Hartford Jazz Society Monday Night Jazz

[relyles]

Significantly more outside the normal lineup than in prior years:

Prudential Financial Presents

The Hartford Jazz Society’s
Monday Night Jazz

A series of FREE concerts in Bushnell Park, Hartford

NEW DIRECTIONS


Monday Night Jazz in 2008 will present some of today's most progressive and cutting-edge jazz musicians. They are part of the latest wave of artists who are using "the influences of whatever musics they know and adapting them into the broadest possible jazz context.” [1] MNJ in 2008 will stretch the boundaries of jazz.

Of course, jazz has a long and vital history of pushing its own envelope, from as far back as the 20s, when listeners first heard the sounds of Louis Armstrong, and later Charlie Parker, and countless others since. And, in 1985, it was Hartford which gave jazz maverick Ornette Coleman the keys to the city. [2]

If the engines of creative improvisation could be started with words, they would be the words that Duke Ellington penned in his poem, What is Music?:
The scope of music is immense and infinite.
It is the ‘esperanto’ of the world.[3]
So let the music begin!

Joe Morris
It is fortuitous that Joe Morris was available and willing to serve as artistic director for this series because he himself is very much in the vanguard of this “wave.” He is also featured as leader, co-leader and sideman on over 50 recordings. He was therefore well-situated to put together this stellar lineup. Apart from his talents as a musician, he has also had considerable experience organizing concerts, festivals and performance series, including the successful Firehouse 12 performance space in New Haven. He has performed workshops and master classes in a wide variety of settings throughout North America and Europe. He has taught improvisation and/or guitar on the faculty at Tufts University Experimental College, Southern Connecticut State University, and New School University. He is currently on the faculty in the Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation Department at New England Conservatory and in the Modern American Music Department at Longy School of Music.

The Lineup
The lineup for this year’s Monday Night Jazz features both new and emerging talent as well as seasoned veterans. Their discographies reveal the depth and scope of their experience, their unceasing creative spirit, and their desire to move the music in new directions. We are fortunate to be able to present them in concert over the course of four Monday evenings.

Bill Sullivan, Chair
HJS Program Committee

============

July 7
6 pm
Roy Campbell’s TAZZ
Roy Campbell (trumpet, flugelhorn) Andrew Bemkey (piano) Michael T.A. Thompson (drums) Chris Sullivan (bass) - bios

8 pm
Matthew Shipp Trio
Matthew Shipp (piano) Whit Dickey (drums) Joe Morris (bass) - bios


July 14
6 pm
Jim Hobbs The Brothers of Heliopolis
Jim Hobbs (alto sax) Jamal Moore (tenor sax) Kurtis Rivers (baritone sax) Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet) Forbes Graham (trumpet) Bill Lowe (bass trombone, tuba) Timo Shanko (bass) Django Carranza (drums) Joe Morris (guitar) - bios

8 pm
Dominique Eade
Dominique Eade (vocals) + TBA - bios


July 28
6 pm
Tim Berne's Bloodcount
Tim Berne (alto sax) Chris Speed (tenor sax, clarinet) Michael Formanek (bass) Jim Black (drums) - bios

8 pm
William Parker Quintet
William Parker (bass) Jason Kao Hwang (violin) Lewis Barnes (trumpet) Rob Brown (alto sax) Zen Matsuura (drums) - bios

August 4
6 pm
John McNeil/ Bill McHenry Quartet
John McNeil (trumpet) Bill McHenry (tenor sax) Joe Martin (bass) Jochen Rueckert (drums) - bios

8 pm
Gerald Cleaver's Violet Hour
Gerald Cleaver (drums) Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) J. D. Allen (tenor sax) Andrew Bishop (soprano/tenor sax, bass clarinet) Ben Waltzer (piano) Chris Lightcap (bass) - bios

[Stephen Haynes]

Significantly more outside the normal lineup than in prior years. Monday Night Jazz in 2008 will present some of today's most progressive and cutting-edge jazz musicians. They are part of the latest wave of artists who are using "the influences of whatever musics they know and adapting them into the broadest possible jazz context.” [1] MNJ in 2008 will stretch the boundaries of jazz.

It may be more accurate to describe the redirected Monday Night Series as a return to form for the venerable Hartford Jazz Society. Those of you who can will recall Gene Solon's tenure at HJS, and visits/commissions by Muhal Richard Abrams and Carla Bley, not to mention the CT-based creative music orchestra of the period with folks, then local (New Haven), such as Leo Smith on board.

The new direction is an expansion of recent trends/impulses for HJS (e.g., Dave Douglas at the Atheneum). In a city that is too-often found lacking in modern work and/or diversity when the subject is "jazz," the new series is a great thing that we must all support.

Now to wind up for the pitch...

One wonders where the local/regional artists are? As one of the afore-mentioned species, I would be remiss if I did not call HJS on this. True, Joe Morris lives in Guilford. In fact, he played here this spring in duet with me, thanks to Knox Parks Foundation (see my blog http://stephenhaynes.blogspot.com/ for details and an image) and works here several times a year, joining me to provide music for dancers (Spectrum in Motion/Charter Oak Cultural Center) and in trio (La Paloma Sabanera w/Warren Smith).

One does not have to be imported to be "cutting edge" but, seemingly, living elsewhere helps when the subject is a properly-funded mainstage performance opportunity. This tendency is not limited to HJS, either.

Consume arts locally. Think of this as cultural localvorism. There are so many things to commend this modality, not the least of which is a far more intimate and potentially sustained relationship with artists and their work. You may just run into your local artist shopping at the neighborhood farmers market and discuss aesthetics over the small batch artisanal cheese, you dig?

So, we will look for local artist presence on Monday nights. And please, don't tell us the local artists are limited to student performers or are poorly paid!