Hello everyone.
There are several new bits of information emanating from my particular corner of the music universe:
I did a lengthy interview with Jason Crane of The Jazz Session. You can listen to it here:
http://thejazzsession.com/2011/11/07/the-jazz-session-322-matt-mitchell/
What is The Beautiful?, the album by John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet +1 plus Kurt Elling and Theo Bleckmann, is receiving widespread positive reviews, including 4.5 stars in Down Beat magazine - this review is included at the bottom of this email.
Also, I have one final round of 2011 gigs about which to tell. All gigs are in NYC, and all are at the Stone unless otherwise indicated:
Nov 30 at SEEDS (617 Vanderbilt in Brooklyn)
10 pm
Duo with Ches Smith
DECEMBER 1—14 at The Stone
SCREWGUN
CURATED BY TIM BERNE
12/1 Thursday
10 pm
The Music of Marc Ducret
Tim Berne (sax) Marc Ducret (guitar) Ches Smith (drums) Matt Mitchell (piano)
12/2 Friday
10 pm
The Music of Tim Berne
Tim Berne (sax) Marc Ducret (guitar) Ches Smith (drums) Matt Mitchell (piano)
12/3 Saturday
10 pm
The Music of Tim Berne and Marc Ducret
Tim Berne (sax) Ralph Alessi (trumpet) Marc Ducret (guitar) Ches Smith (drums) Matt Mitchell (piano)
12/7 Wednesday at BARBES
8pm
duo with Dave King
12/8 Thursday
10 pm
Totopos
Tim Berne (sax) Oscar Noriega (sax) Matt Mitchell (piano) Ches Smith (drums)
12/9 Friday
10 pm
Totopos
Tim Berne (sax) Oscar Noriega (sax) Matt Mitchell (piano) Ches Smith (drums)
12/10 Saturday
10 pm
Totopos
Tim Berne (sax) Oscar Noriega (sax) Matt Mitchell (piano) Ches Smith (drums) with special guest Trevor Dunn (bass)
12/11 Sunday
10 pm
Matt Mitchell—Central Chain
Tim Berne (saxophone) Oscar Noriega (bass clarinet) Mary Halvorson (guitar) John Hebert (bass) Tomas Fujiwara (drums) Matt Mitchell (piano)
12/13 Tuesday
8 pm
Matt Mitchell and Dan Weiss
Matt Mitchell (piano) Dan Weiss (drums)
10 pm
Herb Robertson with Ben Gerstein, Matt Mitchell, Dan Weiss and Tim Berne
Herb Robertson (trumpet) Ben Gerstein (trombone) Matt Mitchell (piano) Dan Weiss (drums) Tim Berne (sax)
and finally...
December 16 and 17
The Claudia Quintet +1 plus a very special guest @ CORNELIA STREET CAFE
9 and 10:30 pm both nights
Sure, telling you who the special guest is would be possible, but curtailing the urge is more appropriate at this juncture.
Thank you for reading. Lots of exciting things around the corner in 2012!
Happy Holidays,
-m
November 7, 2011
The Claudia Quintet +1: What Is The Beautiful?
By John Murph, for DownBeat, December 2011
John Hollenbeck continues to astound as a composer, prone to value accessibility as much he does adventure, on the fascinating What Is The Beautiful? As on the previous Claudia Quintet disc, Royal Toast, Hollenbeck extends the lineup with a "+1." But it's sort of misleading; it should read "+3," because in addition to Matt Mitchell, who takes over the piano chair left by Gary Versace, vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling contribute invaluably.
The singers play a crucial role on this album, becuase it's Kenneth Patchen's pioneering poetry that serves as its launching pad. Patchen's legacy adds another level of intrigue, given his relative obscurity. But his prescient works paved the way for the Beat generation and of the fusion of jazz and poetry. Commissioned by the University of Rochester as part of an exhibition commemorating what would have been Patchen's 100th birthday, Hollenbeck recruited Elling to read some of Patchen's work before he composed the music. Hints of overdubs are remarkably absent, because the ensemble couches Elling's recitations beautifully -- as on the opening "Showtime/23rd Street Runs Into Heaven," on which Drew Gress' emphatic bass shadow dances in perfect unison to Elling's effective reading. As Gress' bass lines develop into a bouncy swing alongside Hollenbeck's streamlined yet propulsive drumming, Mitchell and vibraphonist coalesce intertwining lines underneath the voice before saxophonist Speed then later accordionist Ted Reichman comes in to reprise the parallel dance as Grew, Mitchell and Moran did prior. The overall effect is mesmerizing.
Elling's gift for interpreting spoken word is made all the more apparent in his ability to affect different characters. On "Showtime," he genuinely sounds like an old-school television voiceover talent and on "Opening the Window," his deliberate, slightly slurred delivery deftly evokes the craggy, inebriated shut in of the poem's protagonist. His most gripping performance is on "The Bloodhounds" (originally titled "Nice Day For A Lynching") on which he expresses the horrors of watching a black man being lynched amongst a gaggle of laughing white men.
On other occasions, Patchen's prose comes to life via Bleckmann's ethereal singing. Bleckmann is particularly bewitching on "The Snow Is Deep On The Ground" on which his otherworldly crooning is swept afloat by the rolling, counterpointing melodies and rhythms of piano, vibraphone, accordion and bass. Bleckmann finds an emotional gateway on "Do Me That Love" and on "Limpidity Of Silences," Bleckmann shows his flair for extreme dynamics as he whispers the words at an excruciating pianissimo without losing its rhythmic vitality.
While Hollenbeck employs virtuoso drumming in full service of his compositions, a closer listen reveals him to be a sparkling rhythmic engine, capable to driving the ensemble with supple grace. His drumming gets plenty spotlight however on "Mates for Life," on which his shuffling brush work duets magically with Moran's prancing improvisational lines.
Four and a half stars: * * * * 1/2
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
NY Times article, new music, new gigs, newly
Hello and thanks for coming to my website.
Today, October 7, there is an article by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times called "New Pilots at the Keyboard" in which he writes about four younger jazz pianists who are playing a great deal around New York: Fabian Almazan, Kris Davis, David Virelles, and me. I feel honored to appear both in the New York Times and in the company of such great pianists. You can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/arts/music/four-young-pianists-on-the-rise-in-the-jazz-scene.html?_r=1&ref=music
Today is also notable for me finally putting up some new music on my 'Music Samples' page. There's a good 90 minutes up there now, including some very recent performances as well as some of slightly older vintage. I hope you enjoy listening to them. Please let me know what you think!
on October 28 of this month I'm debuting a new band called Normal Remarkable Persons. We'll be playing the piece that is mentioned in the above article. The band will include Travis Laplante - tenor saxophone, Herb Robertson - trumpet, Tyshawn Sorey - drums, and me. There will also be a possible 5th 'mystery' member if 'circumstances' 'allow'. This will be at 10 pm at the Douglass St Music Collective in Brooklyn. The pianists Jesse Stacken and Landon Knoblock will be presenting bands earlier in the evening and I highly recommend coming for the whole thing.
other upcoming performances:
October 21 and 22
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble plays the music of Kenny Wheeler at the Jazz Standard [NY]
sets at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 pm each night
November 10
Jamie Baum Septet at Symphony Space [NY] at 7:30 pm
November 11
Tim Berne's Los Totopos at the Stone [NY] at 10 pm
November 18-20
Claudia Quintet +1 +Theo Bleckmann mini tour
11/18 - The Stone 10 pm [NY]
11/19 - The Art Alliance 8 pm [Phila]
11/20 - An Die Musik 7 pm [B-more]
Lastly but certainly not leastly, I'm pleased to tell you that I'm part of the latest Claudia Quintet recording, entitled What is the Beautiful? It features the classic Claudia Quintet lineup with me added, and the great vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling singing and reciting, respectively, settings of the poet Kenneth Patchen. Some of my favorite compositions of John's are on this record and I'm very proud to be a part of it. It will be released October 11 on Cuneiform Records, which you can find here: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/
that should do it for now. talk to you again just before December, when Tim Berne is curating the Stone!
thanks for reading.
-m
Today, October 7, there is an article by Ben Ratliff in the New York Times called "New Pilots at the Keyboard" in which he writes about four younger jazz pianists who are playing a great deal around New York: Fabian Almazan, Kris Davis, David Virelles, and me. I feel honored to appear both in the New York Times and in the company of such great pianists. You can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/arts/music/four-young-pianists-on-the-rise-in-the-jazz-scene.html?_r=1&ref=music
Today is also notable for me finally putting up some new music on my 'Music Samples' page. There's a good 90 minutes up there now, including some very recent performances as well as some of slightly older vintage. I hope you enjoy listening to them. Please let me know what you think!
on October 28 of this month I'm debuting a new band called Normal Remarkable Persons. We'll be playing the piece that is mentioned in the above article. The band will include Travis Laplante - tenor saxophone, Herb Robertson - trumpet, Tyshawn Sorey - drums, and me. There will also be a possible 5th 'mystery' member if 'circumstances' 'allow'. This will be at 10 pm at the Douglass St Music Collective in Brooklyn. The pianists Jesse Stacken and Landon Knoblock will be presenting bands earlier in the evening and I highly recommend coming for the whole thing.
other upcoming performances:
October 21 and 22
John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble plays the music of Kenny Wheeler at the Jazz Standard [NY]
sets at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 pm each night
November 10
Jamie Baum Septet at Symphony Space [NY] at 7:30 pm
November 11
Tim Berne's Los Totopos at the Stone [NY] at 10 pm
November 18-20
Claudia Quintet +1 +Theo Bleckmann mini tour
11/18 - The Stone 10 pm [NY]
11/19 - The Art Alliance 8 pm [Phila]
11/20 - An Die Musik 7 pm [B-more]
Lastly but certainly not leastly, I'm pleased to tell you that I'm part of the latest Claudia Quintet recording, entitled What is the Beautiful? It features the classic Claudia Quintet lineup with me added, and the great vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling singing and reciting, respectively, settings of the poet Kenneth Patchen. Some of my favorite compositions of John's are on this record and I'm very proud to be a part of it. It will be released October 11 on Cuneiform Records, which you can find here: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/
that should do it for now. talk to you again just before December, when Tim Berne is curating the Stone!
thanks for reading.
-m
Monday, July 11, 2011
update - 11 July 2011
Hello everyone,
It has been an extremely busy time for me during the interval since my last update. I toured the US West Coast with John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble in early March, continental Europe in early April with Mr. Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet + 1, and Australia in May and June, first with Quinsin Nachoff's Forward Motion and then with Tim Berne's Los Totopos. To top it all off, I just returned from a very fun tour of jazz festivals in Canada and Europe with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's Apex.
While my musical activity for the next couple months will be mainly NYC-centric, there still will be a lot going on:
- This Friday, July 15, I'm returning to Cornelia St. Cafe with my sextet, Central Chain. We packed the house back in February and of course hope to do so once again! This time we'll play two sets, at 9 and 10:30 pm.
from the Cornelia St website: http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/list2010c.asp?sdate=7/15/2011&from_cal=0
Critic's Pick in Time Out New York: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/1625907/matt-mitchells-central-chain
- The next day I play at Barbes with Matt Bauder's Day in Pictures: http://www.mattbauder.net/calendar.html
- On July 22 I play again with Darius Jones's quartet, at IBeam: http://ibeambrooklyn.com/calendar/
- I will be playing two sets at Cornelia once again on the 30th of July in a trio with Tim Berne and Dan Weiss:
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/downstairs/list2010c.asp?sdate=7/27/2011&from_cal=0
To top it all off, I will once again be a core faculty member at SIM [www.schoolforimprov.org]. I will be teaching with my friends Ralph Alessi, Chris Lightcap, and Tom Rainey at the Brooklyn branch of Long Island University from July 25 through 29, with a faculty concert at the Jazz Gallery on July 27.
There are a few exciting things in August as well.
first up in the month I will be playing again with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's Apex at the Newport Jazz Festival. It could without saying that I'm excited for this, though it seems that I've said just that: http://www.newportjazzfest.net/index.php?pID=321&artist=192
On August 14, I play in Lisbon, Portugal, with the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble as part of Jazz Em Agosto: http://www.kadmusarts.com/festivals/2032.html
Finally, on August 17 at 8 pm I will play at Barbes again, this time as part of a new duo with Dave King, drummer of the Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Dave King Trucking Co., etc.! We will be playing primarily music from Dave's frighteningly cool 'solo' CD Indelicate, on which he plays drums AND piano. I will be playing Dave's insane piano parts, hopefully with an appropriate level of sanity intact.
and that's all for now! thanks so much for reading. One of these days before too long I'll actually 'blog' about 'something' other than 'gigs'.
peace,
-mm
It has been an extremely busy time for me during the interval since my last update. I toured the US West Coast with John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble in early March, continental Europe in early April with Mr. Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet + 1, and Australia in May and June, first with Quinsin Nachoff's Forward Motion and then with Tim Berne's Los Totopos. To top it all off, I just returned from a very fun tour of jazz festivals in Canada and Europe with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's Apex.
While my musical activity for the next couple months will be mainly NYC-centric, there still will be a lot going on:
- This Friday, July 15, I'm returning to Cornelia St. Cafe with my sextet, Central Chain. We packed the house back in February and of course hope to do so once again! This time we'll play two sets, at 9 and 10:30 pm.
from the Cornelia St website: http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/list2010c.asp?sdate=7/15/2011&from_cal=0
Critic's Pick in Time Out New York: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/1625907/matt-mitchells-central-chain
- The next day I play at Barbes with Matt Bauder's Day in Pictures: http://www.mattbauder.net/calendar.html
- On July 22 I play again with Darius Jones's quartet, at IBeam: http://ibeambrooklyn.com/calendar/
- I will be playing two sets at Cornelia once again on the 30th of July in a trio with Tim Berne and Dan Weiss:
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/downstairs/list2010c.asp?sdate=7/27/2011&from_cal=0
To top it all off, I will once again be a core faculty member at SIM [www.schoolforimprov.org]. I will be teaching with my friends Ralph Alessi, Chris Lightcap, and Tom Rainey at the Brooklyn branch of Long Island University from July 25 through 29, with a faculty concert at the Jazz Gallery on July 27.
There are a few exciting things in August as well.
first up in the month I will be playing again with Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green's Apex at the Newport Jazz Festival. It could without saying that I'm excited for this, though it seems that I've said just that: http://www.newportjazzfest.net/index.php?pID=321&artist=192
On August 14, I play in Lisbon, Portugal, with the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble as part of Jazz Em Agosto: http://www.kadmusarts.com/festivals/2032.html
Finally, on August 17 at 8 pm I will play at Barbes again, this time as part of a new duo with Dave King, drummer of the Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Dave King Trucking Co., etc.! We will be playing primarily music from Dave's frighteningly cool 'solo' CD Indelicate, on which he plays drums AND piano. I will be playing Dave's insane piano parts, hopefully with an appropriate level of sanity intact.
and that's all for now! thanks so much for reading. One of these days before too long I'll actually 'blog' about 'something' other than 'gigs'.
peace,
-mm
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Hi there.
I just wanted to quickly mention that my sextet, Central Chain, will be making it's NYC debut tonight, February 13, at Cornelia St Cafe. I hope you Philadelphia/NYC-area locals can make it! Doors open at 8:30 pm and we start no later than 9, and we'll play 2 different sets of music. Cover is $10 and there is a $10 drink minimum.
the band:
Tim Berne, alto saxophone
Oscar Noriega, bass clarinet
Mary Halvorson, guitar
John Hebert, bass
Tomas Fujiwara, drums
the press:
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/arts/music/11jazz.html?_r=3&ref=music
A nice blurb from Jim Macnie in the Village Voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/events/matt-mitchells-central-chain-2365428/
and a Critic's Pick in Time Out NY: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/886819/matt-mitchells-central-chain
the venue: http://corneliastreetcafe.com/downstairs/performances.asp
Also coming up this week, two more critic's picks from Time Out NY
Background Music at Korzo 11pm 2/15: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/887181/background-music-kirk-knuffke-trio
and the debut of my duo with Dan Weiss at Barbes 2/16: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/886673/weissmitchell-duo
finally, on 2/19 I fly to Columbus, OH for a gig with Rez Abbasi's Invocation: http://www.wexarts.org/pa/index.php?eventid=5257
I just got back from a 2-night run at the Rex in Toronto with this band [with Jon Maharaj and Damion Reid playing bass and drums, respectively] that was explosively fun.
other recent things...recording and European tour with Tim Berne's Los Totopos happened in January, West Coast tour with John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble coming up March 1-8, European tour with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet April 1-9, some gigs with Shane Endsley's Music Band this month and in April...and sometime in there I'm making a new electronics record.
thanks for reading! if you would like to be removed from the list, just hit reply and tell me.
peace,
-mm
I just wanted to quickly mention that my sextet, Central Chain, will be making it's NYC debut tonight, February 13, at Cornelia St Cafe. I hope you Philadelphia/NYC-area locals can make it! Doors open at 8:30 pm and we start no later than 9, and we'll play 2 different sets of music. Cover is $10 and there is a $10 drink minimum.
the band:
Tim Berne, alto saxophone
Oscar Noriega, bass clarinet
Mary Halvorson, guitar
John Hebert, bass
Tomas Fujiwara, drums
the press:
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/arts/music/11jazz.html?_r=3&ref=music
A nice blurb from Jim Macnie in the Village Voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/events/matt-mitchells-central-chain-2365428/
and a Critic's Pick in Time Out NY: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/886819/matt-mitchells-central-chain
the venue: http://corneliastreetcafe.com/downstairs/performances.asp
Also coming up this week, two more critic's picks from Time Out NY
Background Music at Korzo 11pm 2/15: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/887181/background-music-kirk-knuffke-trio
and the debut of my duo with Dan Weiss at Barbes 2/16: http://newyork.timeout.com/music-nightlife/music/886673/weissmitchell-duo
finally, on 2/19 I fly to Columbus, OH for a gig with Rez Abbasi's Invocation: http://www.wexarts.org/pa/index.php?eventid=5257
I just got back from a 2-night run at the Rex in Toronto with this band [with Jon Maharaj and Damion Reid playing bass and drums, respectively] that was explosively fun.
other recent things...recording and European tour with Tim Berne's Los Totopos happened in January, West Coast tour with John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble coming up March 1-8, European tour with John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet April 1-9, some gigs with Shane Endsley's Music Band this month and in April...and sometime in there I'm making a new electronics record.
thanks for reading! if you would like to be removed from the list, just hit reply and tell me.
peace,
-mm
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