Category Archives: Musicians

Introducing A New NY Music Project: SUMARI = A Federation of Consciousness

Text by John Pietaro

Matt Lavelle – trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet, alto clarinet; Jack DeSalvo – cello, mandola, guitars, banjos; Tom Cabrera – dumbeq, rik, frame drums, bass drum, percussion.

SUMARIOther-world art music. Improvisations through space and time. The soundtrack of twilight. These phrases have all been used to attempt to describe this trio known as Sumari. The channeling of free improvisation and global folk culture with a boundless sense of the new are the path Matt Lavelle, Jack DeSalvo and Tom Cabrera course to conjure the sounds heard on their eponymous release on Unseen Rain Records. Each member of Sumari is a veteran of international New Music and Free Jazz, with roots in NYC’s “downtown sound”:

JACK DESALVO, hailed in THE WIRE magazine as “masterful”, joined Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society in the 1980s and has toured the world with many artists in his own musical-spiritual journey. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, DeSalvo also studied classical guitar and composition before taking private tutelage with Bill Connors. His pianistic, wholistic approach to performance practice on guitar led to committed doubling on such instruments as cello, alto guitar and various members of the ukulele, mandolin and banjo family. DeSalvo’s credits beyond Ronald Shannon Jackson include Peter Brotzmann, Karl Berger, Chris Kelsey, Vic Juris, Tony Malaby, Pat Hall, D3 and many more.

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Indiegogo Camapign: Create An Album With Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen! Bridge the future and history of great American roots music — real stories, epic sounds, surprises

Text by  Ted Drozdowski

Over the decades I’ve earned an international reputation as an inventive, hard-working musician and entertainer, and respected and award-winning journalist, historian, educator and advocate. Every project I’ve undertaken has had the mission of bringing great American roots music to more people while making them happy. The next step in this mission is a new album called Love & Life, which will bridge the past and present in a fresh and authentic way with the best music I’ve ever made. It’s joyful music that touches the mind and inspires the soul.

To do this, I need funding to create, mix, master and manufacture Love & Life, and to take it to the world with a marketing campaign that speaks to a broader audience. With your support, I can build a new, vital, living perspective on American roots music.

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INTERVIEW: SALIF KEITA SPEAKS OUT ON HIS CAREER, MALI’S CRISIS AND RETIREMENT

Photo by Banning Eyre

Photo by Banning Eyre

Posted by Banning Eyre (Afropop Worldwide), December 22, 2014:

Mali’s pre-eminent singer/songwriter/bandleader came to New York this fall with an unusual act. In the past, he has brought blazing electric ensembles from Paris or New York, and, in recent years, a superb, mostly Malian band featuring acoustic African instruments. This time, the group was smaller still, even more acoustic, and they performed seated, like court musicians entertaining royalty. The music was transcendent, mixing Keita hits like “Tekere” and “Mandjou” with Mande traditional songs like “Sunjata,” the praise song for Salif’s 13th century ancestor, Sunjata Keita.

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Fundraising Campaign: Fred Ho…fighting cancer, fighting for avant gard jazz, & fighting to preserve a legacy, all at once!

Be a part of the music revolution!

Photo by Don Chow

Photo by Don Chow

Composer and avante garde jazz musician Fred Ho fought for his art, fought for justice, and fought cancer, all at the same time. Connect with his life and vision!
The documentary film Fred Ho’s Last Year has just completed a successful festival run, and now you can help us print the academic release DVD’s, view the film, and take home some groundbreaking Fred Ho music in gorgeous CD’s. Your contribution helps the film to introduce Fred Ho to new audiences for decades to come!
And there’s more! A big chunk of this fundraiser will go to bringing Fred Ho’s musicians and collaborators to the Asian American Studies Conference in Chicago, which will allow universities the opportunity to invite the band to their campuses. Fred’s Afro Asian Music Ensemble has been going strong for 35 years, and we need your help to let it grow for another 35 years!

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Recommended Event: WILL CONNELL MEMORIAL WEEK: Celebrating the Life & Music of the Heart & Soul of Downtown

Will ConnelText by NEW MASSES MEDIA RELATIONS/John Pietaro: (646) 599-0060 or newmassesmedia@gmail.com

Date: December 23, 26, 27, 28, 2014
Venue: The Stone (Ave C @ 2nd Street, New York, NY 10009, (212) 473-0043)
Ticket: $15
Genre: jazz/free jazz/improv

Will Connell‘s daughter, Safiya Martinez, and the musicians of WILL CONNELL MEMORIAL WEEK at the Stone would like to extend a warm invitation to all for this powerful event. Christmas week, DEC 23, 26, 27 & 28, downtown will celebrate the much-loved Connell, a force in creative music on both coasts over five decades. Will stood as an invaluable part of the original Horace Tapscott organization, a close comrade of the Black Arts Movement, groundbreaking voice of downtown Free Jazz and contemporary composition, and an elder statesman of the sounds of social change…

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