Craig Harris Sextet Presents Brown Butterfly at An Die Musik Live

CRAIG HARRIS

BROWN BUTTERFLY
Work based on
the movements of Muhammad Ali


Craig Harris, trombone
Eddie Allen, trumpet
Melissa Slocum , bass
Russell Carter, drums
Yoichi Uzeki, piano
Jay Rodriguez, reeds

“…an ambitious album paying homage to the legacy of Muhammad Ali. The suite laces gnarled horn arrangements and spoken tributes to Ali over protean rhythms, drawing on influences as varied as Count Basie’s big band and the drum-and-bass of 1990s London; the music emulates the rugged grace and mercurial power of Ali in the ring…” – GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO, THE NEW YORK TIMES...

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CRAIG HARRIS

BROWN BUTTERFLY
Work based on
the movements of Muhammad Ali


Craig Harris, trombone
Eddie Allen, trumpet
Melissa Slocum , bass
Russell Carter, drums
Yoichi Uzeki, piano
Jay Rodriguez, reeds

“…an ambitious album paying homage to the legacy of Muhammad Ali. The suite laces gnarled horn arrangements and spoken tributes to Ali over protean rhythms, drawing on influences as varied as Count Basie’s big band and the drum-and-bass of 1990s London; the music emulates the rugged grace and mercurial power of Ali in the ring…” – GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO, THE NEW YORK TIMES

“The deed, the project, the incredible body of music by the trombonist, composer and arranger Craig Harris is complete.” – RON SCOTT, THE AMSTERDAM NEWS

MUHAMMAD ALI CHANGED BOXING THE WAY CHARLIE PARKER & JOHN COLTRANE CHANGED MUSIC

Brown Butterfly is a tribute to the magical attributes that have sustained African Americans for more than 400 years: Weightlessness, grace, speed - an ability to walk in space.

Tickets: $25 in advance/$28 at door/$10 full-time students with ID

When Craig Harris exploded onto the jazz scene in 1976, he brought the entire history of the jazz trombone with him. From the growling gutbucket intensity of early New Orleans music through the refined, articulate improvisation of the modern era set forth by J.J. Johnson, and into the confrontational expressionism of the ’60s avant-garde, Craig handled the total vernacular the way a skilled orator utilizes the spoken word.

He has performed with a veritable Who’s Who of progressive jazz’ most important figures – including Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Sam Rivers, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Lester Bowie, The WORLD Saxophone Quartet, The Roots, RAKIM and the list goes on and on – his own projects displayed both a unique sense of concept and a total command of the sweeping expanse of musical expression. And it’s those two qualities that have dominated Craig’s past 15 years of activity, bringing him far beyond the confines of the jazz world and into the sphere of multimedia and performance art as composer, performer, conceptualist, curator and artistic director. Projects like, Souls Within the Veil, composed to commemorate the centennial of W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk. Brown Butterfly, a multi-media work based on the movement of Muhammed Ali with video, dance, and music. God’s Trombones, based on James Weldon Johnson’s classic collection of poems that refigure inspirational sermons by itinerant Negro preachers.

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