Results for "Exploding Star Orchestra"

Exploding Star Orchestra

Exploding Star Orchestra: In 2005, cornetist Rob Mazurek was approached by The Chicago Cultural Center and the Jazz Institute to put together a group that would represent the more contemporary / avant-garde side of sound in Chicago for a concert in Millennium Park’s Frank Gehry-designed concert hall. The music was conceptualized/composed in Manaus Brazil, Fontevraud, France and Chicago, and developed over more than a dozen performances of the Orchestra before it was recorded by John McEntire at his Soma Studio in Chicago. We Are All From Somewhere Else is comprised of 3 distinct sections, and corresponds to a story involving an exploding star, cosmic transformation, a sting ray, the travels of the sting ray, intelligent conversations with electric eels, the destructive power of humans, the death and ascension of sting ray, the transformation of sting ray ghost to flying bird, and the transformation of bird to phoenix to rocket to flying burning matter to a new-born star. Says Mazurek, “I could clearly see and hear the events as a kind of animated adult/children’s story that could be presented in book or video form

Jeb Bishop Flex Quartet: Re-Collect

by John Sharpe
July 30, 2020

Trombonist Jeb Bishop doesn't have a whole slew of leadership dates to his credit in spite of being active on the scene since the early 1990s. His most high profile gigs have been as part of the Vandermark 5, and also Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet, though he also has Rob Mazurek's Exploding Star Orchestra and the ...

Ai Confini tra Sardegna e Jazz 2019

by Luciano Rossetti
October 6, 2019

Photos from the “Ai Confini tra Sardegna e Jazz 2019" Festival held in Sant'Anna Arresi, in the south of Sardinia, from August 30th to September 8th, featuring, among others, Rob Mazurek and Exploding Star Orchestra, Dwight Trible, Kahil El'Zabar, Greg Tate and Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Lonnie Holley, Matthew Shipp Trio, Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society. ...

Rob Mazurek: Chimeric Stoned Horn

by Karl Ackermann
September 3, 2017

"Chimeric" is defined as imaginary or visionary and it is a fitting allegory for the surreal nature of Chimeric Stoned Horn. Composer, electronic artist, cornet virtuoso and multimedia artist Rob Mazurek's vocation in the visual field has progressively influenced his music and vice versa. These are not alter egos, but related facets of the artist and ...

Thollem | Mazurek: Blind Curves and Box Canyons

by Karl Ackermann
May 4, 2017

In a remote outpost of creativity, the little town of Marfa sits on less than two square miles, a one-hour drive from the Mexican border. With a population of about two-thousand, it may, nevertheless, be the Brooklyn of the West Texas desert plateau. From its beginnings as an artist colony (of sorts), Marfa has been developing ...

Yoni Kretzmer / Jason Ajemian / Kevin Shea: Until Your Throat Is Dry

by John Sharpe
September 29, 2016

Israeli-born, NYC-based tenor saxophonist Yoni Kretzmer convenes a co-operative trio on Until Your Throat Is Dry, released on his own OutNow imprint. Completing the line up are drummer Kevin Shea, best known for his role in the stylistically promiscuous Mostly Other People Do The Killing and the anarchic Talibam!, and bassist Jason Ajemian, from Rob Mazurek's ...

Rob Mazurek: Alternate Moon Cycles

by Karl Ackermann
February 1, 2015

The first half of the decade has seen cornet virtuoso and composer Rob Mazurek through significant achievements and personal losses, often linked inextricably through his creative processes. In and around the passing of his mentor and colleague, the trumpeter Bill Dixon in 2010 and his mother in 2013, Mazurek has found inspirations that are unique even ...

Rob Mazurek Octet: Skull Sessions

by Troy Collins
February 19, 2013

The shadow of Miles Davis continues to influence the efforts of generations of jazz musicians, especially fellow trumpeters. Davis' myriad innovations span multiple styles and time periods, making it virtually impossible to ignore his achievements. Yet when the We Want Miles exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil asked former resident Rob Mazurek to devise a presentation inspired ...

Rob Mazurek Pulsar Quartet: Stellar Pulsations

by Troy Collins
September 24, 2012

Originally schooled in the foundations of hard bop, cornetist Rob Mazurek, quickly surpassed the form's conventional limitations; his multihued electro-acoustic work over the past two decades has subsequently drawn inspiration from numerous genres besides jazz. Mazurek's unfettered creativity and stalwart leadership skills have thereby cemented his reputation as a key figure in the Chicago scene--primarily as ...

Cuneiform Records: Growing Progressive Music for 27 Years

by Mark Redlefsen
November 14, 2011

Twenty seven years is a long time for a niche progressive music label such as Cuneiform Records not just to survive, but to remain inventive and, in the best sense, ambitious. Steve Feigenbaum founded Cuneiform back in 1984, and with his wife, Joyce, runs it from Silver Springs, Maryland. Hosting bands such as Universe Zero, digging ...