Sunday February 18 * 7pm * TICKETS
Band of Pulses
Elsa Nilsson, flute
Santiago Leibson, piano
Marty Kenney, bass
Rodrigo Recabarren, drums
No Trick Pony
Amy K Bormet, vocals & keyboard
Brian Settles, tenor saxophone
Keith Butler Jr., drums
Silent G
Julia Lougheed, bass clarinet & electronics
Many species use sound to communicate. Flutist Elsa Nilsson, Pianist Santiago Leibson, Bassist Marty Kenney and drummer Rodrigo Recabarren asked themselves; what is the line that makes sound music? If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then isn’t music in the ear of the listener? As they listened to words around them they became enchanted with the subtleties in the sounds of voices. It began with Rodrigo playing rhythms along with speeches where he wanted to accentuate the meanings of what was being said. He sent Elsa the Maya Angelou reading of “On the Pulse Of Morning” full of rocks, rivers and trees. Elsa fell in love with the deep musicality present in every sound. She listened and heard echoes of Ornette Coleman in how Maya Angelou ended her phrases. She heard thematic development and musical build in the pitch materials. She created a suite of music based around the rhythmic and melodic materials in Dr Maya Angelou's reading of the inaugural poem “On The Pulse Of Morning”.
The suite explores the intersection between jazz and communication by highlighting the subtle melodic development and deep groove in Dr Angelou’s reading. Dr. Angelou’s voice acts as one of the instruments and frames the composed and improvised sections that are based on her pitch materials and phrasing. The band has attained the legal rights to use her voice as part of our performances from Caged Bird Legacy aka Dr Maya Angelou’s estate. Nilsson is the recipient of the Chamber Music America New Works grant for the creation of this piece.
Originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, flutist Elsa Nilsson is now based in New York City where she performs regularly at various established venues and teaches Rhythmic Analysis and Socially Engaged Artistry at The New School. Nilsson is a founding member of Esthesis Quartet and has worked extensively as a band leader and collaborator in the New York Jazz scene since 2010. Paul Rauch of All About Jazz has said about her: “She is the logical choice to provide a next step for her instrument in the world of jazz and improvised music.”
Santiago Leibson is a Brooklyn based, Argentinian born jazz pianist and composer. His music is situated in the frontier of jazz, improvised music, classical and contemporary music. As an active member of the NY music scene, he has worked with artists such as Tony Malaby, Guillermo Klein, Michael Attias, Francisco Mela, Sean Conly, Gerald Cleaver and many more. In 2019 Santiago made his Carnegie Hall debut playing a solo concert of original and classical compositions at the prestigious series “Sophia Rossoff Presents” organized by the Abby Whiteside Foundation with a repeated concert in 2022.
Marty Kenney has performed with musicians such as Art Lande, Billy Drummond, Rich Perry, Steve Slagle, Allan Harris, Rez Abbasi, Brandon Seabrook, Brian Krock's Big Heart Machine, David Berkman, and the New York Standards Quartet featuring Tim Armacost and Gene Jackson.
Born in Santiago de Chile, Rodrigo Recabarren has been in NYC since 2009. He has worked with artists as Guillermo Klein, Brad Shepik, Melissa Aldana, Camila Meza, Claudia Acuña, Rafal Sarnecki and Andre Carvallo among many others. Has performed in Europe, the United States, Asia and Latin-America in prestigious venues like the Blue Note, 55 bar, Smalls and Jazz at Lincoln Center, among many others. He is the founder of Tresillo music School in Santiago de Chile and has produced dozens of albums and tours around the world with his projects.
No Trick Pony is a Washington, DC power-trio. Consisting of seasoned DC veterans Amy K. Bormet (piano, voice), Keith Butler (drums), and Brian Settles (saxophone), the group presents a unique sound that most often finds Bormet constructing song, poetry, and harmony, above a quiet tornado of exploration from Settles and Butler underneath. Though each member is steeped in streams of traditionally defined music — jazz, popular music, punk, and classical, to name a few — the group tends to focus on a deconstruction of the strict barriers of jazz, exploring instead on the transitional points between composition and improvisation. Groove abounds as a way to moor the listener in these explorations, which have the uncanny ability to present as both song and not-song. No Trick Pony has appeared at The Duck Pond in Georgetown, Rhizome DC in Takoma Park, and was a featured billing as part of the 2022 Capital Fringe Festival.
Hailing from Phoenix, AZ, Silent G presents music for bass clarinet and electronics that combines music, theater, visual art, and noise. Silent G shows are artistic explosions, providing multi-sensory experiences for audiences. Drawing from a wide range of stylistic influences from the realms of both classical and popular music, Silent G's work has been most aptly described as, "what would happen if Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono had a baby, and that baby took clarinet lessons." Silent G's music gives a voice to stories that typically don't get told, often drawing attention to complex social issues and deep parts of the human experience. This show will explore nostalgia, loneliness, isolation, mental illness, and the US Supreme Court's Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.