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Undead Rises Again!
All queries, complaints, kind remarks and general feedback regarding this blog may be directed to Jacques at johnhollenwebpr@gmail.com – Newly classic alt-alternative bonanza UNDEAD MUSIC FESTIVAL rises in New York again next week. Appearing on three outta four festival nights will be JH himself, each time in a different and rare configuration. To wit: ON WEDNESDAY MAY 9 at LE POISSON ROUGE in MANHATTAN: A TONIC Reunion show! (Curated by Melissa Caruso Scott & John Scott) Disbanded bands reconvene for a night to commemorate a venue still remembered fondly for its fearlessness and dedication to the freeform ethos. John will be appearing alongside his erstwhile bandmates from the golden 90’s, Ted Reichman & Reuben Radding. Together, they are: The Refuseniks! For a list of others slated to appear and to buy your tickets, cliquez ICI ON FRIDAY, MAY 11, 8:00 PM at IBEAM in GOWANUS: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DIY (Hosted by Search and Restore, it’s a night celebrating artist run – DIY spaces around the country) Appearing at 11 pm: The Drum Major Instinct with John Hollenbeck – Drums / Composition Brian Drye – Trombone Curtis Hasselbring – Trombone Jacob Garchik – Trombone Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — Vocals $10 suggested donation. To read more about the evening’s festivities at IBEAM and elsewhere, click HERE ON SATURDAY, MAY 12: IMPROVISED ROUND ROBIN DUETS Madness! 17 artists enter, arranged in a random order. Artist #1 improvises for 5 minutes solo on stage, and is then joined by #2. After 5 more minutes, #3 enters, and #1 leaves—AND SO ON! What can happen? What will happen, that’s what. Slated to appear: Mark Helias (bass), Brandon Seabrook (banjo / guitar), Hilmar Jensson (guitar), Allison Miller (drums), Amir Ziv (drums), Mike Pride (drums), Bob Stewart (tuba), Cooper Moore (piano), Miles Okazaki (guitar), Marika Hughes (cello), John Hollenbeck (drums), Matthew Mottel (keys), Fabian Almazan (piano)…and more to be announced! A festival pass gains you free entry to this event. Tickets and clues available HERE Want to get even excited-er about UNDEAD and its musical legionnaires? Check out the premiere episode of Search & Restore’s Spontaneous Construction podcast. In it, Search & Restore founder Adam Schatz talks with drummers John Hollenbeck (Claudia Quintet) and Greg Fox (Guardian Alien, GDFX) about improvisation, creation and world domination. They converse convivially and even play together! Not 2b missed. The Refuseniks and me (A Hollenbeck Origin Story)
Did we just pull a fast one with this crazed torrent of dates and players? No so fast, say you, our astute reader. WHO, you no doubt would like us to stop and tell you, are the Refusenik’s? In the words of John: 1995-1996 was an important period for me, in retrospect, I feel like I arrived at a place that felt like “home” musically-speaking. I finally found the beginnings of a personal voice on the drums and in composition. One of the main reasons I arrived at this place was my association with the Refuseniks, a collective trio with Ted Reichman and Reuben Radding. We played every Monday night at alt.coffee, a grungy internet cafe on Avenue A. Playing with those guys helped me realize who I was, who I wanted to be, as a player. Both Ted and Reuben were totally open and willing to play music that did not fit any one genre. We quickly developed a very eclectic repertoire….Charlie Haden, folk music from Norway, Turkey, Sun Ra, plus originals…. I was trying hard to compose, so it was great that these guys were open to playing my originals, including pieces with “catchy” titles like Abstinence and Diane Hull. I also met a lot of great musicians through the gig and through Ted and Reuben, who were both more in the “Knitting Factory” scene. Important musicians such as Anthony Coleman, Greg Cohen, David Krakauer, Frank London. When Reuben abruptly quit music in the summer of 1996 and moved to Montana, I formed The Claudia Quintet with Ted as the anchor member. Ted by the way, is a talented writer, you can read his version of this story here. Doris Duke Calling Frequent listeners of public radio and others well-versed in American higher culture will be instantly familiar with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The DDCF is the ongoing legacy of Doris Duke, relentless philanthropist and lifelong nonconformist, who was an early adopter of surfing, modern dance, and free jazz, and who started her first charitable foundation at age 21. This year DDCF has named its first class of Doris Duke Artists, 21 American performers given unrestricted cash grants so that they may continue to create art freely—and guess who made the inaugural cut? That’s right, it’s been officially announced and now it can be told: John Hollenbeck, along with colleagues & friends Vijay Iyer & Meredith Monk, will now be among those calling DD their posthumous sugar mama. And not a second too soon! For as it happens John & his fellow DDA recipient Bill Frisell were just in the midst of heated soul-for-cash negotiations with Guzzler Corp., a multinational powerhouse specializing in the export of crude oil effluent to low-income playgrounds around the world. Thanks to the DDCF and the late Doris Duke, John and artists like him needn’t mortgage their eternal spirit to make ends meet. Bravo John! Bravo Bill! Bravo all! You can read a lot more about the DDA program, including a list of its other outstanding recipients here Karlssonwilker Starting with 2001’s No Images, John basically hasn’t stopped getting super-acclaimed graphic design dudes Karlssonwilker to make his albums look cool. Since then he’s employed mssrs Hjalti Karlsson and Jan Wilker no fewer than nine times, most recently on CQ’s unapologetically awesome cover for What is the Beautiful?, which features the art of Kenneth Patchen reconfigured in a manner you should really just go look at, trust me. How JH & KW have not grown coldly distant over the course of what in album design years basically constitutes lifelong marriage, none of us know. Whatever the secret of their longevity as a couple, the union is strong, and now with Karlssonwilker’s brand new website, their work’s whole flow can be viewed left-to-right, now-to-then, all on one screen—including the ill Kenneth Patchen 3D painting thing, which I defy you to describe in words better than it looks, it’s so cool. Check out all the awesome work Karlssonwilker has done for John on this page.
Permalink http://johnhollenbeck.com/2012/05/04/undead-rises-again/ Return of the Hollentour Digital Scrapbook Archives First, a reminder A memorial approaches for valve trombonist/composer/arranger Bob Brookmeyer (December 19,1929-December 15, 2011). It will be held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church (E. 54th St. between 3rd and Lexington Avenues) in New York City on Wednesday, April 11, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. A reception will follow immediately afterward at the church. That evening, Bob’s music will be played by the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (for which he wrote for over forty years) and two specially-assembled smaller groups. There will also be a number of distinguished speakers: (in alphabetical order) Darcy James Argue, Greg Bahora, Dave Bailey, Bill Crow, Ed Dix, Jim Hall, Bill Kirchner, Jim McNeely, Dick Oatts, Jimmy Owens, John Snyder, Michael Stephans, and Terry Teachout. In addition, there will be an audio tribute by Clark Terry, and a video presentation by Maria Schneider, Ryan Truesdell, and Marie Le Claire. In other news, in other languages We here at the global hollenbeck resource center invite any who may speak German to interpret this fan bloggage from Germany or those of you versed in Italian to translate this 5 stelle review of WITB? in All About Jazz Italia. Both are positive…we suspect. Have you encountered exuberant press in non-English tongues? Let us know! We’re creating a whole compendium of global emoting as we seek to get Hollenmania formally certified as a transnational epidemic. And now, an excerpt from the Diary of John March 26 “Grüss Grott” from Graz, I’m in the 2nd week of my residency here at the Kunst University Graz Jazz-the oldest Jazz department in Europe! I first started coming to Graz over 10 years ago, to play in Jazz Big Band Graz, a region sponsored band….so I know the city well. A few fun facts….. 1)From an English speaking point of view, there is a remarkable resemblance to Elmer Fudd’s dialect and the dialect from the Graz region (called Styria). 2)Graz is a UNESCO City of Design-it boasts some exquisitely modern buildings, such as the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel. 3)The region is well known for it’s high quality food (even on the autobahn rest stops), wine, chocolate and pumpkin seed oil (it is actually more like squash, but pumpkin sounds better). The jazz school has a nice mix of international students with the largest concentration from the surrounding countries which creates a vibrant, unique environment. Some old friends of mine are on the faculty like Ed Partyka, Ed Neumeister, Dena Derose, among others. For this residency I’m privately teaching drums, compositions, leading workshop in drums, composition and the all-important “quarter note exercise” giving 3 concerts. I brought the Claudia Quintet here last week. This week I’m playing my music with the “Composers Ensemble” and at the beginning of May I’m coming back to play my music with the very large KUG Big Band (at the last rehearsal I counted 24 members!) who have already started working on some of my most challenging pieces. Ok, back to the food….one of my favorite restaurants, Mangolds, is in the heart of Graz. I try to go there at least once a day. It has the greatest, biggest salad bar (and they do salad in their own incredible way in the Graz region!) It is buffet style, so the food is fast and it is relatively cheap! If you are in Graz at mid-day, you must check it out! John Pix below of kunsthaus
and Murinsel
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Thanks, John!
Wish you were there alongside John & Co. romping around Europe? Let us take you back in time and out of space with…
Sweet Pix From Bad Hofgastein: A Very Hollenbeck Romp in photos
CQ in bad hofgastein
  John checking out the Mel Lewis plaque at Burghausen’s Jazz Walk of Fame
 (a special edition of JHLE, with an imbedded Claudia Quintet plus 4 great German cats!—-Oli Leicht, Christian Jakso, Gunter Bollman, Axel Schosser)
 nuff said
  snowjazz
 John and Billy Hart love fest in Burghausen, Germany
 Drew and Kate after their re-creation of the classic Billie Jean King/Bobby Riggs match
 oh, that is gonna be a winner!
 In conclusion: Claudia after our expedition to the secondhand store in downtown Fullerton, CA Look for this on the cover of the next GQ magazine or actually CQ magazine! These words have been brought to you by Jacques Swartz, Chronicler of John. Jacques would like to reaffirm for all interested parties that he is not, in fact, Mr. John Hollenbeck, nor is he Mr. Hollenbeck’s imaginary alter-ego, but rather a fully discrete being in his own right. All queries, complaints, kind remarks and general feedback regarding this blog may be directed to Jacques at johnhollenwebpr@gmail.com Permalink http://johnhollenbeck.com/2012/04/06/return-of-the-hollentour-digital-scrapbook-archives/ Tinker Tailor Soldier Hollenbeck (or: A Small Ensemble in Germany)
BEGIN TRANSMISSION to: TRANS-EURO CO-INTEL OPS 8 from: USA PRE-INTEL GR4 re: TARGET: HOLLENBECK Provided below is a comprehensive outline of times, locations, and costs of entry for the European tour of target groups CLAUDIA QUINTET and JOHN HOLLENBECK LARGE ENSEMBLE. This highly sensitive data provides specific detail as to the planned whereabouts of target JOHN HOLLENBECK and his cohort, including THEO BLECKMANN and other suspected members of target sub-group CLAUDIA QUINTET PLUS ONE. Following repeated near-apprehensions of JOHN HOLLENBECK throughout the coastal USA, we have finally obtained the below advance reconnaissance and expect to be achieving full apprehension by late March, if not sooner. In order to ensure our objective is met, apprehension teams should be dispatched to each of the below time-locations maximally armed. As you already know, JOHN HOLLENBECK along with CLAUDIA QUINTET PLUS ONE are as dangerous as they are elusive, and should by no means be underestimated. Further preparatory intel may be obtained at RIVERFRONT TIMES BLOG as well as at LAWEEKLY TIMES SOUND BLOG. From the latter, re target THEO BLECKMANN: Bleckmann is an amazing vocalist, something like a German Bobby McFerrin minus the body drumming. He is capable of filling a hall with sounds both soothing and guttural. In the context of his set with the Claudia Quintet, he worked exclusively as a team player, working wonders to create a cohesive band sound, blending in with their unusual instrumentation perfectly Good luck & godspeed. Monday, March 12, 2012 Claudia Quintet with special guest Theo Bleckmann @ Stadtgarten Venloerstr. 40, Köln, (Germany) - Set: 8:30 PM All Ages Tickets: VVK: 12,00€; AK: 15,00€ Wednesday, March 14, 2012 Claudia Quintet with special guest Theo Bleckmann @ Dexter Vindegade 65, Odense, (Denmark) 4563112728 Set: 8:00 PM All Ages Tickets: Forsalg: DKK 100 Medlemspris: DKK 60 Dørsalgspris: DKK 120 Thursday, March 15, 2012 Claudia Quintet with special guest Theo Bleckmann @ DE WERF Werfstraat 108, Brugge, 8000 (Belgium) – 050 33 05 29 Set: 8:30 PM All Ages Tickets: 15 / 12 / 7 Friday, March 16, 2012 Claudia Quintet with special guest Theo Bleckmann @ Birdland Neuburg Am Karlsplatz A 52, Neuburg, 86633 (Germany) -049 (0) 84 31 4 12 33 Set: 8:30 PM All Ages Saturday, March 17, 2012 John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble @ Jazzwoche Burghausen 2012 Am Stadtplatz, Burghausen, 84489 (Germany) – Set: 8:00 PM All Ages Sunday, March 18, 2012 The Claudia Quintet @ Sägewerk Angerweg 32, Bad Hofgastein, 5630 (Austria) – 06432 6164 Set: 8:30 PM All Ages Monday, March 19, 2012 The Claudia Quintet @ WIST – Kunst Uni Graz Moserhofgasse, Graz, (Austria) - 043 (316) 389-3080 Set: 8:00 PM All Ages Tickets : 15,–/7,–
These words have been brought to you by Jacques Swartz, Chronicler of John. Jacques would like to reaffirm for all interested parties that he is not, in fact, Mr. John Hollenbeck, nor is he Mr. Hollenbeck’s imaginary alter-ego, but rather a fully discrete being in his own right. All queries, complaints, kind remarks and general feedback regarding this blog may be directed to Jacques at johnhollenwebpr@gmail.com You are viewing » Tinker Tailor Soldier Hollenbeck (or: A Small Ensemble in Germany) Copyright © 2012 John Hollenbeck. All rights reserved. Contact john.hollenbeck@gmail.com |
