The 55 Bar Presents Siwula, Minasi, Stowe & Sage Quartet Mon., Aug. 21 6:30 - 9:00 PM

SIWULA, MINASI, STOWE & SAGE QUARTET: The master improviser, Dom Minasi (guitar), joins the force with the power-house trio of Blaise Siwula (reeds), Nobu Stowe (piano) and Ray Sage (drums). This exciting unit explores a holistic approach to improvised music. Their style is best described as 'total improvisation' that requires the performer not only to experiment with 'sound textures' but also to spontaneously create 'songs' (melodies with tonal harmonies). The sound of the quartet is reminiscent of the spontaneous melodicism of Keith Jarrett, the avant energy of John Coltrane/Cecil Taylor and the structural cohesion of J.S. Bach decorated with touches of world music. “Unexpected and promissing melding of avant aggression and lyrical melodicism. An exciting Journey." Jim DeJong - Jazz Institute of Chicago

Blaise Siwula - Reeds

Saxophonist Blaise Siwula has been active in the NY improv/jazz scene since 1989. A musician who straddles the free music/jazz genre he has worked with numerous artists such as Cecil Taylor, Tan Dun, Peter Kowald, Dom Minasi, Katsuyuki Itakura, Toshi Makihara, Adam Lane, Borah Bergman, Sonny Simmons, Luther Thomas and William Parker. He has cds on CIMP and Cadence Jazz Records - Blaise Siwula Trio, Expositions of Freedom Now!, Tandem Rivers, The Slam Trio, Big Hearts and a variety of independent releases. His current projects include Siwula, Stowe & Sage Trio, Mambo Mantis, The Slam Trio (Siwula/Adam Lane/Toshi Makihara), BCJ Trio (Siwula/Chris Welcome/ John McLellan). Since 1998, he has been hosting C.O.M.A., a weekly creative music series, at ABC No Rio in Lower East Side of NYC.

Dom Minasi - Guitar

Dom Minasi, one of the key proponents of the vital progressive jazz scene of his native New York City, has been playing guitar for over 50 years. During his long career Dom has worked with countless heavyweights crossing all styles of jazz. He has performed in venues ranging from the top jazz clubs to Carnegie Hall to the White House for the president Bill Clinton and most recently to a sold out house at the Montreal Jazz Festival. In 1999 encouraged by friends, he recorded Finishing Touches as a leader and Dialing Privileges with Blaise Siwula & John Bollinger as a co-leader for CIMP Records. Following the success of these recording s Dom founded his own CDM Records with his wife, vocalist Carol Mennie. Since CDM 's inception there have been a string of critically acclaimed releases, most recently, The Vampire's Revenge. Like many highly creative artists, Dom needs a variety of atmospheres to express the full range of his musical vision. His current groups include four different duos with Siwula, Mennie, Michael Jeffery Stevens and Borah Bergman. His other groups are his trio with Ken Filiano and Jackson Krall and “DDT+2" with Tomas Ulrich, Bollinger, Filiano and Mennie.

Nobu Stowe - Piano

Nobu Stowe was born in Maebashi, Gumma, Japan. He started taking piano lessons at age 3 and composition at age 6. He moved to the US to study Music (composition) and Psychology at the University of California, at Berkeley. During this period, after discovering the music of Keith Jarrett, he started to play/compose more improvisation-oriented music. Then, he moved to Chicago to pursue graduate studies at the University of Chicago. After receiving Ph.D. in Psychology, he moved to Baltimore to work as a 'drug researcher' for the NIH. Since this relocation, Nobu has lead the post-fusion unit TRIO RICOCHET and, in less than a year since the trio's public debut, has already appeared some of the top jazz-oriented venues in the East Coast including Blue Note N.Y. (NYC), The 55 Bar (NYC), The Knitting Factory (NYC), Kavehaz (NYC), Bohemian Caverns (DC), Twins Jazz (DC) and An die Musik (Baltimore). Besides TRIO RICOCHET, Nobu leads and co-leads various projects exploring and blending 'total-improvisation' (a la Jarrett) and 'free- improvisation'. These include solo, duos with Alan Munshower, Vytis Nivinskas, Lee Pembleton and Honyo Ohte. Nobu has recently formed a trio with the renowned Italian percussionist-composer, Andrea Centazzo, and the master clarinetist, Perry Robinson.

Ray Sage - Drums

Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, Ray Sage (a.k.a. raceage) has been active in N.Y. since late 1987. A versatil drummer with fire and imagination, Ray has performed with both rockers and free-improvisors alike, including Reverb Motherfuckers, Dogbowl, Marc Ribot, Ron Anderson, Adam Lane, Bonnie Kane and Charles Cohen. He has recorded with Reverb Motherfuckers, Dogbowl (4 albums on Shimmy Disc), Pak with Ron Anderson, as well as W.O.O., W.O.O. Revelator and Mambo Mantis with Bonnie Kane (numerouns indie releases) and has toured extensively the U.S., Europe and Japan. He is currently working with Siwula, Stowe & Sage Trio and a project with Adam Lane and Charles Cohen. With W.O.O. Mambo Mantis, he has just finished a very successful tour of Slovenia and Croatia.