Together with very special guest Wolter Wierbos from Holland, Gerry Hemingway and Alex Waterman present a set of trio music. Coming out of work in the larger Quintet setting, tonight’s music will be more conversational and languid without holding back the virtuosic energy of these three musicians. These three can weave fascinatingly intricate passages together, using the timbral differences of their instruments to create an incredible balance and sound.
Wolter Wierbos is considered one of the world’s leading trombone players. He has played throughout Europe, Canada, USA and Asia. Wierbos has many awards to his name, including the Podiumprijs for Jazz and Improvised music and the most important Dutch jazz award, the VPRO Boy Edgar Prize.
Like many Dutch brass players Wierbos started out in a ‘fanfare’ (brass band), switching from trumpet to trombone when he was 17. “It looked good, and the trombones walk in front….” His interests range from precise chamber jazz to throbbing post punk and contemporary composed and improvised music.Described as “a phenomenon, both a humorous importer of every style into his template-free, fat-backed sound, and a tireless spy in the house of brass”, he is equally at home using the classic trombone vocabulary or enthusiastically giving a round-trip tour of his horn, from buzzing mute mutations and grizzly blurts to purring multiphonics. He is also “a very good instant composer, good at keeping it moving and not taking it too seriously”.
Since 1979 he has played with numerous music ensembles: Cumulus (with Ab Baars and Harry de Wit), JC Tans & Rockets, Theo Loevendie Quintet, Guus Janssen Septet, Loos (Peter van Bergen), Maarten Altena Ensemble and Podiumtrio. He led his own band Celebration of Difference, and has been involved in theater, dance, television and film projects. He has been invited to play with the EX, Sonic Youth, Gruppo Sportivo and the Nieuw Ensemble (led by Ed Spanjaard).
He has also played with Henry Threadgill, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (led by Alexander von Schlippenbach), the European Big Band (led by Cecil Taylor), the John Carter Project, Mingus Big Band (Epitaph, directed by Gunther Schuller).
He is currently active with Misha Mengelberg’s ICP (Downbeat Poll winner 2002, Talent Deserving Wider Recognition), Gerry Hemingway Quintet, Franky Douglas’ Sunchild, Bik Bent Braam, Albrecht Maurer Trio Works, Nocando, Carl Ludwig Hübsch’s Longrun Development of the Universe, Frank Gratkowski Quartet, Available Jelly and Sean Bergin’s MOB.
Wierbos also maintains a solo career. He has a running project under the name Wollo’s World, where he brings together different artistic combinations, ranging from duos with tap-dancer Marije Nie and
bassist Wilbert de Joode to a quartet with Misha Mengelberg, Mats Gustafsson and Wilbert de Joode. In the future Wollos’ World hopes to feature such interesting musicians as Simon Nabatov, Hamid Drake and Jim Black.
Gerry Hemingway has been making a living as a composer and performer solo and ensemble music since 1974. He has led numerous groups, including (since 1997) his quartet with Ellery Eskelin, Herb Robertson and Mark Helias as well collaborative groups with Mark Helias & Ray Anderson (BassDrumBone) celebrating its 30th year anniversary in 2007, Reggie Workman & Miya Masaoka (Brew), Georg Graewe & Ernst Reijseger (GRH trio), WHO trio with Swiss pianist Michel Wintsch and bassist Baenz Oester, his duo w/Thomas Lehn, and also w/John Butcher. Mr. Hemingway is a Guggenheim fellow and has received numerous commissions for chamber and orchestral work including “Terrains”, a concerto for percussionist and orchestra commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony. He also completed a production of “Songs”, two year recording project for the the German label, between the lines. He is well known for his eleven years in the Anthony Braxton Quartet, and his many collaborations with some of the world’s most outstanding improvisers and composers including Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, George Lewis, Derek Bailey, Leo Smith, Oliver Lake, Kenny Wheeler, Frank Gratkowski, John Cale, Marilyn Crispell, Michael Moore and many others.
http://www.gerryhemingway.com/promoters.html
Alex Waterman is one of the most active musicians in New York combining activities as a cellist, writer, curator and composer. He is a founding member of the Plus Minus Ensemble, based in Brussels and London, specializing in avant-garde and experimental music. In New York he performs with the Either/Or Ensemble. Alex has worked with musicians such as Richard Barrett, Keith Rowe, Marina Rosenfeld, Anthony Coleman, Elliot Sharp, Ned Rothenberg, Chris Mann, Alison Knowles, Thomas Meadowcroft, Gerry Hemingway, and Michael Finnissy. He has performed with numerous ensembles, including Trio Event (Berlin), Champs d’Action-Antwerp, Q-O2-Brussels, Ig Henneman Stringquartet, Maartje ten Hoorn String Quartet, Jon Rose’s STRUNG project. As a curator he has organized events at Les Bains:Connective in Brussels, OT301 in Amsterdam, Miguel Abreu Gallery and The Kitchen. His project with the Bach Cello Suites has toured in Switzerland, Italy, Holland, and the Opera of Monaco and will appear in New York as a Joyce Theater production in July of 2008. In 2007 Alex curated two exhibitions in New York, one on experimental music and poetics: Agapê (June 2-July 28th, 2007) at Miguel Abreu Gallery; and the other on graphic notation, Between Thought and Sound: Graphic Notation in Contemporary Music (September 7-October 20, 2007) at The Kitchen in Chelsea. Alex is presently working on his PhD in musicology at NYU as well as writing a book about the composer Robert Ashley with the designer and writer Will Holder. Either/Or Ensemble’s recently formed String Quartet will perform the music of Helmut Lachenmann in collaboration with the composer here in New York at the Goethe Institute in March. Also in March, Alex’s new composition and installation will appear in the Armory Building in collaboration with Dexter Sinister, as part of this year’s Whitney Biennial.
Ashley Paul and Eli Kezsler
Livingston
A collaborative composition using bowed percussion, clarinet, soprano saxophone, drums, guitar and tape. A slowly developing piece dealing with the interaction of sustained tones and resulting harmonics from the horns, percussion and recordings. Slowly developing from small fragments of material to large masses of sound, where each player functions as a independent part of the structure to create a whole.
Residing on a farm in upstate New York, multi-reedist, vocalist and composer Ashley Paul finds daily inspiration in the sounds and often the silences surrounding her. Using whispered and distorted melodies, wailing reeds and subtly explored overtones Ashley creates lyrical, often haunting moments equally involved in high volumes and the nearly inaudible. She is currently working on a solo CD patch-working field recordings with floating vocals, assorted reeds, bells, guitar and keyboards to be released early 2008 on REL Records. In addition to her solo projects, Ashley can be found in duo with Eli Keszler and in trio with Anthony Coleman and Keszler recently recording with Coleman for his December, 2007 release on New World Records. Ashley has collaborated or performed with Roscoe Mitchell (Art Ensemble of Chicago), Ran Blake, Joe Maneri and George Russell and has performed at venues such as The Stone, Issue Project Room, Brooklyn Summer Stage and Jordan Hall.
Eli Keszler is a Hudson Valley based composer/multi instrumentalist who primarily uses percussion to create his sound, which balances droning harmonics created from bowed percussion and intense fast free rhythms. He has performed, recorded or collaborated with a number of diverse artists such as Jandek, Roscoe Mitchell (Art Ensemble of Chicago), Anthony Coleman, Geoff Mullen (Last Visible Dog), Steve Pyne Redhorse, Greg Kelley, T Model Ford (Fat Possum Records), Jamaican music legend Lyn Taitt and pianist Ran Blake. Performing at venues such as The Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), Irving Plaza, ISSUE Project Room, The Stone and The Knitting Factory (NYC and LA). In addition to his work as a performer he put up a installation last Spring at the Boston Cyber Arts Festival. Keszler has recently released a solo album on his own imprint REL records, and has completed a soon to be released solo LP on Geoff Mullen’s Rare Youth label.