Exploring the Hidden Music at Gramercy Theater

Where

Gramercy Theater
127 E 23rd St.
New York, NY
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When

Tue, November 25, 2014
8:00 pm

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Musicians

About

Exploring the Hidden Music”
HeartBeat | Visual Music Project | Touch My Light | Interactive Sound / Light Installations

Christopher Janney, Artistic Director
Bill Laswell, Musical Director

Tuesday, November 25, 2014; 8PM
Gramercy Theater
127 E 23rd St.
New York, NY 10010

Featured esteemed guests in performance are

Sara Rudner, Choreographer
Sunny Hitt, Dancer

Sheila E., Percussion, Vocals
Trilok Gurtu, Percussion
Lynn Mabry, Vocals
Dave Revels, Vocals
DJ Adam Gibbons, Turntables

Further Guests TBA

The first ever collaboration of forward-thinking architect / composer Christopher Janney and legendary bassist / producer Bill Laswell promises a wild ride on the highest artistic level. The duo, with its cast of world-class musicians, utilizes composition, dance, sound, and visuals.

Janney, renown for his work interrelating architecture and music, received a B.A. in Architecture from Princeton University (magna cum laude), M.S. in Environmental Art and Performance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while continuing private studies in percussion and at the Dalcroze School of Music in New York. He performed as a jazz musician with numerous artists and dance companies, including Merce Cunningham, Sara Rudner, and Claes Oldenburg. Thus, the connections between movement, architecture, sound and space were made.

A Visiting Professor at both The Cooper Union and Pratt Institute, Janney has created numerous permanent interactive sound / light installations, attempting to make architecture more "spontaneous" and, in reverse, to make music more physical. The latter can be experienced in his new version of “HeartBeat,” a dance / music / cardiology mash-up, made famous In the 1990’s with Mikhail Baryshnikov. As well, in Janney’s “Visual Music Project,” he introduces visual music in “real time” performing on his custom "visual synthesizer."

Both pieces feature world-class musicians including Trilok Gurtu (John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul), Dave Revels (The Persuasions), Sheila E. (Solo, Prince, Ringo Starr) and Lynn Mabry (Talking Heads, Sly Stone, Stevie Nicks, Bette Midler). In Sara Rudner, Janney acquired a prominent choreographer and long-time collaborator who currently holds the position of Director of Dance at Sarah Lawrence College.

The interactive sound / light installations at the door and a new interactive light work “Touch my Light” over DJ Adam Gibbons (Uhuru Afrika) set with live drumming makes sure to round out the program.

Acclaimed bassist / producer / visionary Bill Laswell provides the perfect match as the performance’s Musical Director. Over the course of three decades, the GRAMMY-winning producer has been one of the most prolific and restlessly creative forces in contemporary music. A sound conceptualist , he has put his inimitable stamp on nearly 3,000 recording projects by such artists as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, Brian Eno, Bootsy Collins, Nine Inch Nails, Motörhead, Peter Gabriel, Blur, The Ramones, George Clinton, Pharaoh Sanders, Dalai Lama, Matisyahu, Angélique Kidjo, DJ Krush, RAMM:ΣLL:ZΣΣ, Sting,The Last Poets, Afrika Bambaataa, Julian Schnabel, Whitney Houston, Manu Dibango, and Herbie Hancock.

Along with Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records (Bob Marley, U2), he established the AXIOM label in 1989. M.O.D. Technologies, his most recent imprint is releasing projects by Method Of Defiance, Lee "Scratch" Perry, PRAXIS, Garrison Hawk with Sly & Robbie, Bernie Worrell, Jon Batiste & Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer, Chad Smith, and progressive / futuristic music from Ethiopia and Morocco. Laswell has worked from everyone in Asian ancient music to avant-jazz, rock, hip-hop and DJ culture.

Together Janney and Laswell "explore the hidden music" - found in spaces, the human body and in the meeting of artistic minds.

DATE:
Tuesday, November 25, 2014; 8PM

ADDRESS:
Gramercy Theater
127 E 23rd St.
New York, NY 10010
Tel: 212.614.6932
http://venue.thegramercytheatre.com/

ADMISSION:
$25

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