HotHouse: A musical laboratory for Jazz/New Music/Improvisors and Cutting Edge Artists - providing a public space for experimentation, rehearsals, concept and project development with an audience-response/dialogue component built in. HotHouse is a series of five events as part of PAFA After Dark during their Fall 2016 season. Featuring some of Philadelphia’s most creative Jazz/New Music/Improvising Artists, HotHouse will shock, entertain, challenge and confront.
Keith DeStefano will present Bass in the Face. A performance of original Jazz, inspired compositions that will explore and feature the textural possibilities of bass clef instruments. The lower sounds of the spectrum. The Low End. The Bottom. The performing ensemble will comprise of double bass, tuba, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, trombone, and percussion....
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HotHouse: A musical laboratory for Jazz/New Music/Improvisors and Cutting Edge Artists - providing a public space for experimentation, rehearsals, concept and project development with an audience-response/dialogue component built in. HotHouse is a series of five events as part of PAFA After Dark during their Fall 2016 season. Featuring some of Philadelphia’s most creative Jazz/New Music/Improvising Artists, HotHouse will shock, entertain, challenge and confront.
Keith DeStefano will present Bass in the Face. A performance of original Jazz, inspired compositions that will explore and feature the textural possibilities of bass clef instruments. The lower sounds of the spectrum. The Low End. The Bottom. The performing ensemble will comprise of double bass, tuba, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, trombone, and percussion.
Keith DeStefano is a Philly-based, bassist/composer and leader of the ensemble Puzzlebox. He combines the traditional with the avant-garde, taut arrangements with free jazz, classical influences with genre music, angular bitonality with gentle lyricism, far out grooves with driving swing. He has been featured in DownBeat, NPR, TV12, WHYY, WRTI and radio stations across the country. In 2014, he was Music Director and arranger for a 17 piece big band at the OutBeat International Jazz Festival in Philadelphia. He has performed with Puzzlebox at the Cape May Jazz Fest, West Oak Lane Jazz Festival, World Café Live, Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz, West Chester University, University of Pennsylvania, Trenton Grounds for Sculpture, Chris Jazz Café, West Oak Lane Jazz Festival, Twins, Ortleibs, and numerous venues in the region.
PJP recently spoke with Keith DeStefano about his music and his approach.
PJP: Can you briefly describe your musical direction?
Keith DeStefano: I am part of a vital progressive jazz scene in Philadelphia. Characterized by forward looking artists performing original works. We are united in our intent to expand the boundaries of our genre. We do not eschew the past, but aspire to give it fresh perspectives.
PJP: What and whom are pivotal musical influences on your creative approach?
Keith DeStefano: I was first inspired to compose jazz while participating Odean Pope’s Collective Voices Workshop. I really loved that big sax choir sound. The way Odean would juxtapose taut arrangements against spontaneous composition. The other early inspiration was Bobby Zankel’s use of mixed meter and groove. I really love the textural possibilities of big bands. In a broader sense, I’ve been influenced by jazz masters.(Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk, Gil Evans. World Saxophone Quartet, Muhal Richard Abrams, and classically by 20th century masters Aaron Copland, Bela Bartok, Leonard Bernstein, Ligeti and Debussey, and more than I can name from every musical genre.)
PJP: What are you going to present at Hothouse/PAFA?
Keith DeStefano: I am presenting a bass clef sextet comprised of double bass, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, trombone, tuba, and percussion. I will be presenting original jazz compositions. The sounds I feel represent various parts of Philadelphia.
PJP: Some artists don’t like to share the behind the scenes views of their creative process, in what ways do you as an artist benefit from having the audience engage in your Art In Process?
Keith DeStefano: An audience is particularly important in improvisational music. There is a feedback loop of the energy we project to the audience and they project back. When the right chemistry is there, it’s truly magical.
PJP: How do you manage the task of creating and encouraging fresh, new, forwarding moving musical ideas, while simultaneously exploring, celebrating and documenting the past?
Keith DeStefano: I listen to all the music I can (new and old) from every genre. I do this as openly as possible. I try to think of what the music is doing rather judge its quality. I cultivate playfulness.
I allow myself to write a lot of terrible music so I can get to the good stuff.
PJP: When listening to your music, what advice would you give to audiences to assist with greater understanding and enjoyment?
Keith DeStefano: I would give the audience the same advice I give myself: keep an open mind and suspend judgement. Try to feel what the music is actually doing. Cultivate a tolerance for being lost for a moment; some might call this an adventure.
PJP: Why Jazz?
Keith DeStefano:
Why do we fall in love with one person and not another? Even if it were possible to list every reason, you would still be left with a mystery. It can’t be explained and it needs no justification.
Hothouse events are FREE of charge, but you must pay museum admission to attend.
See you at the PAFA After Dark!
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / PAFA
118-128 N Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102
HotHouse At PAFA After Dark Concert Series is produced by Philadelphia Jazz Project in collaboration with Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / PAFA.
Philadelphia Jazz Project is a sponsored project of the Culture Trust | Greater Philadelphia, with funding provided by The Wyncote Foundation.
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