NOV 2–4 | EXPLORATORY COMPOSERS
Nov 02 - Nov 03, 2018
Joe Henderson Lab
PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production
Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.
Original show description below.
A pianist, composer, educator and bandleader who has built and documented a succession of celebrated ensembles, Myra Melford has set her most ambitious projects on the all-star quintet known as Snowy Egret. Featuring some of jazz’s most distinctive and melodically inventive improvisers, the group premiered her enthralling 2013 multimedia production inspired by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano alternative history of the Americas Language of Dreams at YBCA, and followed up with an eponymous debut album on Enja named by many jazz critics as one of 2015’s best releases.
Snowy Egret’s second album, recorded last year at Firehouse 12 studio in New Haven, comes out in conjunction with this concert and introduces the band’s volatile new music, with its protean mix of dense, percussive textures, rollicking blues, and serenely transparent voicings. Featuring her long-time comrade Stomu Takeishi on acoustic bass guitar, guitarist Liberty Ellman, cornetist Ron Miles, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, who was award a coveted MacArthur “Genius” Grant last year, Melford’s Snowy Egret melds artists who are acclaimed bandleaders and composer themselves into a singularly expressive ensemble. A Guggenheim Fellow, Doris Duke Performing Artist, and Alpert Award in the Arts recipient, Melford is also a professor of music at UC Berkeley.
Snowy Egret’s second album, recorded last year at Firehouse 12 studio in New Haven, comes out in conjunction with this concert and introduces the band’s volatile new music.
Myra Melford is one of the most interesting and underrated pianists in jazz today. Her work is both ambitious and accessible, full of bright, intense rhythms and complex harmonies.
The Wall Street Journal
Myra Melford is one of the most interesting and underrated pianists in jazz today. Her work is both ambitious and accessible, full of bright, intense rhythms and complex harmonies.
The Wall Street Journal
Personnel
Myra Melford piano
Ron Miles cornet
Liberty Ellman guitar
Stomu Takeishi bass
Tyshawn Sorey drums
References to the blues gain hints of Latin rhythm, sharp-angled textures take shape over rumble-and-clatter drums and spiky Ron Miles cornet solos tug at the heartstrings.
Financial Times
Personnel
Myra Melford piano
Ron Miles cornet
Liberty Ellman guitar
Stomu Takeishi bass
Tyshawn Sorey drums
References to the blues gain hints of Latin rhythm, sharp-angled textures take shape over rumble-and-clatter drums and spiky Ron Miles cornet solos tug at the heartstrings.
Financial Times
Watch & Listen
Myra Melford's Snowy Egret
Language
Myra Melford's Snowy Egret
The Virgin of Guadalupe
Myra Melford's Snowy Egret
Language
Myra Melford's Snowy Egret
The Virgin of Guadalupe
NOV 2–4 | EXPLORATORY COMPOSERS
NOV 4