Results for "Free improvisation"

Payton MacDonald

Born: December 16, 1974

As a composer numerous ensembles have performed his music around the world, including Alarm Will Sound, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Los Angeles Philharmonic, JACK Quartet, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, So Percussion, To Hit Duo, Young Voices of Colorado, Quintet Mont Royal, Classical Jam, guitarists Mak Grgic and Eliot Fisk, Composers Concordance Ensemble, tabla soloist Shawn Mativetsky, accordionist Bill Schimmel, french hornist John Clark, and many others. He has received grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, American Institute of Indian Studies, as well as fellowships from Yaddo and Ragdale

Theo Jorgensmann

Born: September 29, 1948

Jörgensmann was born in 1948 in the town of Bottrop in the Western Rhur industrial region of Germany. Theo Jörgensmann is one of the most advanced modern free improvisers on his instrument, combining moody chamber jazz with hints of a modal hard bop sensibility. His work with the 'Bottrop Sextet' reveals that he continues to retain great affection for the town where he grew up. In the middle of the sixties he worked as a laboratory technician in a chemical laboratory. He started to play clarinet at the age of 18, taking private lessons from a music teacher at Folkwang Academy of Music in Essen. His dedication to the clarinet as his only instrument was only briefly interrupted during a 15 month spell doing National Service, when he was asked to play soprano saxophone for the Army dance band. After the phase in the German Army, Jörgensmann worked with handicapped children and studied several of semesters social pedagogics and computer science.  The distinctive tonal quality of Jörgenmann’s playing owes something to his choice of clarinet. Many of his albums, available on hatOLOGY, were recorded using a straight basset clarinet in Bb, made by Harald Hüyng, a pupil of the great Herbert Wurlitzer. This clarinet, although an Oehler System, would have some essential similarities to that played by Stadler when playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in the 1780’s. It has extended keywork to enable an additional D and C at the bottom of its range. In 2008, however, Jörgensmann switched from his basset clarinet in Bb to a Low G clarinet, built by another pupil of Herbert Wurlitzer, Wolfgand Dietz. The special sound of his playing arises from the fact that Jörgensmann blows with less pressing of the teeth. As a result, he can play other phrasing and accents, as it is usually possible on the clarinet. It is thus more closely related with the 'hard bop' saxophonists. Jörgensmann made his first appearance at a major event as a member of the 'Contact Trio' with {{Michael Jüllich=56888}} at the 1972 Frankfurt Jazz Festival. During this period he began working with local musicians. He didn't become a professional musician until 1975. In the early 1970's Jörgensmann played in a Jazz Rock group which included the keyboard player {{Hendrik Schaper}} (later a member of {{Klaus Doldinger=6335}} and {{Udo Lindenberg}}) and the drummer {{Udo Dahmen}}. At this time he used electronic effects pedals, such as fuzz, wah-wah and chorus. Probably he was one of the first clarinetists which electronically distorted their instrument. But by 1975 when he formed the clarinet ensemble, 'Clarinet Contrast', he was interested in the pure acoustic sound of his instrument. 'Clarinet Contrast' included {{Bernd Konrad = 8465}}, {{Hans Kumpf}} and {{Michel Pilz = 10309}} as well as one of the musicians Jörgensmann had most admired when he first began playing clarinet, {{Perry Robinson = 10767}}. In 1975 he also founded his first Quartet, which end of the seventies was one of the most successful jazz bands in Germany. In 1977 the 'Theo Jörgensmann Quartet' performed as German representative at the festival of the European Broadcasting Union in Hilversum, Netherlands. Jörgensmann's exclusive focus on the clarinet has led him to form a succession of partnerships with other clarinet players and because of its commitment to the clarinet he was part of the Renaissance in the jazz and improvised music scene. In 1979 the influential European producer and music journalist, {{Joachim-Ernst Berendt}} helped Jörgensmann call together the members of the 'Clarinet Summit'. This was an all-star clarinet group with soloists: {{John Carter = 5578}}, {{Perry Robinson = 10767}}, Theo Jörgensmann, {{Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky = 10259}} and {{Gianluigi Trovesi = 10909}}. John Carter and Theo Jörgensmann met each other at the Moers Jazz Festival in 1979. There they performed solo and as a duo on three days. {{Eckard Koltermann}} is another clarinetist who Jörgensmann has collaborated with on many occasions. As well as working together as the 'German Clarinet Duo' , in the mid 1980's they were both regular members of the clarinet ensemble CL 4, along with {{Lajos Dudas = 17437}}, {{Dieter Kühr}}, {{Eckard Koltermann}} and {{Gerald Doecke}}. By no means are all Jörgensmann's collaborations with clarinet players. As a young musician Jörgensmann also favoured to work in larger ensembles or duos. So he was member in the big bands of {{Andrea Centazzo= 15428}}, {{Willem van Manen}}, {{ Michael Sell - Composer}} , {{Franz Koglmann= 8447}} and the 'Grubenklangorchester' and he also performed as a duo with pianist John Fischer from US, Dutch guitarist {{Jan Kuiper =56915}}, German pianist {{Bernd Köppen = 56479}}, German poet Oskar Ansull, French bass clarinetist {{Denis Colin= 23580}}, German actor Bernt Hahn, German church organist Hans-Günther Wauer, Swiss pianist Daniel Ott, German performer {{Limpe Fuchs}} and Hungarian pianist {{Karoly Binder = 56718}}, with whom he recorded meanwhile 4 duo CDs. Jörgensmann is active as an improvisation theorist. He is convinced that improvised music is the most modern kind of music, since it has created a completely new kind of musician, an integral musician, who is conductor, composer and performer at the same time. „To find the right balance between communication of motion and non- communication is the major part of improvised music; that communication of motion as a part of interaction in music is an opportunity to create a new structure of time, which the listener could perceive as a new kind of musical space; that the idea of jazz does not depend on a specific material and special form; that the essential aspect of jazz is the fact that jazz musicians discovered the fourth dimension of time in music.“ Together with the musicologist and musician Rolf-Dieter Weyer, Jörgensmann wrote a philosophical book about improvisation "Kleine Ethik der Improvisation". As a lecturer Jörgensmann taught improvisation and clarinet at University of Duisburg between 1983 and 1993. At the same time, he hosted a radio program on jazz at West German Broadcasting. And from 1993 until 1997 he was a lecturer for free improvising at Music Therapeutics Institute of Witten/Herdecke University. Several of his recordings on the HatHut / hatOLOGY label are with the Theo Jörgensmann Quartet which consists of Theo Jörgensmann on clarinet, {{m: Christopher Dell = 40167}} on vibes, {{m: Christian Ramond = 31328}} on double bass and {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}} on drums. The quartet performed with {{Lee Konitz = 8463}} at the Muenster Jazz Festival 1999. Another regular partner has been {{Kent Carter = 11814}}, working together on the 'Theo Jörgensmann Workshop Sextet' ({{Charlie Mariano = 9072}}, {{Petras Vysaiauskas}}, Theo Jörgensmann, {{Karl Berger = 4931}}, {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}}, {{Kent Carter = 11814}}), as well as the 'Vysniauskas - Jorgensmann Quintet': ({{Petras Vysniauskas = 15461}}, Theo Jorgensmann, {{Andreas Willers = 14607}}, {{Kent Carter = 11814}}. {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}}) and the {{m: Riviere Composers' Pool = 103445}}.

Space Whale Orchestra

Active since: 2006

The Space Whale Orchestra is an improvisational chamber music ensemble sown and grown in Philadelphia, PA.

Drawn together over a love of collective improvisation and sonic experimentation, the group continues to explore the borders of music and the meaning of freedom, always striving to keep their sound new and evolving.

Current core members include Erica Corbo: piano;Steve Davit: saxes; Connor Przybyszewski: trombone; Mick Ricereto: Clarinets.

Other collaborators include Dan Moser: bass; Kyle Press: alto sax, bari sax, throat singing.

Hanna Inui

Born: February 29

Hanna Inui is a Japanese pianist, composer, and improviser. Hanna holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA 2020/Jazz Piano) from School of Jazz at The New School. Hanna’s music molds influences from classical, Japanese pop music, and Black American music, and has two distinctive characters; one being the punk, and the other being the healer. Hanna is currently residing in Brooklyn, NY, exploring solo piano performance, composition, electronics, texts, sound art, and movement designs, searching ways music can exist in this society where every (recorded) music is available for (almost) anyone to hear.

Lara Solnicki

Born: April 29

"She has emerged from the Canadian scene with a spellbinding voice... with boldly unique style and a vocal attitude of her own. Solnicki has been rightfully labeled a vocal purist, and naturally sings any jazz arrangement with relative ease. With exceptional tonal control and her mastery of inflection, Lara Solnicki has without doubt, charted her vocal journey, affirming her position as a world class jazz singer. " (−Everett. R. Davis, All About Jazz) Canadian vocalist, composer and poet Lara Solnicki is one of Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music artists. She enjoys a busy schedule, performing and recording with many of Canada’s finest musicians

Eunhye Jeong

Born: July 7, 1986

Eunhye Jeong is a pianist and composer with a critical mind that keeps expanding her musical world with diligent research. Recently, she released her fourthalbum [The Colliding Beings, Chi-Da] — a recording of her Seoul concert with Pansori master Il-dong Bae, which is selected as one of the Best Album of 2020 by Sequenza 21 magazine. And she soon released another record [Abyss] under Mung Music label in the same year. She currently performs two major projects: Chi-Da and TVV Quartet, as well as a new work called KM-53 with visuals and electronics.

She has performed with legendary Wadada Leo Smith, a multiple awards-winner including UCLA medal of 2020, a Pulitzer Prize nominee and an innovative composer/trumpeter, as a pianist of NDA ensemble which performed one of ECM's most celebrated albums at the third CREATE Festival. She also performed duo with highly acclaimed cellist/ improviser/composer Okkyung Lee. She also performed in renowned places such as Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), UN Headquarter (NY), colleges such as Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, Boston College, etc.

Johnny Hunter

Named by Jazzwise as an "artist to watch", Johnny Hunter is a Manchester-based drummer, composer and bandleader. He performs his own music across the UK most notably with the Johnny Hunter Quartet, having been recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and appearing at such esteemed venues as Ronnie Scott’s, the Manchester Jazz Festival, Birmingham Jazzlines at Symphony Hall, and Liverpool International Jazz Festival, among many others. He also regularly tours across Europe as part of the UK-Swiss collaboration, MoonMot.

His compositional focus is in developing techniques for composing for improvisers; to make the most of their skills in interpreting the music whilst retaining a strong compositional identity. To develop these ideas, he formed the piano trio, Fragments, with their 2019 album described as an “imaginatively detailed and uncompromising diary of a virtuosic improv group” (John Fordham, Jazzwise).

Antero Priha

Born: October 4, 1965

Trumpetist Antero Priha is a versatile and intuitive trumpet player and composer. He has played, composed and arranged music from many different genres and played and recorded with a great number of domestic and foreign top artists. He is a band musician and composer who leads he ´s own groups and projects. Antero has collaborated in various projects with: Ray Charles, Carla Bley, Freddie Hubbard, Maria Schneider, Joe Henderson & Gil Evans. Finnish stars J. Karjalainen, Ismo Alanko, Judge Bean, Pekka Pohjola, Jukka Linkola, Sakari Kukko, Upi Sorvali, Edward Wesala, Hasse Walli and Otto Donner have also been his musical co-operation partners. Priha has also created a career as a studio musician on television and radio, including Espoo Big Band and Umo Jazz orchestra as a soloist and musician. Priha has recorded a number of his own composing entities, movies and dance works, served as orchestra director in various configurations www.anteropriha.com

Kjetil Jerve

Born: August 28, 1988

Norwegian piano player, father of triplets. Based in Oslo, working internationally. DUGNAD rec artist and maker of #DailyPiano videos on Facebook and Instagram. Born 1988 in Ålesund. Played in Åse Skolekorps Marching Band. Got a really great Swedish piano teacher at age 10, who encouraged to pursue all music, not just classical. Got heavily into early Elton John, soul, funk, fusion, jazz and avant-garde - still studying George Gershwin & Béla Bartók. Played in the local Big Odd Band, leading to The Middle Norwegian Youth Big Band (Midtnorsk ungdomsstorband), meeting future collaborator Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø, Kristoffer Eikrem and Dan Peter Sundland. Went to the Sund Folk College's jazz class (check that thing out!) and got to consistently playing piano with other people in bands for the first time

Charles Colizza

Born: October 30, 1994

Born and raised in Montreal, Québec, Charles Colizza is a New York based guitarist rooted in jazz. Established in the city since 2018, he has recorded alongside jazz saxophone legend Billy Drewes and has performed alongside Grammy winning arranger and trombonist Alan Ferber. He has performed in various world-renowned establishments and jazz venues across North America, notably at The Blue Note NYC, Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, The Bitter End, Upstairs and the Williamsburg Music Center. He is also the recipient of the Oscar Peterson Jazz Scholarship Competition. Charles draws his musical influences from all styles and genres, from Stravinsky to John Coltrane and from Milton Nascimento to Young Thug