JAZZ AT BARD PRESENTS THE JAMIE SAFT TRIO WITH SPECIAL GUEST JOHN ZORN IN CONCERT AT BARD ON APRIL 22 Performing works from Zorn’s Masada Book Two

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Jazz at Bard presents the Jamie Saft Trio, with special guest saxophonist John Zorn, in concert on Friday, April 22, at Bard College’s Olin Hall. The concert begins at 8:00 p.m; admission is $20 (free for Bard students). The trio and Zorn will perform compositions from Zorn’s Masada project, which integrates jazz with elements of Middle Eastern, avant-garde, and classical music to produce a sound that is fresh and original. “The idea with Masada is to produce a sort of radical Jewish music, a new Jewish music that is not the traditional one in a different arrangement, but music for the Jews of today,” explains Zorn. “The idea is to put Ornette Coleman and the Jewish scales together.” During the final months of 2004, John Zorn wrote more than 300 new tunes for his popular Masada project: Masada Book Two—The Book of Angels. The first volume recorded in this series features the Jamie Saft Trio performing Astaroth: The Book of Angels, Volume 1. “Playing with the fire and passion one has come to expect from the Masada family, this soulful and imaginative trio sets new standards for versatility and excellence in the piano trio format,” says Zorn. “This group is pure magic and they have created one of the most exciting and enjoyable CDs in the Tzadik catalog. Absolutely breathtaking.” The members of the Jamie Saft Trio are pianist Saft, bassist Shanir Blumenkranz, and drummer Ben Perowsky. Organized by two Bard alumnae, Raissa St. Pierre ’87 and Sheila Moloney ’84, the Jazz at Bard series is an ongoing effort to bring internationally recognized jazz performers to the Hudson Valley. The 2004–05 Jazz at Bard series is underwritten in part by the Bard College Class of ’74. For further information, to purchase tickets, or for reservations, call 845-758-7456, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.bard.edu/jazzatbard. Reservations and advance ticket purchase are recommended. -continued- ABOUT THE MUSICIANS Bassist Shanir Blumenkranz has recorded and performed extensively on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. He has also appeared with Anthony Braxton, Daniel Carter, and Sonny Simmons. Blumenkranz has performed in many clubs and festivals around the world, including a concert for BBC Radio in London with Zorn. He was a featured performer in the May 2000 issue of Bass Player Magazine. Drummer Ben Perowsky began playing professionally with James Moody, Rickie Lee Jones, and Roy Ayers. Influenced by many kinds of music, he composes for and performs with musicians including Joan As Police Woman, Madeleine Peyroux, Uri Caine, David Torn, Lost Tribe, Salif Kieta, Walter Becker, and John Cale. Perowsky has his own record label, El Destructo Recordings. Pianist Jamie Saft has performed with Bobby Previte, John Zorn, the B-52s, Laurie Anderson, Jerry Granelli, Dave Douglas, Holly Palmer, Marc Ribot’s Los Cubanos Postisos, Elysian Fields, Chris Speed Trio, Jane Ira Bloom, and the Groove Collective. He was the pianist for the New York and Paris premiers of John Adams’s opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky at Lincoln Center and MC93 Bobingy. Saft has released two solo records on Tzadik, Sovlanut and Breadcrumb Sins. Saft was a member of Prohibited Beatz, a New York–based organization which cultivates Drum ’n’ Bass, techno, and electronica with a strong emphasis on live performance and realtime audio deconstruction. He is also an original member of Nerve, a live d’n’b unit, and has performed with Boomish (a like-minded live electronica group). John Zorn, a prolific and widely acclaimed composer and saxophonist, is the executive producer of Tzadik, a record label he founded in 1995. Tzadik’s mission is to give avant-garde and experimental music a forum. Zorn works with a large number of experimental musicians, particularly in improvised music, modern classical music, and jazz, though he has produced music in most styles. His three bands are Masada (an Ornette Coleman–influenced jazz band playing a set of compositions based on Jewish scales), Painkiller (a mix of grindcore and jazz in which he is joined by Mick Harris of Napalm Death), and Naked City (an often aggressive mix of jazz, rock, and thrash metal). Zorn has also worked with musicians such as Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Bill Laswell, and Mike Patton. His compositions for television and film have been collected in the ongoing Filmworks series of records on his Tzadik label. Zorn’s 2000 reissue of The Big Gundown (performing the music of Ennio Morricone) shows him to be as genre bending as his hero Morricone. Many of his musical colleagues from his Game Pieces (structured improvisations) join him on this exciting recording. # # # (4/5/05)

This event was last updated on 04-25-2005

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