651 Arts Presents Blue Note Recording Artist Jason Moran: An Evening of Original Compositions and Standards

“The most exciting young musician [Jason Moran] in jazz turns his attention to the blues. He doesn't imitate older records but uses the blues as the raw material for a personal style that mixes bebop technique, hip-hop rhythms and avant-garde adventure “ (Washington Post)

“When [Moran] and his partners in The Bandwagon, drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist Tarus Mateen, gnaw 'Body and Soul' to the bone or rumble through the Afrika Bambaataa rap classic 'Planet Rock,' you want the songs to go on forever. This is brainy music aimed at the heart." (Newsweek)

Brooklyn, New York -- 651 ARTS presents Blue Note recording artist Jason Moran in An Evening of Original and Standards at Long Island University's (LIU) Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts. On the heels of his most recent CD Same Mother, Moran and his group, The Bandwagon, come to Brooklyn, a place he calls “...a cultural breeding ground," offering up an evening of cutting-edge, innovative jazz that pushes the limit. Tickets are $25. For more information, call 651 ARTS at 718-636-4181 x2229 or go to www.651arts.org. To purchase tickets call LIU's box office at 718-488-1624.

Moran will perform works from Same Mother, his sixth as a leader for Blue Note. His group, The Bandwagon, continues to fire away at complacency and orthodoxy, flummoxing contemporary audiences' notions about the classic piano trio. Same Mother comes about through invocations of gutbucket and roadhouse blues as an organizing principle. Says Moran, “I wanted to do something improvisationally that was coming from a raw blues expression--to improvise with focus rather than thinking about chords. The charts for the compositions were really loose and really sparse." About this trip to Brooklyn, he adds “...when people come to see this, even if they're seeing me for the first time, they're getting me doing the pull-up I could never do...like the 230th pull-up, when I'd only done 230 before."

Since his formidable emergence on the national music scene in the late 90s, pianist Jason Moran has become a leading light and a man to watch in modern jazz. In almost every category that matters--improvisation, composition, group concept, repertoire, technique and technological experimentation--Moran and his group, The Bandwagon, have challenged the status quo each time out. He expands his song-palette by making seemingly exotic yet astute choices in material that mark a bolder, generational bent. These include Bjork's Joga (brought into jazz consideration on Facing Left) and hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock which Moran has now twice recorded--first on his solo piano studio album, Modernistic and then on The Bandwagon, his group's live album from The Village Vanguard. For more information, visit www.jasonmoran.com.

About 651 ARTS
Founded in 1989, 651 ARTS is Brooklyn's premier performing arts presenter of contemporary dance, theater, music, and humanities programming celebrating the breadth of the African Diaspora. 651 ARTS has brought culturally resonant arts programming and artists to its home at the BAM Harvey Theater and surrounding geographic area for the past 16 years, with over 600 artists and artistic ensembles--from Cuba to Trinidad, Senegal to South Africa, Brooklyn to Brazil. 651 ARTS continues to expand programming to encompass a panoramic view of the arts of the African Diaspora, solidifying a vital connection to its community and its changing demographics, while maintaining its high standards of artistic excellence.

Sponsors
651 ARTS 2005-2006 Season is sponsored in part by the following: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Lila Acheson Wallace Theater Fund, Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Meet The Composer, Tides Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Independence Community Foundation, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Capezio/Ballet Makers Dance Foundation, National Performance Network , Con Edison, American Express, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Altria Group, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, Pfizer, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Council Member Letitia James, and the South African Consulate.