Brooklyn Blowhards! - January 1, 2016
The new Brooklyn Blowhards album/CD will be released in April - the band plays a special "sneak peak" performance at WinterJazzFest on Jan 15 - Subculture on Bleeker St at 12:20 in the evening w/special guests Gary Lucas on guitar and vocalist Mary LaRose!
New Releases for fall 2014! - August 20, 2014
Some new recordings will emerge late 2014! We have finished the new Honey Ear Trio record with Allison Miller (drums) and Rene Hart (bass) - Look for it late 2014 or spring 2015; the band will play Cornelia St Cafe on Nov 5 as a warm up to our return tour of Spain Nov 7-16!
Also, Katie Bull will release a new recording with the group, and I will be recording my new Sea Shanty band, The Brooklyn Blow-hards - We play 19th century whaling songs and Albert Ayler tunes. Look for that record next spring and catch the band at Barbes on Sept 16.
Double CD release event Oct 9 shapeshifter lab! - August 12, 2013
Shapeshifter Lab in brooklyn will host a double CD release event for little (i) music on Oct 9, 2013 -
7pm Mary LaRose "Reincarnation"
8:30pm "Swing n' Dix"
Visionary Youth Orchestra! - April 25, 2013
I am leading a new large improvising ensemble along with Jessica Jones for the Vision Festival this year - The group is called the Visionary Youth Orchestra and it rocks! They will perform with guests William Parker and Hamid Drake on Saturday June 15 for the Vision Festival at Roulette 2pm! Dont miss these inspiring young improvisers!
Swing n' dix - August 23, 2012
Here is the band that i vowed would always be just a concept, not a real band - but look out folks, it is now a reality. I played in a dixieland band as a kid in LA called the "Dixie Kings", but we always knew it as the Swingin' Dix. Now some 4 decades later i have refined the concept and am doing a gig and recording with Matt Wilson, Kirk Knuffke and the great Bob Stewart on Tuba. Look for the recording in 2013, but come to Korzo on Aug 28 and Barbes on Nov 21 to get your sneak peek of the group. there are unconfirmed rumors of a tour in 2015 with the Russian all female punk group "Pussy Riot".
Sunwatcher Release - June 13, 2011
"Sunwatcher" is available June 14, 2011 on Jazzheads Records! Hear the Band at the Undead Jazz Fest on June 25 at 8pm - Littlefield Performance Space in Brooklyn.
Recording with Brooklyn Rider and Mary! - April 4, 2011
This memorial day weekend, While you are out at the beach getting burned and eating carcinogenic hotdogs, I will be recording a new collaboration with Mary LaRose vocals and the amazing string quartet Brooklyn Rider with special guests - music by mingus, dolphy, ayler and ornette!
Teaching at Litchfield Camp - April 4, 2011
I will be teaching at the Litchfield Jazz Camp for two weeks this summer, July 25-29 and Aug 1-5- and then performing with Matt Wilson's "Afternoon Delight" on Aug 7 at the Festval - If you are interested, check out this fine jazz camp with an amazing faculty in beautiful Kent, CT.
Sunwatcher CD - January 5, 2011
Look for the new quartet recording "Sunwatcher" with jamie saft, buster williams and matt wilson to be released in late spring on the Jazzheads label!
MWQ with strings rocks Newport! - August 19, 2010
Check out NPR.org for a full concert recording of our recent performance at the Newport Jazz Festival -
Here and Now Festival at Barge Music sept 2-5 - August 19, 2010
I will be bringing out my "Sunwatcher" quartet to play new compositions and spins on contemporary repetoire for the "Here and Now" chamber music festival at Barge Music in Brooklyn - a beautiful venue by the Brooklyn Bridge and one of the most gorgeous pianos in the city - I will close the program which features a variety of contemporary and new music.
Christmas Tree-O! - August 19, 2010
Look for new Xmas record later this fall on Palmetto - Christmas Tree-O! with matt wilson and paul sikivie on bass - a new spin on yuletide classics and some new christmas favorites like albert ayler's "angels"!
New Recording - Sunwatcher - August 19, 2010
I have recorded a new quartet record with Jamie Saft, Matt Wilson and Buster Williams on bass!! Should be out during 2011 - "Sunwatcher" pays homage to the spirit of Albert Ayler.
Dec 1 - Shakers @ local 269 - November 17, 2009
The Shakers n' Bakers will perform at the Local 269 (269 Houston St) as part of the Evolving Voice series - We will play 6:30-8pm followed by the great Jay Clayton at 8pm - should be a great night of vocalizing!
Mother Rebecca Jackson - November 16, 2009
Still deep in the journals of Mother Rebecca Jackson - leader of the Phildelphia Shakers - will record new music inspired by her writings early in 2010...
World Festival of Music DVD Premeire! - November 16, 2009
if you are in the Los Angeles area - check out the premeire event on Dec 10 for their 2008 Festival DVD featuring the Shakers n' Bakers along with an incredible array of performers from around the worlds in many sacred music traditions. DVD's are available now and can be ordered from the festival site - www.festivalofsacredmusic.org
REDEMPTION!! - March 6, 2009
Please check the Ottowa Citizen for a different take on YFZ and Downbeat's review of it.
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/thrivingonariff/archive/2009/03/03/everyone-s-a-different-critic.aspx
YFZ March Downbeat Review! - January 26, 2009
Okay, so a critic named Bill Meyer compares YFZ favorably to two of the best records of all time ( Albert Ayler's New Grass and Music is the Healing Force of the Universe), and then acts like that's a bad thing!!??? Pick up the March Downbeat for more details!
Critical Love for "YFZ" - January 25, 2009
The Shakers new record YFZ has inspired lots and lots of love in the press-and a couple of picks on 2008 top ten lists. Check out the "Press" section!
Los Sazones Art Opening - January 25, 2009
The artist/trombonist Sara Wildavsky has creating some amazing pieces ("scores") inspired by my score "Los Sazones" and her own experiences of the seasons-Showing/event will be April 26 in Brooklyn-email me for more details.
Mother Rebecca Jackson and the Philadelphia Shakers. - January 25, 2009
I am really getting into reading the journals of Mother Rebecca Jackson-founder of the only urban community of Shakers in Philadelphia during the second half of the 19th century-Great reading and I am starting to work on some music related to her visions.
Balls of Simplicity...the film!! - January 25, 2009
A short film about the Shakers n' Bakers from their performance at the World Festival of Sacred Music in LA Fall 2008 is up on YouTube! The film was created by John Allen and Bella Nestour and is really cool-search "Shakers n' bakers" on youtube. This is just a teaser for a larger DVD project in the works for 2009.
YFZ-Yearning for Zion!! - July 26, 2008
YFZ; the Shakers n' Bakers second recording will be scheduled for release in Sept 2008-We will be having a bi-costal CD release celebration; Sept 19 the band is at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn; Sept 20 it's Cafe Metropole in Los Angeles and Sept 21 we perform a very special concert for the World Festival of Sacred Music which highlights music from spiritual traditions around the world.
IAJE PERFORMANCE - December 23, 2007
The Shakers n' Bakers will perform at the 2008 IAJE Convention in toronto on sat jan 12 at 7pm - Imperial Ballroom of the Royal York Hotel; Mary, Jeff and Miles will be joined by Michael Jefry Stevens (piano), Mike Formanek (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums) - as well as the singers of Westen Michigan University's "Gold Company" Choir!
MOTHER ANN'S DAY TOUR 2007!!!!!! - July 26, 2007
Shakers n' Bakers “Mother Ann" Day Tour 2007
The Shakers n' Bakers is a band made up of leading improvisers on the New York jazz/new music scene who perform reinterpretations of Shaker "vision" songs, received in states of inspiration by young women of the Shaker religious community during the years 1837-50. The group will be performing three special concerts this summer at sites of historical significance to the Shaker movement. The band's tour will roughly retrace some of the travels of the founder of the Shaker movement in America, Mother Ann Lee, on the occasion of the celebration of the 233rd anniversary of her arrival in the United States from England.
On Friday August 3 the group will perform at the 1848 meetinghouse at Watervliet Shaker Village in Albany, NY at 8pm. This event is sponsored by the Shaker Heritage society (www.shakerheritage.org). On August 4 the Shakers n' Bakers travel to Guilford, Vermont; home to many early converts to shakerism, for a show at the very unique Kopkind Organ Barn at 9pm to close the grassroots film festival there-this event is being presented by Friends of Music at Guilford (www.fomag.org). On August 5 the group will travel to Canterbury,New Hampshire for a performance at the Canterbury Shaker Village for their Mother Ann's Day celebration which will also include a performance by the authentic shaker music ensemble, the Canterbury Shaker Singers at 2 pm (www.shakers.org)