Sunday February 4, 6-11pm. $25 (includes dinner and 5 performances)
$15 (music only, no food)
We're counter-programming the Super Bowl with an amazing lineup of heavy hitters from the avant-jazz world. Headlining the show will be Chicago's Ken Vandermark who brings his new group, Marker, to Rhizome as part of their first US tour. Also on the bill are Norwegian trombonist Henrik Nørstebø, DC/Balt free jazz lions Heart of the Ghost, the outstanding duo of saxophonist Brian Settles w/ NY drummer Jeremy Carlstedt, and Baltimore favorite Sarah Hughes in a duo with Corey Thuro. Dinner will be provided during the show by local musicians/foodies Mike Bernstein and Pat Cain. It all starts at kickoff time (6pm). Save your brain and celebrate the anti-super bowl with us on February 4th!
MARKER is Ken Vandermark’s newest ensemble as a leader and includes Andrew Clinkman and Steve Marquette on guitar, Macie Stewart on violin and keyboard, and Phil Sudderberg on drums, in addition to his instruments of tenor & baritone sax, Bb & bass clarinet. The music of Marker expands the conventional orchestration for an improvising quintet, and is deeply inspired by Bernie Worrell’s keyboard work with Parliament Funkadelic and Talking Heads, contemporary classical music, the guitar work of post-punk groups like Wire and The Ex, and groove methodologies from Brazil, Afro-Beat, and funk.
Henrik Nørstebø (acoustic and amplified trombone) - Born in Trondheim, Norway, Henrik chose the trombone and began playing in the local marching band at the age of seven. Not really knowing what he signed up for, twenty some years later he is still wrestling with the instrument, using its crudeness as a creative challenge and vehicle to unearth it's seemingly limitless possibilities. Utilizing a wide spectrum of playing techniques, from pure long tones to noise and the almost inaudible, he often works balancing the intuitive with the precisely constructed.
Since 2007, Henrik has worked extensively with solo material. His first record (“SOLO”, 2011) contained imaginary and widely different free form improvisations, while his second solo release (“Melting into foreground”, 2015) was more of a compositional work, focusing on the inner energy of sound and the tension between empty and filled spaces. In his current set up, Henrik is utilizing heavy close amplification alongside acoustic elements, producing a multi-faceted body of sound.
Having toured actively since 2010, he has played at venues and festivals all over Europe, as well as in Russia, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, Australia, USA, Brazil and Argentina. His working projects include: the amplified voice and trombone duo BEAM SPLITTER with Audrey Chen, a duo with Austrian sound artist Daniel Lercher and a trio with drummer Raymond Strid and bassist Nina de Heney.
HEART OF THE GHOST is an improvisational unit from the Baltimore/Washington area. Comprised of Jarrett Gilgore (Alto Saxophone), Luke Stewart (Double Bass) and Ian McColm (Drums), this group is the culmination of years of encircling orbits. Collectively encompassing a massive variety of interests and collaborators and themselves known players in the circles of improvised music, these three find common ground within their individual vocabularies: an aim to deconstruct and reshape canonized creative tropes into a new & stunning language.
BRIAN SETTLES/JEREMY CARLSTEDT (DC/Balt) - Brian Settles is a highly sought after saxophonist and composer from Washington, DC. Equally in demand as a sideman and a leader, Brian has dedicated his life to the study and practice of music - first at the prestigious Duke Ellington School of the Arts, The New School University, and most recently at Howard University. Settles has performed and recorded with groups led by Gil Scott - Heron, Reggie Workman, Jason Moran, Tomas Fujiwara, Tom Abbs - and has played alongside such jazz greats as Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Horn and Milt Hinton.
Jeremy Carlstedt, known for his dynamic style, organic feel on the drums, and musical intuition, has performed with some of the most forward thinking artists in jazz, rock, electronic, and world music. As a protege of the legendary Chico Hamilton, Jeremy has absorbed music history in the best possible classroom: on the bandstand as a member of Hamilton's group Euphoria as well as Vincent Chancey's Phat Chance, Brian Settles and Central Union, and a new duet with Tim Motzer, which have put him on some of the world's most prestigious stages, including The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Newport Jazz Festival, Syracuse Jazz Festival and Roulette.
SARAH HUGHES / COREY THURO - Sarah Hughes is an alto saxophonist, composer, improviser, educator, and art adventurer hailing from Maryland. She obtained her MM in Jazz Saxophone at the New England Conservatory in May of 2015 and currently freelances in and around Maryland, DC, Virginia, and New York. She has performed in and around DC and New York City with ensembles including the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra and the Brad Linde Ensemble, a Washington D.C.-based collective dedicated to exploring and expanding the styles of jazz that emerged in the 1950s including bebop, cool jazz, third stream, and free jazz.
In September of 2015 Sarah toured Sweden as part of Amy K. Bormet's "Ephemera" and performed in Sweden's first Women in Jazz festival. She also recently taught an improvisation workshop, "Improvisation for Everyone: Games and Storytelling" for beginning, intermediate, and advanced instrumentalists in the 2016 Judith Lapple Summer Woodwind Camp in Fairfax, Virginia. Most recently, she went on tour with an improvising trio "Lead Bubbles", playing venues in New York, Montreal, and Toronto. For this set she will perform as a duo with Poolesville musician Corey Thuro.