Search Chicago Jazz
Jazz Calendar
Mosaik
Phyllis' Musical Inn
May 21st 2012
1800 West Division St.
Chicago, Ill 60622
Cost: $0
Get More Info
Rebecca Sullivan
Uncommon Ground Devon
May 21st 2012
Chicago, Ill
Cost: $7.00
Get More Info
George Lewis at the MCA
George Lewis at the MCA
Date Posted: February 01 2012
Written By: chicago jazz
|
 Bookmark it!
|
The MCA Stage presents a portrait concert of George Lewis the composer/trombonist/scholar and pioneer of computer music who straddles jazz, improvised, and new music -- performed by ICE (International Contemporary
Ensemble). Lewis’ music is presented along with works by three other composers/musicians who are greatly
influenced by him: saxophonist Steve Lehman, flutist Nicole M. Mitchell, and trombonist/percussionist Tyshawn
Sorey. Steven Schick is featured as conductor and percussionist in this performance of five Chicago premieres,including Lewis' Will to Adorn, written for ICE in 2011. This is the second ICE concert of the MCA Stage season as part of their three-year ensemble-in-residence, and takes place Sunday, February 5, 2012, at 3 pm.
Lewis is a leader in exploring the relationship between music and machines, musicians and their instruments, and
improvisation. The performance relates to his long-time membership with the Chicago-based Association for the
Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and his recent book, Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and
American Experimental Music. Nicole M. Mitchell is also a member of AACM.
The program, in which all composers perform, is ordered as follows: George Lewis’s Artificial Life 2007 (2007) for
ensemble spreads out on the MCA Stage and features groups of musicians improvising individually and together
(15 min); Steve Lehman’s Impossible Flow (2010) for ensemble (17 min); Tyshawn Sorey’s Ode to Gust Burns
(2012) for bassoon, piano, percussion, guitar and trombone (6 min); Nicole Mitchell’s The Cave of Self-Inception
(2012) for two flutes and percussion (7 min); and George Lewis’s Will to Adorn (2011) for ensemble (14 min).
George Lewis studied composition with Muhal Richard Abrams at the AACM School of Music, and trombone with
Dean Hey. A member of AACM since 1971, his work as composer, improviser, performer, and interpreter explores
electronic music, computer-based multimedia installations, text-sound works, and notated and improvisative forms.
He has made more than 120 recordings and published articles on music, experimental video, visual art, and cultural
studies. Lewis serves as the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music and the Director of the Center for Jazz
Studies at Columbia University. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 2002, an Alpert Award in the Arts in
1999, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Steve Lehman is a composer, performer, educator, and scholar of experimental music. He studied with George
Lewis and his pieces for large orchestra and chamber ensembles have been performed by many organizations
including the Janacek Philharmonic, ICE, So Percussion, and Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin. He performs
alto and sopranino saxophone and recorded nationally and internationally with his own ensembles and with those
led by Anthony Braxton, Dave Burrell, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, Oliver Lake, Meshell Ndegeocello, and High Priest
of Anti-Pop Consortium. His recent electro-acoustic music has focused on the development of computer-driven
models for improvisation, based in the Max/MSP programming environment.
Nicole Mitchell is a creative flutist, composer, bandleader, and founder of the Black Earth Ensemble and Black
Earth Strings. Her compositions integrate new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African
percussion to create a synthesis of “postmodern jazz.” With her ensembles, as a featured flutist, and as a music
educator, Mitchell has performed at many art venues and festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, and Canada.
She had an artist in residency in 2010 to create the MCA Stage program, Intergalactic Beings. The first woman
president of AACM, Mitchell works to raise respect and integrity for the improvised flute and to continue the bold
musical directions that the AACM has charted for more than 40 years.
Tyshawn Sorey is an influential experimental jazz musician and his compositions defy all boundaries and genres.
As a pianist, drummer, and trombonist, Sorey has performed alongside many leading improvisers of our time,
including John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, and Anthony Braxton included on recordings from
Firehouse 12 and Pi Records. He is currently studying at Columbia University.
(ICE) International Contemporary Ensemble is in the second year of a three-year ensemble-in-residence at MCA
Stage. The organization was founded in 2001, and has established itself as one of the leading musical ensembles
of its generation as well as one of the most innovative young arts organizations in the US. ICE has created a
pioneering performer/presenter model that sets a bold new standard for the future of music in the 21st century. A
champion of music by young composers, ICE has also given more than 400 world premieres by composers under
the age of 35. They are artists-in-residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival of Lincoln Center in New York through
2013.
Don't miss anymore Chicago Jazz Information.
Subscribe to Chicago Jazz magazine / Get A Free CD.
Subscribe to our Chicago Jazz weekly newsletter.
