Double Bill: Donny McCaslin Quartet & Mark Guiliana Beat Music

Tonight on Fridays Live, SFJAZZ presents a double bill of artists defining modern jazz in the 21st century and longtime collaborators who share ties to a landmark moment in music history - saxophonist Donny McCaslin’s innovative quartet and the exciting electro-acoustic group led by master drummer Mark Guiliana. Both considered among the most visionary artists and leaders in modern jazz, they are also known for their GRAMMY-winning work on David Bowie’s Blackstar.

McCaslin and fellow Blackstar collaborators step boldly into hybrid, tough-to-classify musical terrain, grafting their trademark sleek, emotive electrojazz onto lush, proggy art rock.
Rolling Stone

ABOUT DONNY MCCASLIN
GRAMMY-winning saxophonist Donny McCaslin is a relentlessly exploratory musician who fully embraces the influences of modern electronic music and bebop in equal measure. He rose to prominence working with Maria Schneider, and through her he came to the attention of the late pop icon David Bowie, who employed the saxophonist and his quartet (including Mark Guiliana) to be the band on his final statement of artistic genius, 2016’s Blackstar. McCaslin’s new Edition Records album, Body Blow, is an inspired electro-acoustic session featuring the Blackstar band, keyboardist Jason Lindner, bassist Tim LeFebvre, and drummer Guiliana. For this night, Kneebody drumming great Nate Wood stands in for Guiliana, who leads his own group for the other half of the evening.

ABOUT MARK GUILIANA
“A drummer around whom a cult of admiration has formed” (The New York Times), Mark Guiliana is one of the definitive rhythm makers of the modern age. Influenced in equal measure by jazz giants Tony Williams and Elvin Jones as well as electronic music luminaries Squarepusher and Aphex Twin, Guiliana has developed a singular style possessed of both a jazz master’s dexterous fluidity and the dance-inspiring jackhammer beats of drum and bass. The New Jersey native’s list of collaborators includes Brad Mehldau, Avishai Cohen, Dave Douglas, and Lionel Loueke, and he leads both an acoustic jazz quartet and his electro-acoustic Beat Music project. His 2019 Beat Music album was described by DownBeat as: “levels of ever-changing live and looped music, traversing landscapes of futurism, euphoria and the imaginary.”