These performances are part of a larger tour celebrating both the release of the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet's second recording, Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths (hatOLOGY 675), and the most recent performances of his secular oratorio, Madeleine Dreams, with his improvising chamber jazz ensemble, Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings. The latter will be recorded at the end of the tour for release next year on Firehouse 12 Records.
Friday, November 14th at 9:00 p.m.
Taylor Ho Bynum Trio
Featuring:
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet
Mary Halvorson, guitar
Tomas Fujiwara, drums
Friday, November 14th at 10:30 p.m.
Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet
NYC CD Release Party for Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths
Featuring:
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet
Matt Bauder, tenor sax and clarinet
Jason Kao Hwang, violin and viola
Mary Halvorson, guitar
Evan O'Reilly, guitar
Tomas Fujiwara, drums
The Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet's multiple guitar line-up was inspired by bands such as Miles Davis’ Dark Magus and Agharta groups, Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time and Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus. Two chordal instruments, along with the rest of the flexible and unusual instrumentation, also allows Bynum to juxtapose independent sub-ensembles within a larger group (including the core trio), a compositional method inspired by the music of Charles Ives and Anthony Braxton.
Critics called the group's 2007 debut, The Middle Picture (Firehouse 12 Records), “consistently compelling listening" (Time Out New York) and “the shape of jazz to come" (Philip Clark, The Wire), noting that the band “is like no other outfit around" (Brent Burton, JazzTimes).
Saturday, November 15th at 9:00 and 10:30 p.m.
Taylor Ho Bynum & SpiderMonkey Strings
Music by Taylor Ho Bynum, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington and Sun Ra
Featuring:
Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet
Kyoko Kitamura, vocals and electronics
Jason Kao Hwang, violin
Jessica Pavone, viola
Tomas Ulrich, cello
Pete Fitzpatrick, guitar
Joseph Daley, tuba
Luther Gray, drums
Named after two mythic tricksters, Anansi the Spider of West Africa and the Monkey King of China, SpiderMonkey Strings has performed a diverse range of Bynum's extended suites with a genre-defying spirit and distinctive sense of humor. In March 2008, the group presented the world premiere performance of Madeleine Dreams at Roulette in New York before embarking on a tour of Belgium and The Netherlands.
The piece was inspired by the novel Madeleine is Sleeping (Harcourt), a 2004 National Book Award finalist written by Bynum’s sister, Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, drawing text from the book and further exploring its theme of “the logic of dreams,” a recurring thread in Bynum’s work as a composer. The band will document Madeleine Dreams in the studio on November 22nd after additional performances in Boston and New Haven as the follow-up to its 2003 debut, Other Stories [Three Suites] (482 Music).
For more information contact Improvised Communications.
