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

Victor Vieira–Branco's Bark Culture: The Giant Is Awkward

by Glenn Astarita
June 25, 2026

Vibraphonist and composer Victor Vieira-Branco has been quietly building something with Bark Culture since 2021, and the Philadelphia-based quartet is no longer content to keep it quiet. The Giant Is Awkward is the group's second album, expanding the core trio of Vieira-Branco, double bassist John Moran, and drummer Joey Sullivan with the addition of pianist and ...

Chad Taylor: Smoke Shifter

by Carl Medsker
December 24, 2025

Smoke Shifter leans toward tradition, which is perhaps a bit surprising given the exploratory, cutting-edge music previously produced by everyone in this quintet. Led by master percussionist Chad Taylor, the album is a diverse program of well-crafted, contemporary songs performed by an egalitarian collective. Taylor co-founded the Chicago Underground bands with Rob Mazurek, celebrated ...

Spinifex, Angelica Sanchez / Camila Nebbia Duo, & Rob Mazurek

by Maurice Hogue
November 19, 2024

The unpredictable but always powerful Dutch sextet, Spinifex, is releasing its latest album in North America, Undrilling The Hole, so it will be interesting to see if the band gains some traction in North America. Hopefully it will; they're a no-prisoners-taken ensemble. Brooklyn's I-Beam was the venue for a most interesting and perhaps inevitable hook-up for ...

Nicole Mitchell + Some Johnny Hodges 45s

by David Brown
February 21, 2023

This week, our featured artist will be creative flutist, composer and educator Nicole Mitchell whose music we will explore in a variety of contexts. Our featured recording will be an old 1952 box of 45s titled “Johnny Hodges and his Alto Sax" that I picked up this week plus recent releases from Avram Fefer, Ben Wolf, ...

Bach-in-Jazz + Concertos & Suites from Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef and Rahsaan Roland Kirk

by David Brown
January 11, 2022

Bach-in-jazz tunes from Ornette Coleman, Aki Takase and Bud Powell and we'll sample “Promises" an electro-acoustic symphonic masterpiece from Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders.' Then, Yusef Lateef's “Symphonic Blues Suite," Rahsaan Roland Kirk's “Saxophone Concerto," and finally the Exploding Star Orchestra. Welcome friends and neighbors to The Jazz Continuum. Old, new, in, out... wherever the music ...

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 ...