SHAPESHIFTER LAB PRESENTS JOEL HARRISON’S “INFINITE POSSIBILITY” A LARGE ENSEMBLE WORK ON THURS., SEPT 6, 8PM
ALSO: OHAD TALMOR’S NEWSREEL @10 PM
Meet the Composer Commission Features Harrison’s work for 19 musicians
Joel Harrison’s work “Infinite Possibility” will be performed at Shapeshifter Lab, located at 18 Whitwell Pl. in Brooklyn. on Thurs., Sept. 6th at 8:00pm. Tickets are $15. www.shapeshifterlab.com (646) 820-9452)
“Infinite Possibility” is a Meet The Composer commission via Brooklyn Connection Works and features six new pieces that are jazz-based but, like all of Harrison’s music, they are ranging far and wide in influence. One piece is inspired by “the birthplace of the Blues”- Dockery Farms, while another is inspired by Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, and late 60′s Miles. A fourth is based on the Appalachian hymn “I Have Seen the Rock of Ages.” All use classical music as inspiration. Says Harrison, “Like most of my recent music there is no unifying theme or style. What unifies the pieces is simply that I wrote them all, with an eye towards combining groove with an “infinite possibility” of sounds.”...
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SHAPESHIFTER LAB PRESENTS JOEL HARRISON’S “INFINITE POSSIBILITY” A LARGE ENSEMBLE WORK ON THURS., SEPT 6, 8PM
ALSO: OHAD TALMOR’S NEWSREEL @10 PM
Meet the Composer Commission Features Harrison’s work for 19 musicians
Joel Harrison’s work “Infinite Possibility” will be performed at Shapeshifter Lab, located at 18 Whitwell Pl. in Brooklyn. on Thurs., Sept. 6th at 8:00pm. Tickets are $15. www.shapeshifterlab.com (646) 820-9452)
“Infinite Possibility” is a Meet The Composer commission via Brooklyn Connection Works and features six new pieces that are jazz-based but, like all of Harrison’s music, they are ranging far and wide in influence. One piece is inspired by “the birthplace of the Blues”- Dockery Farms, while another is inspired by Ligeti’s Chamber Concerto, and late 60′s Miles. A fourth is based on the Appalachian hymn “I Have Seen the Rock of Ages.” All use classical music as inspiration. Says Harrison, “Like most of my recent music there is no unifying theme or style. What unifies the pieces is simply that I wrote them all, with an eye towards combining groove with an “infinite possibility” of sounds.”
True to Harrison’s programming expertise, “Infinite Possibility” features top-notch New York players including Ned Rothenberg, Ohad Talmor, Ben Kono, Rob Scheps, Andy Laster on woodwinds with Michel Gentile on flute; Nick Marchione, Dave Smith, Taylor Haskins, Justin Mullens on trumpets and French horn; trombone and tuba players are Jacob Garchik, Curtis Fowlkes, Alan Ferber, Jose Davila; and composerJoel Harrison, on guitar; pianist Daniel Kelly; Kermit Driscoll on bass; James Shipp on vibes and percussion; Rob Garcia on drums.
The conductor is JC Sanford.
“Infinite Possibility” was commissioned through Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Music USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Ford Foundation, the Francis Goelet Charitable Trusts, NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, NYSCA, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund.
Talmor’s Newsreel features: Ohad Talmor – Tenor sax
Shane Endsley – Trpt
Miles Okazaki – Guitar
Jacob Sacks – Piano
Matt Pavolka – Bass
Dan Weiss – Drums
Bio:
Named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010, Harrison is also a two-time winner of the Jazz Composer’s Alliance Composition Competition. He has received grants from Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, the Flagler Cary Trust, NYSCA, and the Jerome Foundation. Growing up in Washington D.C. during the 1960s, he became enamored with such trailblazing guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin. After graduating from Bard College, Harrison undertook what he calls “the classic Jack Kerouac search for America,” hitchhiking cross-country and exploring the rich diversity contained between its coasts. “I wanted to figure this country out,” he says. “And that search still resonates in my music.”
After relocating to San Francisco, where he became an in-demand session player on the creative music scene, Harrison settled in New York in 1999 and began making inroads on the Big Apple alternative jazz scene. His discography includes such genre-bending gems as 2003’s Free Country, which re-imagines country and Appalachian folk music, 2005’s Harrison on Harrison, featuring radical reinventions of compositions by the Beatles guitarist George Harrison, and 2010’s The Music of Paul Motian, which he artfully arranged for string quartet and two guitars. Other intriguing projects that Harrison has tackled include 2008’s The Wheel, a six movement suite for string quartet and jazz quintet which deftly blends Appalachian and West African music, 2009’s fusion-inspired outing Urban Myths and 2010’s classical project Life Force, a collection of duos for cello and violin performed by Wendy Sutter and Tim Fain. Harrison’s second release on Sunnyside; Search, will be released in February 2012.
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