“Ibarra's ability to fuse together composition and improvisation with rhythmic invention is simultaneously uncanny and visionary," wrote the All Music Guide's Thom Jurek in his review of Folkloriko. “The music is haunting, humorous, tragic, driven, and ultimately deeply moving." Bagatellen's Derek Taylor added, “By adopting Philippine kulintang and Balinese gamelan percussion instruments into her already variegated arsenal, she's crafted one of the most creative and recognizable approaches in improvised music."
Known as “one of the most refreshing percussionist-composer-bandleaders to emerge in recent years" (Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes), Ibarra first gained widespread attention in the 1990's as a member of such high-profile avant-garde jazz groups as William Parker's Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and the David S. Ware Quartet. Since then, she has collaborated with a wide variety of performers, including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, indie rockers Yo La Tengo, experimental composer Pauline Oliveros and poet Yusef Komunyakaa, with whom she recently composed an opera. She currently leads/co-leads six groups, including Electric Kulintang, a duo with her husband, Cuban-American percussionist/composer Roberto J. Rodriguez, that performs an original hybrid music she calls Filipino gong electronica. Her most recent release is 2007's Drum Sketches (Innova).
2008 Spring Jazz Series schedule:
03/14 :: David Torn's Prezens
03/21 :: Susie Ibarra Trio
03/28 :: Dezron Douglas Quintet
04/04 :: Aaron Goldberg Trio
04/11 :: Joe Morris Quartet
04/18 :: Peter Brtzmann/Han Bennink Duo
04/25 :: Andy LaVerne's One Of A Kind
05/02 :: Bass Drum Bone
05/09 :: Miguel Zenon Quartet
05/16 :: Ralph Alessi and This Against That
05/23 :: Min Xiao-Fen Asian Trio
05/30 :: Amir ElSaffar's Two Rivers
06/06 :: Ben Wolfe Quartet
For more information contact Improvised Communications.
