Clavius Productions presents the last 611 Florida show for a few months, and it's a great one spanning avant-garde chamber music and noir jazz to abstract noise and country ballads:
Sunday, June 25
611 Florida Ave NW WDC
http://www.claviusproductions.org 8pm, $5 suggested donation
call 202-360-9739 for info
BYOB!
Dragons 1976 (noir jazz from Chicago, mem. of Vandermark 5/Born Heller/Mandarin Movie, on Locust Music)
Andrew Lafkas & Bryan Eubanks (acoustic bass & electronics improv duo from NYC)
New American Wing (experimental trumpet/cello/guitar trio from CT)
Dragons 1976 http://www.locustmusic.com/dragons1976.html Dragons 1976 is the Chicago horn/bass/drum trio of Aram Shelton, Jason Ajemian, and Tim Daisy. Cool, steady and swinging,
On Cortez is a perfect tonic for the modern jazz lover in search of a shady retreat from the hot coals of fiery free jazz. These boys make a catchy, flavorful music -- letā??s call it noir jazz. Dragons 1976 turn more corners with their brand of infectiously tight grooves and cinematic twists than a Screen Gems tornado roaring through the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
"Veering away from the common trend towards free jazz, these Dragons favor crystal-clear timing and simple song structures. The flow makes it apparent that they're not interested in what's new, but rather in what they love -- pure, clean, cultured jazz with a noir edge. Not only will you feel like you're listening to a caper film score -- you become the detective in it. You sit at one end of a darkened bar, smoking a cigarette, while a dame looks up at you from the other end. She winks, and the drums kick in, with a subtle snare and high hat behind them. Tim Daisy's rolling drums, Jason Ajemian's growling bass, and Aram Shelton's clear alto sax drive you through every twist and turn of the plot." (Mark Hoffman, Splendid)
"Not a reissue from our bicentennial year, Dragons 1976 is a new Chicago trio featuring drummer Tim Daisy, bassist Jason Ajemian and saxophonist Aram Shelton...this trio's improvisation is deeply informed by a noir-ish sensibility, with dark melodic tones and elliptical solos that are rarely busy. The band's gentle sense of swing creates a nice open scheme, where you can feel the music breathe as one idea unhurriedly moves to the next. It does kick it up a notch (Bam!) on "Humboldt," a static piece that goes the first five minutes without any chord progressions, hovering like a helicopter (thanks to the whirlwind drumming of Daisy), before a tension-releasing groove comes on for the swinging coda attached to the end. A pretty sounding avant-garde trio that's perfect for late-night listening, particularly if you have company." (Tad Hendrickson, CMJ)
Andrew Lafkas & Bryan Eubanks http://www.rasbliutto.net/artists/bryaneubanks.html A native of Lansing MI, Andrew Lafkas left Michigan in 1996 to study upright and electric bass under the instruction of Anthony Cox in Minneapolis, MN. A quick learn and star pupil, Andrew was quickly integrated into the local improvisational music scene where he collaborated frequently with such masters as George Cartwright, Carei Thomas, Milo Fine, Happy Apple, Brown Rainbow, Martin Dosh, and more. A recipient of several grants, Andrew began touring the United States and Europe in 2002. This led to collaborations with Fred Lonberg-Holm (Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet) and a long-standing relationship and collaboration with Jack Wright, a veteran performer who is lovingly referred to as the 'Johnny Appleseed' of improvised music given his endless touring schedule and long list of collaborators. In 2003 Andrew left Minneapolis for New York City, where he currently resides and is gaining notoriety as a performer; so much that he recently was invited to perform as a member of the Anthony Braxton Twelvetet for performances at Weslyan in Connecticut; and alongside his current mentor and collaborator, the legendary Bill Dixon, for a national tour last year which ended with a featured set at Seattle's Improvised Music Festival.
Bryan Eubanks (b. 1977) currently lives in New York City. A musician who works with the process of improvisation and plays soprano saxophone, self-constructed open circuit electronics, and experiments with specific frequencies. On the East Coast he works most regularly with Andrew Lafkas, as well as consistent collaborations with Bonnie Jones, Andy Hayleck, Jonathan Zorn, Rachel Thompsen, Vic Rawlings, Nate Wooley, Margarida Garcia, and Barry Weisblat, and continues to develop solo music. He was an active organizer in the improvised music communities of Portland, Oregon and the West Coast since 1999, where he worked with Joe Foster and Jean Paul Jenkins, and formed the small label Rasbliutto in 2001. In 2004, he began the electronic duo GOD with Leif Sundstrom. Some of his music has been released on the Experimental Musical Research, Collective Jyrk, Little Enjoyer, and Gameboy labels.
New American Wing http://www.newamericanwing.com/ "Everything is stated so to the point that it is like a speech after a team of writers have pored over the language...a treasure trove of a listening experience; indeed, there are moments that are so beautifully done it seems as if one is sifting through a basket of jewels." (Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide)
New American Wing, founded by composer and guitarist Daniel Raimi, combines the unique instrumentation of trumpet, cello, and guitar into a stylistically diverse modern music. With Peter Evans (trumpet) and Brent Arnold (cello), the group performs original compositions and arrangements that range in style from Impressionism to Americana, from freely improvised jazz to haunting country ballads.
Each piece demonstrates a different approach to the challenges of America's immense pool of music while maintaining a direct personal expression. The music spans a wide range of styles but avoids the trap of self-conscious genre hopping. Most of the music is notated, but there are also elements of improvisation that can weave into a given piece or explode out of it.
Daniel Raimi grew up in Durham, NC. He plays guitar and writes most of the music for New American Wing, and has written and played for theater, film, and dance. He has performed across the United States in styles as wide-ranging as improvisational, West African traditional and highlife music, Chinese classical music, bluegrass, country, jazz, and rock.
He has performed with musicians such as Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, Matana Roberts, Djelimady Tounkara, Abraham Aadzenyah, Jacob Varmus, Peter Sax and Noam Schatz of Mobius Band, Carl Testa, and many more. Influences and inspiration come from living, all sorts of music, many films, and some books.
He has been an international judge at the 2005 Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, worked on books and academic presentations with Eric Charry and Paul Berliner, and published articles in Guitar One and Modern Drummer magazines. Currently heā??s living in New York, teaching at the NYC Guitar School, and at PS 396 in the Bronx through the non-profit Rock the Classroom.
Peter Evans is a trumpeter, improvisor, and composer living in New York City. Born in 1981, Peter grew up near Boston, and moved to New York in 2003 after graduating Oberlin Conservatory with a B.M. in classical trumpet performance.
He co-leads the New York Trumpet Ensemble with Mark Gould, plays in the improvisation group Imaginary Folk, and leads a maximalist jazz quartet with Mary Halvorson, Moppa Elliott, and Kevin Shea. Other collaborators have included Guillermo Brown, Perry Robinson, Taylor Ho Bynum, Brian Chase, Stefan Tcherepnin, David Taylor, Pauline Oliveros, Marcus Rojas, Butch Morris, Anthony Braxton, Dave Douglas, James Dillon, George Lewis, Francis Marie-Uitti, and Ursula Oppens.
Recent projects have included American premieres of music by Brian Ferneyhough, trumpet soloist in Gyorgy Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre at Miller Theater, the 10th Annual Vision Festival, a collaboration with Zach Hill (drummer for math-metal band Hella), trumpet soloist in Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Bargemusic series, and performances with Moppa Elliott's terrorist bebop band Mostly Other People Do the Killing. Peter's solo trumpet improvisation recital (part of the 3rd annual Festival of New Trumpet in NY) was mentioned in Time Out NY as one of the top concerts of 2005. Peter also plays with contemporary music groups Alarm Will Sound, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and Ensemble 21.
Brent Arnold is a cellist, songwriter, composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. Current projects include a solo record titled
Cinema Deep Crush (due for Spring 2005 release), and band Invincible Hummingbirds. He has worked in a variety of forms: experimental, improvisational, pop, rock, noise, and ambient, as well as Persian and Middle Eastern music.
He has played, toured, or recorded with Eyvind Kang, Project W, Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, Sleater-Kinney, Saadet Turkoz, Quasi, Wayne Horvitz, Mark Lanegan, the Murder City Devils, and many others. He also composes music for film and theater, and does arranging and recording. Born in Sacramento, CA, resided in Seattle, WA for many years, currently living in NYC.
Please visit
http://www.claviusproductions.org for updates of Clavius events at various DC venues such as Warehouse Next Door/Theatre, The Red and the Black, and DC9.
