by Adam Hopkins on March 21, 2011
If you are around this coming Wednesday night I highly recommend checking out the Jacob Anderskov Quartet. The lineup is awesome with Chris Speed-reeds; Michael Formanek-bass; and Gerald Cleaver-drums. In addition to how great the music is going to be, the venue is one of my favorite places to see live music in Baltimore. Info from the folks at Red Room:
Wednesday, March 23, 8 pm: The Red Room presents @ 2640: Agnostic Revelations and Katt Hernandez
After projects spanning from solo piano over miscellaneous duos, trios & quintets, and three albums with his infamous large ensemble Anderskov Accident, renowned pianist Jacob Anderskov has turned to the classic quartet format with three fellow stellar jazz musicians. Agnostic Revelations is Anderskov with reeds player Chris Speed, bassist Michael Formanek, and drummer Gerald Cleaver, and is not to be missed. Spectacular experimental violinist Katt Hernandez opens with a solo set. Please note: enter at 27th Street for this concert. $5 – $10 sliding scale donation requested. 8:00 – 10:00 pm.
“For those who still didnt know, there is by now no way around realising the Jacob Anderskov belongs to the most extraordinary artists of contemporary music… A high point in improvised Music… Rarely has one in recent times encountered a conceptually free and simultaneously beautiful as well as exciting project.” – Jazz Podium, May 2010
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by Adam Hopkins on December 2, 2010
Creative Differences and Bernard Lyons keep bringing amazing bands to Baltimore. If you aren’t familiar with the series I suggest checking out the Windup Space website and checking out any event that Creative Differences is putting on. Bernard brings bands in the improvised/creative music scene from literally all over the world to come perform in Baltimore, and more specifically at Windup, which is our home as well. We can’t say enough about how essential the series is to Baltimore, and how it’s helping the scene here grow in a big way.
There are two great shows coming up in the next couple of days. On Sunday December 5 Gerald Cleaver is bringing a quintet of himself on drums; Jean Carla Rodea-vocals; Andrew Bishop-reeds; Dave Ballou-trumpet; and Michael Formanek-bass. It goes without saying that this will be an awesome set. Also, to open the show Gerald will be playing duo with Baltimore pianist Lafayette Gilchrist. Don’t miss, music starts at 7:30pm.
On Tuesday December 7 the Thirteenth Assembly will be performing as a trio of Taylor Ho Bynum-trumpet; Mary Halvorson-guitar; and Tomas Fujiwara-drums. All three members of the band are great improvisers as well as composers. The band breaks down into smaller groups for certain pieces and also performs as a whole (it is usually a quartet with Jessica Pavone on viola). I’m excited to be in the opening act for this one, playing with good friend John Dierker on bass clarinet. Music starts at 9:30pm.
Full, condensed details, if you skipped all of the above:
Sunday December 5 @ Windup Space
Gerald Cleaver Quintet, plus Cleaver/Gilchrist Duo
w/ Jean Carla Rodea, Andrew Bishop, Dave Ballou, Michael Formanek, Lafayette Gilchrist
Doors at 7pm, music at 7:30pm
$10
Tuesday December 7 @ Windup Space
Thirteeth Assembly Trio, plus Dierker/Hopkins Duo
w/ Taylor Ho Bynam, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara, John Dierker, Adam Hopkins
Doors at 9pm, music at 9:30pm
$8
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by Adam Hopkins on November 10, 2010
This Sunday there’s another great show at The Windup Space for creative music lovers. A band I’m in called Turn Around Norman is playing with two great bands from Philly–Bird Fly Yellow, and Feeler Guage (members of Shot x Shot). We recorded the TAN record about 7 months ago and have only played a handful of shows since then because JJ moved to NY, but those few shows have been pretty awesome, and loose, and energetic, in the best possible ways. We’d love to see you out! Won’t go late for a Sunday night. Details:
Sunday November 14 @ Windup Space
Turn Around Norman; Bird Fly Yellow; Feeler Guage
Doors at 8pm, Music at 9pm
$5
Here’s some info on the bands:
Turn Around Norman (Baltimore) is Cam Collins-sax; JJ Wright-keyboards; Adam Hopkins-bass; Nathan Ellman-Bell-drums
http://weturnaround.com
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Bird Fly Yellow is a martial swing band disguised as a free jazz group, and thus may be considered two-faced, hypocritical, villainous. The members of the group met at the New England Conservatory of Music and have been turning out raucous hits since the band’s inception in 2008. The group has performed its original pieces throughout the Northeast, combining robotic compositions with reckless improvisations. Bird Fly Yellow has also adapted pieces by classic avant-jazz gurus, including Julius Hemphill’s concept album, “Flat-Out Jump Suite” in its entirety as part of an Ars Nova Workshop performance in Philadelphia. The members of the group have performed with a number of notable avant-jazz musicians including Joe Morris, Kenny Wollesen, Joe Maneri, and Anthony Braxton.
In addition to their love of music, the members of BFY are big fans of books.
http://www.myspace.com/birdflyyellow
Joe Moffett: trumpet
Dan Blacksberg: trombone
Matt Engle: bass
Dave Flaherty: drums
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Feeler Guage- Dan Capecchi, drums, Matt Engle, bass, and Bryan Rogers, tenor saxophone- is three-fours of Shot x Shot, a Philadelphia compositional free-jazz group that has played with Tim Berne, Peter Brotzman, Keefe Jackson, Michael Bates, and others. They play original, improvised music that measures the gaps between compositional points.
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by Adam Hopkins on November 1, 2010
Our good friend, and OOYH member Ben Frock is turning 30 this weekend and he’s throwing himself a HUGE birthday party with a lot of great music. Ben has put together a massive version of his band Love Unit, which for this night will be the Love Unit Orchestra. The lineup of musicians in this group is top-notch, and the one time I heard Love Unit before the writing was fantastic. So we have every reason to believe that this will be a great performance, not to be missed. Chris Pumphrey, also an OOYH member is playing with his sextet on the show, and Ben has asked Matt and myself to play as “OOYH Founders” to open the night. Although we play in a number of different projects, most often Quartet Offensive, and we book OOYH together we’ve never actually played duo in the improvised setting, so this will be new for us.
If the music element weren’t enough to get you there for this, there is an added birthday surprise. During the first two sets Ben will be getting a live freehand, improvised tattoo by local tattoo artist Darl Gnau. A statement from Ben about this concept: “As a personal testament to my belief in the power of creativity in the present moment, the subject matter will be decided on the spot as Darl listens to the musicians improvise.” If you’re interested here is the link to Darl’s studio. If you are around and able to attend I highly suggest you make it this one. Get there early to see the tattoo show. Details straight from Ben:
Sunday, November 7 @ The Windup Space
12 W North Ave, Baltimore, MD
8:00 Out Of Your Head Founders: The founders of the Out Of your Head Collective Adam Hopkins and Matt Frazao perform duo for the first time http://outofyourhead.org/ http://www.adamhopkinsbass.com/
9:00 The Chris Pumphrey Sextet: You may know Chris as the mastermind behind the amazing Baltimore Afrobeat Society. Chris is also a very talented composer and one of the best band leaders I have even had the privilege to share the stage with. He is bringing his sextet to perform all original compositions.
10:00 The Ben Frock Love Unit Orchestra
As of right now Love Unit is:
Ben Frock – Trumpet, Compositions, Arrangements
Alex Norris – Trumpet
Brent Madsen – Trumpet
Theljon Allen – Trumpet
Russell Kirk – Alto Saxophone
Cam Collins – Alto Saxophone
Eric Trudel – Tenor Saxophone
Derrick Michaels – Tenor Saxophone
Rose Hammer-Burt – Baritone Saxophone
Brad Gunson – Trombone
Doug Elliott- Trombone
Darius Jones – Trombone
Tim Murphy – Piano, Organ
Matt Frazao – Guitar
Jeff Reed – Bass
Mike Kuhl – Drums
Nathan Ellman-Bell – Percussion
Sam Turner – Percussion
Jason Walker – Percussion
Special Guest:
Jon Birkholz on four hands piano with Tim Murphy
I look forward to seeing everyone there
$5 Cover
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by Adam Hopkins on September 8, 2010
Mobtown Modern is, without question, one of the greatest things to happen to the Baltimore music scene for as long as I can remember. From their website:
The Contemporary Museum introduced its Mobtown Modern Music Series in January 2008 to fill a void in Baltimore’s vibrant music scene and to serve as a catalyst for musical innovation and the creation and presentation of the new music of our times.
They do exactly that and more with the series. Bringing contemporary music to venues that aren’t symphony or recital halls, and to audiences that wouldn’t necessarily check out this music otherwise been a hugely successful approach for the series, and the same approach that OOYH tries to take with improvised music. Both of the founders, Brian Sacawa and Erik Spangler perform regularly with the collective, so I just wanted to spread the word about their upcoming season which starts next Tuesday, September 14. I strongly advise checking out as many of these concerts as possible, as they all promise to be completely different from one another. Other exciting news for Mobtown Modern–the upcoming collaboration with Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony, and their venue change to our personal favorite place in town, The Windup Space. And take note, the first concert happens on a Tuesday at University of Baltimore, which is REALLY close to the Windup Space. OOYH afterparty for an amazing night of music?
More information available at Mobtown Modern’s website. Here’s the full schedule, taken from City Paper:
* Sept. 14 / LigetiFest: A program devoted to the wildly diverse chamber work of late Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti, including his seldom-performed Poème Symphonique for 100 metronome.
* Oct. 6 / Removable Parts: Composer/performer Corey Dargel performs songs from his pieces Removable Parts and Every Day Is The Same Day .
* Oct. 12 / Victoire + Nadia Sirota: Violist Nadia Sirota shares a bill with Victoire, the unconventional chamber group run by Missy Mazzoli.
* Dec. 8 / Agitated Histories: A program of pieces by composer/vocalist Ken Ueno.
* Dec. 11 / Unsilent Night: The annual performance of Phil Kline’s piece for massed boomboxes.
* Jan. 12, 2011 / Glassworks (with the BSO)
* Feb. 23, 2011 / Notations 21: A program of pieces written using unconventional notation, including works by John Cage, Elliot Sharp, and Baltimore composer Will Redman.
* March 9, 2011 / LEMUR + Todd Reynolds: The former stands for League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots; the latter is a violinist returning to the MM stage.
* April 6, 2011 / O Death: The local premiere of Peabody Institute faculty member Oscar Bettison’s roots-infused mortality-minded suite.
* June 1, 2011 / Ayre (with the BSO)
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