Fred Lonberg-Holm is a cellist/improvisor/composer based in Chicago, known for his work with the Ken Vandermark 5, Friction Brothers, Lightbox Orchestra, Valentine Trio and numerable others. Performing alongside legendary players like Peter Brotzmann and Joe McPhee, he has carved out a distinct sound as a cellist and improvisor, and has earned a spot in the contemporary canon of daring, exploratory music. Stirrup is his new project, which combines the textural ferocity of Friction Brothers with the complex modern jazz sound of Valentine Trio.
Monday, April 9th @ Audio For The Arts (7 S. Blair St.)
SBR Is thrilled to announce a concert with virtuoso pianist Thollem Mcdonas. Thollemtours perpetually as a solo pianist, vocalist and collaborator regularly covering much of North America and Europe playing his unique brand of composed and spontaneous post-classical and hyphenated music. In the past 6 years, he has added 23 albums to his discography on 10 different vanguard record labels in 4 different countries. His musical experiences are extremely diverse and his ever expanding variety of approaches to making music result in dramatically new and different outcomes. He plays in punk clubs, museums, concert halls and riots. He works regularly with film makers, dancers, poets and painters as well as a wide array of divergent musicians. He has won numerous awards and is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange.
He has performed or recorded with an immense list of iconic contemporary improvisors, including William Parker, the Cline Brothers, Pauline Oliveros, Nate Wooley, Gino Robair, and many more. He will be joined for an improvised trio set with saxophonist Patrick Breiner and guitarist Luke Polipnick.
Deric Dickens and Kirk Knufke are touring in support of Dickens’ critically acclaimed new cd “Speed Dating,” an album of improvised duos with a wide net of partners including Matt Wilson and Kirk Knufke. Dickens is a Brooklyn-based drummer with serious bop credentials, but his new cd showcases his skills as an improviser in a broader context. He swings ferociously at times; other points find him exploring texture, timbre, and color over time.
Trumpeter Kirk Knufke is best known for his work in the Grammy-winning Matt Wilson Quartet, but he is one of the busiest trumpeters in New York, both as a sideman and bandleader. He has performed with a long list of the most cutting-edge jazz musicians in the world, and it is a rare treat to have him back in Madison (SBR brought the Matt Wilson Quartet to a capacity-filled Project Lodge two summers ago). Opening the night will be Ben Willis and Luke Polipnick of Glacier. They will perform a set of duo improvisations, and will join Deric and Kirk for a closing set as a quartet. This is going to be a really fun night, don’t miss it!
Saturday, March 17th, 6pm start, $8 general admission
SBR is thrilled to host this phenomenal duo for the second time (we had them here in the summer of 2010). Both musicians are virtuoso players with a lexicon of conventional and extended techniques that they use to craft gorgeously precise pieces that seamlessly weave together intricate themes and extended improvisations.
Samuel Blaser is a Swiss born, New York-polished trombonist who has been racking up accolades for almost a decade, and has honors and a discography that is simply mind-boggling considering he’s barely in his thirties. His last album ‘Consort in Motion’ featuring the inimitable and recently deceased drum icon Paul Motian, was voted Best Jazz Album of 2011.
Pianist Bobby Avey gaining some serious traction as both a pianist and as a composer, for which he won the 2011 Thelonious Monk competition. Since his 2006 debut with saxophonist and Miles-alum David Leibman, Bobby has been described as “an indisputable rising star” (all about jazz), and “one of the most promising musicians of his generation” (Ken Dryden). In addition to his full schedule as a bandleader and sideman, Bobby has been busy composing for commissions from the likes of Chamber Music America.
Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, performer and poet.
In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music.
A few years later he discovered his potential as a vocal performer, at first in reciting poetry and later on in improvisations and his own compositions. For almost two decades the voice was his main means for the discovery and development of new sounds.
From around the year 2000 on Blonk started work with electronics, at first using samples of his own voice, then extending the field to include pure sound synthesis as well.
He took a year off of performing in 2006. As a result, his renewed interest in mathematics made him start a research of the possibilities of algorithmic composition for the creation of music, visual animation and poetry.
As a vocalist, Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. He performed in many European countries, as well as in the U.S. and Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and Latin America. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.
Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Nicolas Collins, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He premiered several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2002. On several occasions he collaborated with visual computer artist Golan Levin.
Blonk’s work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays.
He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, which are being exhibited.
He was the founder and leader of the long-standing bands Splinks (modern jazz, 1983-1999) and BRAAXTAAL (avant-rock, 1987-2005). He also has his own record label, Kontrans, featuring a total of 15 releases so far. Other Blonk recordings appeared on Staalplaat, Basta and VICTO.
Madison’s Weather Duo will open the show with a set of electro-acoustic chamber pieces.
@ The Cardinal Bar - 8pm, $10 / $5 students (Free to UW students)
Patrick Breiner – tenor sax, clarinet, voice (Easton, CT)
Aaron Darrell – bass, voice (Boston, MA)
Devin Drobka – drums (New York, NY)
SBR is stoked to have our co-founder and former Madisonian Patrick Breiner back with his post-modern jazz trio Sons Of Daughters.
Sons Of Daughters are on the hustle. Not even two years as a band and they’re about to embark on their 5th DIY tour in support of their 4th DIY recording, “Beyond Animals.” The new CD is by far their most reckless, joyous, and genuine recording to date and their first to feature all original music.
This trio of decorated Berklee and New School grads met in Milwaukee (don’t ask) in April of 2010. But don’t let their stunning pedigree fool you. This ain’t no Downbeat reading, elbow rubbing, Blue Note wannabe college trio. These guys are bona fide road warriors with an agenda: to climb the highest hill, yell the loudest, and to make damn sure that what they’re saying means something.
Patrick Breiner, Aaron Darrell, and Devin Drobka all contribute compositions ranging from wistful rubato ballads to devil may care free jazz avalanches. Breiner’s tenor saxophone and clarinet are augmented by vocals (his own and those of bassist Darrell). Drobka is the wild card, as likely to play with any object within reach as he is to play his drum kit. In short, a helter-skelter new twist on the classic chordless jazz trio.
