"These are a generation's masters at the very height of their powers." —Tad Hendrickson, CMJ New Music Report
The avant-jazz supergroup, Other Dimensions in Music, closes out the new evening music series for its first season at the Chapel of Our Lady Restoration on Saturday, November 5th at 7:30 PM. Each member of the ensemble—Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, fluegelhorn and flute; Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet, flute and trumpet; William Parker on bass; and Charles Downs on drums—is a master improviser as well as recognized leader on multiple instruments, making ODIM an incomparable musical experience. This performance, the group's first in Cold Spring, promises to conclude the Chapel's 2011 evening music series on a very high note.
Admission will be $15 and $10 for students and seniors with valid ID. The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration is located at 45 Market St. in Cold Spring, NY. Free parking is available at the Cold Spring Metro-North train station. Biographies on the individual artists follows below.
Roy Campbell, Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and grew up in New York. His musical journey began as a child with piano lessons, initially inspired by his father, whose trumpet was the first one he used. By the time he entered high school, young Roy was playing flute, recorder, and violin, and he began studying trumpet as a high-school senior. As a young fan, Roy met Lee Morgan at the Bronxwood Inn in the late '60's, and in 1971 Roy began participating in Jazzmobile workshops, working with jazz masters Kenny Dorham, Howard McGhee, and Lee Morgan, as well as with Howard McGhee and Joe Newman in Jazz Interactions workshops. Later, as a trumpet major at Manhattan Community College, his professors were Leonard Goines and Dick Vance, and Roy studied music theory, arranging, and composition with Yusef Lateef, graduating in 1975 with an Associate's Degree in music.
As a bandleader, Roy Campbell, Jr. has long maintained several stellar working units. TAZZ (with Andrew Bemkey, Chris Sullivan, and Michael Thompson) is a reflection of various musical styles, languages, backgrounds, and sources, with a mission to break down cultural barriers through a sound that is at once eclectic, progressive, polished, and funky; in a word, TAZZ is hot! Roy Campbell also leads THE PYRAMID TRIO (with William Parker and Hamid Drake), which he began in 1983 and which includes music of many world cultures with a jazz overtone. In addition, he founded the collective group OTHER DIMENSIONS IN MUSIC (with Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Rashied Bakr), which plays improvised music of all styles. In 1995 he formed SHADES AND COLORS OF TRANE (with Walden Wimberley, Hilliard Greene, and Warren Smith), a tribute band for master saxophonist John Coltrane. And in 1999 Roy added the group DOWNTOWN HORNS (with Daniel Carter and Sabir Mateen).
Roy Campbell, Jr.'s composing, arranging, and playing embrace a wide range of roots and styles, including jazz, funk, rock, rhythm & blues, hip-hop, rap, classical, reggae, and more. Whether performing, writing, arranging, or producing, Roy Campbell's abilities burst forth in an electrifying stream of talent and originality. His virtuoso instrumental performances have been praised by fans, critics, and fellow musicians alike. All of the bands he leads have inspired and uplifted audiences to spiritual heights, and each band is unique and highly acclaimed by all. Robert Innapollo, in a review from “Cadence" Magazine (January, '9O), stated, “Campbell is a monster trumpeter. He's the latest in a long line that has extended from Navarro through Brownie through Booker Little and beyond." Program notes from the 1998 Fire in the Valley Festival praise his “approach and technique, taking the influences of both Lee Morgan and Booker Little and hauling them into the future."
A few of the leading innovators among contemporary musicians Roy has worked with include: Rashied Ali, Billy Bang, Evelyn Blakey, Dave Douglas, Carlos Garnett, Henry Grimes, Eddie Harris, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Sun Ra, Woody Shaw, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, Wilbur Ware, Frank Wright, John Zorn, and a countless host of other bands and ensembles. Roy and his contemporary bands play virtually constantly in concerts, on tour, and in festivals all over the world.
Daniel Carter: One of the legendary masters of creative music. Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in 1945. He has performed or recorded over the past three decades with such artists as: Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Billy Bang, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, Sonic Youth, Simone Forti, Joan Miller, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Nayo Takasaki, Earl Freeman, Dewey Johnson, Nami Yamamoto, Matthew Shipp, Billy Martin, John Medeski, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles, MMW (Medeski, Martin, & Wood), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Options, Spring Heel Jack, Yo La Tengo, Federico Ughi, Raphé Malik, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Bob Moses, Jaco Pastorius, Enrico Rava, David S. Ware, Steve Swell, Matt Lavelle, Karl Berger, Don Pate, Gunter Hampel, David Grubbs, the No Kneck Blues Band, Alan Silva, Susie Ibarra, Steve Dalachinsky, D.J. Logic, Margaret Beals, Douglas Elliot, Butch Morris, TEST, Other Dimensions In Music, One World Ensemble, Saturnalia String Trio, Levitation Unit, Wet Paint.
Composer and bassist William Parker was born 10 January 1952 in Bronx, New York, USA.
As Steve Greenlee of the Boston Globe stated in July 2002, “William Parker has emerged as the most important leader of the current avant-garde scene in jazz." He is working in many of the more important groups in this genre, some of the most prestigious being his own, i.e. The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield, Little Huey Creative Orchestra, In Order to Survive, William Parker Quartet, Raining on the Moon and other groups. Mr. Parker is one of the most important composers in our time period, he is also a poet whose words are beginning to be heard in various media: in print, in song and in his theatre piece, Music and the Shadow People.
As a bassist, Parker is possessed of a formidable technique, albeit an unconventional one. Unlike a great many jazz bassists, Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco. He also plays several other instruments from around the world, including the West African kora.
However from the beginning of his career Mr. Parker has commanded a unique degree of respect from fellow musicians. In 1972 at the age of 20, Parker quickly became the bassist of choice among his peers. Within a short time he was asked to play with older, established musicians such as Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Bill Dixon, Milford Graves, Billy Higgins, Sunny Murray etc. In 1980 he became a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit, in which he played a prominent role for over a decade.
Mr. Parker has released over 20 albums under his leadership. Not surprisingly, most of his albums have hit #1 on the CMJ charts. In 1995 after years of obscurity as a leader, he released Flowers Grow In My Room, on the Centering label. This was the first documentation of the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. This CD hit #1 on the CMJ charts and The Little Huey began to travel. They have performed in the Verona Jazz Festival and Banlieues Bleues among others. William Parker Quartet has hit with rave reviews for both albums O'Neals Porch and Raining on the Moon. The album Sound Unity by the William Parker Quartet was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. These releases and their success highlight William Parker as an outstanding composer and band leader. From the beginning of his musical career, William Parker has been prolific; composing music for almost every group with whom he has performed. His compositional skills span a range including operas, oratorios, ballets, film scores, and soliloquies for solo instruments. He has also successfully explored diverse concepts in instrumentation for large and small ensembles. William Parker is a poet, with three volumes published thus far: Music Is, Document Humanum, and The Shadow People.
“William Parker is something of a father figure" stated Larry Blumenfeld in a New York Times article May 2004. He has looked for and encouraged young talent and has been a mentor to some of the younger musicians. Most importantly, for Mr. Parker has been the workshops/performances for young people that he has conducted, both in the USA and in Europe. This has been for him amongst some of his most important work and greatest successes.
Charles Downs was born in Chicago, and his family moved to the Bronx when he was four. He became a musician because of the profound influence John Coltrane had on him, and because Rashid's uncle was the great “Papa" Jo Jones, the father of modern drumming. As a child, Rashid remembers that Art Blakey and Max Roach visited the family, and the former gave him his first set of sticks; one of his early playing memories is sitting in with his uncle in a Dixieland band at the World's Fair. Later drum heroes for Rashid included Andrew Cyrille, Elvin Jones, Sunny Murray, and Milford Graves (who also gave him other mystical healing arts besides music, including acupuncture and herbology). After college and an Army stint, it was saxophonist Bobby Zankel who took Charles Downs to audition for the Cecil Taylor big band in '73, and he played two concerts with Cecil Taylor at the time, one at Columbia University and the other at Carnegie Hall. William Parker was also in that band and told him about Jemeel Moondoc, who had moved to New York in '76, and Rashid joined Jemeel's Ensemble Muntu from 1975 to 1981; one of the great legendary loft~era bands, Muntu recorded five albums & toured extensively. By the early '8O's, Charles Downs was also playing with Billy Bang, Roy Campbell, Jr., Raphé Malik, David Murray, David S. Ware, Frank Wright, and others. In '81 Rashid rejoined Cecil Taylor for three more years, playing mostly in Europe in a quartet setting with Jimmy Lyons and William Parker.
Back in New York again from '83~'90, Mr. Downs continued working in particular with many powerhouse saxophonists, including Peter Brötzmann, Arthur Doyle, Charles Gayle, and Glenn Spearman. Rashid credits Charles Gayle with getting him into playing tunes and helping him realize the time side of his playing. In this period Charles Downs also became a member of the seminal quartet Other Dimensions in Music, along with Roy Campbell, Jr., Daniel Carter, and William Parker. Another stretch with Cecil Taylor from '9O to '95 took Rashid all over Europe “and everywhere," also bringing him opportunities to play with special guests in the band including Lester Bowie, David Murray, and James Newton.
A devoted family man, Charles Downs works at the Lighthouse helping find employment for the blind when he's not playing music. He says that at this point in his life as a musician, he wants to “sharpen what I have."—Margaret Davis (with Charles Downs)
“Time Out New York" declares Charles Downs “among the best avant~garde drummers, a timekeeper whose pulse is so subtle, supple and steady that he makes expressionism sound positively swinging." And according to Byron Coley & Michael Ehlers' '98 Fire in the Valley Festival program notes, Charles Downs is “one of improvising music's most consistently questing drummers. Using his full kit in a manner that seems to have been forgotten by many of his contemporaries, Mr. Downs's playing seems to gush from a deep emotional well.... His rumbles will be felt to the core of your being. Hold on tight."
On the banks of the Hudson River, in the heart of the Highlands opposite West Point, The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration is a national historic landmark, built in 1833 in the Greek Revival style. Fifty miles north of New York City, across from Metro North Railroad Station and within walking distance of the charming 19th century village of Cold Spring, the chapel, which has no religious affiliation, hosts the renowned Sunday Music Series and Sunset Reading Series. A beautiful and serene setting for weddings and other private gatherings, such as christenings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows and memorials, it is also a place of repose and contemplation for visitors to its grounds offering spectacular views. Originally known as Chapel of Our Lady.
The avant-jazz supergroup, Other Dimensions in Music, closes out the new evening music series for its first season at the Chapel of Our Lady Restoration on Saturday, November 5th at 7:30 PM. Each member of the ensemble—Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, fluegelhorn and flute; Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet, flute and trumpet; William Parker on bass; and Charles Downs on drums—is a master improviser as well as recognized leader on multiple instruments, making ODIM an incomparable musical experience. This performance, the group's first in Cold Spring, promises to conclude the Chapel's 2011 evening music series on a very high note.
Admission will be $15 and $10 for students and seniors with valid ID. The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration is located at 45 Market St. in Cold Spring, NY. Free parking is available at the Cold Spring Metro-North train station. Biographies on the individual artists follows below.
Roy Campbell, Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1952 and grew up in New York. His musical journey began as a child with piano lessons, initially inspired by his father, whose trumpet was the first one he used. By the time he entered high school, young Roy was playing flute, recorder, and violin, and he began studying trumpet as a high-school senior. As a young fan, Roy met Lee Morgan at the Bronxwood Inn in the late '60's, and in 1971 Roy began participating in Jazzmobile workshops, working with jazz masters Kenny Dorham, Howard McGhee, and Lee Morgan, as well as with Howard McGhee and Joe Newman in Jazz Interactions workshops. Later, as a trumpet major at Manhattan Community College, his professors were Leonard Goines and Dick Vance, and Roy studied music theory, arranging, and composition with Yusef Lateef, graduating in 1975 with an Associate's Degree in music.
As a bandleader, Roy Campbell, Jr. has long maintained several stellar working units. TAZZ (with Andrew Bemkey, Chris Sullivan, and Michael Thompson) is a reflection of various musical styles, languages, backgrounds, and sources, with a mission to break down cultural barriers through a sound that is at once eclectic, progressive, polished, and funky; in a word, TAZZ is hot! Roy Campbell also leads THE PYRAMID TRIO (with William Parker and Hamid Drake), which he began in 1983 and which includes music of many world cultures with a jazz overtone. In addition, he founded the collective group OTHER DIMENSIONS IN MUSIC (with Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Rashied Bakr), which plays improvised music of all styles. In 1995 he formed SHADES AND COLORS OF TRANE (with Walden Wimberley, Hilliard Greene, and Warren Smith), a tribute band for master saxophonist John Coltrane. And in 1999 Roy added the group DOWNTOWN HORNS (with Daniel Carter and Sabir Mateen).
Roy Campbell, Jr.'s composing, arranging, and playing embrace a wide range of roots and styles, including jazz, funk, rock, rhythm & blues, hip-hop, rap, classical, reggae, and more. Whether performing, writing, arranging, or producing, Roy Campbell's abilities burst forth in an electrifying stream of talent and originality. His virtuoso instrumental performances have been praised by fans, critics, and fellow musicians alike. All of the bands he leads have inspired and uplifted audiences to spiritual heights, and each band is unique and highly acclaimed by all. Robert Innapollo, in a review from “Cadence" Magazine (January, '9O), stated, “Campbell is a monster trumpeter. He's the latest in a long line that has extended from Navarro through Brownie through Booker Little and beyond." Program notes from the 1998 Fire in the Valley Festival praise his “approach and technique, taking the influences of both Lee Morgan and Booker Little and hauling them into the future."
A few of the leading innovators among contemporary musicians Roy has worked with include: Rashied Ali, Billy Bang, Evelyn Blakey, Dave Douglas, Carlos Garnett, Henry Grimes, Eddie Harris, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Hannibal Marvin Peterson, Sun Ra, Woody Shaw, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, Wilbur Ware, Frank Wright, John Zorn, and a countless host of other bands and ensembles. Roy and his contemporary bands play virtually constantly in concerts, on tour, and in festivals all over the world.
Daniel Carter: One of the legendary masters of creative music. Born in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in 1945. He has performed or recorded over the past three decades with such artists as: Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Billy Bang, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, Sonic Youth, Simone Forti, Joan Miller, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Nayo Takasaki, Earl Freeman, Dewey Johnson, Nami Yamamoto, Matthew Shipp, Billy Martin, John Medeski, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles, MMW (Medeski, Martin, & Wood), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Options, Spring Heel Jack, Yo La Tengo, Federico Ughi, Raphé Malik, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Bob Moses, Jaco Pastorius, Enrico Rava, David S. Ware, Steve Swell, Matt Lavelle, Karl Berger, Don Pate, Gunter Hampel, David Grubbs, the No Kneck Blues Band, Alan Silva, Susie Ibarra, Steve Dalachinsky, D.J. Logic, Margaret Beals, Douglas Elliot, Butch Morris, TEST, Other Dimensions In Music, One World Ensemble, Saturnalia String Trio, Levitation Unit, Wet Paint.
Composer and bassist William Parker was born 10 January 1952 in Bronx, New York, USA.
As Steve Greenlee of the Boston Globe stated in July 2002, “William Parker has emerged as the most important leader of the current avant-garde scene in jazz." He is working in many of the more important groups in this genre, some of the most prestigious being his own, i.e. The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield, Little Huey Creative Orchestra, In Order to Survive, William Parker Quartet, Raining on the Moon and other groups. Mr. Parker is one of the most important composers in our time period, he is also a poet whose words are beginning to be heard in various media: in print, in song and in his theatre piece, Music and the Shadow People.
As a bassist, Parker is possessed of a formidable technique, albeit an unconventional one. Unlike a great many jazz bassists, Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco. He also plays several other instruments from around the world, including the West African kora.
However from the beginning of his career Mr. Parker has commanded a unique degree of respect from fellow musicians. In 1972 at the age of 20, Parker quickly became the bassist of choice among his peers. Within a short time he was asked to play with older, established musicians such as Ed Blackwell, Don Cherry, Bill Dixon, Milford Graves, Billy Higgins, Sunny Murray etc. In 1980 he became a member of the Cecil Taylor Unit, in which he played a prominent role for over a decade.
Mr. Parker has released over 20 albums under his leadership. Not surprisingly, most of his albums have hit #1 on the CMJ charts. In 1995 after years of obscurity as a leader, he released Flowers Grow In My Room, on the Centering label. This was the first documentation of the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra. This CD hit #1 on the CMJ charts and The Little Huey began to travel. They have performed in the Verona Jazz Festival and Banlieues Bleues among others. William Parker Quartet has hit with rave reviews for both albums O'Neals Porch and Raining on the Moon. The album Sound Unity by the William Parker Quartet was chosen as one of Amazon.com's Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005. These releases and their success highlight William Parker as an outstanding composer and band leader. From the beginning of his musical career, William Parker has been prolific; composing music for almost every group with whom he has performed. His compositional skills span a range including operas, oratorios, ballets, film scores, and soliloquies for solo instruments. He has also successfully explored diverse concepts in instrumentation for large and small ensembles. William Parker is a poet, with three volumes published thus far: Music Is, Document Humanum, and The Shadow People.
“William Parker is something of a father figure" stated Larry Blumenfeld in a New York Times article May 2004. He has looked for and encouraged young talent and has been a mentor to some of the younger musicians. Most importantly, for Mr. Parker has been the workshops/performances for young people that he has conducted, both in the USA and in Europe. This has been for him amongst some of his most important work and greatest successes.
Charles Downs was born in Chicago, and his family moved to the Bronx when he was four. He became a musician because of the profound influence John Coltrane had on him, and because Rashid's uncle was the great “Papa" Jo Jones, the father of modern drumming. As a child, Rashid remembers that Art Blakey and Max Roach visited the family, and the former gave him his first set of sticks; one of his early playing memories is sitting in with his uncle in a Dixieland band at the World's Fair. Later drum heroes for Rashid included Andrew Cyrille, Elvin Jones, Sunny Murray, and Milford Graves (who also gave him other mystical healing arts besides music, including acupuncture and herbology). After college and an Army stint, it was saxophonist Bobby Zankel who took Charles Downs to audition for the Cecil Taylor big band in '73, and he played two concerts with Cecil Taylor at the time, one at Columbia University and the other at Carnegie Hall. William Parker was also in that band and told him about Jemeel Moondoc, who had moved to New York in '76, and Rashid joined Jemeel's Ensemble Muntu from 1975 to 1981; one of the great legendary loft~era bands, Muntu recorded five albums & toured extensively. By the early '8O's, Charles Downs was also playing with Billy Bang, Roy Campbell, Jr., Raphé Malik, David Murray, David S. Ware, Frank Wright, and others. In '81 Rashid rejoined Cecil Taylor for three more years, playing mostly in Europe in a quartet setting with Jimmy Lyons and William Parker.
Back in New York again from '83~'90, Mr. Downs continued working in particular with many powerhouse saxophonists, including Peter Brötzmann, Arthur Doyle, Charles Gayle, and Glenn Spearman. Rashid credits Charles Gayle with getting him into playing tunes and helping him realize the time side of his playing. In this period Charles Downs also became a member of the seminal quartet Other Dimensions in Music, along with Roy Campbell, Jr., Daniel Carter, and William Parker. Another stretch with Cecil Taylor from '9O to '95 took Rashid all over Europe “and everywhere," also bringing him opportunities to play with special guests in the band including Lester Bowie, David Murray, and James Newton.
A devoted family man, Charles Downs works at the Lighthouse helping find employment for the blind when he's not playing music. He says that at this point in his life as a musician, he wants to “sharpen what I have."—Margaret Davis (with Charles Downs)
“Time Out New York" declares Charles Downs “among the best avant~garde drummers, a timekeeper whose pulse is so subtle, supple and steady that he makes expressionism sound positively swinging." And according to Byron Coley & Michael Ehlers' '98 Fire in the Valley Festival program notes, Charles Downs is “one of improvising music's most consistently questing drummers. Using his full kit in a manner that seems to have been forgotten by many of his contemporaries, Mr. Downs's playing seems to gush from a deep emotional well.... His rumbles will be felt to the core of your being. Hold on tight."
On the banks of the Hudson River, in the heart of the Highlands opposite West Point, The Chapel of Our Lady Restoration is a national historic landmark, built in 1833 in the Greek Revival style. Fifty miles north of New York City, across from Metro North Railroad Station and within walking distance of the charming 19th century village of Cold Spring, the chapel, which has no religious affiliation, hosts the renowned Sunday Music Series and Sunset Reading Series. A beautiful and serene setting for weddings and other private gatherings, such as christenings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows and memorials, it is also a place of repose and contemplation for visitors to its grounds offering spectacular views. Originally known as Chapel of Our Lady.
