Saxophonist/Composer
Jason Robinson's Janus Ensemble Debuts Music from New Suite
"Resonant Geographies" on Five-City Northeast Tour February 20 - 24,
2014
"Tiresian Symmetry &
Beyond" tour stops in Amherst, MA; Portland, ME; Montreal, QC;
Marlboro, VT; and Brooklyn, NY
"Rugged and
scintillating...both chaotic and in perfect order." - Nate
Chinen, New York Times
Saxophonist and composer Jason
Robinson's celebrated nine-piece Janus Ensemble brings its
intensely grooving and powerful music to five cities in the Northeast
and Canada in February 2014. The tour, titled "Tiresian
Symmetry & Beyond," will feature re-worked pieces culled
from Tiresian Symmetry, the group's acclaimed 2012 album on
Cuneiform Records, as well as the debut of "Resonant
Geographies," a new suite of Robinson compositions for the
Janus Ensemble.
Performing are some of the finest artists in jazz and improvised
music, including reedists JD Parran and Marty Ehrlich,
tuba players Marcus Rojas and Bill Lowe (also on bass
trombone), guitarist Liberty Ellman, bassist Drew Gress,
drummers George Schuller and Ches Smith, and
Robinson himself.
Thursday, February 20
Bezanson Recital Hall, UMass
Amherst
Amherst, MA
8:00
p.m.
Tickets: $12 / $7 (Five College/GCC/STCC Students and Youth 17
& under)
Magic Triangle Concert Series at University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
For more information and advanced tickets: https://fac.umass.edu/Online/JasonRobinson
Friday, February
21
Woodfords Congregational Church, 202 Woodford
Street Portland, ME
8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $5 students / $10 seniors / advanced seating / $15
night of show
Dimensions in Jazz Series
For more information: 207-828-1310
Saturday, February 22 Casa del Popolo, 4873 St
Laurent Blvd
Montreal, QC
9:00 p.m.
Tickets: $12-14
For more information: http://www.casadelpopolo.com, 514-284-0122
Sunday, February 23
Marlboro College's Ragle Hall
Marlboro, VT
3:00 p.m.
Free
admission
For more information:
http://www.marlboro.edu/news/events;
802-251-7644,
Monday, February
24 Roulette, 509 Atlantic
Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
8:00 p.m.
Tickets: $20 (general) / $15 (members/students/seniors)
For more information:
http://roulette.org, 917-267-0363
In addition to re-worked music from
Tiresian Symmetry, the Janus Ensemble will play the first three
pieces from the "Resonant Geographies" suite at each concert:
"Outcropping (Salt Point, 1995)," "Futures Unimagined
(Quabbin Reservoir, 2012)," and "Confluence (Virgin Creek,
1996)." Each piece acts as a meditation on the relationship
between geography and personal history, structure and expression.
Drawn from personal experiences and evoking the emotional ephemera of
specific places, each piece references a time and physical location in
northern California or western Massachusetts.
"'Resonant Geographies' departs from the mythologies and
metrical relationships that were at the core of my last two albums for
the group [Tiresian Symmetry and The Two Faces of Janus,
both on Cuneiform Records]," Robinson says. "While
these earlier projects drew inspiration from ancient mythology to
generate visceral and grooving music, more recently I've felt drawn to
the magical, ineffable connections between ourselves and the places we
live: the trees, the buildings, the wildlife, the rolling hills and
water, the communities."
For Robinson, these connections prompt a
celebration of life and community, and a deep reverence for his
surroundings. "Resonant Geographies" presents a vivid, dynamic
imagined soundscape where intense grooves meet lower-than-low contra
bass clarinet gurgles; hocketed tubas become infectious,
impossible-not-to-dance-to jam-outs; the two-drummer lineup explodes
into a back-and-forth drum breakdown; and other-worldly harmonies and
textures give way to gorgeous melodies that suggest a bygone
Ellingtonian era.
It is much in line with the creative, artful tenor of Robinson's
Tiresian Symmetry, which received rave reviews.
"A rugged and scintillating new album." - Nate
Chinen, New York Times
"Densely orchestrated, cracklingly kinetic pieces for
nonet." - Time Out New York
"4 stars. A collection of dense, multi-direction material that
artfully straddles the composition-improv divide while weaving
counterpoint lines, provocative harmonies and a well-grounded sense of
groove [...] The introduction to 'Elbow Grease' is a stunning,
unaccompanied showcase of multiphonics, circular breathing and
extended techniques by the intrepid leader." - Bill
Milkowski, DownBeat
"A sound of unusual depth and density [...] a silky, swaying
exploration of light and dark [that] ends as a panoramic
spectacle." - Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes
While deeply rooted in the jazz
tradition, saxophonist Jason Robinson_s musical interests cross the boundaries
between popular and experimental, composed and improvised, acoustic
and electronic. Robinson has earned acclaim for his distinctive
voice among a new generation of creative musicians. As Ron Wynn
write in JazzTimes, Robinson is one "of the most respected soloists
and bandleaders in jazz's experimental wing."
Robinson's music displays a deep sense of history in the midst of
creative, free-wheeling exploration. He has released seven albums as a
leader, most recently Tiresian Symmetry (Fall 2012, Cuneiform
Records), inspired by Greek mythology and the music of Henry
Threadgill. In 2010, Robinson released three concurrent albums
showcasing an enormous breadth of creative work, including The Two
Faces of Janus (Cuneiform), debuting his Janus Ensemble along with
special guest Rudresh Mahanthappa; Cerulean Landscape (Clean
Feed), featuring the long time collaboration of Robinson and acclaimed
pianist and composer Anthony Davis; and Cerberus Reigning
(Accretions), the much anticipated second installment of the
"Cerberus" trilogy, featuring Robinson's solo
electroacoustic music. Robinson has appeared on nearly fifty
recordings.
He has performed worldwide and/or recorded with Peter Kowald, George
Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Anthony Davis, Drew Gress, Rudresh
Mahanthappa, Marty Ehrlich, Warren Smith, Eugene Chadbourne, Earl
Howard, Matt Wilson, Bertram Turetzky, Howard Johnson, Mark Dresser,
Curtis Fowkles, John Russell, Ches Smith, Roger Turner, Marcus Rojas,
Gerry Hemingway, Bill Lowe, Kei Akagi, Mel Graves, Liberty Ellman,
Babatunde Lea, Mel Martin, Marco Eneidi, Lisle Ellis, Raphe Malik,
Mike Wofford, JD Parran, Ray Anderson, the Makanda Project, the San
Francisco Mime Troupe, Toots and the Maytals, and Groundation, among
others.
Also a scholar, Robinson's written work explores the relationship
between improvised and popular musics, experimentalism, and cultural
identity. In addition to various book chapters in edited volumes, he
has published articles and reviews in Ethnomusicology, Jazz
Perspectives, and Critical Studies in Improvisation/ Études
critiques en improvisation. Robinson is an Assistant Professor of
Music at Amherst College and holds a Ph.D. in Music from the
University of California, San Diego. A Californian transplanted to New
England, Robinson's artistic journey began in the San Francisco jazz
scene of the 1990s, but never really fit the "west" and
"east" coast dichotomy common in jazz discourse. It's
no surprise, then, that Robinson now considers New York his artistic
community, where he collaborates with leading figures in creative
music. He is married to Stephanie Robinson, an acclaimed performer,
composer, and electronic musician.
A performer, composer, producer and
educator, bass trombonist and tuba player Bill Lowe has been a
major force for nearly four decades. He has worked with numerous
masters of African-American creative music, including musical legends
like Dizzy Gillespie, Eartha Kitt, and Clark Terry; avant-garde
leaders like Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, and Cecil Taylor;
and under-heralded masters George Russell, James "Jabbo"
Ware and Bill Barron. He has co-led the Boston Jazz Repertory
Orchestra and composed several major works, including his opera,
Reb's Last Funeral. As an educator, Lowe teaches at top-tier
universities, lectures internationally, and has mentored countless
young players.
A brilliant reed player who has developed
a distinctive voice on alto sax, clarinet and bass clarinet Marty
Ehrlich quickly established himself as one of the most versatile
and valuable players on the New York scene in the late 1970s,
appearing on more than 100 recordings by an array of musicians
representing a broad range of improvisational idioms, such as
saxophonist Julius Hemphill, pianists George Russell and Muhal Richard
Abrams and clarinetist John Carter. While he has gained widespread
recognition as a player, he has also distinguished himself as a
composer, with several NEA grants and commissions from the Lydian
String Quartet, the Rova Saxophone Quartet and the New York String
Trio.
A longtime educator, JD Parran is a highly versatile musician
who has recorded with John Lennon and Lena Horne. As a vital
participant in New York's cutting edge jazz scene, he's worked with
many influential composers, such as Anthony Davis, Henry Threadgill,
Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill. Capable of playing with a light and
pretty sound or a searing, gritty tone, Parran knows how to capture
the essence of a composer's work while contributing his own
sensibility.
One of jazz's most sought after bassists, Drew Gress performs
extensively with artists on the cutting edge of contemporary
improvised music. Also a respected composer, he has recorded a series
of critically acclaimed albums under his own name. He's best known as
an invaluable collaborator who has toured and recorded widely with
brilliant improvisers such as John Abercrombie, Ralph Alessi, Tim
Berne, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Copland, Mark
Feldman, Fred Hersch, John Hollenbeck, Tony Malaby, and John
Surman.
As one of the world's most accomplished tuba players Marcus
Rojas has contributed to more than 350 albums, working widely in
pop, new music, Broadway and symphonic settings with the Metropolitan
Opera, New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theater. A masterly
improviser, he's played an essential role in ensembles led by Lester
Bowie, Charlie Haden, Gil Evans, George Russell, Jim Hall, Dave
Douglas, Wayne Shorter, and David Byrne. He was a member of Henry
Threadgill's Very Very Circus and is currently a member of Dave
Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, Michael Blake's Hellbent, and Musette
Explosion. As a founding member of SingleTree, Brass Bang, and Spanish
Fly with Steven Bernstein and David Tronzo, he has written and
commissioned many new works.
Percussionist Ches Smith has earned a vaunted reputation as a
creative provocateur through his work with Marc Ribot, Mr. Bungle,
Secret Chiefs 3, Fred Frith, Xiu Xiu, and Trevor Dunn's
Trio-Convulsant. Carving out a singular niche where jazz, rock and new
music converge, Smith can be heard in several galvanizing
improvisational settings including his all- star project These Arches
featuring Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Mary Halvorson, and Andrea
Parkins.
Hailing from a distinguished musical family, drummer George
Schuller came up on the Boston scene playing with masters such as
Jaki Byard, Herb Pomeroy, Ran Blake, and George Garzone. He first
gained notice as a bandleader and arranger with the adventurous Boston
combo Orange Then Blue, a talent-laden ensemble with a global
sensibility. He's thrived since moving to Brooklyn in the mid-90s,
collaborating with musicians such as Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Myra
Melford and Dave Douglas. He has also produced several dozen albums by
an equally impressive roster of artists.
Guitarist Liberty Ellman came of age musically on the San
Francisco Bay Area scene in the mid 1990s, performing and recording
widely with Vijay Iyer, Ledisi, Miya Masoaka, the radical hip hop crew
The Coup, and altoist Steve Coleman. Since moving to New York City in
1998, he's established himself as one of the most dependably creative
and idiosyncratic guitarists in jazz, a player with a funk-informed
rhythmic sensibility. He's served as a for some of the most advanced
and adventurous musicians in jazz, including Henry Threadgill, Wadada
Leo Smith, Myra Melford, Greg Osby, Butch Morris, Rudresh Mahanthappa,
and Steve Lehman.
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Boston-based saxophonist/composer 
In addition to his work with RSE, 
