For Immediate Release

May 9, 2011

press inquiries: Gordon Beeferman, (646) 602-2961 or gordonbeeferman@inkbox.org

more information: www.gordonbeeferman.com

Gordon Beeferman’s MUSIC FOR AN IMAGINARY BAND

performs at Konceptions @ Korzo;

OTHER LIFE FORMS performs at Evolving Music and at Cornelia Street Café

Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9pm
MUSIC FOR AN IMAGINARY BAND
“[A] commanding avant-jazz ensemble” Time Out New York

Gordon Beeferman’s MUSIC FOR AN IMAGINARY BAND performs at the Konceptions jazz series at Korzo. MUSIC FOR AN IMAGINARY BAND, led by composer-pianist Beeferman, is a (real) septet comprised of some of New York's most uniquely creative musicians. The band explores the territory where classical 'new-music,' jazz and free improvisation intersect. Beeferman's compositions range from the gnarly to the operatic, and are both incredibly detailed and very free; the band's intensive improvisational explorations are tethered to highly structured frameworks. 

More info: www.gordonbeeferman.com/imagband.html

"Gordon Beeferman’s Music for an Imaginary Band project may have a cumbersome name, but its output is some of the tightest, most skillfully arranged free jazz we’ve run across for some time. Beeferman and his collaborators…help us imagine what ’60s firebrands such as Albert Ayler would’ve sounded like set against lush, post-Ellingtonian backdrops…" Time Out New York

Personnel: Rich Johnson, trumpet; Catherine Sikora, alto sax; Joachim Badenhorst, tenor sax and clarinet; Ken Thomson, bass clarinet and baritone sax; James Ilgenfritz, bass; Ches Smith, drums; Gordon Beeferman, piano and compositions

Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9pm

Konceptions @ Korzo, 667 5th Avenue (between 19th/20th Streets), Brooklyn

suggested donation

***

Monday, May 30, 2011, 8pm
Evolving Music presents
OTHER LIFE FORMS
A new avant-jazz quartet comprising four bright talents of NYC’s creative music scene, Stephanie Griffin (viola), Gordon Beeferman (piano), Evan Lipson (bass) and Andrew Drury (drums), OTHER LIFE FORMS combines complex written charts with virtuosic individual and collective improvisation. Premiering original compositions by Beeferman and Lipson. (Artist bios below)

Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center
107 Suffolk Street, New York City (@ Rivington, Lower East Side)

$15

***

Sunday, June 5, 2011, 6pm
OTHER LIFE FORMS
at Serial Underground
Cornelia Street Café

29 Cornelia Street (W4/Bleecker)

$10 + one-drink minimum (cash only)
Reservations: (212) 989-9319

Pianist/composer Gordon Beeferman’s work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. His works have been commissioned and performed by diverse ensembles from Anti-Social Music to the New York City Opera. He leads Music for an Imaginary Band, a septet which performs his compositions, and which was described by Time Out New York as a "commanding avant-jazz ensemble."  Beeferman has performed at numerous venues and festivals including the Vision Festival, MATA, and Roulette. The New York Times hailed his chamber opera “The Rat Land” as "complex and daringly modern...gritty, fidgety and intriguing." His music has been commissioned and/or performed by the New York City Opera orchestra, Albany Symphony, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, eighth blackbird, the California EAR Unit, American Brass Quintet, and others. His recordings are available on Generate, Genuin, and Summit Records. www.gordonbeeferman.com

Andrew Drury is a drummer/composer who has been noted for exuberance and sensitivity in performance, and inventiveness in his fusion of extended and conventional drum set techniques.  By bowing metal, blowing into drums and objects placed on drums, employing friction, and using drums as acoustic filters and amplifiers for sonic vibrations produced on other objects, he generates an unparalleled range of sonic frequencies that allow the drum set to function in new ways. A former student of jazz legend Ed Blackwell, he has performed recently with Jason Kao Hwang’s groups, Steve Swell, Hans Tammen, TOTEM>, Jack Wright, the Elisa Monte Dance Company, Nate Wooley, and Reuben Radding.  Past performance credits include approximately 40 recordings and work with David Krakauer, Charles Gayle, Wayne Horvitz, Michel Doneda, Myra Melford, Peter Evans, Chris Speed, John Tchicai, Brad Mehldau, and Dickie Wells.

Violist Stephanie Griffin, acclaimed by the New York Times for her “fiery, full-throttle performance” and “virtuoso flair,” has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber and avant-jazz musician. As a soloist, she has worked closely with numerous composers, among them Tony Prabowo, Kee Yong Chong, Matthew Greenbaum, Arthur Kampela, Ursula Mamlok, and Tristan Murail.  Ms. Griffin is a founding member of the Momenta Quartet, which, in its seven-year history, has performed over fifty world premieres. She is a member of Carl Maguire’s Floriculture, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, String Orchestra of New York City (SONYC), the Riverside Symphony, and the Princeton Symphony, and a regular guest performer with Continuum. Ms. Griffin has recorded for Firehouse 12, Aeon, Koch, Arte Nova, Centaur, Harmolodic, Siam Records, and Aksara, an independent Indonesian label.  She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School.  www.momentaquartet.com