William Parker

From the AUM Fidelity website:"'Those in the music business say this music can only be so successful. I say there is no limit to what we can do for each other as human beings." - William Parker

As William Parker embodies the beliefs that the existence of AUM Fidelity is predicated on, may that day come sooner when folks on a mass scale awake to the alter destiny as put forth by Mr. Parker, and the many great sages who have come before. Better will come.

He writes: 'it is the role of the artist to incite political, social, and spiritual revolution, to awaken us from our sleep and never let us forget our obligations as human beings, to light the fire of human compassion. Sounds that enlighten are infinite. We can put no limit to joy, or on our capacity for love.'

The 90's saw an appropriately growing appreciation of William Parker's massive gifts as a musician, and in these earliest seedlings of the new century, his sheer humanity is taking deeper root in the essence of listeners' beings.

It was early in the past decade that William took on the band leadership role that had long been urged on him by his fellow musicians. His talents as a composer and band-leader became quickly evident through his large ensemble - The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra (still strong), his smaller group concept - In Order To Survive (since disbanded), and the collective quartet Other Dimensions In Music (forward ever). In addition, William is a root foundation member of the David S. Ware Quartet and the ensembles of Matthew Shipp. The full intensity and immensity of his destined collaboration with Chicago-based drummer Hamid Drake will be fully comprehended in the year 2012. Just know that you need to. The William Parker Quartet with Hamid, Rob Brown and Lewis Barnes has been his principal group as a leader since the dawn of the new millenium." -SJ

Marilyn Crispell with Lotte Anker

Live taping for Roulette TV.

Marilyn Crispell is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied classical piano and composition, and has been a resident of Woodstock, New York since 1977 when she came to study and teach at the Creative Music Studio. She discovered jazz through the music of John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor and other contemporary jazz players and composers. For ten years she was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet and the Reggie Workman Ensemble and has been a member of the Barry Guy New Orchestra and guest with his London Jazz Composers Orchestra, as well as a member of the Henry Grimes Trio, Quartet Noir (with Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Joelle Leandre), and Anders Jormin's Bortom Quintet. In 2005 she performed and recorded with the NOW Orchestra in Vancouver, Canada and in 2006 she will be co-director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute and a faculty member at the Banff Centre International Workshop in Jazz.

Besides working as a soloist and leader of her own groups, Crispell has performed and recorded extensively with well-known players on the American and international jazz scene. She's also performed and recorded music by contemporary composers Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Manfred Niehaus and Anthony Davis (including four performances of his opera "X" with the New York City Opera).

In addition to playing, she has taught improvisation workshops and given lecture/demonstrations at universities and art centers in the U.S., Europe, Canada and New Zealand, and has collaborated with videographers, filmmakers, dancers and poets.

Crispell has been the recipient of three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship grants (1988-1989, 1994-1995 and 2006-2007), a Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust composition commission (1988-1989), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005-2006). In 1996 she was given an Outstanding Alumni Award by the New England Conservatory, and in 2004, was cited as being one of their 100 most outstanding alumni of the past 100 years.

Lotte Anker (Soprano- alto and tenorsaxophone) is known for her intense playing and as one of the strongest improvisers in the freeform/improfield in Denmark + very active composer. Works currently as co-leader of the highly acclaimed 12-piecegroup “Copenhagen Art Ensemble” and as leader of trio/duo with Marilyn Crispell (pno) + trio with Craig Taborn (pno) and Gerald Cleaver (dr). Other current workinggroups and ongoing collaborations include:The Quartet Ictus (w. Marc Ducret (gui), Peter Friis-Nielsen (bass), Stefan Pasborg (dr)). Also Mokuto Quartet (w/ Herb Robertson (tp), Peter Friis-Nielsen (dr), P.O. Jørgensen (dr) and projects with Tim Berne, Benoit Delbecq, Arve Henriksen, Sylvie Courvoisier, Paal Nilssen-Love. Has also played with a.o. Peter Brötzman, Andrew Cyrille, Marilyn Mazur.

As a composer, Lotte Anker has written for both smallgroups, bigband, chamberorchestras,choir etc

Lotte Anker has received several workinggrants, commisions and awards: a.o. a 3-year workinggrant from the State Arts Council in '96, DJBFA compositional prize 2002, BG-Foundation Artist in Residence (New York) 2005.

Both as a musician and composer her main interests are in the worlds of modern/free/impro jazz and contemporary (new) musik and the combination of the two.

2:00 PM - Roulette Children's Concert

Jeannie Hopper

Experimenting with DJ’ing.

In this workshop, Jeannie Hopper will open up your mind to the many fun creative possibilities one can have on the dj decks. Kids and parents alike are drawn to the turntables and cd mixers with an urge to touch the equipment. We’ll explore turntables & CDJ players together as Jeannie demonstrates the basics to using the equipment as an instrument including creating crazy sounds & ambiences beyond the basic cutting & scratching. Also, we’ll explore the fun of MC’ing in many
experimental ways and see who’s got rhythm or not with some fun handheld percussion. All will enjoy lots of Hands on and Audience Participation action.

DJ Jeannie Hopper is the "DJ who is devoted to exposing soul infused grooves of all persuasions" - Muzik Magazine/UK. Her world is the musical land of Liquid Sound Lounge, on WBAI 99.5fm Sat.6-9p in New York City and streaming live online to a global following, and DJ'ing in venues around New York City & globally, uniting all through the power of the groove. A true innovator in her field where she includes poets performing live in her multi-rhythmic DJ mix since the show’s inception 8 years ago. She created the series "Mixology+Wordology" that best describes her live work with poets and performers. She is appreciated by performance artists/poets for her ability to mix on the turntables improvisational soundscapes bringing their words to life. Around New York city she's brought the "Mixology+Wordology" experience live to such places as Knitting Factory, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, University of the Streets, Dance Theater Workshop, Izzy Bar, Joe's Pub, Downtown Arts Festival+more. She also dj's for big dance floors and intimate lounges throughout New York city, the USA and around the world. Her latest endevours find her with her own record label, marketing company and at the production & remix table for such artists as Groove Collective and Astronauts of Antiquity. Check it all out at LiquidSoundLounge.com

Terry Jenoure with Maria Mitchell

Terry Jenoure’s visionary, dynamic style makes for a memorable performance. Her signature sound blends a unique combination of elements: the risk of improvisation, rhythmic influences from her Puerto Rican and Jamaican heritage, the drive and excitement of urban references, and ideas influenced by her world travels.

She has recorded and performed with John Carter, Archie Shepp, Leroy Jenkins, Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman and others, and has led ensembles and workshops throughout Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, and Africa. Terry has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New England Foundation for the Arts, and is a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts and Lesley University.

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, she began studying music at the age of eight, attended the High School of Music & Art, then received a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, and masters and doctoral degrees in Education. About her approach, Jenoure says,“When I perform, it feels as though I’m untangling knots or threads or webs in some dense place so we can see some light. I’m hunting for the warmest spot, the highest level… searching for the perfect sound… an unspeakable joy.”

Capturing the eye of international audiences, Maria Mitchell's style, with its fierce energy, and sensitive timing displays an impressive range of experiences and influences on her work.   These include modern and jazz techniques, traditional West African movement, the healing arts, and a long-standing passion for African American literary work. Her many years as a gifted educator working with children, teachers, and community workers has earned her a reputation as an intuitive and highly effective educator.  

A great part of her dance/performance life has been to collaborate with a who's who of Free Music players in both the US and Europe. Her most recent collaborations were with John Betsch, Roy Campbell Barre Phillips (Berlin, Germany) and Henry Grimes (NYC).

Ms. Mitchell and Ms. Jenoure have collaborated on various projects since the late 1980's.

Tom Buckner, Jerome Bourdellon, and Alain Kirili

TOTEM
Jérôme Bourdellon, flutes and shakuhachi and Thomas Buckner, voice
Improvisations with the sculpture of Alain Kirili

In August of 2005, on a visit to Paris to celebrate the birthday of sculptor Alain Kirili, singer Thomas Buckner and flutist Jérôme Bourdellon gathered with Kirili at his studio to record these duo improvisations in the presence of his group of sculptures entitled "Totem". Both musicians are longtime collaborators with Alain Kirili, performing most recently at a concert at the Theatre du Palais Royal in Paris celebrating to opening of an installation of his sculptures in the garden of the Palais Royal. The music is a spontaneous, abstract response to and interaction with the sculpture.

Jérôme Bourdellon is a composer and flutist residing in Nancy, France. He collaborates frequently with the Musique-Actions Festival in Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, and has just released a new CD of his music. His interests are wide ranging, and he has written and improvised music for dance, theater, and concerts with an international range of musicians--classical, jazz, and contemporary. The composer notes that this piece may be performed with any means of delivery possible, including but not limited to horseback, submarine, bicycle, car, unicycle, rollerblades, helicopter, etc.

For more than 30 years, baritone Thomas Buckner has dedicated himself to theworld of new and improvised music. As a performer, producer, and promoter, Buckner has enabled the creation of an extensive body of new works by some of the worlds' leading, most exciting and most challenging composers. Currently, Buckner works regularly with composers Robert Ashley, Roscoe Mitchell, Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Bun-Ching Lam, Jerome Cooper, David Wessel, Tom Hamilton, Leroy Jenkins, Phill Niblock, Wadada Leo Smith, among others. More than 70 composers have written works exclusively for him over the last 20 years. Buckner has been featured on over 40 recordings, including 5 of his own solo albums as well as recordings by Annea Lockwood, Sorrel Hays, Alvin Lucier, the Deep Listening Band, Jin Hi Kim, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams and many others.

The sculptor Alain Kirili was born in France in 1946 and divides his time between New York and Paris. His first solo exhibition was at the Sonnabend Gallery in Paris in 1972. His sculptures are in numerous museums and collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris; Musée d'Art Modern, St. Etienne, France; and as part of the Ludwig Collection in Cologne, Germany. He shows regularly with the Marlborough Gallery in New York.

He is a longtime jazz fan whose childhood memories include listening to the great reedman Sidney Bechet playing in his parents' kitchen. Kirili first became involved with jazz as a sculptor in 1992 when he began a series of exchanges with the American saxophonist Steve Lacy. He also has collaborated with Roy Haynes, Sunny Murray, Archie Shepp, Billy Bang and many others. Cecil Taylor who Kirili said "is not only a ready collaborator but also an emblem of artistic freedom", has performed among  his sculptures at the Knitting Factory and the Café de la Musíque in Paris. A film titled Ifa captures 25 minutes of Taylor's improvised dancing in an installation of Kirili's sculptures in the musician's backyard in Brooklyn.

Kirili has been involved in a number of artistic exchanges, most recently with the Malian sculptor Dolo from a Dogon tribe in Bamako, Africa. They presented an exhibition of collaborative pieces at The French Cultural Center in Bamako. The sculptures were exhibited on stage with-violinist Leroy Jenkins, saxophonist and flutist Joseph Jarman, singer Thomas Buckner, dancer Maria Mitchell and by 20 Dogon dancers and singers.

Laetitia Sonami (live electronics) + Sue Costabile, (live video)

Sonami and Costabile cook up "I.C.You",  a live film shot and scored from two suitcases, a bowl of water and a piece of ice.  Based on a script by NY poet Tom Sleigh, I.C.You follows the road-based travels of a truck driver delivering ice for the Universe Company. His job is to keep America cold. Sonami and Costabile open windows into his existence through photographs, drawings, videos, shadow theater, and miniature lighting rigs.  Also on the program is Sonami's latest version of her performance "The Invention of Perspective (the Appearance of Silence)" with the ol' glove and Costabile on live video.

LAETITIA SONAMI is an electronic composer, performer and sound installation artist. Her performance work combines text, music and found sound, in compositions which have been described as "performance novels". Her interactive installations focus on embedding every day objects with kinetic and sonic personalities. Best known for her lady's glove, an evening black lycra glove studded with a myriad of sensors, she is performing worldwide and is based in Oakland, CA. ( http://www.sonami.net/.)

SUE COSTABILE  aka SUE.C is a visual and performing artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her works challenge the norms of photography, video, and technology by blending them all into an organic and improvisational live performance setting. Employing a variety of digital tools to create an experimental animation "instrument," Costabile synthesizes cinema from photographs, drawings, watercolors, hand-made papers, fabrics and miniature interactive lighting effects. Dark, moody, textural, and physical, her live films inherit equally from the kinetic languages of Stan Brakhage's abstract cinema and Nicolas Schöffer's lumodynamic scuptures. (http://www.sue-c.net/)

8:00 PM - Rosi Hertlein with Howard Johnson

Violinist and singer Rosi Hertlein divides her devotion between the worlds of classical music, free improvisation and jazz. Her work in recent years includes collaborations with Joe McPhee, Pauline Oliveros, Reggie Workman, Howard Johnson, David Taylor, Vincent Chancey and others. Her acclaimed CD, ROSI HERTLEIN’S IMPROVISING CHAMBER ENSEMBLE (ICE) “Two Letters I’ll Keep” got released in November 2001. She also recorded as special guest on Joe McPhee’s “TRIO X” CD, “Rapture.”   “Rapture is hijacked by the astonishing violinist and singer Rosi Hertlein who is destined for great things.” (Penguin Guide for Jazz CD’s, Fifth Edition) “… Her earlier participation on Trio X’s ‘Rapture,’ another Cadence-funded release offered the impetus for this debut as a leader. The assemblage of New York based players that takes to Hertlein’s challenging and deceptive charts with a concentrative zeal repays the faith in her.” (Derek Taylor, http://www.allaboutjazz.com)

9:30 PM - Monika Heidemann

Monika Heidemann twists together jazz sensibility, improvisation, catchy pop melodies, the grind of rock n’ roll and enough subconscious creativity to still question where her music could have come from.

Reaching above and beyond the standard, these modern day art-songs are truly a breath of fresh air. Her off-beat humor and smart, avant-garde arrangements, though not at all esoteric, betray her background as an intuitive musician, well-balanced between the technical and the spontaneous. These virtues, key to every great musician, are equally true of her vocal approach. Monika Heidemann’s warm, dark, voice and fluid phrasing, envelop strong melodies and remarkable musical vocabularies. With a captivating band of brilliant musicians and improvisors, this music leaves one simultaneously entranced with mystery and revelation, joy and sadness. It is this dance with contradiction that makes the dreamlike poetry of her songs resonate for all who hear them.

Monika's musical endeavors started with the saxophone in the 4th grade elementary school band and continued into her years at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Initially pursuing a career in wildlife biology, Monika instead found herself singing and playing saxophone in local rock bands as well as leading her own jazz trio with local artists. For three years she sang and toured with the Catamount Singers, a select 16-piece classical/contemporary choir. In 2000, Monika left the United States for a four-month excursion to Brazil to study the native music with local musicians where she was invited to play in a drum troupe as part of Carnival. She has toured the entire U.S twice, as well as the UK, with her various projects.

In May 2003, Monika received her Master’s degree in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory where she studied jazz voice, improvisation, and composition with artists Dominique Eade, Danilo Perez, Jerry Bergonzi, and Steve Lacy. Monika performs her original music with The Monika H. Band. She also sings with Honey Larochelle, The Bunkbeds (electro-pop), and plays saxophone in the all female Afro-beat band, FemmNameless.

Andrew Cyrille with Bob Stewart and Roy Campbell

Live Taping for Roulette TV.

Andrew Cyrille was born in Brooklyn, NY. As well as studying privately, he attended the Juilliard and Hartnett schools of music. He has performed with Jazz artists ranging from Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet and Mary Lou Williams to Kenny Dorham, Muhal Richard Abrams, Horace Tapscott, John Carter,Mal Waldron and David Murray. In 1964 he formed and association with pianist Cecil Taylor that would last for 11 years. He played drums for many notable dancer-choreogrphers from the mid to late 1960’s.

He was artist-residence and teacher at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio from 1971 to 1973. Cyrille has also taught at the Graham Windham Home for Children in New York. He is currently a faculty member at the New School University (formally The New School for Social Research) in New York City. His sterling work has earned him a number of grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer, including a commission to create a new work for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company in 1990. In 1999, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for composition.

Starting in 1969, Cyrille began to organize the first of several percussion groups, including Dialogue of the Drums, Pieces of Time, and Weights and Measures. Some of the distinguished artists who played in these groups were Kenny Clark, Milford Graves, Famoudou Don Moye, Michael Carvin and Obo Addy. Starting in 1988 through the present time, he has toured and performed here and abroad with the renown Russian percussionist, Vladimir Tarasov. In 1975,
Cyrille formed a band called Maono (feelings) featuring various instrumental voices determined by his compositions. He is a member of Trio 3 featuring alto saxophonist, Oliver Lake and bassist, Reggie Workman. Also from time to time, he leads another group called Haitian Fascination, playing music inspired by the musical tradition from Haiti. Within the past several years, he has been collaborating and working with musicians such as saxophonist, Archie Shepp, trombonist, Roswell Rudd, trumpeter, Dave Douglas, bassists, Henry Grimes and William Parker, pianists Dave Burrell and Marilyn Crispell, and vibraphonist, Karl Berger. He continues to record and perform with duo, trio, quartet, quintet and big band formations.

Oliver Lake

The Oliver Lake Reunion Trio

featuring Pheeroan Ak Laff and Michael Gregory.
Oliver Lake: reeds, Pheeroan Ak Laff: drums, Michael Gregory: guitar

Live taping for Roulette TV.

Oliver Lake:"It's all about choices," states modern Renaissance Man Oliver Lake to explain his expansive artistic vision. An accomplished poet, painter and performance artist, Lake has published a book of poetry entitled Life Dance, has exhibited and sold a number of his unique painted-sticks at the Montclair Art Museum, and has toured the country with his one-man performance piece, Matador of 1st and 1st. But it's his extraordinary talents as composer, saxophonist, flautist and bandleader that have brought him world-renown. Although his greatest reputation exists in the world of jazz, Lake's amazingly eclectic musical approach is best expressed by his popular poem SEPARATION: put all my food on the same plate!

Whether composing major commissioned works for the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic; creating chamber pieces for the Arditti and Flux String Quartets, the Amherst Sax Quartet and the San Francisco Contemporary Players; arranging for pop diva Bjork, rocker Lou Reed and rap group A Tribe Called Quest; collaborating with poets Amiri Baraka and Ntozake Shange, choreographers Ron Brown and Marlies Yearby, Native American vocalist Mary Redhouse, Korean kumongo player Jin Hi Kim, and Chinese bamboo flute player Shuni Tsou; doing unique performances with MacArthur Award recipients, actress/author Anna Devere Smith and writer/law professor/political commentator Patricia Williams; sharing the stage with hip-hop artist Mos Def and pop star Me'shell Ndegeocello; or leading his own Steel Quartet, Big Band and cooperative ensembles the World Saxophone Quartet and Trio 3; Oliver views it all as parts of the same whole: dixieland, be-bop, soul, rhythm & blues, cool school, swing, avant-garde jazz, free jazz, rock, jazz rock...

Pheeroan akLaff has performed internationally since 1975. He is known for his ability to transform the drumset into an orchestral force supporting the many ensembles he has led or accompanied. (Including a stint with New York City Opera in the premier of "X" by Anthony Davis.) He has conducted educational workshops in several countries of Africa and Asia. His latest CD as a leader/composer is entitled Global Mantras (Modern Masters 1998), a World Beat Jazz extravaganza with Asian and African American themes. It features Oliver Lake, Michael Cain, Scott Robinson, Josh Roseman and a cast of celebrated virtuosos.

Born Michael Gregory Jackson in New Haven, Connecticut, Michael began to play guitar at the age of seven. In his teens he often performed his own material during solo gigs and band appearances. Among Michaels early influences were Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Son House, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and Igor Stravinsky. His father exposed him to Wes Montgomery, Mahalia Jackson, Les Paul, Mary Ford, and early George Benson, and Michael's musical destiny began to take shape.

Progressive improvised music composer and trumpeter, Wadada Leo Smith, influenced Gregory to look beyond the boundaries of rock, folk and mainstream jazz, and soon Michael was playing avant-garde music with Smith and such other notables as pianist Anthony Davis, saxophonists Julius Hemphill, David Murray and Oliver Lake. During this period, Gregory notes, "I learned that it was ok to try different things, to experiment. If I had a song that was going one way, it was all right to make it go in another direction or to add diverse elements. I've allowed myself to be creatively and stylistically liberated."

Jim Fulkerson

The Barton Workshop:

Jos Zwaanenburg: Flutes and Electronics,  James Fulkerson: Trombone,     
John Anderson: Clarinet/Percussion,  Frank Denyer: Piano /Percussion

The Barton Workshop, based in Amsterdam, specializes in "research" rehearsals and direct collaboration with composers, challenging conventional rehearsal and presentation methods with experienced performers.

The artistic philosophy of the ensemble is to perform the leading edge of contemporary music today - whether notated or not. They primarily create concerts, usually in collaboration with the composers, which are "composer portraits" giving either an overview or an in-depth representation of a chosed composer's work.

This tour by The Barton Workshop is supported by the Netherlands' Fund for Amateur Art and Performing Arts Fund.

8:00 PM - Bern Nix

Bern Nix - guitar

Francoise Grillot - bass

Jackson Krall - drums

Bern Nix has played the guitar since the age of 11. Bern studied music and graduated with a degree in music education from the Berklee College of Music. Since 1985, he has led The Bern Nix Trio. Before leading his Trio, Bern performed and recorded with Ornette Coleman from 1975 to 1987 as an original member of the Prime Time Band. The Prime Time Band recorded six albums including Dancing in Your Head, Of Human Feelings and Body Meta and performed hundreds of concerts around the world. The Bern Nix Trios first recording, Alarms and Excursions (New World Records) was released in 1993, making many top ten critics lists. Bern has performed with artists such as, Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Elliott Sharp, Jemeel Moondoc, Ronald Shannon Jackson, James Chance, Jayne Cortez and Kip Hanrahan. Hailed as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of our time, Bern was voted among the top ten jazz guitarists poll by Down Beat magazine. Most recently, Bern composed and recorded the score for the feature length documentary, A James Lord Portrait. Bern has a solo album coming out this fall on Tompkins Square Records.

9:30 PM - Brandon Ross

For Living Lovers

Brandon Ross is a guitarist/composer/singer/songwriter, who has worked/recorded with Cassandra Wilson, Henry Threadgill, Jewel, Tony Williams, Arto Lindsay, The Lounge Lizards, Leroy Jenkins, Butch Morris, Bill Frisell, Me'Shell N'degeocello, Moreno Veloso, Arrested Development, Craig Harris, Archie Shepp, Fred Hopkins, Joan Osborne, Muhal Richard Abrams, Deidre Murray, Mino Cinelu, Don Byron, Bobby Previte, Timothy Hill, Myra Melford, Ron Miles, Oliver Lake, Sekou Sundiata, Bill Laswell, Zeena Parkins, Michelle Branch, Wadada Leo Smith, and many others, crafting a personal approach to (jazz) guitar, and improvisation, that has taken him all over the world.

For Living Lovers is Brandon Ross (guitar, banjo, vocals) & Dom Richards (bass guitar). Ross’s compositions for the duo explore the timbre and resonance of strings and the convergence of “world music” traditions with modern chamber music. The result is a music of introspection & revelation, an illumination of the present moment. www.myspace.com/brmuse

8:00 PM - William Hooker

Wind for Mind

A a work for music and poetry- where the accompaniment in the piece happens to be the artist himself - with the musicians David soldier/violin and banjo and Sabir Mateen/tenor and soprano sax. The piece was (partially) premiered at the Bowery Poetry Club, NYC last spring.

Mr. Hooker's latest releases include The Gift Live - 2006 and Seasons
Fire(Important).

"William Hooker is an artistic whole, a vast circle of vision and execution. A body of uninterrupted work beginning in the mid-seventies defines him as one of the most important composers and players in jazz. As bandleader, Hooker has fielded ensembles in an incredibly diverse array of
configurations. Each collaboration has brought a serious investigation of his
compositional agenda and the science of the modern drum kit. As a player, Hooker has
long been known for the persuasive power of his relationship with hisinstrument.
His work is frequently grounded in a narrative context. Whether set against a silent film or anchored by a poetic theme, Hooker brings dramatic tension and human warmth to avant-garde jazz. His ability to find fertile ground for moving music in a variety of settings that obliterate genre distinctions
offers a much-needed statement of social optimism in the arts. A disciplined, adaptive,
and energetic approach to his medium insures that the oeuvre of William Hooker will continue to grow thicker and richer."

-Thomas Stanley, M.A.

Information can be found on williamhooker.com and myspace.com/williamhooker.

9:30 PM - Fay Victor

The Fay Victor Ensemble is

Fay Victor-voice
Anders Nilsson-guitar
Ken Filiano-bass
Michael ‘TA’ Thompson-drums
 
The Fay Victor Ensemble is a musical unit lead by vocalist Fay Victor and continues the development of vocal/band concepts started during her stay in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and the quintet she had there.  This concept has evolved into a band in which with each member contributes equally to the musical proceedings. The tunes are interpreted by everybody; structure and chaos occasionally vie for 1st place but mostly find a symbiotic home.  No divas walking around here.  That’s the idea.

Fay Victor and Jochem van Dijk have been writing and collaborating over the past 8 years and started out writing songs that were modern variations of the jazz “standard”.   It has now evolved into a growing body of work where the lyric IS the central element of a song and the material devises various improvisatory approaches from through-composed pieces, to ‘take a 8-bar solo here’, to continuous collective improvisation on a loose chord sequence, to written phrasing and textural instructions based on parameters like the relationship of a ringing note and choked note, taking the place of a chord chart or theme. At Roulette, the Fay Victor Ensemble will perform pieces from the “Cartwheels” in addition to new original pieces.
www.fayvictor.com < http://www.fayvictor.com/ >
www.myspace.com/fayvictorensemble < http://www.myspace.com/fayvictorensemble >

Ayaka Nishina - Greg Osby Duo

With special guests:

Gretchen Parlato, Eliza Fernand, smop()

Ayaka Nishina made her first concert appearance at the age of 15, and has been commissioned and premiered internationally. She has worked with distinguished artists such as pianist Steven Osborne (Sulivan Sweetland Inc., UK), composer/saxophonist John Zorn, Greg Osby, conductor Richard Bradshaw (Canadian Opera Company), the mezzo-soprano Marie Anne Kowan (COC), conductor Richard Barrett, and venues such as UNICEF, Canadian Opera Company, EMF (Electronic Music Foundation), Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Spoleto Festival USA, The Stone, UVPhactory, Wine Studios Inc, Pianist Assembly Japan, Rosenstadt Choir among others.

Nishina has been an associate composer of Muse no Yume (Sendai City, Japan), a corporate organization for disadvantaged children to be provided a music education by professional musicians since 2004. Her recent projects include an on-going duet music project with Greg Osby and her debut album to be released in 2007 by Tzadik Record Company.

Saxophonist, composer, producer and educator Greg Osby has made an indelible mark on contemporary jazz as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed jazz groups fo the past 20 years. Notable for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance of original jazz music, Osby is a shining beacon among the current generation of jazz musicians. He has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim for his recorded works and passionate live performances.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Greg Osby began his professional music career in 1975, after three years of private studies on clarinet, flute and alto saxophone. In 1978 Osby furthered his musical education at Howard University where he majored in Jazz Studies. He continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music from 1980 to 1983.

Upon relocating to New York, Osby quickly established himself as a notable and in demand sideman for artists as varied as Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Jim Hall and Jaki Byard as well as with many ethnic and new music ensembles in the New York area.

In 1985 Osby was invited to to join Jack DeJohnette's innovative group, "Special Edition". It was as a member of this ensemble Osby was able to fine tune the more challenging aspects of his conception in an open ended, no holds barred musical situation. Says Osby, "My musical thinking for performance and composition advanced by light years as Jack was open to my input and was very encouraging in pushing me to to maintain a steady flow of experimentation. It marked a major turning point in my development as an artist." In 1987, Osby signed his first recording deal with an obscure German label , JMT (Jazz Music Today). With this situation, he felt that he was finally able to document life as he saw it through music. He had free creative reign to do whatever he liked. He recorded four CD titles for that label. Osby signed with Blue Note Records in 1990 and has since recorded fifteen recordings for that label as a leader. From the pulse of the streets and the language of a generation, Osby has sketched numerous musical essays set to a contemporary score using the improvisational nature of Jazz as the connecting thread.

The duo will be joined by the special guest artists such as;  singer Gretchen Parlato, winner of the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition; sculptor/performance artist Eliza Fernand; smop(), a NYC-based electronic improvisation team. The performance will include multi-media collaboration conjoining vocals, unconventional electronic instruments, and sculptural performance.