 FONT Music artists including Dave Douglas, Henry Grimes, Steven Bernstein, Peter Evans, Zlaltne Uste Balkan Brass Band (www.zlatneuste.com), Jonathan Finlayson, and others. Plus a silent auction, instrument donations and patrons!
The Curators:
The Festival of New Trumpet Music was founded in 2003 by two of the most innovative and acclaimed trumpeter/composers active today: Roy Campbell, Jr. and Dave Douglas (2005 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient). Trumpeter, educator Jon Nelson joined in 2004. The curators seek to promote the creation of avant-garde, adventurous, and experimental music, featuring an international lineup of trumpeters representing the worlds of jazz, new music, free form, hip-hop, rock, improvisational, classical, and more. This climate of autonomy and inclusion results in a number of extraordinary performances, often uniting different communities in a way that is all too rare in contemporary music.
Dave Douglas has collaborated widely across the spectrum of American music including work with John Zorn, Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, Steve Lacy, Fred Hersch, Anthony Braxton, Myra Melford, Andy Bey, Nick Didkovsky, Trisha Brown, Terry Winters, Jennifer Tipton, Louis Sclavis, Henry Grimes, Tim Berne, Tom Waits, Rabih Abou-Khalil, DJ Olive, Ikue Mori, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Chris Potter, Uri Caine, Mark Turner, Roswell Rudd, Andrew Cyrille, Marc Ribot, Karsh Kale, Mark Dresser, Mark Feldman, Marty Ehrlich, Martial Solal and many others. Mr. Douglas cites Igor Stravinsky, John Coltrane, and Stevie Wonder as primary influences on his music. Douglas was recently featured as the cover story in the August issue of DownBeat Magazine. Since 2005 he has released all of his recordings on his own internet-based Greenleaf Music label.
As a bandleader, Roy Campbell, Jr. has long maintained several stellar working units. A few of the leading innovators among contemporary musicians Roy has worked with include: Rashied Ali, Billy Bang, Evelyn Blakey, Dave Douglas, Carlos Garnett, Henry Grimes, Eddie Harris, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Sun Ra, Woody Shaw, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, Wilbur Ware, Frank Wright, John Zorn, and a countless host of other bands and ensembles.
Currently Assistant Professor of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Jon Nelson maintains an active career as performer, producer and collaborator. He has served as principal trumpet for the Festival Aix en Provence de Musique in France under the direction of Pierre Boulez, and the Mineria Festival Orchestra in Mexico City. His arrangements have been performed and recorded by the Cologne Stadt Ballet, the Ethos Percussion Group, and Dweezil Zappa; he has recorded for Channel Classics Records, Barking Pumpkin, BMG/RCA, Bridge, Cuniform, Peer, New World Records, Vandenburg, and CRI. Mr. Nelson holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Mark Gould. He has also studied with Laurie Frink in New York, and Antoine Cure in France. Nelson joined FONT Music in 2004 to curate post-classical and other related repertoire.
FONT Music is now a non-profit entity in collaboration with the American Music Center and receives generous support from NYSCA, Greenwall foundation and private donors.
The 4th Annual Festival Of New Trumpet Music - September 15-October 15
“The Festival of New Trumpet Music has become a contender among New York's jazz-concert series." --Ben Ratliff, The New York Times
“The Festival of New Trumpet Music, a/k/a FONT Music, has evolved into a summer institution." --Nate Chinen, The Village Voice
“...feeling inspired by the flat-out excellent lineup at this year's Festival of New Trumpet Music." --Time Out New York
In addition to the curators, The 2006 FONT Music Festival will feature an incredible array of trumpet artists including Maurice Brown, Ingrid Jensen, Steven Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt, Marcus Belgrave, Sean Jones, Avishai Cohen, Ralph Alessi, John McNeil, Ron Horton, Mark Gould, Peter Evans, Micah Killion, David Krauss, and many others!
Director Dave Douglas, along with co-directors Roy Campbell and Jon Nelson, proudly announce the 2006 schedule of events for the fourth annual Festival of New Trumpet Music - aka FONT Music, taking place September 15 through October 15! This year the Festival opens with a bang on Opening Weekend, September 15-17, with trumpet players uptown, downtown, midtown, and even in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (see below for full details). For the first time FONT Music has taken a role in creating new music by commissioning five trumpeter/ composers. With assistance from the Greenwall Foundation this series will take place at Makor on October 3, 4, and 5. FONT Music 2006 will also feature a series of FREE masterclasses and $10 concerts to take place at The Yamaha Artist Services Center on Sundays (9/17, 9/24, 10/1 and 10/8), featuring top players from the classical and new music genres. The final event of the Festival, on October 15, will be dedicated to an all-star benefit concert for The Fund For Public Schools, aimed at helping to keep music alive and well in New York's City's public school system.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Festival of New Trumpet Music, a non-profit entity, will shine a spotlight on the multifariousness of the current state of trumpet music with performances by more than forty-five of the most revered and acclaimed trumpet artists in the world.
FONT Music 2006: OPENING WEEKEND - 9/15-17
9/15, 8-12 PM-Eric Biondo & Beyondo-Small & Medium, Ben Neill & Mutantrumpet-XIX, Scott Forrey & Vector Trio In Collaboration With The Williamsburg Jazz Festival. The Heineken Stage @ Rose, 345 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY, tel 718 599 0069 or click on www.wjazzfestival.com, tickets are $10.00
Small and Medium is a duo co-lead by trumpeter Eric Biondo and drummer/lap top artist Chris Vatalaro (both from the group Antibalas). This acoustic/electronic duo combines influences of afrobeat, electronica, funk, jazz and storytelling. Trumpet melodies will emerge from beds of swinging beats, forward moving improvisations and operatic interludes. Some of the songs involve specialized microphone system that fits into the pipes of the trumpet creating sounds comparable to what a baby hears in the womb.
Ben Neill is a composer, performer, and inventor of the mutantrumpet, a hybrid electro- acoustic instrument. The mutantrumpet was originally designed with the help of synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog and was further developed at the Steim Studios in Amsterdam. The instrument has three bells, two sets of valves, a trombone slide and is a fully functional MIDI controller. In Neill's live performance, laptop computers merge the mutantrumpet with live digital audio and video. In addition to controlling electronic sounds in real time, Neill literally plays the moving pictures, making the images an extension of his instrument. XIX is a new project by Neill that explores the expressive qualities of 19th century romanticism with live instruments and new digital technologies. Futuristic sounds of Neill's mutantrumpet coombine with live interactive video by artist Bill Jones; bassist John Conte and drummer Jim Mussen add live grooves to the mix.
Vector Trio, Scott Forrey (trumpets, loops, and electronics), Gary Rouzer (electric bass, loops, and electronics), Marshall Hughey (drums and landscape percussion) began life in 1996 as a septet, the brainchild of trumpeter/composer Forrey. In 2002 Vector became a trio as they began making use of electronics, including looping devices and effects processors, to expand the possibilities of the smaller unit. Their work to date is showcased in their all-original CD, Plot Twist (2004) and Live in DC (2005), recorded at Sangha Caf and Velvet Lounge. Vector Trio is a project designed to explore freedom and possibility in three voices, contextualized by cultural disharmony. Vector Trio's newest CD, Paths Unknown, will be released on September 1, 2006.
Opening Weekend Event:
9/16, 8:30 PM-Dave Douglas and Roy Campbell - A Living Tribute To Don Cherry Featuring a performance of Cherry's “Symphony For Improvisers" Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th Street, call 212 501 3330 for tickets or click on www.kaufman-center.org. Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show.
Roy Campbell and Dave Douglas perform original music and interpretations of Don Cherry's pieces with their own quartets. Then both ensembles unite to play Cherry's seminal piece, “Symphony for Improvisers," featuring bassist Henry Grimes who played on the original recording forty years ago. Other important improvisers featured in this celebration of Don Cherry's 70th birthday include bassist William Parker, drummers Andrew Cyrille and Hamid Drake and saxophonists Mixashawn and JD Allen.
Opening Weekend Event:
9/17-First Day of The Yamaha Seminar Days-FREE masterclasses (3-5 PM) and $10 concerts (6:00 PM) every Sunday at The Yamaha Artist Services Ctr The Yamaha Artist Services Center is located at 689 5th Ave Masterclass: David Krauss, Co-Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet, and Trumpet Ensemble I Performers: David Krauss, Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion Works by: Terry Riley, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alban Berg, Gareth Flowers, Jonathan Harvey, Paul Rutti
Opening Weekend Event:
9/17-Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen (8 PM), Ambient Assault featuring Maurice Brown (9:30 PM) Tonic, 107 Norfolk St., between Delancey & Rivington, call 212 358 7501 or click on www.tonicnyc.com In collaboration with FONT Music, The Williamsburg Jazz Festival presents two prominent artists on the Williamsburg Scene. Opening the night, Rick Parker's Ambient Assault will feature New Orleans trumpet great, Maurice Brown. Other members are Rick Parker (trombone and effects), Sam Barsh (keyboards), Mark Guiliana (drums), Kyle Struve (drums). Long time Williamsburg denizens Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen will co-lead the closing band in a marriage of avant-garde and groove, featuring Kyle Struve on drums and Gavin Fallow on bass.
The Williamsburg Jazz Festival is in it's fourth season and runs from September 10th through the 17th.
FONT Music Schedule of Events:
Yamaha Seminar Days - Free Masterclasses & $10 Concerts Every Sunday (9/17, 9/24, 10/1 and 10/8) The Yamaha Artist Services Center is located at 689 5th Ave, masterclasses are from 3-5 PM, concerts at 6 PM. 9/17-Masterclass: David Krauss, Co-Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet, and Trumpet Ensemble I Performers: David Krauss, Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion Works by: Terry Riley, Sofia Gubaidulina, Alban Berg, Gareth Flowers, Jonathan Harvey, Paul Rutti
9/24-Masterclass: TBA
Concert: Music for Solo Trumpet and Trumpet Ensemble II Performers: Gareth Flowers, Liam Day, Micah Killion, Peter Evans Works by: Charles Whittenberg, Hans Werner Henze, Peter Evans, Toru Takamitsu, Sofia Gubaidulina
10/1-Masterclass: Atlantic Brass Quintet
Concert: The Contemporary Brass Quintet Performers: The Atlantic Brass Quintet Works by: Sam Headrick, Jan Bach, Bernard Rands, John Manning, Silvestre Revueltas
10/8-Masterclass: Panel Discussion on Through Composed and Improvised Music for Large Ensembles - with David Sanford, Dave Douglas, Dave Ballou, and others TBA Concert: The Music of David Sanford Performers: The Pittsburgh Collective, Meridian Arts Ensemble Works: Selections for Big Band written for the Pittsburgh Collective and Directed by David Sanford, Corpus for Brass Quintet and Drum Set.
This concert will announce the release of the Pittsburgh Collective's debut CD, and the CD release of Sanford's work entitled Corpus, recorded by the Meridian Arts Ensemble.
FONT Music at The Jazz Standard, 9/19-9/24 116 East 27th street. sets at 7:30 & 9:30 PM, 11:30 PM set on Fri & Sat. For more information and reservations call 212 576 2232 or click on www.jazzstandard.net 9/19-Avishai Cohen, Jeremy Pelt, Keyon Harrold - “Out Of The Battlefield" With Jonathan Blake on drums, Jason Lindner on piano and Barak Mori on bass Trumpet Avishai Cohen is one of the most in demand trumpet players in New York and around the globe. His diversity has allowed him to perform and record regularly with folk/jazz vocalist Keren Ann, Jason Lindner, Roy Hargrove, Third World Love, as well his own band. Cohen blends his love of African music, traditional jazz and his Israeli heritage to create a dynamic musical experience focusing on rhythmic exploration, unusual compositional forms and groove. His second CD as a leader, “After the Big Rain," will be released in the Winter of 2006. www.avishaicohenmusic.com.
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, 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. However, Pelt's major focus is on writing music and leading his three bands: “Creation," “Noise" and “The Jeremy Pelt Quartet."
Keyon Harrold is one of the top up and coming trumpeters on the scene today, as well as a noted hip-hop producer, working with the likes of Charles Tolliver, David Weiss, amongst many others. This versatile and eclectic artist draws his influences from jazz greats such as Clifford Brown, John Coltrane, Billie Holiday and Woody Shaw, and hip-hop legends such as Common, Kanye West, Tribe Called Quest and many others.
9/20-Taylor Ho Bynum & Stephen Haynes Double Trio
With Mary Halvorson & Allan Jaffe on guitars and Tomas Fujiwara & Warren Smith on drums Taylor Ho Bynum and Stephen Haynes have a ten-year musical relationship, from co- leading the cooperative brass ensemble Paradigm Shift to anchoring the trumpet section of Cecil Taylor's present large ensemble. For the Festival of New Trumpet Music, they debut a new project, as they combine two brass/guitar/drums trios into a double-image sextet. The members of this cross-genre, cross-generational ensemble range in age from twenty-five to seventy-two, and range in experience from indie rock to ragtime and from Motown to Stomp, but all the musicians share a deep commitment to the pursuit of creative music.
9/21-North by Northeast-Canadian music for Trumpets and Rhythm led by Ingrid Jensen and Lina Allemano. A collective event featuring original compositions by both trumpeters as well as works by noted Canadian composers. The groups will be backed by Jon Wikan on drums and percussion TBA on bass, TBA on chords.
Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen has been highly visible on the jazz scene for over 15 years, making award winning recordings, performing globally at festivals and clubs, and establishing herself as a first rate educator at high-schools, universities and jazz camps. She currently has five CDs out as a leader and can be heard on countless others, including Grammy award winning Maria Schneider's, Concert in the Garden. Her latest recording, At Sea, on the ArtistShare label has garnered rave reviews and she continues to split her time traveling and playing with her own groups and as a side-person, as well as teaching part- time at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the New School in New York.
Lina Allemano is a Toronto jazz trumpeter and composer with an established career playing, recording and touring internationally with numerous groups. In addition to fronting her own band, Lina Allemano Four, she is also a permanent member of the improvising trio “N," Tim Posgate's Jazzstory and Horn Band, and Jane Fair/Rosemary Galloway Quintet. Lina appears on over twenty recordings including Lina Allemano Four Concentric, William Carn/Lina Allemano Old Souls, Tim Posgate Jazzstory, Jane Fair/ Rosemary Galloway Waltz Out, and NOJO Highwire. Lina was winner of the 2005 National Jazz Awards' CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award and she was nominated for the 2005 Canadian Independent Music Awards Favorite Jazz Artist and the 2005 National Jazz Awards Trumpeter of the Year. Upcoming releases in 2006 include Lina's second CD as leader, Lina Allemano Four, “Pinkeye."
9/22-Marcus Belgrave, Sean Jones, Greg Glassman-A Tribute to Lawrence Williams With Dave Pier on piano, Danton Boller on bass and Quincy Davis on drums Greg Glassman, Sean Jones, and Marcus Belgrave are all friends and fans of one another, Marcus being a mentor to both Greg and Sean. They will gather for a tribute to the late unsung hero of modern jazz composition, Detroit drummer, Lawrence Williams, playing three sets of their own music, as well as many Williams originals. These are three true creative trumpet voices, coming together out of pure love of the music of Lawrence Williams - a night not to be missed.
9/23-Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra Performing Don Cherry's “Relativity Suite" His nine piece ensemble, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, recently completed a year and half long residency at the Jazz Standard in NYC, and has just completed their first recording, Baby Loves Jazz, produced and arranged by Mr. Bernstein, and featuring vocalists Sharon Jones and Babi Floyd, along with keyboard master John Medeski. The disc will be released in August by Verve records - it accompanies a book by Andy (Ropeadope) Hurwitz. On 9/23 Bernstein will lead this band through a very rare performance of Don Cherry's “Relativity Suite," originally recorded on February 14, 1973, and released that same year.
9/24-Dave Douglas & Graham Haynes Play The Small Group Music of Don Cherry Dave Douglas (trumpet), Graham Haynes (cornet), Henry Grimes (bass), Andrew Cyrille (drums), JD Allen (tenor sax) A never-before-heard collaboration, revisiting and reinterpreting the music of one of America's greatest visionaries. Graham Haynes is an American cornetist and trumpeter. His father is legendary jazz drummer Roy Haynes. He was a founding member of Steve Coleman's M-Base collective and he has also played with David Murray, George Adams, Ed Blackwell, Cassandra Wilson, and Bill Laswell.
FONT Music at Tonic. 107 Norfolk St., between Delancey & Rivington, showtimes are 8 & 9:30 PM, TKTS are $12, for more information and TKTS call tel 212 358 7501 or click on
9/17-Jesse Selengut and Sabir Mateen, Ambient Assault Featuring Maurice Brown (see info under Opening Weekend)
10/7-Thomas Heberer, Rob Henke and The Washington Street Players, playing the music from “Footnotes" - original music by Rob Henke SSH Group: Norbert Scholly (electric guitar, computer), Thomas Heberer (trumpet, e - piano), Frank Schulte (electronic keys, turntables, soundmanipulation). This project is a dedication to two visionary pioneers of modern electro-acoustic music. The Cologne based muicians were always fascinated by the visionary power of the spaceman Sun Ra and the sorcerer Miles Davis, who combined new instrument techniques and different playing styles into a new unique cosmos of sounds.
Rob Henke's tunes come from a simple January idea - sit quietly in a room with a trumpet and some music paper, capture whatever melody is floating around. Name the tune after the first person who comes to mind (no cheating!). Repeat. Stop and record when you have a small pile of tunes. The result nods to jazz of the 30's, Ornette, and American minimalism. Other stuff too, but that's for listeners to decide. All of the musicians involved have been working together in various combinations for many years. This, more than any other factor, is what (hopefully) gives strength and beauty to the music. The completion of this project was made possible by a generous grant from the Aaron Copland Foundation. Rob Henke (trumpet), Jody Espina (alto and soprano saxes), Rolf Sturm (guitars), Jim Whitney (bass), Pete McDonald (drums)
10/8-Ralph Alessi and School For Improvised Music (www.ralphalessi.com), David Weiss Point of Departure Quintet David Weiss has distinguished himself through finding flexibility and innovation in music that has it's roots in the mainstream. He has worked with Jaki Byard, Frank Foster and Jimmy Heath and has studied with fellow trumpeters Tommy Turrentine and Bill Hardman. His arrangements/transcriptions have appeared on over 80 CDs, including recordings by Abbey Lincoln, Freddie Hubbard, and Rodney Kendrick. In 1996 Weiss recruited some young, first-call New York musicians and composers to form the New Jazz Composers Octet. The collective quickly established itself as the “sound of the new jazz mainstream" (Ben Ratliff, New York Times) and was praised for their ability to “stretch hard bops kind-of-unstretchable formula (Jim Macnie, The Village Voice). The CD was also lauded as a “gem" and received a Critic's Pick as one of the Top 5 Albums of the Year in JazzTimes. David Weiss- (trumpet), J.D. Allen (tenor sax), Nir Felder (guitar), Luques Curtis (bass), TBA (drums).
FONT Music at Joe's Pub Located at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette St., showtimes are 9:30 PM, TKTS are $15.00, for more info and to purchase TKTS click on www.joespub.com, or call Tele-charge at 212 239 6200 9/28-David Glukh and Mark Gould David Glukh International Ensemble is one of the most unusual ensembles performing on the concert stage today. Eclectic by repertoire and design, the group is creating new forms of expression by combining a vast, ever expanding repertoire, consisting of diverse musical traditions from around the world. The ensemble's second CD, featuring traditional klezmer and world fusion improvisatory original compositions, was released in November 2005.
Mark Gould is the former co-principal trumpet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is in demand internationally as a soloist and a teacher, and is on faculty at The Juilliard School. He is also the director of the New York Trumpet Ensemble, the Main Street Band and his controversial ensemble Pink Baby Monster. Angel Records has recently released Gould's wonderful new album, CAF 1930. This recording pairs the trumpet and guitar in “cantabile style" performances that exploit the natural melodic strength of the music and Mark's considerable operatic and jazz experience. 9/29-The Rodriguez Brothers Group featuring Michael Rodriguez and Brian Lynch The Festival of New Trumpet Music is proud to present new Latin trumpet music: The Rodriguez Bros. music is an exciting new combination of contemporary jazz harmony with Afro-Cuban influences. This concert brings together Michael Rodriguez, an important new voice in Latin jazz, with seasoned veteran Brian Lynch in a premiere collaboration. Don't miss this unique meeting of the horns!
Trumpeter/composer Michael Rodriguez was inspired to pursue music as a career by his father, who is the drummer, Roberto Rodriguez. Michael has performed and toured with pianist Eric Reed and is a member of the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. He has also worked with Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Quincy Jones, Joe Lovano, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Carla Bley Band, Eddie Palmieri Septet and the Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra. In December of 2003 Michael recorded on Charlie Haden's Grammy award winning album featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Joe Lovano, entitled Land of the Sun. Michael has also recorded on Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra's latest album entitled Not in Our Name. www.rodriguezmusic.com
48-year-old trumpet master Brian Lynch is a respected insider within both the hardcore bebop and Latin communities. He's as comfortable negotiating the complexities of clave with Afro-Caribbean pioneer Eddie Palmieri as swinging through advanced harmony with bebop maestro Phil Woods. He's worked in recent years with Buena Vista Social Club alumnus Barbarito Torres, dance remixer Joe Clausell, and the members of the influential Latin alternative group Yerba Buena. He arranges for Japanese pop star Mika Nakashima and producer Shinichi Osawa, has written string charts for Phil Woods, and has played with such pop luminaries as Maxwell, Prince, and Sheila E. www.brianlynchjazz.com
FONT Music Commissions - New Trumpet/New Music/New York at Makor-Steinhardt Building 35 West 67th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. Showtimes are 7:30 & 9:30 PM, TKTS are $15. For more information about Makor, call 212 601 1000 or click on www.makor.org Made possible with generous assistance from the Greenwall Foundation
10/3-Peter Evans (7:30 PM), Cuong Vu (9:30 PM)
The Peter Evans Quartet features Evans (trumpet/piccolo trumpet), Brandon Seabrook (electric guitar, amplified banjo, analog electronics), Tom Blancarte (double bass) and Kevin Shea (drums). Evans presents a new set of maximalist insanity featuring a quartet comprised of familiar collaborators. A FONT Music/American Music Center commissioned work.
Cuong Vu's latest recording, “It's Mostly Residual," is available through ArtistShare. Vu is widely recognized by jazz critics as a leader of a new generation of innovative musicians. A truly unique musical voice, Cuong has lent his trumpet playing talents to a wide range of artists including Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Dave Douglas, Myra Melford, Cibo Matto, Mitchell Froom, and Chris Speed. The trumpeter has recently been on tour with The Pat Metheny Group.
10/4-Du Yun with Micah Killion and The Practical Trumpet Society (7:30 PM), Mark Gould and the New York Trumpet Ensemble (9:30 PM)
10/5-Amir El Saffar (7:30 PM), Jonathan Finlayson-Common Thread (9:30) (w/Shane Endsley-trumpet, Tim Albright-trombone, Marcus Gilmore-drums, Matt Brewer-bass) When Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar traveled to Baghdad, he fell in love with maqam, a soulful, improvisational music played in Iraqi coffeehouses, homes and mosques for centuries. But political turmoil has left the genre endangered, as its masters have fled. Soon, ElSaffar would take leave of his jazz career in New York - where he performed with Cecil Taylor, Billy Hart and Randy Brecker - to travel through Europe and study maqam under exiled masters, learning the santur, a hammered dulcimer. For FONT he brings together an ensemble to integrate maqam with jazz. ElSaffar (trumpet, santur, vocals) performs with: Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone), Carlo DeRosa (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Zaafer Tawil (percussion, oud, violin), Tareq Abboushi (buzuq, percussion), Hakan Ali Toker (qanun, accordion), Dmitri Mikelis (oud). In addition to his work in the traditional realm, Amir has developed a new approach to playing the trumpet, which utilizes the microtuning and ornaments that are characteristic to Arabic musical instruments but are not typically heard on the trumpet. He has performed on trumpet with Egyptian violinist Alfred Gamil, Palestinian violinist Simon Shaheen and Qantara, and Shusmo.
Every so often one may arrive at a space-where one feels rooted in a routine and understanding. Yet this feeling of stability almost inevitably gives way to a recurring and ongoing inquiry of dynamism and stasis as it pertains to the human condition. Strange Stasis is a sonic meditation on this process: phases of resolve altering into the unresolved, only to return to their original state. Through the use of resonant timbres, and through the juxtaposition of target consonances and dissonances, evoking the ongoing shifts of stasis through time.
Noted as a trumpeter and composer of exceptional merit, Jonathan Finlayson is an active member of the creative music scene of New York. He's garnered press from such publications as The New York Times, Time Out, and DownBeat. A long-standing veteran of Steve Coleman and Five Elements, having joined the band before he graduated from high school. Jonathan has performed on several recordings and maintains a busy tour schedule across the United States and at prestigious European festivals and clubs. As a bandleader, he has presented original music performed by two groups of his own, “Common Thread" and his Quartet, at various venues. Jonathan has also performed wth a wide array of musicians including Jason Moran, Nasheet Waits, Ravi Coltrane, Meshelle Ndegeocello, Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, Ralph Allesi, Magic Malik and Abbey Lincoln.
“New Trumpet Underground" at The Cornelia Street Caf first night 830, 930 & 1030, fri, sat 9 & 1030. 29 Cornelia Street, call 212 989 9319 or click on www.corneliastreetcafe.com 10/10-Amy Horvey - The Perspective of Disappearance-solo trumpet (8:30 PM), Bart Miltenberger (9:30 PM), Jordan McClean (10:30 PM) In this performance, the solo trumpet, played by Amy Horvey, will be used as a laboratory for a performative journey through the architecture of the instrument's acoustic identity - an attempt to rethink the concept of “trumpet" from a different perspective, farther from the cultural idea of “what the trumpet is" and closer to its acoustical properties. Amy will be playing Giacinto Scelsi's “Quattro Pezzi per Tromba," as well as new works by Cecilia Arditto and Isak Goldschneider, and a theatrical work by Canadian composer Ryan Purchase based on an anecdote by Russian humorist Daniil Kharms.
UK-born trumpet player Bart Miltenberger is a lyrical and melodic player who first appeared in FONT Music in Trumpet Nation on the opening night of the 2nd annual Festival. He has studied with the Maestro Dennis Sandole (best known as John Coltrane's teacher) and was an American Composers Forum grant winner in 2003. He has worked with a variety of artists including Fathead, G-Love and Special Sauce, Conjunto 23, The Digable Planets, Jon Faddis, James Moody, Dave Liebman, Tyrone Brown, Farid Barron, and Tom Lawton. In addition to his group The Chance Trio, Miltenberger regularly performs with Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound and Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph. The Chance Trio is a one-of-a-kind Philadelphia-based acoustic trio, started in 2001 by Miltenberger (trumpet, flugelhorn), Matt Davis (acoustic guitar), and Michael Taylor (upright bass). They perform music influenced by jazz, blues, folk, rock, and the avant-garde with a quiet intensity straight from the heart. The Chance Trio's debut album, Marnee Birds, is available in stores and online at www.thechancetrio.com Jordan McClean is a charter member, lead trumpeter, featured soloist and contributing composer for The Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. He can also be heard as featured soloist with Medeski Martin and Wood, Cyro Baptista, Butch Morris, Daniel Carter, Roy Campbell Jr., Shoko Nagai, Jeremia Lockwood, Volney Litmus, Chin Chin, Eternal Buzz Brass Band, Akim's Dhafusion, Pransemble, Velour Music, and countless other NYC based and international ensembles. www.fireofspace.com 10/11-Jacob Varmus Quintet, www.jacobvarmus.com (8:30 PM), Jacob Varmus (trumpet, cornet), Nate Radley (guitar), Toru Dodo (piano), Yoshi Waki (bass), Brian Woodruff (drums), John McDonough & Brilliant Coroners (10 PM), www.libertylakedaycamp.com/BC/ Punk, funk, heavy metal, trip-hop, techno - not words typically used when describing Thelonious Monk's music. However, these are words used to describe Brilliant Coroners. More of a “Thelonious Monk cover band" than a jazz outfit, this NYC based sextet takes Monk's music and updates it for the 21st Century.
10/12-Jeff Kaiser/Tom McNalley (8:30 PM), Gordon Allen & Nate Wooley Quartet (10 PM) Jeff Kaiser (quarter-tone trumpet, processing)/Tom McNalley (electric guitar)- Improvisations using live electronic processing of quarter-tone trumpet and electric guitar. Jeff Kaiser has played with groups led by Vinny Golia, Steuart Liebig, Michael Vlatkovich, Eugene Chadbourne and others, as well as his own ensembles The Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet, The Choir Boys and more. He writes his own audio processing software (using Max/MSP) and is currently working on a commission for choir involving live processing of the vocalists. He plays a quarter-tone trumpet made by Joe Marcinkiewicz.
Recently relocated to Los Angeles, guitarist Tom McNalley has worked as both a sideman and a leader. He has performed with a wide variety of musicians, including Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Jeff Kaiser and John Zorn, as well as with his own groups.
Gordon Allen was born in toronto and lives in montreal. He has played across canada and in the U.S. with the likes of William Parker, Jean Derome, and Steve Lacy. Allen studied at the Banff Centre with Dave Douglas, George Lewis and many others. He is working on the release of a solo electro accousic recording. He practices trumpet in his kitchen. Candian trumpeter's NYC debut. His quartet, co-led with Nate Wooley and featuring Andrew Greenwald on drums and Reuben Radding on bass plays spontaneous music.
Nate Wooley grew up in a Finnish-American fishing village in Oregon. He has spent the rest of his life trying musically to find a way back to the peace and quiet of that time by whole-heartedly embracing the space between complete absorption in sound and relative absence of the same. He began playing trumpet professionally at age 13 with his father, and after studying he moved to Colorado where he studied more with Ron Miles, Art Lande, Fred Hess, and improvisation master Jack Wright. His tenure with Jack began to break Nate out of self-imposed molds and into the sound world that he has embraced as his own.
10/13-John McNeil & Ron Horton, with special guest Dave Douglas (9 & 10:30 PM) Two contemporary jazz masters come together for the first time to create an exciting new brass project! www.mcneiljazz.com, www.ronhorton.net
10/14-Butch Morris & Trumpet Nation (9 PM), Ted Daniel (10:30 PM) The legendary Butch Morris leads a legion of trumpets through a uniquely enthralling new piece, continuing a FONT Music tradition!
Ted Daniel began studying trumpet in elementary school. He began his professional career playing local gigs with his childhood friend, the legendary guitarist, Sonny Sharrock. He briefly attended Berklee School of music and Southern Illinois University before a tour of duty will U.S. Army Bands. After his dischagre, Daniel began his recording career on Sonny Sharrock's first album Black Woman. His second recording was with a band he co-lead (Brute Force) with his brother, Richard Daniel. The self-titled recording was produced by Herbie Mann. Since then, Mr. Daniel has participated in over thirty published recordings with such great artist such as: Archie Shepp, Dewey Redman, Andrew Cyrille, Sam Rivers, Billy Bang and Henry Threadgill. He has held workshops at Amherst College, Bennington College, Williams College and the University of Hosei in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Daniel has produced three albums under his own name, The Ted Daniel Sextet, Tapestry and In The Beginning. Daniel has been the recipient of a NEA compositional grant and awarded Talent Deserving Wider recognition from Downbeat Magazine. Presently, Mr. Daniel is writing and performing with his new group, the International Brass and Membrane Corporation (IBMC). This trio was conceived as a flexible and expandable creative music performance group which utilizes instruments from the brass and membrane instrument families.
Festival Of New Trumpet Music Benefit Concert for The Fund For Public Schools at St. Mark's Church In The Bowery, October 15, 2:00-5:00 PM, reception following in The Parish House. $20.00 Suggested Donation 131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Ave.) Tel 212 674 6377
This special fund-raising event will feature many of the fine 2006 FONT Music artists including Dave Douglas, Henry Grimes, Steven Bernstein, Peter Evans, Zlaltne Uste Balkan Brass Band (www.zlatneuste.com), Jonathan Finlayson, and others. Plus a silent auction, instrument donations and patrons!
The Curators:
The Festival of New Trumpet Music was founded in 2003 by two of the most innovative and acclaimed trumpeter/composers active today: Roy Campbell, Jr. and Dave Douglas (2005 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient). Trumpeter, educator Jon Nelson joined in 2004. The curators seek to promote the creation of avant-garde, adventurous, and experimental music, featuring an international lineup of trumpeters representing the worlds of jazz, new music, free form, hip-hop, rock, improvisational, classical, and more. This climate of autonomy and inclusion results in a number of extraordinary performances, often uniting different communities in a way that is all too rare in contemporary music.
Dave Douglas has collaborated widely across the spectrum of American music including work with John Zorn, Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, Steve Lacy, Fred Hersch, Anthony Braxton, Myra Melford, Andy Bey, Nick Didkovsky, Trisha Brown, Terry Winters, Jennifer Tipton, Louis Sclavis, Henry Grimes, Tim Berne, Tom Waits, Rabih Abou-Khalil, DJ Olive, Ikue Mori, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, Chris Potter, Uri Caine, Mark Turner, Roswell Rudd, Andrew Cyrille, Marc Ribot, Karsh Kale, Mark Dresser, Mark Feldman, Marty Ehrlich, Martial Solal and many others. Mr. Douglas cites Igor Stravinsky, John Coltrane, and Stevie Wonder as primary influences on his music. Douglas was recently featured as the cover story in the August issue of DownBeat Magazine. Since 2005 he has released all of his recordings on his own internet-based Greenleaf Music label.
As a bandleader, Roy Campbell, Jr. has long maintained several stellar working units. A few of the leading innovators among contemporary musicians Roy has worked with include: Rashied Ali, Billy Bang, Evelyn Blakey, Dave Douglas, Carlos Garnett, Henry Grimes, Eddie Harris, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Sun Ra, Woody Shaw, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, Wilbur Ware, Frank Wright, John Zorn, and a countless host of other bands and ensembles.
Currently Assistant Professor of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Jon Nelson maintains an active career as performer, producer and collaborator. He has served as principal trumpet for the Festival Aix en Provence de Musique in France under the direction of Pierre Boulez, and the Mineria Festival Orchestra in Mexico City. His arrangements have been performed and recorded by the Cologne Stadt Ballet, the Ethos Percussion Group, and Dweezil Zappa; he has recorded for Channel Classics Records, Barking Pumpkin, BMG/RCA, Bridge, Cuniform, Peer, New World Records, Vandenburg, and CRI. Mr. Nelson holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Mark Gould. He has also studied with Laurie Frink in New York, and Antoine Cure in France. Nelson joined FONT Music in 2004 to curate post-classical and other related repertoire.
FONT Music is now a non-profit entity in collaboration with the American Music Center and receives generous support from NYSCA, Greenwall foundation and private donors.
For more information contact Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity.
