Rob Reddy's Bechet: Our Contemporary - Chamber Music America New Works Jazz Commission at Jamaica Center For Arts And Learning

Rob Reddy's Bechet: Our Contemporary, is an ensemble whose repertoire is based on the legacy, life and music of the American soprano saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Sidney Bechet (1897-1959). The ensemble's initial recording (which was released in September, 2015), intertwined four of Sidney Bechet’s original compositions with four of Reddy's. Although Bechet’s work as the premiere Jazz soprano saxophonist has had a huge impact on Reddy, being that the soprano saxophone is his instrument of choice, he instead used Bechet's original compositions as a point of departure to create this work. The work is an homage to the great Bechet but in no terms a “repertoire” or “nostalgia” piece: these are reinterpretations of Bechet’s work along side Reddy's original compostions....

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Rob Reddy's Bechet: Our Contemporary, is an ensemble whose repertoire is based on the legacy, life and music of the American soprano saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Sidney Bechet (1897-1959). The ensemble's initial recording (which was released in September, 2015), intertwined four of Sidney Bechet’s original compositions with four of Reddy's. Although Bechet’s work as the premiere Jazz soprano saxophonist has had a huge impact on Reddy, being that the soprano saxophone is his instrument of choice, he instead used Bechet's original compositions as a point of departure to create this work. The work is an homage to the great Bechet but in no terms a “repertoire” or “nostalgia” piece: these are reinterpretations of Bechet’s work along side Reddy's original compostions.

Reddy received a Chamber Music America New Works Jazz Commission to compose a new work for the ensemble which will feature only Reddy's original compositions, again inspired by the tenacity and vitality of the Sidney Bechet's legacy. Reddy see's this project as an honest and respectful attempt at honoring Bechet’s place in history as a seriously forward-thinking, avant-garde artist of his time, while also putting his work into conversation with our own, present-day sociopolitical landscape.

* “99 Cent Dreams” by Rob Reddy’s Bechet: Our Contemporary has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2015 New Jazz Works program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

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