For more information on In One Wind, please contact
Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media / (347) 384-2839 or matt@fullyaltered.com

With Music Inspired By The Crime Novels of Fred Vargas

New York City CD Release Party
May 1, 2011 – 7:30 PM
at DROM
85 Avenue A (between 5th & 6th Streets)
New York, NY 10019
(212) 777-1157

If the evocative atmospheres and skewed, sinuous grooves of Les Nuages En France, the debut CD by the Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio, conjure an air of mystery and suspense, credit their inspiration to the crime novels of author Fred Vargas.

A uniquely gifted guitarist who blends influences from the contemporary classical and avant-jazz/improv realms, Cappelli discovered the work of Vargas (the pseudonym of French historian Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) through a friend and was instantly drawn in by the writer’s unusual approach to the thriller.

“I found her books interesting because they’re not just suspense stories. I was touched by her psychological analysis of the characters, the way she used the pretext of a thriller story to analyze relationships between characters.”

Each piece on Les Nuages En France is named in reference to characters from Vargas’ novels, written in conjunction with similarly-inspired poems by Italian poet Barbara Raggi. Cappelli explains that his attraction to these novels stems from his father, a judge who instilled his humane philosophies into his son.

Photo Credit: Peter Gannushkin

“My father never treated the matter of being a judge like a mathematical thing: you murder somebody, you get this many years of jail,” Cappelli explains. “I grew up with the idea that you always have to consider the human aspect of judiciary cases; you always have to see the other side of the story.”

The album’s liner notes include a quote from the author explaining her distaste for the complex, extremely violent thrillers that make up most of the genre these days, from books to movies. Cappelli sympathized with that from his father’s personal experiences, and found Vargas’ comments similar to his own approach to music.

“The expression in music is something you have to make very simple,” he says. “That’s what I tried to do with these pieces, to have a very direct relation to the sound that I was working on with my partners in the trio. There’s no deep, intellectual thinking behind the playing. It’s pretty direct and based in the everyday musical experience I share with these musicians, but it has a deep feeling in it.”

Conservatory-trained in Rome and Basel, Cappelli became one of Europe’s leading contemporary classical guitarists. Since moving to New York, he has complemented his work in the classical world with extensive experience on the avant-garde and improv scenes. In addition to the Acoustic Trio, Cappelli leads or is a member of the Naples-based chamber group Ensemble Dissonanzen; Syntax Error, which performs music in accompaniment to films and images; and the NYC-based quintet Italian Doc Remix (IDR), which blends jazz and Italian folk music.

Cappelli assembled the Acoustic Trio as a showcase for his unusual custom-built instrument, an amplified classical guitar modified by the addition of eight sympathetic strings underneath the standard six. “You don’t have to talk with these guys,” Cappelli enthuses about his bandmates, bassist Ken Filiano and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. “They play what you didn’t know you had in mind.”

Ken Filiano is a remarkably diverse bassist who has worked with artists including Nels Cline, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Warne Marsh, Roswell Rudd, and Don Preston. He leads and composes for his quartet with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, and Michael T.A. Thompson. Filiano and Cappelli first met while recording with pianist Anthony Coleman for John Zorn’s Tzadik label. “Ken is the king of acoustic bass,” Cappelli says. “His sound and his groove are amazing and his improvisational skill is just perfect.”

Japanese-born percussionist Satoshi Takeishi studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has developed a highly individual approach to rhythm and color, influenced by his studies in Colombia and the Middle East. He has worked with a wide array of musicians such as such as Eliane Elias, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, and the Paul Winter Consort. “Satoshi has a very special sound,” Cappelli says.

Release Date: March , 2011

Marco’s Website
Marco’s Facebook Page
Mode Records

For more information on Marco Cappelli, please contact: Matt Merewitz / matt@fullyaltered.com or 347-384-2839.

Chris Parrello –Things I Wonder (Stray Dog Music) – January 25
Chris Parrello – guitars, compositions; Karlie Bruce – vocals/lyrics; Ian Young – saxophones; Kevin Thomas – bass; Aviv Cohen – drums; Rubin Kodheli – cello; Greg Glassman – trumpet; Rich Hinman – pedal steel

February

Yaron Herman - Follow the White Rabbit (ACT Music) – February 8
Yaron Herman – piano; Chris Tordini – bass; Tommy Crane – drums

Youn Sun Nah– Same Girl (ACT Music) – February 8
Youn Sun Nah – vocals, kalimba, music box, kazoo; Ulf Wakenius – guitars; Lars Danielsson – acoustic bass, cello; Xavier Desandre-Navarre – percussion: Roland Brival – narration

Ben Kono – Crossing (Nineteen-Eight Records) – February 22
Ben Kono – saxophones, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, English horn; Henry Hey – piano; Pete McCann – guitar; John Hébert – bass; John Hollenbeck – drums; Heather Laws – vocals/French horn

Gutbucket – Flock (Cuneiform) – February 22
Ken Thomson – alto saxophone; Ty Citerman – electric guitar/effects; Eric Rockwin – bass; Adam D Gold – drums

March

Vijay Iyer – Tirtha (ACT Music) – March 8
Vijay Iyer – piano, Prasanna – guitar, Nitin Mitta – tabla

Helen Sung – (re)Conception (Steeplechase) – March 17
Helen Sung – piano, Peter Washington – bass, Lewis Nash – drums

Steven Lugerner – These Are The Words/Narratives 2-CD Set (self-released) – March 24
CD 1 – These Are The Words: Steven Lugerner – B-flat Clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, soprano & alto saxophones, oboe, English horn; Darren Johnston – trumpet & flugelhorn; Myra Melford – piano; Matt Wilson – drums

CD 2 – Narratives: Steven Lugerner – soprano & alto saxophones, bass clarinet, B-flat clarinet; Lucas Pino – Tenor Saxophone; Itamar Borochov – trumpet & flugelhorn; Angelo Spagnolo – guitar; Glenn Zaleski – piano; Ross Gallagher – double bass, Michael W. Davis – drums

Honey Ear Trio – Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven Records) – March 22
Erik Lawrence – saxophones; Rene Hart – acoustic bass, electronics/looping; Allison Miller -drums, percussion

Joe Fiedler Trio – Sacred Chrome Orb (Yellow Sound Label) – March 29
Joe Fiedler – trombone; John Hébert – bass; Michael Sarin – drums

April

Anthony Wilson– Campo Belo (Goat Hill Recordings) – April 5
Anthony Wilson – guitar; André Mehmari, piano; Guto Wirtti, bass; Edu Ribeiro, drums

Kermit Driscoll– Reveille (Nineteen-Eight Records) – April 5
Kermit Driscoll – bass; Bill Frisell – guitar; Kris Davis – piano; Vinnie Colaiuta – drums

Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio – Les Nuages en France (Mode Avant) – April 12
Marco Cappelli – guitar; Ken Filiano – bass; Satoshi Takeishi – drums

May

Art Hirahara – Noble Path (Posi-tone Records) – May 3
Art Hirahara – piano; Yoshi Waki – bass; Dan Aran – drums

Taylor Haskins – Recombination (Nineteen-Eight Records) – May 10
Taylor Haskins – trumpet, special effects, laptop, synths; Ben Monder – guitar; Henry Hey – keyboards & piano; Todd Sickafoose – bass; Nate Smith – drums; special guest Samuel Torres – percussion & kalimba

June

Erik Friedlander – Bonebridge (Skipstone Records) – June 7
Erik Friedlander – cello; Doug Wamble – slide guitar; Trevor Dunn – bass; Michael Sarin – drums

Composer & Master Percussionist Adam Rudolph
Tours in March & April With Moving Pictures Quintet and Octet
(Boston, New Haven, Teaneck, Philadelphia, New York City)
NOTE NEW NYC VENUE, CITY WINERY

Yeyi Duet With Multi-Instrumentalist Ralph Jones Tours Midwest
(Champaign-Urbana, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Oberlin)

This March and April, master percussionist Adam Rudolph will tour the East Coast with a brand new edition of his Moving Pictures Quintet and Octet. Rudolph originally founded the group in the late 1980s as a vehicle for his explorations of what would later come to be known as “world music,” a field he has been exploring since his first recordings in the 1970s.

Rudolph recently received his second Chamber Music America “New Works” commissioning grant. On this tour, Moving Pictures will premier new compositions he wrote for the current lineup with the help of the CMA grant. The new lineup features veteran bassist Jerome Harris, the saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Jones, the trombonist and percussion player Joseph Bowie (brother of the late Lester Bowie) and percussionist Matt Kilmer.  Members of the ensemble continuing in the current incarnation include cornetist/flugelhornist Graham Haynes, guitarist Kenny Wessel and the Moroccan-born oudist/percussionist Brahim Fribgane. Together the musical credits of theses artists span the entirety of contemporary instrumental music from Ornette Coleman to L. Shankar.

With a pair of new releases on his own Meta Records label, Rudolph celebrates two decades-long partnerships in which he’s found just that kind of alchemy. On Towards the Unknown, the string section from Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra is woven into a concerto for the percussionist and legendary saxophonist Yusef Lateef; Rudolph is then featured in a second concerto, composed for him by Lateef and featuring thirteen members of the S.E.M. Ensemble conducted by Czech composer Petr Kotik. And with Yeyi, Ralph Jones employs an arsenal of woodwind instruments to complement Rudolph’s percussion battery in a wide-ranging, deeply spiritual dialogue.

Rudolph and Jones’ partnership dates back more then thirty years to the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, where they performed on a bill that also included Sun Ra and James Brown. They were brought together by trumpeter Charles Moore, with whom they later cofounded the Eternal Wind Quartet.

Yeyi & Towards The Unknown CD Release Date: April 20, 2010

ADAM RUDOLPH UPCOMING PERFORMANCE DATES

Mondays:  March 8, 15, 22, 29, 2010
Go: Organic Orchestra (42 musicians)
Roulette Intermedium – 8:30 pm
20 Greene St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-8242
composed & conducted by Adam Rudolph
www.roulette.org

Friday March 26, 2010
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Moving Pictures Quintet with gnawa master Hassan Hakmoun
with Adam Rudolph, Ralph Jones, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
7:30 pm – $20 general admission; $16 members, students, and seniors
100 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 478-3100
www.icaboston.org

Friday April 2, 2010
Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT
Moving Pictures Quintet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
8:30 pm – $18
10:00 pm – $12
45 Crown St
New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 785.0468
www.firehouse12.com

Saturday April 3, 2010
Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ.
Moving Pictures Quintet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
8:00 pm – $10 suggested donation
20 East Oakdene Avenue
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 836-8923
www.puffinfoundation.org

Friday April 9, 2010
The Painted Bride, Philadelphia, PA
Moving Pictures Octet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Ralph Jones, Matt Kilmer, Kenny Wessel, Jerome Harris, Brahim Fribgane
8:00 pm – General Admission – $ 25; Crush Card holder – $ 20; Member – $ 12.50
230 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-1293
(215) 925-9914
www.paintedbride.org

Saturday April 10, 2010
CITY WINERY, New York, NY presented by World Music Institute
Moving Pictures Octet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Ralph Jones, Matt Kilmer, Kenny Wessel, Jerome Harris, Brahim Fribgane
7:00 pm – $20 General Admission; $15 for Students
155 Varick St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 608-0555
www.citywinery.com

Thursday April 22, 2010
University of Illinois-Champagne-Urbana
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
7:30 pm – FREE
500 Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820-6986
(217) 333-1861
www.illinois.edu/calendar/

Friday April 23, 2010
The Velvet Lounge, Chicago, IL
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
67 East Cermak Road
Chicago, IL 60616-2122
(312) 791-9050
www.velvetlounge.net/calendar.html

Saturday April 24, 2010
Mexicains Sans Frontieres, Grand Rapids, MI presented by Blue Lake Public Radio
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
8:00 pm – $10
120 S Division Av #226
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
www.myspace.com/mexicainssansfrontieres

Sunday April 25, 2010
Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
7:30 pm – $25 Assigned Rows 1-2; $15 Assigned Rows 3-5; $10 General Admission; $5 Student
415 North 4th Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1103
(734) 769-2999
www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com

Monday April 26, 2010
Oberlin College, Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin, OH
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
Concert Time TBA – FREE
39 W. College St.,
Oberlin, OH 44074
www.oberlin.edu

ADAM RUDOLPH BIO

Born in 1955, handrummer, percussionist, composer, multi instrumentalist and improviser Adam Rudolph has been hailed as “a pioneer in world music” by the New York Times. Currently he composes for his groups Moving Pictures, Hu: Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a 15 – 50 piece ensemble for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. Over the past 25 years he has developed a unique syncretic approach to hand drumming in creative collaborations with outstanding artists of cross-cultural and improvised music, including Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, L. Shankar, Pharaoh Sanders, Fred Anderson, Hassan Hakmoun and Wadada Leo Smith among others.

]]> http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2010/03/06/adam-rudolphs-moving-pictures-tours-east-coast-yeyi-duo-tours-midwest/feed/ 0 http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2009/07/26/new-rez-abbasi-disc-things-to-come-out-august-25-on-sunnyside/ http://fullyaltered.com/fa/2009/07/26/new-rez-abbasi-disc-things-to-come-out-august-25-on-sunnyside/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 02:05:09 +0000 Matt http://fullyaltered.com/fa/?p=146

"Things to Come" cover

Pakistani-American Guitarist Rez Abbasi
Releases Things to Come,
August 25th on Sunnyside Records

Album Features Stunning Composition and Improvisation
From Culturally Diverse Top New York Musicians
(Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Johannes Weidenmueller, Dan Weiss
+ Special Guests Kiran Ahluwalia and Mike Block)

Sunnyside Records is pleased to present Things to Come, guitarist and composer Rez Abbasi’s latest solo project and first for the prominent jazz label.

Imagine if you will, a four year old boy arriving in Los Angeles, CA after spending his initial years in Karachi, Pakistan; growing up in Southern California in the 70’s, surfing, riding motocross, chomping fast food and listening to rock ‘n roll; introduced to an instrument called the guitar and subsequently forming a garage band; hearing jazz at 16 and deciding to pursue a college degree in America’s homegrown music; ending up in New York as one of today’s foremost modern jazz guitarists.

That’s the rough guide to Rez Abbasi and never has there been a more poignant time to tell it.  “Prior to my generation, there wasn’t much precedent for a South Asian jazz musician”, says Abbasi. “When I was growing up I couldn’t imagine having a group that was comprised mostly of formidable jazz musicians of South Asian decent.”   Abbasi has assembled a quintet of the finest musicians in  contemporary jazz, including saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Johannes Weidenmueller and drummer Dan Weiss. Along with Indian vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia and cellist Mike Block, they craft a disc on which improvisation and composition are at once sharply delineated and organically related.

While each tune offers myriad formal and structural surprises, the eight compositions on this exciting album should come as no surprise from a musician whose background is as inclusive as that of Abbasi.  Having played with jazz greats Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Dave Douglas and Dave Liebman, Abbasi has also studied with Indian musicians such as the great percussionist Ustad Allah Rakha.

Born in Pakistan and raised in Los Angeles, his early interest in rock music was augmented when he saw Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass in one of their legendary duo performances. “Here was a man whose ability to get around the guitar was greater than anybody I’d heard at that time, including Eddie Van Halen. At sixteen, that concert was a real eye-opener for me.”

Eventually Jim Hall proved to be Abbasi’s touchstone on guitar, and soon John Coltrane and Keith Jarrett were added to his list of influences, as were the compositional languages of Bartok, Stravinsky and Debussy.  “In California, I had been improvising with Terry Plumeri, who played jazz bass but was also heavily involved in classical music. We would study Bartok for months on end, analyzing his music in great detail.”  Through absorption of such disparate aesthetics, Abbasi came to regard tone, phrasing and motivic development as the cornerstones of his performance approach and texture; theme and variation as his compositional cornerstones.

Nowhere is this more apparent than on Things to Come, a disc for which Abbasi’s compositions have reached a new level of intrigue.  The fact that, for the most part, Abbasi composed these pieces away from the guitar liberated him to explore new harmonic and melodic ideas. “I wanted to sculpt the music using intuition and imagination in a fresh way, and this mode of composing allowed me to do that.”

Consequently, each tune is a world unto itself, replete with juxtapositions and monumental returns that shock and delight by turn. Even the briefest tracks sport harmonies and modal shifts that expand the scope and structure of the music. Abbasi’s beautiful guitar tone enriches the chordal complexities that characterize the title track’s structure.  Abbasi’s vocalist and wife, Kiran Ahluwalia, whose achingly beautiful contributions grace half of these compositions, helped in coming up with the melody of the title track. “She sings Indian classical and contemporary music and I’d be listening to her practice, using scales I hadn’t thought of, and that really sparked this composition.”

Yet, musical concerns can never be separated from their sociopolitical contexts. “Things to Come” and “Realities of Chromaticism” both speak to racial issues.  The former was titled in honor of Obama’s presidential victory; a victory heralded for the underdog. It was recorded on Obama’s Inauguration Day.  The latter deals with those trans-cultural boundaries at the music’s very core. Ahluwalia’s translucent Sargam, the Indian equivalent of solfège, poignantly drives the point home. “It’s about all colors being equal and carrying the same weight—that’s how I heard the notes and composed the music, and that’s the metaphor I see coming from it.”

“An amazing guitarist…unique and beautiful music – and best of all – very original.” -Pat Metheny

“Rez is an extremely talented guitarist and composer… unique and surprising.” -Peter Erskine

Things To Come
1.) Dream State (7:54)
2.) Air Traffic (8:02)
3.) Hard Colors (7:03)
4.) Things to Come (1:57)
5.) Why Me Why Them (7:28)
6.) Within Sanity (10:57)
7.) Realities of Chromaticism (9:04)
8.) Insulin (5:31)

All compositions by Rez Abbasi (Feroza Music-BMI)

Recorded on December 15th, 16th 2008 and January 20th 2009 at Systems Two – Brooklyn, NY

RELEASE DATE: August 25, 2009

For More Info:
Matt Merewitz (matt@fullyaltered.com / 215-629-6155) or
Stephen Buono (stephen@fullyaltered.com / 267-241-5316)