Date: February 2, 2013
Location: the Cooper Union Foundation Building
Text by Dawoud Kringle
On a moderately cold Cooper Union’s Great Hall was packed with everyone who is connected with the NYC jazz and poetry scene to pay tribute to the late master poet Jayne Cortez.
Text by Matt Cole
The world lost an outstanding and original musician yesterday when conductor, composer, cornetist, educator, and writer Lawrence “Butch” Morris passed away a few weeks shy of his 66th birthday. Morris got his start as a cornetist in the ’70s, playing with saxophonist David Murray, and others, but is best known for his conductions, live conducted improvisations of often large ensembles, in which he created compositions in real time by directing musicians (and/or poets) with a set of several dozen hand signs and gestures. Morris developed this system (which he has described as an exploration of the overlapping space between improvisation and composition) as an outgrowth of an attempt to devise a more flexible musical notation.
Over a 25+ year span, Morris taught and conducted over 5,000 musicians in 200 or so conductions in New York, Europe, South America, and Asia; often the concerts followed intensive workshops. Morris also wrote about his conduction and musical philosophy in a complex, information-rich style that reminds me of none other than R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome. In addition, Morris had, from time to time, some ongoing projects which included the Chorus of Poets, the Lucky Cheng Orchestra, and the Nublu Orchestra.
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi
Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances by the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra of Falafel, Freilach, & Frijoles: From Mambo to Borscht will be at the box office of Symphony Space. The box office opens at 1pm on both days. Symphony Space is located at 95th Street and Broadway in Manhattan.
If you would like to attend please go to the box office and request a ticket. There will be assigned seating and everyone must have a ticket.
Date: Thursday, November 1, 2012
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Venue: ShapeShifter Lab (18 Whitwell Pl, between Carroll St & 1st St,Brooklyn, NY 11215, 646-820-9452)
Ticket: $11
On Thursday, November 1, 2012 Downbeat Rising Star Sylvain Leroux will present a live performance of his latest project “Quatuor Creole” featuring legendary vibist Karl Berger. Released in June, the CD has been well received by critics, eliciting such comments as: “… perfect contemporary music release…” (Dustin Garlitz, JazzTalent.com); “… gentle as a river in the afternoon sun.” (Thurston Hunger, KFJC); “… worthy addition to the canon of the world- jazz…” (Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz); “… mellifluous acoustic quality…” (Howard Mandel, Jazz Beyond Jazz); “…belongs to a lineage of precious recordings […] such as CoDoNa, Oregon, Steve Wilson, Don Cherry, Dollar Brand and Chico Hamilton…” (Dan Behrman, Magazine Son & Image–translated from the French).With Quatuor Creole, Leroux reexamines the fusion of European and African music that took place in the Americas and informs it with his deep experience.
