ACCLAIMED PIANIST'S FIRST ALBUM IN FOUR YEARS TO BE RELEASED JUNE 22 ON BLUE NOTE CELEBRATING A DECADE OF TRAILBLZING WITH THE BANDWAGON
On June 22, EMI's Blue Note Records will release Ten, the remarkable new album from jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran that celebrates the 10 year anniversary of The Bandwagon, Moran's trio featuring bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits. Featuring a striking cover design by the conceptual artist Adam Pendleton, Ten is the most assured and focused album of Moran's acclaimed career, a snapshot of a mature band with a decade of shared musical experience from which to draw.
On Ten, Moran pays tribute to his stylistic heirs--Thelonious Monk, Andrew Hill, and Jaki Byard--as well as Jimi Hendrix and renegade classical composer Conlon Nancarrow. He draws inspiration from his collaborations in dance and film, and reimagines a century-old minstrel hit song by Bert Williams. The album has already been highlighted in summer music previews in TIME and PASTE, and is the Editor's Pick and lead review in the new issue of DownBeat who awarded it four-stars while declaring it “unassailably brilliant."
Listeners can check the album out for themselves at the NPR Music website where Ten is currently streaming in its entirety as part of NPR's Exclusive First Listen series. Stay tuned for further coverage on All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and Weekend Edition, as well as an interview segment on CNN.
On June 21, The Bandwagon will be performing several songs from the album at a special live broadcast audience event for WNYC Soundcheck Live in their Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in New York City. That evening The Bandwagon will be giving an in-store performance at The Apple Store Upper West Side. A performance and interview with The Bandwagon will also be airing on WBGO The Checkout on June 22.
Indaba Music, the leading online destination for music creation, has also announced the June 17 launch of a remix contest for Moran's track “RFK In The Land Of Apartheid." Following a four-week submission period and a two-week public voting period, winners will be announced on August 18 with prizes including Moran's complete Blue Note discography, signed sheet music and copies of Ten, and year-long platinum memberships to Indaba.
Moran will continue to tour throughout the year in a variety of settings. Following a run of European festivals, The Bandwagon will be performing at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York, and will appear for a week at the historic Village Vanguard this Fall. Moran will also make three appearances at the CareFusion Jazz Festival in New York; leading a trio with guitarist Mary Halvorson and trumpeter Ron Miles, and also appearing as a sideman with the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet and Eric Revis Quartet. Moran will also continue to tour as a member of the Charles Lloyd New Quartet. See full dates below.
CHECK OUT WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT TEN:
“No finer piano trio currently stalks the earth. Historically and intellectually resourceful but also sparklingly intuitive, inventive, spontaneous... Unassailably brilliant." ()
--DownBeat
“A devoted disciple of Thelonious Monk's approach to jazz piano, Moran also has his mighty fingers in the '60s avant-garde, pop and contemporary visual arts."
--TIME
“Fueled by the expert bustle of his trio, [Moran is] given to expansive, sparkling showpieces; solo, he coaxes the still spaces between the notes into a cadence of their own."
--PASTE
“It's been more than a decade since Jason Moran appeared out of nowhere and upended the notion that no one in jazz could do anything new on the piano... In 10 short years, he managed to issue several albums that are already considered classics and keep together a trio that is one of today's finest. That trio is behind Ten, Moran's outstanding new disc. It contains the best of what he does: smart writing, propulsive rhythms, and improvisations that suggest mile-a-minute thinking and a sense that Moran constantly pushes himself to find the freshest phrase... so brilliant it would blind you if you could see sound."
--Boston Globe
“One of the most original and conceptually brilliant jazz artists of his generation... Moran's a visionary, destined to be counted among the greats... 'Ten' is the most immediately pleasurable album of his career."
--Washington City Paper
“The musical wunderkind has over the past decade become the hottest pianist in jazz... Daring and dazzling."
--Houston Chronicle
JASON MORAN 2010 TOUR DATES
June 19 - New York, NY - Jazz Gallery (with Eric Revis Quartet)
June 21 - New York, NY - WNYC Soundcheck Live (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
June 21 - New York, NY - Apple Store Upper West Side (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
June 24 - New York, NY - Jazz Standard (Jason Moran with Mary Halvorson & Ron Miles)
June 25 - New York, NY - Jazz Standard (with Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet)
June 30 - Verona, Italy - Verona Jazz Festival (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
July 1 - Gexto, Spain - Gexto Jazz (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
July 2 - Salzau, Germany - Jazz Baltica (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
July 4 - Estoril, Portugal - Estoril Jazz (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
July 5 - Vienne, France - Jazz a Vienne (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
July 8 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Copenhagen Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
July 9 - Rotterdam, Holland North Sea Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
July 11 - Pamplona, Spain - Pamplona Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
Aug 8 - Newport, RI - Newport Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
Aug 28 - New York, NY - Charlie Parker Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
Sept 11 - Arlington, VA - Rosslyn Jazz Festival (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
Sept 22-23 - Oakland, CA - Yoshi's (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
Sept 24 - Santa Barbara, CA - Lobero Theatre (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
Sept 25 - Los Angeles, CA - Zipper Theater (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
Sept 30 - St. Paul, MN - Dakota Jazz Club (with Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
Oct 5-10 - New York, NY - Village Vanguard (Jason Moran & The Bandwagon)
