Featuring: Bell Orchestre, The Havels, Colin Stetson
Event Information: 212-505-FISH
We apologize, but online ticket sales have ended. This does not mean that the event is necessarily sold out. This close to show time tickets are only available at the door.
Bio:
Drawing its six members from diverse musical backgrounds, Bell Orchestre has come together to form one of the most cohesive and intuitive bands making music today. It’s as if the group as a whole has tapped into a very particular, very distinct energy: like that of an approaching storm. To say they are an instrumental band is like saying El Greco was just a painter, or Frank Gehry just builds museums: it fails to capture their essence. In many ways, Bell Orchestre is the sum of not only its parts, but the sum of its influences and inspirations. Among those influences can be listed such diverse artists as Lee “Scratch” Perry, Arvo Pärt, The Penguin Café Orchestra, and Talk Talk. But like all great artists, Bell Orchestre have taken their disparate inspirations and processed and transformed them into their own work, so that it no longer sounds like a collection of influences; it sounds like nothing other than Bell Orchestre.
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Irena & Vojtech Havel, a duo of cellists, will be making rare appearances in the United States this spring performing with Clogs, and also releasing an album on Clogs’ label, Brassland. They are a special guest at the MusicNOW festival, in Cincinnati in April. Their music has been described as “a duet between violoncello and piano taking place in a cathedral of sound.” The two have collaborated and released recordings for more than fifteen years, including work done for Czech television and frequent travel and recording in India.
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Colin Stetson was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI, where he began to carve out his singular musical voice that channels John Coltrane’s sheets of sounds, as well as the post-modern beauty and angst of Sonic Youth and the Pixies. Using assorted saxophones, clarinet, flute and French horn, Stetson has played and recorded with some of today’s hottest and most revered musicians and bands, like Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, TV on the Radio, Antibalas, Anthony Braxton, Medeski, Martin and Wood and Burning Spear. Studying with the likes of Roscoe Mitchell, Donald Sinta, Steve Adams and Henry Threadgill, Stetson earned a music degree from the University of Michigan in 1997. More importantly, extensive gigging with his band Transmission around Ann Arbor and Detroit earned him a reputation for being an exemplary improviser, composer and circular breather. Never one to cage himself into categories, Stetson joined forces with progressive jazz-rockers Larval, as well as DJ Recloose, which eventually led to Stetson’s appearance on the acclaimed Cardiology recording. Along with the rest of Transmission, Stetson moved to San Francisco in 1998, befriending, playing and recording with the likes of Fred Frith, Kenny Wollesen, Beulah and the late Matthew Sperry. Stetson and his Transmission brothers anchored a musical community that garnered high praise in the Bay Area press, and eventually led to national and international attention when in 2002, Tom Waits recruited Stetson to record on the landmark albums Alice and Blood Money (which led to Stetson making an appearance on David Letterman with Waits). While it is true to say that Stetson makes an impression whenever he plays, his ability to become the music comes through best when he is the leader of a band, or a one-man show. Since relocating to New York City in 2004, Stetson has been able to balance high-exposure gigs with innovative solo performances in front of captivated audiences. According to the Village Voice, “Stetson's solo work ranges from fireside-warm Hungarian folk tunes to bass squonking that jackhammers the mind.” In 2002, Stetson recorded a solo, limited edition 3" CD release of a performance at the Artship in Oakland, and his full-length debut as a leader came in the summer of 2003 with the quintet recording Slow Descent. Approaching songs as narratives, a trick he learned from Waits, adds an emotional dynamic to Stetson’s playing that exceeds listeners’ expectations as to what sounds can issue forth from any of the instruments Stetson puts to his lips. No better is this virtuosic ability heard than on New History Warfare, Volume 1, Stetson’s first full-length solo recording from Aagoo Records. On this album, the vast musical experiences that Stetson has accumulated over a short period of time have been crafted into 12 songs that defy genres, establishing a sound that is Colin Stetson in full bloom.
18+ or accompanied by legal guardian. This show is General Admission, first come, first serve. Seating is Limited. A purchased ticket does not guarantee you a seat. There is a two item minimum for all seated performances.
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