Edgefest 11

[Joe G]

From the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, MI.

Hello fans!

Here is the preliminary announcement for EDGEFEST 11! Oct 17-20

We will have this up on the website soon and advise about passes and tickets

etc...

³Presented by Kerrytown Concert House, the [EdgeFEST] festival is a

remarkable achievement for an event with an avant-garde focus and a

reputation for uncompromising integrity.² (The Detroit Free Press)

Down Beat magazine named Edgefest ³one of the great Œoff-season" jazz

festivals,¹ along with the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, San

Francisco Jazz Festival, and Jazzfest Berlin.

Mark Stryker in the Detroit Free Press called Edgefest ³one of those

cultural treasures metro Detroiters can lord over friends who live

elsewhere."

In 2006, the festival received national recognition by being awarded the

first prize award for adventurous programming from Chamber Music America.

The 11th annual Edgefest (October 17-20, 2007) will feature ensembles

representing the European, Asian, and North American creative music

communities. The roster of internationally celebrated artists includes

performers from our own Detroit/Ann Arbor area (details on local artist will

be released in the coming weeks).

This season KCH has been granted two awards from Chamber Music America; one

to fund the educational residency activities of the BASSDRUMBONE trio which,

in addition to educational workshops, will lead the Edgefest celebration

parade through downtown Ann Arbor¹s Kerrytown District; and another to fund

the performance of a recently completed composition by 2007 Guggenheim

award-winner Rudresh K. Mahanthappa.

A new feature this year will be a Symposium co-sponsored by the University

of Michigan Institute for the Humanities. The first ever Edgefest

symposium, held in collaboration with the UM Institute for the Humanities,

will feature the pioneer trombonist and Columbia University Professor George

Lewis, who will discuss the social ramifications of improvisation. He will

be joined by other musicians and faculty from the UM School of Music and

American Studies program.

Note: The public will be invited to attend all educational events free of

charge

******************

Edgefest 2007 Artist Roster Overview:

******************

The Trio

Muhal Richard Abrams, piano, bell, bamboo flute, taxi horn, percussion

George Lewis, trombone, laptop

Roscoe Mitchell, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, percussion

Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell are all members of

the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). This

Chicago-based collective is renowned for its unparalleled contributions to

modern music and its dedication to nurturing, performing, and recording

serious, original music with firm roots in the Black African American

Musical tradition. Muhal Richard Abrams (piano and percussion), a founder

of the AACM, is a hugely influential musician who has been responsible for

expanding the boundaries of jazz. Roscoe Mitchell (saxophones and

percussion) is well known as the founder of one of jazz¹s most recognized

groups: The Art Ensemble of Chicago. George Lewis is a master of the

trombone and electronics. A McArthur genius grant recipient, Lewis is also

an important writer, whose book on the AACM will be published this fall by

the University of Chicago Press. Their group¹s first recording ³The

Streaming Trio² (Pi Records) is a genuine historical moment, as is their

appearance at KCH! ³Flowing with a sense of linear narrative, these pieces

fluctuate organically between moods and textures, unfolding with a communal

logic that evinces years of mutual experience. Abrams, Lewis and Mitchell

formulate a series of musical dialogues that are utterly contemporary in

their delivery, yet timeless in their conception. Combining subtle

electronics with acoustic instruments, they hold true to their AACM

heritage, blending the ancient with the future.² (Allaboutjazz.com)

2. Rudresh Mahanthapa Quartet

Rudresh Mahanthapa, alto saxophone

Vijay Iyer, piano

François Moutin, bass

Dan Weiss, drums

Named a Rising Star of the alto saxophone by the Downbeat International

Critics Poll lists for the past four years (#2 in 2006), Rudresh Mahanthapa

is one of the most innovative young musicians in jazz today. By

incorporating the culture of his Indian ancestry, Rudresh has fused myriad

influences to create a truly groundbreaking artistic vision. As a performer,

he leads/co-leads five groups to critical acclaim. Rudresh¹s most recent

release for Pi Recordings ³Codebook² (September 26, 2006 with his quartet)

has already received great reviews from wired.com and Science Magazine, and

is already in the top 20 on US jazz radio charts. Rudresh has collaborated

on many projects with his pianist Vijay Iyer who has been dubbed one of the

"new stars of jazz" by U.S. News & World Report, and one of "today's most

important pianists" by The New Yorker. Iyer is a forceful, rhythmically

invigorating performer who weds a cutting-edge sensibility to a unique sense

for compositional balance. Recently in the Village Voice, Gary Giddins

described him as "one of the most original and accomplished young pianists

in years... Iyer's percussive yet supple keyboard touch is something to

marvel at." An exceptional, forward-thinking composer, Iyer draws from

African, Asian, and European musical lineages to create fresh, original

music in the American creative tradition. Since 2003 he has consistently

ranked near the top of the Downbeat Magazine International Critics' Poll in

the categories of Rising Star Pianist, Rising Star Composer, and Rising Star

Jazz Artist; in 2006 he won the latter two categories. He also received a

2006 Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.

3. Carnival Skin

Klaus Kugel, drums, percussions

Hilliard Greene, double bass

Bruce Eisenbeil, acoustic and electric guitars

Peter Evans, trumpet, piccolo trumpet, slide trumpet

Perry Robinson, clarinets

A newly formed quintet of composers, innovators, and improvisers-musicians

whose collective experiences span several genres of music, five generations,

and two continents, this group represents a new direction in the creative

and free music art forms. Having worked together in various combinations in

the past, the five naturally come togetherŠ as individual abstract aspects

of a whole. Peter Evans is a new face on the trumpet scene, but he has

already made his mark, whether it is playing piccolo trumpet in a Handel

oratorio, or in solo concerts full of dazzling multiphonics. Perry Robinson

is perhaps the most distinguished post-bop clarinetist in jazz.

4. Faruq Z Bey Project Detroit¹s legendary counterculture icon, saxophonist,

composer, poet and philosopher Faruq Z. Bey, leads some of Detroit¹s best

avant-garde performers.

5. Matt Darriau¹s Paradox Trio (winner of 2007 Grammy)

Matt Darriau, sax, clarinet, Irish flute, kaval (Bulgarian flute), gaida

(Bulgarian bagpipe)

Brad Schoeppach, electric guitar, acoustic guitar

Seido Salifoski, dumbeks, percussion.

Rufus Cappadocia, electric five-string cello, acoustic cello

The Paradox Trio (4 members‹thus the paradox!) music is a delightful fusion

of Balkan rhythms and sounds with a modern American jazz sensibility.

6. Miya Masaoka, koto and electronics

Okkyung Lee, cello

Larry Ochs, saxophone

Miya Masaoka ‹ musician, composer, sound artist ‹ has created works for koto

and electronics, Laser Koto, field recordings, laptop, video and written

scores for ensembles, chamber orchestras and mixed choirs. She has virtually

reinvented the koto as an instrument for improvisation. In her pieces she

has investigated the sound and movement of insects, as well as the

physiological response of plants, the human brain and her own body. Within

these varied contexts her performance work investigates the interactive,

collaborative aspects of sound, improvisation, nature and society.

A native of Korea, Okkyung Lee has been developing her own voice in a

contemporary cello performance, improvisation and composition. Using her

solid classical training as a springboard, she incorporates jazz sounds,

Korean traditional music and noise with extended techniques to create her

unique blend of music. She is an important member of the New York downtown

scene and was last heard in our area at the DIA in a group led by Suzie

Ibarra.

Larry Ochs is a member of the acclaimed Rova Saxophone Quartet, which has

made over thirty European tours and numerous concerts throughout the U.S.

and Canada, as well as recording over 30 CDs as a quartet and/or in

collaboration with other artists. Ochs has won many commissions and awards

as composer and performs with several other established groups including The

Trio listed as the headliner for Edgefest 2007.

7. Gutbucket

Gutbucket is a free-range band. The seven-year- old New York quartet is not

only equally comfortable playing in front of 900 sweatily pogo-ing teenage

skate-punks, a crowd of stoned jamband freaks, or on an anarchist German art

collective houseboat, but most importantly, their music fits right in.

Flitting from hard rock to Latin to thrash to klezmer and back, often within

the space of a few bars, the group veritably attacks their music with the

kind of ferocity usually reserved for punk, despite having earned their jazz

bona fides.

³Like any self-respecting jazz-thrash-rock-latin-noise band from the dark

underbelly of New York, Gutbucket have a peerless way....There is something

smart, sleek and assured about Gutbucket, and when they begin firing on all

cylinders it makes for an exhilarating, intelligently performed racket.² -

The Guardian UK

8. BassDrumBone

Gerry Hemingway, drums

Mark Helias, bass

Ray Anderson, trombone

BassDrumBone, a trio with an unusual instrumentation and a unique sound, is

celebrating its 30th anniversary. A true collective, their music combines

three distinct compositional and improvisational approaches and an

exceptional musical rapport.

Mark Helias, Gerry Hemingway and Ray Anderson

began performing as a trio in the fall of 1977.

After 1988 the group went

into dormancy while all three of its members pursued their own individual

groups. In the fall of 1993 BassDrumBone regrouped for a tour in Europe and

never sounded better. BassDrumBone celebrated its 25th year together with

the release of "March of Dimes" on the Dutch label Data. They are touring

the US and Europe starting this winter and throughout 2007 in celebration of

30 years of making music together.

9. Konk Pack

Thomas Lehn, EMS-synthesizer

Roger Turner, drums

Tim Hodgkinson, lap-top, steel guitar and clarinet

From Britain, this is a hardcore trio made up of world-class improvisers.

The sensitivity of British Improvised Music, represented via the crackling

and snapping of the electronics (Lehn), the howling and roaring of reed and

a table top guitar (Hodgkinson) and the rattling and rustling of the

percussion (Turner) are melded with a trashy, overloaded attitude. A heavy

rocking swing echoes out of loose noise conglomerations.

10. Andrew Bishop¹s Curio Cabinet

What if musical ideas were trinkets in a curio cabinet? The sonic palate of

this ensemble is what composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bishop would

have in his collection. Andrew Bishop²s Curio Cabinet mixes Twentieth and

Twenty-first Century concert music with just about everything and the

kitchen sink.

Instrumentation

Andrew Bishop (saxophone/clarinet/bass clarinet) with area artists to

include guitar, bass, drums, piano/Fender Rhodes, trombone, violin

NOTE --these are the people he has in mind‹not confirmed yet though.

Jacob Garchik (Trombone/Accordion)

Gabe Bolkosky (Violin)

Ryan Mackstaller (Guitar)

Jacob Sacks (Piano/Fender Rhodes, could be Tad Weed)

Tim Flood (Bass)

Gerald Cleaver (Drums)

11. Sonic Liberation Front

Kevin Diehl - itotele, onkonkolo, conga, electronics, drumkit, chekere,

clave, palitos

Chuckie Joseph - iya, lead vocals, guitar, congas, itotele, quinto, djembe

kinkine, drumkit

Rich Robinson- okonkolo, congas, percussion

Ira Bond - djembe, dun dun

Matt Engle - bass

Dan Scofield - alto saxophone

Todd Margasak- cornet

Julian Pressley- alto saxophone

The Philadelphia-based Sonic Liberation Front has created its own genre in

its evolution as a band. Combining free jazz with Afro-Cuban percussion and

modern electronics, Sonic Liberation Front has forged an incredible sound,

combining the ancient with the futuristic. Continuing on the paths of Sun

Ra, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, and Art Ensemble of Chicago it searches

for new dimensions of folk art forms for tomorrow.

*****************

FRINGE at the EDGE

*****************

Last year, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Edgefest, KCH created a

series of free public performance events which took place during the days

and early evenings in restaurants, cafes and galleries in downtown Ann Arbor

and featured some of the areas most accomplished creative musicians. The

tent at Zingerman¹s Deli was the scene of an electronic violin solo concert

by the young composer/performer Karl Pestka and the diners at Argiero¹s

Italian Restaurant in Kerrytown were surprised to hear violinist Mike Khoury

and bass clarinetist Piotr Michalowski improvising as a duo and joined in a

few tunes by festival headliner Mary Redhouse, native American vocalist. A

³celebration parade² also took place on Saturday morning in the Kerrytown

historic area. The Fringe project proved very successful as it moved the

creative and imaginative music-making out of the conventional venues and

into public spaces. This year, KCH will build on this success to once again

present a Fringe series that will surprise, delight, and educate an audience

that would not necessarily venture into the concert venues of Edgefest.

___________________________________________

Kerrytown Concert House

Deanna Relyea, Executive Director

734/769-2999

[GregK]

The Trio

Muhal Richard Abrams, piano, bell, bamboo flute, taxi horn, percussion

George Lewis, trombone, laptop

Roscoe Mitchell, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, percussion

Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell are all members of

the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). This

Chicago-based collective is renowned for its unparalleled contributions to

modern music and its dedication to nurturing, performing, and recording

serious, original music with firm roots in the Black African American

Musical tradition. Muhal Richard Abrams (piano and percussion), a founder

of the AACM, is a hugely influential musician who has been responsible for

expanding the boundaries of jazz. Roscoe Mitchell (saxophones and

percussion) is well known as the founder of one of jazz¹s most recognized

groups: The Art Ensemble of Chicago. George Lewis is a master of the

trombone and electronics. A McArthur genius grant recipient, Lewis is also

an important writer, whose book on the AACM will be published this fall by

the University of Chicago Press. Their group¹s first recording ³The

Streaming Trio² (Pi Records) is a genuine historical moment, as is their

appearance at KCH! ³Flowing with a sense of linear narrative, these pieces

fluctuate organically between moods and textures, unfolding with a communal

logic that evinces years of mutual experience. Abrams, Lewis and Mitchell

formulate a series of musical dialogues that are utterly contemporary in

their delivery, yet timeless in their conception. Combining subtle

electronics with acoustic instruments, they hold true to their AACM

heritage, blending the ancient with the future.² (Allaboutjazz.com)

Hey, looks like my request for them to bring Roscoe here paid off!

[Chuck Nessa]

Ann Arbor in October for me.

[GregK]

Ann Arbor in October for me.

yep. me too. Time to pick up that Streaming CD!

[Chuck Nessa]

Ann Arbor in October for me.

yep. me too. Time to pick up that Streaming CD!

So, we can stay at your place?

[Joe G]

Ann Arbor in October for me.

yep. me too. Time to pick up that Streaming CD!

So, we can stay at your place?

Pick me up on your way through.

[GregK]

Ann Arbor in October for me.

yep. me too. Time to pick up that Streaming CD!

So, we can stay at your place?

Actually, you could if it was happening in November. We close on our new house (we're having one built) in November, but until then I don't think anyone else could squeeze into our little apartment! Of course, if Chuck could somehow get us backstage to meet Roscoe, maybe we could work something out!

[DTMX]

I'd already gotten my airline tickets, hotel room, and rental car squared away months ago - before the line-up was announced. I went to Edgefest for the first time last year and knew that this was going to be an annual pilgrimage for me. Can't wait...

Edited May 26, 2007 by DTMX

[alocispepraluger102]

I'd already gotten my airline tickets, hotel room, and rental car squared away months ago - before the line-up was announced. I went to Edgefest for the first time last year and knew that this was going to be an annual pilgrimage for me. Can't wait...

aloc, as well.

[Uncle Skid]

Any hotel recommendations?

[Big Al]

This is good news. Y'see, around here in cultural-wasteland-hell, "Edgefest" refers to an all-day concert put on by radio station 102.1 "The Edge," which mainly plays crap like Nickelback and other nu-Metallica-bands who are mad as hell at their dads. There are usually about 421 bands, they get up on stage, scream their song, and leave. Nobody can tell them apart, and nobody is sober enough to care.

How I wish DFW had the same kind of artistic venture that you guys have.

[DTMX]

Any hotel recommendations?

Last year I stayed at the Campus Inn on East Huron Street. That put me in walking distance of everything so I didn't need a car (took a shuttle to/from airport). But they're booked up that weekend in 2007 so I went with the Microtel Inn (Edgefest sponsor by the way) instead. Had to get a rental car for that because they are 5+ miles from the venues, but the price per night is much lower so it evens out. I think that the artists, if they are spending the night in Ann Arbor, usually book up at the Microtel.

There's the Bell Tower hotel (corporate cousin of the Campus Inn) but they were booked also. There's no University of Michigan home game that weekend, but maybe something else is happening on campus and that's why the U-Mich hotels are booked up. Openings at these hotels may occur closer to October, but I wanted to get everything squared away early before I forgot.

There's a place called the Embassy Hotel that is near the venues, but it has nothing to do with the Embassy Suites chain and according to the research I did, is not the kind of place anyone would want to stay.

That was my one and only trip to Ann Arbor so others may have better advice. One bit of advice I can give is to bring your appetite - lots of great restaurants in town.

[GregK]

there's always Motel 6, hampton inn, holiday inn, crowne plaza, red roof inn and one or two others immediately off I-94 (which you will take from the airport). from there it's 10-15 min (not really that far, just usual downtown traffic and parking) to Kerrytown. There are other, non-chain hotels that I can find out more info on when I have more time. If you want to know anything about the general area then let me know.

Yep, lots of great places to eat in Ann Arbor!

Edited May 26, 2007 by GregK

[GregK]

There's a place called the Embassy Hotel that is near the venues, but it has nothing to do with the Embassy Suites chain and according to the research I did, is not the kind of place anyone would want to stay.

Not sure why the Embassy would be so bad- it is very close (5-10 min walk) to Kerrytown. From the outside it looks like an older building, but I don't know much about it other than that it is one of the only places to stay downtown that isn't University related. If you don't mind renting a car, there is also the Lamp Post Inn on Stadium, which is about 3 miles or so from Kerrytown (http://www.lamppostinn.com/).

[Unk]

What, no Organissimo?

[clifford_thornton]

Wow, this looks GREAT!!!

Wonder if I can swing it... will be heavy time for me school-wise.

[DTMX]

Edgefest this Wednesday! Whooooo!

[Chuck Nessa]

We can't get there 'til Friday afternoon. Staying at the Microtel Inn. Thanks for the tip.

Edited October 15, 2007 by Chuck Nessa

[Guest Bill Barton]

That's quite the program! Have a great time, guys. I'll be thinking of y'all as the Seattle Jazz Scene series starts tomorrow and then the Earshot Festival. So, we have some pretty cool off-season fest action here in the Pacific Northwest too. No Muhal though

[Uncle Skid]

Most hotels are booked solid, but I was able to find a room at a Holiday Inn not too far away.

Looking forward to hearing Rudresh tomorrow night!

[ejp626]

Most hotels are booked solid, but I was able to find a room at a Holiday Inn not too far away.

Looking forward to hearing Rudresh tomorrow night!

Probably should post this separately but Rudresh/Vijay are going to follow up their Edgefest performance with a show in Chicago at the Green Mill this Sat., starting at 8. It looks like I will be able to go.

[Joe G]

Looks like there are two performances of The Trio Saturday night - 7pm and 9pm - just wondering who will be at which.

Thinking about going to see Rudresh tonight (if there are any seats left) but I'm not sure I'll make it.

[GregK]

Looks like there are two performances of The Trio Saturday night - 7pm and 9pm - just wondering who will be at which.

Thinking about going to see Rudresh tonight (if there are any seats left) but I'm not sure I'll make it.

I'll be @ the 9pm

[Joe G]

Cool. I haven't seen the others on the board today - they're probably not near a computer.

[GregK]

Cool. I haven't seen the others on the board today - they're probably not near a computer.

Which will you be at?