RevĂ©s/RĂȘves: Dreams of a Departed Maestra
Diatribe
MarĂa Grand â Tenor Saxophone and Vocals
Ganavya Doraiswamy â Vocals
Joel Ross â Vibraphone
Rajna Swaminathan â Mridangam
Magdalena Album Release Show
MarĂa Grand â Tenor Saxophone and Vocals
David Bryant â Piano
Rashaan Carter â Bass
Jeremy Dutton â Drums
The composer on sax and voice with ensemble in two sets: first the premiere of RevĂ©s/RĂȘves: Dreams of a Departed Maestra and then the Magdalena Album Release show performed by DiaTribe, the group with whom Maria Grand has been playing since 2015.
First, âRevĂ©s/RĂȘves: Dreams of a Departed Maestraâ is a tribute to NoemĂ Lapzeson, a contemporary dancer MarĂa Grand studied with during her childhood and adolescent years. The inspiration for this piece comes from Combines, a solo dance piece NoemĂ performed alongside dancer Celeste Dandekar in 1972. The two solo performances were projected in split screens from each other; the piece will refer to that by using a split stage and playing around the notions of creating with and against each other. NoemĂâs intimate knowledge of movement shaped MarĂaâs understanding of art; now with her legacy in mind, this piece explodes the notion of what music is to include movement as an instrument and use our placement on stage to create intentional spaces of sonic expression. MarĂa once sent NoemĂ a postcard of New York City â magic happened, and the postcard sent pictured a place where NoemĂ had lived, unbeknownst to MarĂa. Itâs this telepathic connection in art that the piece celebrates.
The second part of the evening will be the album release of MarĂa Grandâs band DiaTribe: Magdalena. In âMagdalenaâ, the guiding intent is to explore modern family relationships through the lens of Egyptian and early Christian myths, connecting them to the pioneering work of family therapist Virginia Satir. Proceeding from the conviction that âhealing families heals humanity,â this set of music is contained within a feminine non-hierarchical power structure. All these pieces were recorded in January 2018. This is the first time since recording the album that the pieces will be presented in public in their entirety.
MarĂa Grand was born in Switzerland in 1992, to a Swiss mother and an Argentinian father. Since her move to New York in 2011, she has become an important member of the cityâs creative music scene, performing extensively in projects with musicians such as Vijay Iyer, Craig Taborn, Jen Shyu, Steve Lehman, Aaron Parks, Marcus Gilmore, Jonathan Finlayson, Miles Okazaki, etc. Her debut EP âTetraWindâ was picked as âone of the 2017âs best debutsâ by the NYC Jazz Record. The New York Times says âon TetraWind, Ms Grand unfurls a teetering logic. [..] She is both measured and frank, often venturing into gentle provocationâ. MarĂa is a recipient of the 2017 Jazz Gallery Residency Commission and the 2018 Roulette Jerome Foundation Commission. She can be heard on Steve Colemanâs albums âMorphogenesisâ and âSynovial Jointsâ. She was deemed a ârevelationâ by Jazz Magazine in 2016; AllAboutJazz said of her saxophone playing that it is âfull of passion and sophisticated phrases and turnsâ, while the NYC Jazz Record says âGrandâs aching saxophone has the richness of the great breathy tenors of jazz historyâColeman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Gene Ammons.â Vijay Iyer recently picked her as one of 5 musicians to watch for in 2018 in an article published on sfjazz.org â he said of her that she is âa fantastic young saxophonist, virtuosic, conceptually daring, with a lush tone, a powerful vision, and a deepening emotional resonance, MarĂa is poised to move this music forward with grace, strength, and passion.â MarĂa has performed across genres, appearing with mezzo-soprano Alicia Hall Moran in her Breaking Ice piece premiered at Prototype Festival in NYC and MassMoca; she is a member of the Doug Hammond quintet, as well as with RAJAS, an ensemble led by Carnatic musician Raj- na Swaminathan, and Ouroboros, led by Grammy Award winner alto saxophonist RomĂĄn FiliĂș,. She has toured Europe, the United States, and South America, playing in venues and festivals such as the Village Vanguard in NYC, La Villette Jazz Festival in Paris, Saafelden Jazz Festival in Austria, Millennium Park in Chicago, the Blue Whale in LA, IloJazz in Guadeloupe (FR), and many others.
show less
