Venue: The Roulette (20 Greene Street,between Canal and Grand Streets)
Tickets: $15 (reservations: 212.219.8242)
Brandon Ross: Blazing Beauty
Wed Feb 16 – 8:30 PM
Guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter Brandon Ross has worked with everyone from Muhal Richard Abrams, Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Leroy Jenkins, Oliver Lake, Arto Lindsay, to Joan Osborne, Henry Threadgill, and many others. Self described as “Future-folk music”, Ross’ music is at once pastoral, dissonant, intimate and avant-garde. Tonight at Roulette, Ross presents Blazing Beauty, his acoustic-based ensemble with Stomu Takeishi (acoustic bass guitar), JT Lewis (drums), and Brandon Ross (guitar/banjo/vocal) – extending his expressive field into “folk”-oriented musics and compositional approaches while communicating his dedication to fresh musical experience.
INTERPRETATIONS: David Wessel / Roscoe Mitchell 70th Birthday
Thu Feb 17 – 8:00 PM
Two contrasting settings featuring innovative woodwind virtuoso and Art Ensemble of Chicago founder Roscoe Mitchell. Electronic music pioneer David Wessel and Roscoe Mitchell, long time collaborators, play a set of duo improvisations, followed by the Roscoe Mitchell Quartet featuring Dave Burrell (piano), Henry Grimes (bass), and Tani Tabbal (drums).
Sweet Combustion: Ikue Mori, Jennifer Choi, Marco Capelli & Rubin Kodheli & Jim Staley & Ikue Mori + Doron Sadja
Fri Feb 18 – 7:30 PM
An eclectic evening blending acoustic and electronic performances both improvised and composed. Sweet Combustion (Jennifer Choi, Ikue Mori, Marco Cappelli, and Rubin Kodheli) start the evening with a surreal combustion of sounds and atmospheric melodies, followed by residuals – a lush synthetic work for quadraphonic speakers byDoron Sadja. Topping off the evening is an explosive improvisation by longtime collaborators Jim Staley (trombone) and Ikue Mori (electronics).
Sat Feb 19 – 8:30 PM
Composer, multi-instrumentalist, poet, and painter Oliver Lake is renown for his extraordinary talents as a composer and explosive, bluesy saxophone sound. Co-founder for the World Saxophone Quartet and a Guggenheim fellow for composition, Lake was the first African American commissioned by the Library of Congress and McKim Foundation for composition. Tonight at Roulette, Lake is joined by some of the best young talent in New York with Jared Gold (organ), Freddie Hendrix (trumpet), Mclenty Hunter (drums), & Oliver Lake (alto sax). Together the quartet takes Lake’s compositions on some unusual journeys for organ jazz – exploring freebop, funk, fun and avant-musical conversations.
