A 3-volume set from four night's performances at The Jazz Gallery in NYC by the Tyshawn Sorey trio of drummer Sorey, pianist Aaron Diehl and bassist Russell Hall, joined by alto saxophonist Greg Osby for sets of exceptionally sophisticated and passionate interpretations of jazz standards including work by Miles Davis, Billy Strayhorn, Cole Porter, Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner, &c.
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Sample The Album:
Tyshawn Sorey-drums
Greg Osby-alto saxophone
Aaron Diehl-piano
Russell Hall-bass
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UPC: 808713009620
Label: Pi Recordings
Catalog ID: Pi 96
Squidco Product Code: 32597
Format: 3 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at The Jazz Gallery, in New York, New York, on March 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, 2022, by Kengchakaj Kengkarnka.
"The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism is a blazing three-volume set recorded live at The Jazz Gallery in New York, featuring drummer Tyshawn Sorey's trio with special guest alto saxophonist Greg Osby. Increasingly celebrated for his notated works in the contemporary classical realm - Sorey was recently called "composer of the year" by The New York Times - and generally associated with the avant-garde, Off-Off Broadway is a return to his musical roots: a celebration of collective improvisation over well-known jazz standards. The album features his trio of pianist Aaron Diehl, well-known for his work as a leader and association with singer Cécile McLorin Salvant; bassist Russell Hall, who has played with Wynton Marsalis and Joey Alexander; and Osby, whose illustrious four-decade long career includes 14 highly-acclaimed releases on the Blue Note record label. One of those, Banned in New York, which captured the rough and tumble of his quartet in a live setting and is considered by many to be among his finest - is an inspiration for this release. Mesmerism, Sorey's trio foray that was released earlier in 2022, with its curated selection of jazz standards that also features Diehl, is something of a sister release. But whereas that album is elegant, pristine, and jewel-like, The Off-Off Broadway Guide is raw, fiery, and intense. The band plays with wild abandon, careering seamlessly from one song to the next, a true spontaneous combustion of master musicians uniting through the common language of improvisation.
So much has occurred for Sorey since his last Pi release in 2019: The Adornment of Time, his improvising duo with pianist Marilyn Crispell. He has had world premieres of his compositions with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, commissions and performances of his works by Roomful of Teeth, The Crossing, Sandbox Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Yarn/Wire, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, along with recording and touring with pianist Vijay Iyer's trio with bassist Linda Oh, performing with his trio featuring guitarist Bill Frisell and saxophonist Joe Lovano, and in duo with DJ King Britt, and was Artist Etoile at this past year's Lucerne Festival where he premiered his work "For Grachan Moncur III" with the JACK Quartet. On top of all that, Sorey was appointed Presidential Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Pennsylvania.
Upcoming are performances of his works "Be Holding," a large-scale operatic work with Opera Philadelphia, where he is Composer in Residence; his composition "After Oh, Freedom" for Davone Tines, brass, and percussion; "Perle Noir: Meditations for Josephine" at Dutch National Opera; the U.S. premiere of "Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith)" with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival; and appearances at the Donaueschingen Contemporary Music Festival, and Darmstädter Ferienkurse, the festival for experimental musical practices. Perhaps most prominent is his composition "Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)," a work commissioned to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Rothko Chapel in Houston. The new work is in conversation with one of Sorey's great musical inspirations: composer Morton Feldman's work "Rothko Chapel," which was composed for the space's opening celebration in 1972. "Monochromatic Light" was premiered on site in February 2022, and just complete a two-week run of a longer, multi-media and multi-disciplined version in October at The Park Avenue Armory in New York that the New York Times says "affirms how abstraction can give form to suffering and freedom in ways more straightforward expression so often cannot."
In the midst of that whirlwind of activity, Sorey found time for a five-night stand in March of 2022 at New York's The Jazz Gallery that is captured on The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism. It's a stage that is known for presentation of new works and musical experimentation, but in this case, Sorey and his mates dove unabashedly into a program of mostly standards from the jazz canon. With all of his other professional obligations, he has found that there are fewer opportunities for him to just play drums, and even rarer are the occasions to play jazz standards, a practice that he deeply misses. He planned this gig to scratch that itch, and asked Greg Osby - someone whom he considers to be a major influence both as a musician and conceptualist and with whom he's only played a few times before - to join him. Of course, what transpired was anything but a by-the-books standards gig. According to Sorey, there was hardly any discussion of what was to be played: "All I suggested was a starting point and an ending point, and wherever we went, we went." Osby quickly proves himself to be the masterful improvisor that he is, with his quicksilver phrasing and surging tone, every solo feels full of chances being taken and crevices being explored. It is clear that he is the boss of these proceedings. The real surprise, though, is Diehl, whose playing typically leans towards the elegant and graceful. Here he dives right into the rough and tumble, playing with an unexpected muscularity and harmonic daring. Sorey plays with his usual tumult, skittering one minute and blasting the group to attention the next, all the while, with bassist Hall, swinging the music forward. The sets are mostly played without breaks, and the musicians stretch these tunes this way and that until all possibilities have seemingly been wrung out of them before they collectively - and seemingly telepathically - move on to the next, all the more astonishing because this particular unit has never played together before. In addition to the sheer audacity of the performance, it is fascinating to listen for the subtle cues and the resulting tension during the transitions as each musician individually figures out that a move is afoot. The title of the release is a play on the fact that many of these songs originated on Broadway or Tin Pan Alley, which was right around the corner from where The Jazz Gallery is located on Broadway, yet, the treatment of these songs takes them so far away from their origins as to be almost unrecognizable. The performance is a magical conjuring of something monumental through the vernacular of jazz improvisation."-Pi Recordings
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Tyshawn Sorey "Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician and composer who plays drum set, percussion, trombone and piano. Since graduating from William Paterson University, Sorey has been a sought-after musician in many different musical idioms. He is both a performer and composer, and has had works reviewed in The Wire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Modern Drummer and Down Beat. In August 2009, Sorey was given the opportunity to curate a month of performances at the Stone, a New York performance space owned by John Zorn. He was selected as an Other Minds 17 (2012). Sorey recently completed a Master of Arts in composition at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In the fall of 2011, he began pursuing doctoral work in composition at Columbia University. To date, Sorey has released four albums as a leader: That/Not (2007, Firehouse 12 Records), Koan (2009, 482 Music), Oblique (2011, Pi Recordings) and Alloy (2014, Pi Recordings). He has recorded or performed with musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pete Robbins, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Butch Morris and Sylvie Courvoisier, among many others." ^ Hide Bio for Tyshawn Sorey • Show Bio for Greg Osby "Saxophonist, composer, producer, educator and curator Greg Osby has been a formidable presence on the international music scene as a leader of his own ensembles and as a guest artist with other acclaimed groups for the past 39 years. Highly regarded for his insightful and innovative approach to composition and performance, Osby is an inspired voice among the ranks of improvising musicians. He has earned numerous awards and critical acclaim for his recorded works and passionate live appearances and has been recognized by The New York Times as one of the "most provocative musical thinkers of his generation". Born and reared in St. Louis, Greg Osby began his professional music career in 1975, after three years of private studies on clarinet, flute and alto saxophone. Coming from a vibrant and musical city, Osby showed an early interest in the performing arts and spent his years in secondary school with a heavy involvement in Blues and Jazz groups. In 1978 Osby furthered his musical education at Howard University (Washington, D.C.) where he majored in Jazz Studies. He continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA) from 1980 to 1982. Upon relocating to New York in late 1982, Osby quickly established himself as a notable and in demand sideman for artists as varied as Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack DeJohnette, Andrew Hill, Freddie Hubbard, Muhal Richard Abrams, Woody Shaw, Jim Hall, Chick Corea, The Grateful Dead as well as with many other international new music ensembles. In addition to his rigorous performance schedule, Osby devotes a generous amount of his time to educational activities. Mr. Osby is also a founding member of the innovative M-BASE music collective. In 1985 Osby was invited to to join Jack DeJohnette's innovative group, "Special Edition". It was as a member of this ensemble Osby was able to fine tune the more challenging aspects of his conception in an open ended, no holds barred musical situation. Says Osby, "My musical thinking for performance and composition advanced by light years as Jack was open to my input and was very encouraging in pushing me to to maintain a steady flow of experimentation. It marked a major turning point in my development as an artist." After recording 4 projects for JMT/Polygram, Osby signed with Blue Note Records in 1990 and recorded fifteen outstanding recordings for that label as a leader. In 2007, Osby launched his own label, "Inner Circle Music", which serves as a platform for many of today's brightest artists. In his words: "I'd like to be regarded as provocateur and an experimentalist. What I do is based upon the greater aspects of sound, structure, and science as well as intuition, intellect and the human spirit." " ^ Hide Bio for Greg Osby • Show Bio for Aaron Diehl "Since his debut release on Mack Avenue Records in 2013, pianist-composer Aaron Diehl has mystified listeners with his layered artistry. He reaches into expansion. At once temporal and ethereal - deliberate in touch and texture - his expression transforms the piano into an orchestral vessel in the spirit of beloved predecessors Ahmad Jamal, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum and Jelly Roll Morton. Moment to moment, he considers what instrument he's moved to evoke. "This is a singular voice here, but maybe this section is a saxophone soli, or this piece here are high winds or low brass in the bass," says the Steinway artist, describing his concept on the bandstand. Following three critically-acclaimed leader albums, the American Pianist Association's 2011 Cole Porter fellow now focuses his attention on what it means to be authentic, to be present within himself. His most recent release on Mack Avenue, The Vagabond, reveals his breadth as who The New York Times calls "a composer worth watching." Across nine original tracks and works by Philip Glass and Sergei Prokofiev, Aaron leans into imagination and exploration. His forthcoming solo record, poised for release in spring 2021, promises an expansion of that search in a setting at once unbound and intimate. In his sound, Aaron finds evolving meaning in the briefest phrases. He conjures three-dimensional expansion of melody, counterpoint and movement through time. Rather than choose one sound or another, one genre or another - one identity or another - Aaron invites listeners into the chambered whole of his artistry. His approach reflects varied ancestral lineages and cultural expressions. And he remains committed to independence and self-discovery. Born in Columbus, Ohio, a young Aaron flourished among family members supportive of his artistic inclinations. His grandfather, piano and trombone player Arthur Baskerville, inspired him to pursue music and nurtured his talent. In 2003, Aaron traveled to New York; following his success as a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2002 Essentially Ellington competition and a subsequent European tour with Wynton Marsalis, he began studying under mentors Kenny Barron, Eric Reed and Oxana Yablonskaya, earning his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School. His love affair with rub and tension prompted a years-long immersion in seemingly disparate sound palettes he found to be similar in depth, resonance and impulse to explore, from Monk and Ravel to Gershwin and William Grant Still. Among other towering figures, Still in particular inspires Aaron's ongoing curation of Black American composers in his own performance programming, unveiled this past fall at 92nd St. Y. This ongoing project, along with his recent and widely lauded trio interpretations of Glass' iconic repertoire, has propelled Aaron into the next phase of self-actualizing. He embraces the challenge of drawing on other artists' visions and expressions, then interpreting those within the framework of his own personal aesthetic. At age 17, Diehl was a finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition, where he was noticed by Wynton Marsalis. Soon after, Diehl was invited to tour Europe with the Wynton Marsalis Septet (Marsalis has famously referred to him as "The Real Diehl.") That Fall he would matriculate to the Juilliard School, studying with jazz pianists Kenny Barron and Eric Reed and classical pianist Oxana Yablonskaya. Diehl came to wider recognition in 2011 as winner of the American Pianists Association's Cole Porter Fellowship, which included $50,000 in career development and a recording contract with the esteemed Mack Avenue Records. As thoroughly a collaborator as he is a leader, Aaron has appeared at such celebrated international venues as The Barbican, Ronnie Scott's, Elbphilharmonie and Philharmonie de Paris, as well as domestic mainstays Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Village Vanguard and Walt Disney Hall. Jazz Festival appearances comprise performances at Detroit, Newport, Atlanta and Monterey, for which he received the 2014 festival commission. Orchestral performances include hits at New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Aaron's appetite for expansion has afforded him passing and extended associations with some of the music's most fascinating and enduring figures including Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Buster Williams, Branford Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon and Philip Glass. His formative association with multi-GRAMMY award-winning artist Cecile McLorin Salvant only enhanced his study and deeply personal delivery of the American Songbook. Recent highlights have included appearing at the New York premiere of Philip Glass' complete Etudes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, collaborating with flamenco guitarist Dani De Morón in Flamenco Meets Jazz (produced by Savannah Music Festival and Flamenco Festival) and performing with the New York Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra as featured soloist on George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. The New York Times lauded the "brilliance" of his performance: "The roomy freedom of [his] playing in bluesy episodes was especially affecting. He folded short improvised sections into the score, and it's hard to imagine that Gershwin would not have been impressed." When he's not at the studio or on the road, he's likely in the air. A licensed pilot, Aaron holds commercial single- and multi-engine certificates." ^ Hide Bio for Aaron Diehl • Show Bio for Russell Hall "Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Russell Hall began his journey as an actor from the tender age of 3. Performing in Jamaican adaptations of popular musicals to serious prose, he was destined to take the stage. Everything changed when he migrated to the United States in 2007. Under the tutelage of The Commodores, he discovered the bridge between the world of drama and the world of music. He progressed quickly from the electric bass to the double bass through the rigorous programs of The Dillard Center for the Arts and The Juilliard School. Now, he is revered as one of the most in demand artist in New York City, performing with some of the biggest names in music, dance and film. His work is featured on the Grammy nominated album "My Favorite Things" by Joey Alexander, "Motherless Brooklyn", a film by Edward Norton which was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Score, and HBO's "Masterclass Series" which feature Wynton Marsalis as a master teacher which was nominated for an Emmy. Russell's own work has been acknowledged with prestige in some of the most renowned venues and festivals around the world such as The Appel Room, The St. Lucia Jazz Festival, The Apollo, The Marciac Jazz Festival and many more. His most recent album, "The Feeling Of Romance", is available on all platforms." ^ Hide Bio for Russell Hall
11/5/2024
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11/5/2024
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11/5/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
11/5/2024
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Track Listing:
CD1
1. Night And Day 17:15
2. Please Stand By 9:25
3. Chelsea Bridge 11:07
4. Three Little Words 20:00
5. Mob Job 7:18
6. Ask Me Now 11:23
CD2
1. Out Of Nowhere 15:20
2. Ashes 12:07
3. Please Stand By 9:44
4. Three Little Words 9:00
5. Jitterbug Waltz 7:48
6. Mob Job 7:10
7. It Could Happen To You 14:40
CD3
1. I Remember You 14:24
2. What's New 10:27
3. Contemplation 11:41
4. Out Of Nowhere 17:03
5. Solar 9:00
6. Ask Me Now 11:40
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