JAZZ AT BARD AND THE BARD JAZZ CLUB PRESENT THE HENRY GRIMES QUARTET, WITH SPECIAL GUEST ROSWELL RUDD, IN CONCERT AT THE COLLEGE ON FEBRUARY 25
Quartet features world-acclaimed Hudson Valley residents: pianist Marilyn Crispell, trombonist Roswell Rudd, and percussionist Tani Tabbal
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--Jazz at Bard and the Bard Jazz Club present an evening with world-acclaimed jazz musicians: the Henry Grimes Quartet--featuring bassist Grimes, pianist Marilyn Crispell, and percussionist Tani Tabbal--as well as special guest trombonist Roswell Rudd on Saturday, February 25. In addition to the performance at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall (admission $15; seniors and students with identification $10; Bard students, faculty, and staff are free) there is a free workshop with Grimes at 4:00 p.m. in Bard Hall. Reservations for the concert are suggested; however, no reservations are necessary for the workshop.
This is the first concert cosponsored by Jazz at Bard--founded by two Bard alumnae, Raissa St. Pierre '87 and Sheila Moloney '84--and the student-formed Bard Jazz Club, whose representative is Jesse Ritholz, artistic coordinator of the program.
“This concert is really fabulous--not only will it feature a rare performance by Henry Grimes, but also world-class local jazz musicians Marilyn Crispell, Roswell Rudd, and Tani Tabbal," says St. Pierre. “These musicians' biographies are amazing--all four of these artists are hugely respected in the jazz world by their peers and their audiences as well as having unique and important stories, past and present. We are so glad to be working with Jesse and know that our dream to bring world-class jazz musicians to Bard will continue. As volunteer coordinators, Sheila and myself enjoy our work with Jazz at Bard, but knowing that Bard students will now be taking part in our effort is wonderful."
The Jazz at Bard series is an ongoing effort to bring internationally recognized jazz performers to the Hudson Valley. Performances to date have included the Danilo Prez Trio; Naftule's Dream and Shirim; Uri Caine Ensemble; Don Byron; Roswell Rudd Quartet; Thurman Barker's Strikeforce; William Parker Quintet; Oregon; Jamie Saft Trio; and the Tin Men and Coco Robicheaux. The 2005-06 Jazz at Bard series is underwritten in part by the Bard College Class of '74.
For further information, to purchase tickets, or for reservations, call 845-758-7456, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.bard.edu/jazzatbard. Reservations and advance ticket purchase are recommended. #
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
“Hearing Marilyn Crispell play solo piano is like monitoring an active volcano. She is one of a very few pianists who rise to the challenge of free jazz," writes Jon Pareles of the New York Times. Crispell, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied classical piano and composition, came to Woodstock, New York, in 1977 to study and teach at the Creative Music Studio, and has lived there ever since. She discovered jazz through the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, and other contemporary jazz players and composers. She has been a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet, the Reggie Workman Ensemble, the Barry Guy New Orchestra (and guest with his London Jazz Composers Orchestra), the Henry Grimes Trio, Quartet Noir (with Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser, and Joelle Leandre), and Anders Jormin's Bortom Quintet. In 2005 she performed and recorded with the NOW Orchestra in Vancouver, and in 2006 she will be codirector of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute and a faculty member at the Banff Centre International Workshop in Jazz. Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups, Crispell has performed and recorded extensively with well-known players on the American and international jazz scene. She's performed with and recorded music by contemporary composers Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Manfred Niehaus, and Anthony Davis (including four performances of his opera X with the New York City Opera). In addition to performing, she has taught improvisation workshops and given lecture/demonstrations at universities and art centers in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and has collaborated with videographers, filmmakers, dancers, and poets. Crispell has been the recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship grants (1988-89 and 1994-95), a Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust composition commission (1988-89), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005-06). In 1996 she was given an Outstanding Alumni Award by the New England Conservatory, and in 2004 was cited as being one of their 100 most outstanding alumni of the past 100 years. Crispell's instructional VHS/DVD, A Pianist's Guide to Free Improvisation: Keys to Unlocking Your Creativity, is available from Homespun Tapes: www.homespuntapes.com.
“If you haven't heard the fantastic news about Henry Grimes's return to the jazz world, I don't know what stone you've been sleeping under!" says Laurence Donohue-Greene, managing editor of All About Jazz. “He's been the talk of the town, and I don't just mean New York or Los Angeles, but the jazz community at large has been celebrating his recent rediscovery after not even having played for a good three decades. He's showed us all that he is back, and boy is he ever! His arco and pizzicato playing is like a resurrection for bass players the world over. Welcome back, Mr. Grimes!" Master bassist Grimes, missing from the music world since the late 1960s, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass (a green one called Olive Oil) from William Parker in December 2002, replacing the instrument Grimes had been forced to give up some 30 years earlier. Between the mid-'50s and the mid-'60s, the Philadelphia-born, Juilliard-educated Grimes played brilliantly on more than 50 albums with an enormous range of musicians, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Jemeel Moondoc, Gerry Mulligan, Sunny Murray, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, McCoy Tyner, Rev. Frank Wright, and many others. Then, one day, for reasons largely related to troubles in the music world at the time, he disappeared. Many years passed with nothing heard from him, yet recently, with his new bass, he reemerged to begin playing music again. These days, he lives, works, and teaches in New York City and has been working almost exclusively as a leader with Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell Jr., Daniel Carter, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Dixon, Hamid Drake, Charles Gayle, Edward “Kidd" Jordan, Joe Lovano, Sabir Mateen, Bennie Maupin, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, William Parker, and Marc Ribot, among others. Since 2003, Grimes has played and toured extensively in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. The recipient of a prestigious “Meet the Composer" award in 2003 and two more in 2005, Grimes was designated “Musician of the Year" by All About Jazz in 2004. One of his trios was chosen Best Jazz Trio of 2004 by New York Press, and one of his concerts, at HotHouse in Chicago, was named one of the 10 best of 2005 by Time Out/Chicago. Grimes's gentle, humble bearing and courageous life story have inspired all those privileged to know, hear, and play music with him.
Roswell Rudd is considered “a trombonist of such sweeping power and majesty that he transcends all styles," according to John Wilson of the New York Times. One of the leading interpreters of avant-garde jazz, Rudd has performed with Herbie Nichols, Steve Lacy, the New York Art Quartet, Albert Ayler, the Jazz Composers' Orchestra, Archie Shepp, Enrico Rava, Giorgio Gaslina, and Carla Bley. A resident of Kerhonkson, New York, his compositions fuse traditional jazz, ethnic music, and classical technique. A graduate of Yale, Rudd held a 2002-03 Jazz Artist Residency at Harvard University, participating in the series “Beyond Recall: The Progressive Tradition in Jazz." He has also taught at Bard College, the University of Maine, and the New England Conservatory. Rudd is the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for composition, and in 2003, 2004, and 2005 he was voted “Trombonist of the Year" by the Jazz Journalists Association. His recent recordings include Monk's Dream (Verve, 1999); New York Art Quartet: 35th Reunion (DIW, 1999); Broad Strokes (Knitting Factory, 2000); Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd, Live in New York (Verve, 2001); and Malicool (Universal, 2002). His most recent collaboration, Roswell Rudd and the Mongolian Buryat Band, was released on Sunnyside in the fall of 2005. In 2004 he brought his Trombone Shout Band into the fourth “Festival in the Desert" in Essakane, Timbuctou, Mali.
In Chicago, at age 5, Tani Tabbal began playing and exploring drums, and by age 14 he was a professional, playing and performing with Oscar Brown Jr. By the time he reached 17, he had already played with Phil Coran and was invited to tour with Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Tabbal has became known for his fluidity with odd and mixed meters. His passion for the avant-garde and for pushing the jazz medium along with blending world rhythms has brought him in professional contact with jazz legends Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Oliver Lake, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, and Richard Davis, among others. He also played with the Detroit avant-garde group Griot Galaxy. Tabbal has recorded, performed, and toured with Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, James Carter, Geri Allen, and Cassandra Wilson, to name just a few. Tabbal is also in the percussion ensemble, Pieces of Time, along with Andrew Cyrille, Famadou Don Moye, and Obo Addy. Along with being a jazz drummer, Tabbal also plays percussion instruments of West Africa (djembe and doundoun), North India (tablas), and North Africa (doumbec). He also serves as percussionist for the Bard Dance Program.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
