Aardvark
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New
CD Released:
Trumpet
Madness CD Released to Critical Acclaim
Aardvark's
latest CD recording Trumpet Madness was released internationally
in spring 2005 with a CD release concert celebration at MIT
on April 30, 2005. Released on the prestigious London-based
LEO Records label (long recognized for its commitment to challenging
postmodern music), this
is the band's eighth CD.
Three of these have been released on the Leo Lab Records label.
Trumpet
Madness features several wonderful trumpeters, as well
as the entire Aardvark Orchestra in both solo and collective
improvisational roles. Among the trumpeters are music director
Mark Harvey, soloing on Taylor Ho Bynum's Concerto for
Orchestra and Improviser, Berlin-based trumpeter Rajesh
Mehta, featured on Harvey's Spirals which was written
especially for Mehta and his percussion collaborator Paul
Lovens, and trumpeters Harvey, Ho Bynum, Mehta, Greg Kelley,
and Jeanne Snodgrass on the title tune Trumpet Madness,
an improvisational tour de force. K.C. Dunbar, Jimmy Leach,
and Eric Dahlman round out our trumpetistic panorama as they
are heard to advantage on several other tracks on the recording.
All
selections were recorded in live performance, six of the seven
cuts are world premieres, and throughout, they showcase the
band's unique approach to blending spontaneous creation within
complex structures. While there is a trumpet concept at work
here, listeners will soon discover that Trumpet Madness
leads inevitably and delightfully to total Aardvark madcap
music-making of the highest order. To paraphrase American
painter Stuart Davis, who was speaking of the influence of
Guillaume Dufay's music on his abstractionist style, "trumpets
used like voices/ real crazy syncopation."
Click here for CD Ordering
Information
Spring
Concerts in Review:
Aardvark's Annual MIT Spring Concert
Celebrate
the CD Release: Trumpet Madness,
Salute Duke Ellington, and
Enjoy New Music for Jazz Orchestra Sat. April 30
For
its April 30th concert, part of the national observance of
Jazz Appreciation Month, Aardvark celebrated the international
release of its eighth CD recording, Trumpet Madness. [More
CD info above.] The concert included music from this new CD,
a brief salute to Duke Ellington, whose birthday is observed
every April 29th, and recent extended works for jazz orchestra.
Joining the band for the Ellington salute was our newest vocal
sensation, Grace Hughes, who made her Aardvark debut at the
most recent Christmas Concert to enthusiastic audience acclaim.
The AJO reprised Mark Harvey's composition No Walls, also
debuted on that holiday concert. The piece is inspired by
and dedicated to Doctors Without Borders, and the title has
an Ellingtonian resonance as well.
Finally, the band presented the Boston-area premiere of Modern
Invention on this spring concert [see story below]. Vocalist
Jay Clayton once again joined with Aardvark for this performance.
Sat. April 30 More info: 617.452.3205
MIT (Directions),
Kresge
Auditorium Free Admission
Aardvark
Premiered New Commissioned Work
For
National Conference of the Organization of American Kodaly
Educators
Aardvark
presented a feature concert presentation as part of the National
Conference of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators
[OAKE] meeting on March 11 at the Springfield Marriott Hotel.
OAKE commissioned Mark Harvey to create a new work especially
for this occasion, and Harvey took inspiration for his composition
titled Modern Invention from the Revolutionary-War
era Boston composer, William Billings.
The
commission is funded in part by a grant from the New England
Foundation for the Arts and Meet the Composer, Inc., with
support from ASCAP, the Virgil Thomson Fund, and with additional
support from the six New England state arts agencies and the
National Endowment for the Arts. Joining Aardvark for this
premiere performance was the superb improvisational vocalist
Jay Clayton. The band also performed Duke Ellington's It's
Freedom with another superb vocalist, Pamela Wood, as
soloist and narrator.
Springfield, MA Springfield Marriott Hotel, March
11,
9 PM
Fall-Winter
Season Re-Cap:
Aardvark's 32nd Annual Christmas Concert
Featuring
Grace Hughes, Benefitting Doctors Without Borders
Emmanuel Church Sun.,
Dec. 19
A
Brief History: For more than three decades, the Aardvark
Jazz Orchestra has presented an annual Christmas Concert,
hailed as a venerable holiday tradition by the Boston Globe.
Aardvarks inaugural performance was a Christmas concert
in 1973 to benefit the Chelsea Fire Fund, and every yuletide
since then, this event has spread musical holiday cheer while
raising funds for a worthy cause.
The
2004
concerts beneficiary was the international organization
Doctors Without Borders, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1999. Amidst a war-torn, fragmented, and dangerous new world
order, we salute the courageous efforts of Doctors Without
Borders and hope to be able to make a generous contribution
to their work of healing and humanity.
The
concert featured a typically Aardvarkian eclectic mix, from
traditional carols in jazz arrangements to music in the spirit
of the season by Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and Charles
Ives. Music director Mark Harvey premiered his new composition
inspired by and dedicated to Doctors Without Borders,
titled "No Walls". And, as if this was not enough,
we introduced vocalist Grace Hughes in her first appearance
with Aardvark. She has sung the national anthem at Fenway
Park and brought a wonderful new dimension to our Christmas
Concert tradition. We thank everyone who joined us for this
very special event on December 19th at Bostons Emmanuel
Church.
Sun.,
Dec. 19, 7:30 PM | Admission: $15
For
more information, call 617/ 452-3205.
Emmanuel
Church website
American
Values Concert
Getting
ready musically for the electionSun.,
Sept. 26
With
a platform dedicated to truth and the democratic process,
Aardvark performed its award-winning piece Scamology,
the cautionary tale of the Constitutional Funk Blues,
and the dangerous dance moods of the Big Oil Tango.
The concert also featured the jazz orchestra premiere of Mark
Harvey's extended work entitled Beyond, an expansive,
multi-stylistic composition inspired by and dedicated to that
master of freedom of expression, Duke Ellington, whose credo
was to move beyond category, to move beyond that which
divides us, in music and in life.
Sun., Sept. 26, 8 PM | For More Info:
617.452-3205
MIT
(Directions),
Killian
Hall .
$10
donation requested
Bates
College Ellington Tribute Concert
Another
Standing-Room-Only program:
Superlative standards and new tributes to Duke EllingtonSun.,
Oct. 16
Following
a Standing-Room-Only reception for its concert at Colby College
last winter, Aardvark
returned to the Great State of Maine with an appearance in
The Olin Arts Center at BATES COLLEGE. The program celebrated
the genius of DUKE ELLINGTON, featuring well-known standards
like Don't Get Around Much Anymore and Solitude
as well as selections from two of his suites The River
and Such Sweet Thunder. Music director Mark Harvey's
composition Beyond was also performed, in tribute to
the Grand Duke of Ellington.
Sun., Oct. 16, 8 PM
For
More Info & Reservations,
please call 207/786-6135
Bates
College, Olin
Arts Center.
Tickets
are $8
32nd
Season Summary: The
Aardvark Jazz Orchestra began its thirty-second season with
a fall series celebrating topical themes: election year politics,
commemorations of the 30th anniversary of Duke Ellington's
passing, and a tribute to the global relief organization,
Doctors Without Borders. Two evenings feature small improvisational
groups drawn from the larger ensemble. Aardvark dedicates
this fall season to the memory of Lynette Linden, our devoted
box office manager and enthusiastic fan of the band for many
years, who passed away this spring.
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