the Spot is the Brooklyn Lyceum's new music series on Wednesday nights, curated by composer Kyle Saulnier and featuring groundbreaking artists presenting new music in open defiance of genre lines. Just the right vibe and just around the corner, the Spot is your one-stop shop for the best new music in New York City.
09/18/2011
artist profile: Michael Webster Quintet
Michael Webster, saxophone
Chris Dingman, vibraphone
Jesse Lewis, guitar
Ike Sturm, bass
Jared Schonig, drums
Michael Webster's compositions have been played by Joe Lovano, Tom Harrell and Arturo O'Farrill at Birdland and by John Benitez at the Blue Note in New York City. In March 2008, Michael conducted the Grammy winning Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra at Symphony Space in Manhattan, where they premiered his original commissioned composition "Mombogro". He returned to lead the ALJO 's performance of two commissioned arrangements in October 2008 featuring guitarist/composer Michele Ramo.
Michael appears regularly with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada as an orchestral saxophonist, and has been a featured soloist in this capacity with John Pizzarelli, Doc Severinsen, Barbara Cooke, Lou Rawls, Ian Tyson, Glen Campbell & Carol Welsman.
Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Michael earned his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Saxophone at the University of Toronto in 1999. He was awarded the J.B.C. Watkins Award for Postgraduate Studies, along with a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, which enabled him to move to New York City in 2002.
Michael graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in May 2004 where he earned his Master of Music degree in jazz composition under the tutelage of Michael Abene (Maynard Ferguson, GRP All-Star Big Band, WDR Big Band).
While at MSM, Michael began collaborating with Grammy-winning bassist John Benitez (Chick Corea, John Scofield, Danilo Perez, Roy Hargrove) playing saxophone, co-writing and arranging music for the John Benitez Group and the 12-piece Gospel Latin Jazz Project.
Since 2003, Michael has been collaborating with Puerto Rican trombonist/percussionist William Cepeda (Dizzy Gillespie, Slide Hampton, Lester Bowie) as an arranger for big band and symphony orchestra, as well as playing saxophone in Cepeda's International Sextet. In Spring 2010, Webster completed "Posesíon", a concert-length continuous piece for big band and strings adapted from Cepeda's melodic sketches. The piece will be premiered in Fall 2010.
In September 2005 Michael recorded his debut CD as a leader entitled Leading Lines. The album presents 8 original works, for jazz nonet, woodwind quintet and strings. Featured are John Benitez on bass, drummer Obed Calvaire, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, and Gordon Webster on piano.
Presenting a unique blend of Latin Jazz rhythms, classical textures, funky odd meter settings and sheer groove, Michael's 16-piece orchestra, Leading Lines, is a perfect springboard for melodically accessible, harmonically rich & rhythmically infectious music. The group features some of NYC's best young jazz musicians in a unique setting, including Sara Caswell on violin, Rob Mosher on soprano sax & oboe, and Erica vonKleist on saxophone & flute. Leading Lines appears September 10 at St Peter’s Church in Manhattan with special guest Dick Oatts.
A passionate educator, Michael served as musical director of United Rhythms & Visions, a New Jersey-based arts agency bringing music, art & drama to inner-city schools from April 2008 - September 2009. He is on faculty at the New York Jazz Academy and has over ten years of experience teaching private lessons in saxophone, clarinet, flute, composition, arranging, jazz theory & improvisation.
at the spot:
11-02-2011
09/06/2011
artist profile: Laghima
Frederika Krier, violin
Gian Luigi Diana, live electronics, sound manipulation
Laghima is an electro-acoustic duo born in the density of New York's creative energy. While G.L. Diana is improvising with the laptop using loops, real time sound manipulation and different ethnic instruments, violin virtuoso Frederika Krier improvises over this sonic carpet. Their performances and recordings are free improvisations, instant compositions unfolding in the moment.
Laghima is an ancient Sanskrit Word which means ''levitation'', to become lighter than a feather, to go beyond gross-bodily conceptions. Laghima is a dialogue between the two to find balance, to be lighter, using all colors to merge into the white one, using different languages to obtain one common simple pure language.
http://www.myspace.com/laghimamusic
at the Spot:
12.07.2011
08/13/2011
Pics - Karavika, 08-10-2011
We couldn't get too close for the pics - the house was PACKED. These guys killed. Click the pretty link for more.
08/10/2011
08/01/2011
07/29/2011
Pics - Max Johnson Trio, 07-27-2011
Humbly submitted - burning trio. More below the fold.
07/25/2011
artist profile: Time in Transit
Glenn White - tenor saxophone
Casper Gyldensoe - guitar
Dmitry Ishenko - bass
Rob Mitzner - drums
An exciting balance of modern jazz harmonies with melodic and rhythmic influences from rock and beyond, Time in Transit's music is the statement of four skilled, creative musicians reaching beyond their individual voices, giving strength to a cohesive collective.
Intricate arrangements balanced with the sheer, creative abandon of skilled musicians doing what they do best.
“Time in Transit live up to the sterling reputation that jazz bands from NYC have maintained for decades.” –Muzik Reviews
at the spot:
09-14-2011
artist profile: Keith Witty
Jonathan Finlayson - trumpet
Loren Stillman - saxophones
Chris Dingman - vibraphone
Keith Witty - bass
tbd - drums
A native of New York City, bassist Keith Witty has straddled the worlds of Hip-Hop, popular music forms, and Jazz’s Avante Garde in his young career. In 2000, before graduating from Wesleyan University, he made his recording debut with the Anthony Braxton Quartet. Work soon followed in the bands of drummer/producer Guillermo E. Brown, which spawned the opportunity to fill in for William Parker in the David S. Ware Quartet. Keith’s first engagement with Ware was the induction ceremony of Sonny Rollins and Max Roach into Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Hall of Fame, with both legends in attendance. In 2007, Keith formally joined Ware’s new quartet. That same year, he joined the touring band of Grammy-nominated singer and song-writer Amel Larrieux with whom he has toured and recorded extensively, most recently opening at the L.A. Forum for Prince at his personal request. In 2010, Keith joined the band of acclaimed vocalist Somi, with whom he has played concerts throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the last year, culminating in the recently-released album, “Live at the Jazz Standard”. Simultaneously, Keith has collaborated with some of the most innovative musicians of Jazz’s upcoming generation, playing in bands led by Jonathan Finlayson, Matana Roberts, Taylor Ho Bynum, Pyeng Threadgill, and others. A dedicated educator as well, Keith is composer-in-residence for the New York City Opera’s education program.
at the spot:
10-05-2011
07/24/2011
artist profile: James Shipp's Dirty Vibraphone Trio
James Shipp - vibraphone, pandeiro, little bell-like things
Mike LaValle - electric bass, zabumba
Rogério Boccato - drums/percussion
The Dirty Vibraphone Trio focuses on the more obscure and rustic textures that can be wrought from the vibraphone, an instrument most often used for pretty, airy sound effects, but capable of a broad spectrum of colors and moods. Their repertoire includes many many open-ended original pieces that invite free improvisation, as well as compelling takes on the music of Thelonious Monk, Egberto Gismonti, Lennon/McCartney, Pixiguinha, and western Finland.
Percussionist James Shipp is an active member of the jazz and creative music scenes in NYC, both as a vibraphonist and multi-percussionist. He has been featured in performance and recordings with Kate McGarry, Kurt Elling, Richard Galliano, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and tabla master Zakir Hussain, and plays regularly in ensembles led by Jane Ira Bloom, Peter Eldridge, Becca Stevens, Jo Lawry, Fabian Alamazan, and Rob Curto. James’s Irish/Brazilian/jazz hybrid project, Nós Novo, released its debut CD, Strange Sweethearts in America, in 2009.
at the spot:
09.28.2011
07/18/2011
artist profile: Pablo Masis
Trumpeter Pablo Masis presents a new collaboration with Saxophonist Zachary Lipton for an evening of original compositions. Rounding out the group is Pat Reid on bass and Nate Smith on drums.
Since moving to New York at the end of 2008, Pablo has performed in a variety of local venues, including Joe's Pub, The Bitter End, Kenny's Castaways, The Tea Lounge, and Miles Cafe, among others. He spent the fall of 2010 touring Belgium and the Netherlands, and is currently planning for his next studio recording for the fall of 2011.
http://www.pablomasis.net
at the Spot:
02-22-2012
(09-21-2011)
