John Hollenbeck

Nightlife / Left Coast / Management

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:56:44 +0000

Last night at NYC’s inauspiciously-named Town Hall, John Hollenbeck was named the 2011 Nightlife Award recipient for Outstanding Group. The event was hosted by super-progeny Lucie Arnaz and presented awards to such fine standard-bearers as Jon Hendricks and Randy Weston. John, who was in the midst of leading a caravan of rescued dromedaries from Paris to Berlin, was unable to attend. He is, however, grateful for the support & recognition of the Nightlifers, although this chronicler finds himself asking—which Outstanding Group?

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The mighty John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble assembles at Amherst College on February 18th. This gathering will not only feature a concert performance but also pre-performance Talk, whereupon John & al. will tell ALL. Tickets available through the link above or private collegiate channels of your own devising.

CQ+1 takes California for a spin next month, with a fine hat-tip stop in St. Louis. West Coast Hollenfans best mark calendars as such:

February 27, Yoshi’s, San Francisco, CA

February 28, Blue Whale, Los Angeles, CA

February 29, Cal State Fullerton New Music Festival, CA

March 1 (with Theo Bleckmann Duo & the CSUF Jazz Ensembles), Cal State Fullerton New Music Festival, CA

March 2, 560 Music Center, St. Louis, MO

Thereafter in March both CQ & JHLE will embark for additional gigging in Europe. Additional details and secret messages will be relayed as soon as they’re available.

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Our Team is proud to announce the arrival of a brand new Manager for John: Mr. Steve Cohen. No longer must John manage his own self; now Steve, President of Music + Art Management, Inc. and likewise manager to such artists as Vijay Iyer and DJ Spooky, will be there to manage John’s self for him. Steve, a storied musician-teacher-businessmaker, is joined in managing by Lauren Snelling, who has worked as Artistic Associate at the Park Avenue Armory and the Melbourne International Arts Festival, as well as Associate Producer at Westbeth.

The arrangement began when Steve and Lauren were rescued by John from an invisible quicksand farm in the deep South. Forever indebted to John—and to Theo, whose deep blue threnodies played a key role by distracting the renegade quicksand farmers—they made the pledge of the modern samurai: managership.

All involved are pleased and proud.

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We leave you with this sweet blog post gleefully geeking out to CQ’s “This Too Shall Pass,” a “hard-grooving lament”..

Leaks, Live Scenes, and Love

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:28:07 +0000

LEAKS:

John Hollenbeck was really hoping he could just record What Is The Beautiful? quietly and with a minimum of notice. In addition to diligent precautions taken to avoid being followed to and from the studio, John made all bandmates and recording personnel take a salty blood oath they’d never again speak of the album or dare let slip the finished product to anyone outside of Silver Spring, MD. Unfortunately, as we all know, the album was nefariously leaked and subsequently written about, extensively.

Among the many secret-breaking journos who weighed in were The New York Times, Los Angeles Times,Washington City Paper, New York City Jazz Record, AllAboutJazz.com, BBC.co.uk, Audiophile Audition,Rochester City Newspaper, Avant Music News, The Gig and Jazz After Hours. Further shattering the wall of secrecy were those who audaciously named WITB? to their year-end lists, including JazzTImes, New York TImes, All About Jazz.com, Rock Erie.com, The Big City Blog, Step Tempest, Capital New York…and even more too nefarious to list. How word really got out, we’ll never know, but rest assured John will be recording What Is the Beautiful 2: What’s Really Beautiful underground, or possibly under the sea.

LIVE SCENES:

Today will be the last day of University of Rochester’s outstanding Kenneth Patchen exhibition, U of R’s on-the-ground analog to the Patchen-inspired album they commissioned. Upstate locals, consider gathering friends & family for a field trip. Also tonight: John joins chief vocalizer Theo Bleckmann to perform at Lincoln Center Atrium; New Yorkers ought likewise gather compats in arms and overtake the Center (it’s free!). Then on Friday at 8:15pm John joins Pete Robbins, Simon Jermyn, Oscar Noriega and Ches Smith for the Winter Jazz Festival. Visit their website for tickets and further details. Topping off the week, Claudia Quintet returns to the Cornelia Street Café in the West Village for one and one set only this Saturday at 8pm. They’ll appear in original 5-man formation to mark their 15th year together as genre-deflectors extraordinaires, and hope sincerely you’ll join them. Hit that link or telephone 212/989-9815 to make the recommended reservations.

LOVE:
And now, a special note to our friends who received gift cards for the holidays:
All of us know well the feeling of receiving the gift that is as flexible as it is thoughtful: the gift card. Like nothing else, the gift card says “I’ve figured out what general type of consumer good you’d enjoy, but have not burdened you unduly with the specifics. Instead of choosing a gift I can’t be totally certain you’ll love, I’ll just provide this narrowly allocated strip of electromoney and let you decide yourself.” It is with these gift-givers in mind that we here at Team Hollenbeck have come forth to complete the thought process: If you’ve already been gifted a gift card, why not spend your plastic dollars on John & Co. this winter? Complete the gift your favorite givers were just going to give you anyways: Claudia Quintet, JHLE, ONJ—From which John’s “Falling Men” was just nominated for a Grammy—all our projects and friends can be found on iTunes and Amazon.

Lastly, we invite you to share in a Hollenbeck composition of a different kind. Last month John’s longtime mentor & friend Bob Brookmeyer passed away at the age of 81. Please read here John’s elegy for the veteran master, a loving and deeply personal portrait of a legendary man bound to be long missed.

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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

Madly missing you

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:39:38 +0000

December 17th 6:22am

As I sit down to write something about how much Bob Brookmeyer has touched my life and to share my memories of him, I have to put on some of his music. So much to choose from…perhaps Dreams (oh those chords!), but I choose Holiday: the 2007 Bob Brookmeyer piano trio record. I start with Jan Likes – you will notice many references to Jan in his titles. (Jan is the angel that Bob was lucky enough to find and be married to for the last 24 years – his beautiful cornerstone.) Bob on piano was always a special treat. If I had the knack that Bob had to say exactly what I think, I could describe this as what Keith Jarrett would sound like if he had partied harder. (I’m a slow writer so now I’m already on to the next track, Stupid Song-awesome title!)

I first met Bob at the SUNY Binghamton Summer Jazz Workshop when I was 14. I had an emergency appendectomy just a few days before, but with clearance from doctors and my parents, I was at least able to watch the workshops and some of the nightly concerts that Bob’s sextet gave. What a great group this was: Adam Nussbaum, Michael Moore, Jim McNeely, Dick Oatts, and Joe Lovano – I still have my bootleg cassettes. This is the first time I was honored to (I’m on to Child Song now) hear the “Brookmeyer sound”. That warm, huge, enveloping sound – it is identifiable after just a few seconds. And those lines of his, sometimes officially “outside”, but Bob worked hard at believing in them, so they actually sounded “inside”. Most of these tunes are on Through a Looking Glass – you may only be able to find this on vinyl at this point, but it is worth the hunt. I love these tunes. Mel especially sounds inspired!

I remember hearing Hello and Goodbye for the first time, played by the SUNY workshop participants during the day – one of those great Bob pieces that goes through many different moods but maintains an organic thread. At that time, it was being decided for me by some unknown force that I was going to be a professional musician. And there was Bob: showing me what music was about, what sound was about, what swing, creativity, and forward motion were about. Forward motion! Bob never stopped trying to move forward musically-speaking. Sometimes when he would meet up with fellow musicians his own age, they would show their confusion with this aspect of Bob. As in Al Porcino’s famous comment after hearing some of Bob’s modern big band music: “Bobby! What happened?” It was this constant striving to move outside the standard jazz box that was truly inspiring.

The next time I saw Bob was at the Eastman School of Music, I was 18. We played the music from the record, Dreams. I actually played percussion on that concert and brought out a washtub to add its special sound to his music – instead of thinking a washtub was too strange an instrument like you might expect from an older composer, Bob was totally into it. I also remember him explaining what the groove on one of his tunes should be. We were expecting to hear him say the usual “straight eighth” or “triplet feel” – instead he sang the subdivisions “ZOO-BA DO-BA, ZOO-BA DO-BA” and said “Like that”! Needless to say, that groove explanation was a topic of conversation and laughter for years after that!

(I’m on to It Might as Well be Spring. Bob playing or arranging standards is always special. He obviously knew them really well and in many cases had arranged them earlier in his years, so when he took a standard and put his genius on it later on in his career, it is simply awe-inspiring.)

Bob gave some very thoughtful workshops at Eastman and his bubbling creativity was contagious. At some point, he sat at the piano and played simple intervals and encouraged us to listen closely, intently, in order to truly figure out what the intervals feel like and what images come to mind when hearing them. This experience can greatly help a composer looking for a specific feeling or emotional quality. He asked us what we dreamed about doing and he told us what he dreamed about doing. I remember he wanted to do a theater piece with jazz musicians where he would engage the audience from the moment they walked into the theater lobby…and it would seem magical and spontaneous. At that time, he was still thinking about how fun it could be to make the listener uncomfortable, to engage them in a way that would jolt them out of the daily grind.

My next encounter was four years later, as an applicant to his World School of Jazz in Rotterdam. The plan for this school was to run it as a long-term workshop with short-term guest teachers. I was accepted, but the school never got off the ground – this was a big disappointment for Bob and hugely missed opportunity for the world jazz community. Two good things for me that came out of this disappointment was that Bob and Jan moved back to the US, and Bob heard me play the drums for the first time on my audition tape. (I’m switching now to New Love from Spirit Music. I love the way Nils van Haften sounds on this…such a warm, rich sound.)

A year or two later, I applied for and got what ended up being the last round of NEA study grants to study composition with Bob. I only took about four or five lessons, but those were the most important lessons of my life. The exercises we worked on and the basic idea of “cellular” composition (basing a piece on one idea) are the cornerstones of my technique. I’m still working on some of the pieces I started in this creative period that were sparked by Bob’s assignments. I did most of the assignments incorrectly, but usually something good came from my mistakes, so we both found the value in what we were doing. I drove up to New Hampshire for the lessons – Bob and Jan graciously invited me into their home and Jan cooked up some great food, although Bob was really only interested in dessert!

(Now I’m listening to Ding Dong Ding - Mel Lewis and Bob Brookmeyer! I have to stop writing and just listen to that one. That is the first time that song made me cry, that’s for sure.)

The song on my audition tape that got Bob interested in my drumming was a hip hoppy groove that I played on Freedom Jazz Dance. There was something in this groove that Bob liked, it was swinging but in a “new” way. He later told me that this led him to ask me to be the drummer in what became his New Art Orchestra (NAO) in 1996. NAO evolved out of The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Big Band, which was initially run through the auspices of this northern Germany Festival. We performed as the S-H MF Big Band at the Festival and in subsequent years, we’d get on a bus afterwards and head out to perform in other cities as the New Art Orchestra. Bob used to joke that once we drove far enough out of town, it was time to change the sign on the bus to the “New Art Orchestra”. (I’m now on to Silver Lining from Spirit Music. Bob takes some great breaks in this one!)

From the beginning, Bob taught NAO how to be a band. He had this educational talent that is unique, mainly due to his exhaustive experience and dedication. His musical life was a personal trip through jazz history. We worked persistently on sound, phrasing, and ensemble-playing. He told me, as the drummer, what he loved about Mel and Elvin too, but mostly Mel, the drummer/magician who had the unique gift to make a band sound great with grace and coolness. But he also said: Do not even bother trying to copy, because no matter how close you get, you will never be Mel. But knowing what Mel did that Bob loved was extremely helpful. He told me to play with perceived abandon while never forgetting about the groove or setting up the band, but making it all sound like a happy coincidence. He always wanted a lot of activity on the snare drum so that the band could always feel the beat. Cracking the code on how to play drums in a big band is what I imagine learning to drive an 18-wheeler is like. Bob coached me for years until I got to the point where I could easily conjure his advice in my head and integrate it as I was playing.

The New Art Orchestra meant a lot not only to the players, but also to Bob – to have a band of young, enthusiastic people who loved him and listened intently to every word he said was a gift that Bob sincerely appreciated and he told us this often. We learned so much about music and how to make exceptional music with a large group of people. At present, about half of the band are permanent members of radio big bands. These are some of the best bands in the world, but when we come back together as the NAO, we realize this band has a unique sound, an integrated, warm sound that is truly special. This is Bob’s gift to us.

Continued 12:52am December 19th…Happy Birthday Bob!

(No music for the moment, but I’ve got Nasty Dance running inside my head.)

The actual chronology is fuzzy for me but the NAO has had many interesting moments:

Playing the Celebration Suite with Gerry Mulligan and then Scott Robinson (he sounds so great on the recording!) and later on, Michael Brecker! One of my most humbling moments was listening to Michael sit down at the drums at the soundcheck. And just a few years ago, we performed it with Joe Lovano at the North Sea Jazz Festival! Playing with Clark Terry and seeing Clark and Bob clown it up.

One of the most bizarre gigs of my life: The NAO was hired to play for Helmut Kohl’s birthday party around 2000. At the last minute, Bob had to cancel, but the band was already committed to the gig and we, as a band, needed the money. So, we changed our program to Glenn Miller and some other “lite” pieces. It took place in a hockey rink, I think near Karlsruhe. We alternated sets with an “organist” (one of those big white organs with its only “rhythm section” available at the push of a button.) Needless to say his sets started getting longer and ours shorter. Some of the trumpet players got their mutes signed by former Chancellor Kohl. A surreal gig that Bob was lucky to miss!

Over the years, NAO recorded New Works, Waltzing with Zoe, Get Well Soon, Spirit Music, and Standards plus Madly Loving You. Most of these were recorded at the great Studio Bauer with the equally great engineer, Carlos Albrecht, a man Bob really trusted to help capture our sound.

The last record with Fay Claasen, recorded this past March, was a touching experience where the band collectively reaffirmed what a special band we have, what a special sound Bob gave us. It is an exceptional feeling to be part of a band where each and every player is wholeheartedly dedicated to Bob and is there for no other reason than to play their hearts out for him and his music.

And some incredibly important personal moments: At the Schleswig-Holstein festival in 1995 I think, the NAO played a part of a 12-hour classical meets jazz concert. Another set featured parts of the NAO with orchestra. Vibist Matt Moran was called from Boston to play the Milt Jackson part in a piece that Gunther Schuller wrote for the Modern Jazz Quartet with orchestra. Matt and I also ended playing a short free improvised duo set. This was my introduction to Matt, one of my favorite musicians, one of my chief musical buddies and stalwart member of The Claudia Quintet.

Also, that day, a high school friend of his came to see him (she was an exchange student living in Heidelberg). Although she did not notice me, I took an instant attraction to her and did not forget her. She saw NAO again a few years later at a concert near Heidelberg, and not too soon after that we became a long-distance couple. Kate is now my adored wife of 5 years!

Now I’m listening to the NPR-Jazz Profiles on Bob. Most of this stuff I know, but it is just great to hear Bob’s voice, and his sound.

Aside from the NAO gigs, various musicians in the band started asking me to play on their own projects. This led to many tours in Germany and ten years later led to my getting a professorship in Berlin, at Jazz Institute Berlin.

The 70th birthday recording that Ed Partyka organized was yet another moving experience. A band that was not officially the NAO, but quite close, recorded pieces written by friends of Bob’s. I always liked Bob’s deep, low voice, so I created a composition with a musical scenario where “Father Bob” marches into the hall (Processional) and then gives us some fatherly advice: the poem, Desiderata (by Max Ehrmann). I asked Bob to recite the poem and he reluctantly agreed. Eventually he warmed up to the piece and even asked for a study score. In the end, his recitation was exactly what I was hoping for. It is too early for me to listen to this piece now, too painful, but I do hear one of the last lines resonating in his voice clearly in my head…”Strive to be happy.” You can listen to it here.

Around his 74th year, I recorded a small group CD with him and Kenny Wheeler. Thanks to John Snyder for capturing that on film too! Now I need to listen to some of this, it has been a while. The title track, Island, is one of the great tunes Bob wrote for the recording session. Just watching Bob and Kenny sweetly interact with each other personally and musically was inspiring to see. I’m just going to let this record play out so I can give it my full attention. Kenny and Bob’s approaches are so different, but they obviously really admired each other. I remember Bob laughing about Kenny asking him for composition lessons. Check out the DVD!

A few years ago, Bob and I did a couple of quartet gigs with Brad Shepik and Drew Gress in NYC and Cheltenham, UK. It was so deep to experience Bob in that intimate atmosphere and he even played some piano! He was struggling physically (I think it was his knees) but still played great. I asked if we could play a tune of his that he played with sextet that I heard in Binghamton in 1982 and he graciously agreed (it was not his habit to play “old” tunes). I was always hoping that Bob would feel good enough again to do more quartet playing.

For Bob’s 80th birthday, Dave Rivello organized a concert at the Eastman School. I wrote a short musical “happy birthday” with a human greeting card and flowers. (Thanks fellow Eastmanites for making it happen!). Later I expanded this 2-minute piece into Bob Walk for the Orchestre National de Jazz (including a “boomwhacker” introduction with the members of the ONJ slowly reciting the spelling of Bob’s name).

Bob has significantly and positively influenced my life on so many different levels and for that I am eternally grateful. Because of Bob, I: found a band of my own (The Claudia Quintet), found a soulmate (Kate), found my dream teaching gig, am in one of the best big bands EVER (with some of the nicest guys you will ever meet!), and found my voice as a composer and as a mature human being. The thing is, my experience is probably not that unique. I know Bob has touched many others’ lives in the same way, which is the true testament to how exceptional a man and musician he was.

Once a few years ago, Bob left me a phone message, telling me that he loved me. He was the first man to tell me that. That still means a lot to me, not only that he felt it, but that he was courageous enough to say it. This act helped me so much as person, to try to open up and not be afraid to express the strongest of feelings.

Bob, I love you too. In moments like this it is soothing to imagine that you are “up there” jamming with Mel, Gerry, Jimmy and all the others. I now have to stop writing and get back to listening to the hours and hours of great music that you left us! I’m going to start with your arrangement of Willow Weep For Me, that one always gives me chills.

Your beloved friend, fan and eternal student,

John Hollenbeck

Claudia Quintet @ Cornelia Street Café, Top-Tens, Search & Restore and more…

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:25:49 +0000

//CLAUDIA QUINTET + 1 PLAYS CORNELIA STREET CAFÉ on 12/16 & 12/17//

CQ+1 is visiting the West Village this weekend and hopes that you’re in town. Got the kids this weekend? Bring the kids. Bring your mother, even if you just saw her last weekend. We know you’re busy. That’s why not only will John & co. play both Friday and Saturday nights, they’ll even let you eat dinner right there while you’re listening so you can save time. TONY critics picked it as one of their top 5 things you should do this week, because ”Led by drummer-composer John Hollenbeck, this all-star group combines proggy grooves, floating harmonies and searching improv into a slyly cohesive amalgam that’s unlike anything else in or out of town” and they don’t want you to miss out.

BONUS: Special guest is revealed at last! Did you know it’d be Kurt Elling?

(Really can’t make it? CQ will be back for APAP in “classic” configuration on Jan 7th.)

//SHUT UP AND DANCE IS A SLATE TOP TENNER//

John’s collaboration with Daniel Yvinec’s Orchestre National de Jazz, Shut Up & Dance, was chosen for Fred Kaplan’s Best Jazz Albums of 2011 list in Slate. Please respond with your favorite French language equivalent for “kickass” and we’ll compile the results in a future bulletin.

//HELP SEARCH & RESTORE //

Please support nonprofit community-gluers SEARCH & RESTORE. S&R is not only an expertly-tuned show-listing machine for the invented music community, it’s also a huge video repository of live performances from throughout the creative spectrum.Visit this page to learn more about their plans for the coming year; we hope you consider making a donation.

//HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNETH PATCHEN//

The poet, artist, and stirring precursor would have been 100 years old today.

The Rise of “Falling Men” + Claudia’s Tour Continues

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 23:05:54 +0000

BREAKING (really!): John Hollenbeck has been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition! The nomination is for “Falling Men”, one of ten mini-concertos John instrumentally composed for Daniel Yvinec’s Orchestre National de Jazz, appearing on that group’s stellar Shut Up & Dance. You can (and should!) learn more about “Falling Men” at this familiar blog post right here. Meanwhile all parties involved and many that are not are duly excited. John, for example, has already begun to prepare for his pre-awards show masterclass on advanced topics in percussion, featuring Robyn and Megadeth (info on signups will be made available as it emerges).

And now, our regularly scheduled update from the land of Hollenbeck…

Claudia Quintet+1 continues its irrepressible back-and-forth march through the mid-Atlantic, packing houses as they go and spreading tell of What Is The Beautiful?, their still-new LP featuring and dedicated to the poetry of Kenneth Patchen. The record has been earning no shortage of welcome, moving critical pens and upticking steadily the already heavy traffic in both physical and digital recordings. Among the record’s many fans are Down Beat’s John Murph, who deemed it a 4.5 star affair. While deep in Silver Spring, MD, Cuneiform was rising mightily to fill the order overflows, John & company were visited at Philly’s show by room-shrinking crowds, including radio superwoman Terry Gross and jazz critic Francis Davis. In New York, octogenarian impresario George Wein saw CQ+1 break open The Stone and decided he’d have to have them at Newport next year (Kurt Elling is also slated to appear, setting the stage for another team-up). Without question, the race to align with this six-to-eight-man jazz machine is only intensifying.

Stay tuned for details about more opportunities to see CQ+1, before prominence carries them out of range and away to megastadiums, rural superfestivals and aircraft carriers. All we can say now is they’re slated to appear at the Cornelia Street Café on December 16th & 17th with a special guest whose initials are K.E. Hmm….

While you wait for intel, enrich your Hollenloving mind with this article JH wrote in the latest issue of Downbeat magazine. The topic: composing from a drummer’s perspective.

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What Is the Beautiful? Certified ‘Awesome’; Claudia Quintet+1 Continue Tour

admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:29:04 +0000

All throughout the Jazz Critopolis, praise for Claudia Quintet+1′s latest creation What Is The Beautiful? keeps on ringing out bell-clear. Daniel Spencer of the BBC spared no kindnesses in his appraisal, concluding,

“It all comes together on the title-track: an intensely compassionate piece of writing, bursting with apocalyptic love for humanity, and punctuated by the repeated refrain: “Pause. And begin again.” Supported by a beautifully understated accompaniment, that lets Elling’s delivery exhale just the right amount of gravitas, it’s genuinely moving – and easily elevates the album to the status of vital, living art.”

Meanwhile, John Murph of flame-keepers emeritus DownBeat gave WITB? 4.5 stars of love and affection, asserting, “John Hollenbeck continues to astound as a composer.”

Lucky for us, John Hollenbeck also continues to tour as a musician. As these reviews pour in alongside several many others, Claudia Quintet+1 is readying dates this very upcoming weekend. Friday, November 18th CQ+1+Theo will entrance Zorn-built Alphabet City stalwart The Stone. Saturday, November 19th that crew moves south to the Philadelphia Art Alliance, before continuing on to Metro Gallery in Baltimore, MD that Sunday. Hit those links for tix—IF there’s any left!

Meanwhile if, owing to serious personal calamity or other life-altering circumstances, you have still yet to purchase your own copy of WITB?, have no fear. The good people at Cuneiform Records, now working double-overtime to keep pace with torrential demand, are ready for you to at last make your move. Buy the album at this mighty & unwavering web-store here, where not only can you become the next proud owner of the latest CQ+1 record, you’ll also get instant satiety with two free CQ+1 downloads, right there on the spot. (And while you’re out there hanging ten on the world wide web, why not link arms with your fellow fan at our Facebook-Based Pro-Claudia Adoration Center?)

We leave you now with this freshly-inked annotated playlist that John did for JazzTimes, his picks for 10 vital tracks by drummer Jack DeJohnette.

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John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble + Kenny Wheeler, Claudia Quintet +1′s New Album Now Available

admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:55:48 +0000

JHLE will play music by and with Kenny Wheeler at the Jazz Standard this weekend

Yes, you read that correctly. The persistently huge John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble will be performing at the ninth Festival of New Trumpet Music at the Jazz Standard on Friday October 21st and Saturday October 22nd in tribute to (and alongside!) octogenarian vet Kenny Wheeler. You can familiarize yourself with the work of Mr. Wheeler, noted by NYT‘s critics pick-er Nate Chinen as “a trumpeter of integrity”, with the video above, and purchase tickets for the event right here. For those keeping score, here’s this weekend’s batting lineup on team JHLE:

On the drums: John Hollenbeck, drums

On trumpet: Kenny Wheeler, Shane Endsley, Jon Owens, Nate Wooley, and Tony Kadleck

On trombone: Alan Ferber, Jacob Garchik, Mike Christianson, and Rob Hudson

On tenor sax: Chris Cheek, Dan Willis

On alto sax: Jeremy Viner and Jon Gordon

On baritone sax, Bohdan Hilash

Matt Mitchell will be on piano

Kermit Driscoll will be on acoustic bass

Brad Shepik is on guitar

Theo Bleckmann will bring his voice

J.C. Sanford will conduct.

CQ+1′s latest album What Is The Beautiful? is available now

Claudia Quintet+1, alongside Theo Bleckmann and Kurt Elling, have just released a brand new full-length LP, dedicated to and featuring the poetry of Kenneth Patchen. The album may be bought in a series of easy keystrokes from this swift and powerful website here. The Times’ Ben Ratliff praised its title track as “a marvel of composition,” while All About Jazz opined it was “a sophisticated work of art whose emotional resonance is as profound as the intricate formal elements that support it.” Over at the LA Times, the vocalists are singled out for praise, noting the ethereal quality lent the record by Theo’s “otherworldly voice”, and how “Elling nearly steals the record with his trademark baritone.”

All online orders come with an instant digital download of two tracks–”Job”, off WITB?, and “No D”, recorded live from Texas. You can also visit this page to order other excellents heapfuls of JH music, including Claudia’s Royal Toast, and JHLE’s Grammy-nominated Eternal Interlude.

Meanwhile, for those of you who love CQ+1 and are not afraid to make known that love to the Internet universe, we invite you to join our the ever-growing Facebook-Based Pro-Claudia Adoration Center (better known as the CQ “Fan” page). Surely there’s no better place on the web for simpatico CQ fans to join forces, make friends, and rally around a common clause. There you’ll also find news, announcements, breaking media and, if the heavens align just so, the occasional easter egg. See you there!

Claudia Quintet+1′s New Album What Is The Beautiful? Has Arrived

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:44:40 +0000

john sends greetings from natal

Deep breaths, friends. Endless-feeling moments of raw wait are now over. Today, Claudia Quintet+1, alongside the mighty voices of Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann, release What Is The Beautiful?, a brand-new full-length LP dedicated to and featuring the poetry of Kenneth Patchen. Father Time and Mother Nature have stepped aside, and now you may purchase this record whenever you want, from anywhere, at this lovingly effective website here. All orders come with an instant digital download of two tracks–”Job”, off WITB?, and “No D”, recorded live from Texas. You can also visit this page to order other excellents servings of JH music, including Claudia’s Royal Toast, and JHLE’s Grammy-nominated Eternal Interlude.

Curious what the hired pens have said? Of the album’s title track, NYT’s Ben Ratliff offers this: ”For seven minutes, everything logically and constantly grows, until the chilling and unresolved end. It’s a piece with a lot of improvisation, one that takes a lot of cues from its literary source, but at the same time it’s a marvel of composition.” All About Jazz is already all about it. Their review calls WITB? “A unique merger of evocative poetry and avant-garde jazz…a sophisticated work of art whose emotional resonance is as profound as the intricate formal elements that support it.” Washington City Paper feels similarly, with particular love for Kurt & Theo’s poetic evocations and the ways they’re underpinned by deft work from the band.

More sentiment printed and otherwise is certainly on the way, but wow, as the professional reviewers file in, the voice we want most to hear from now is yours. Come join our nascent Facebook-Based Pro-Claudia Adoration Center (better known as the CQ “Fan” page) and make known your love. There you’ll find like-minded Claudia Quintet fans of all stripes, organized in neat pixels and at the ready to talk Hollenshop with you and yours all day long. There you’ll also find news, announcements, breaking media and even, if you’re very good, the occasional easter egg. We can’t wait to see you there.

Oh yeah, the dates: November 18th, CQ+1 will madly pillage the Stone in New York, followed by a November 19th date at Philadelphia Art Alliance. On November 20th they appear, with Theo, at the Cuneiform Records Showcase in Baltimore, MD. December 16th-17th CQ+1 will touchdown at The Cornelia Street Café. Finally, on February 18th, JHLE enlivens Amherst College, in Massachusetts. We can’t wait to see you there either.

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These words have been brought to you by Jacques Swartz, Chronicler of John, to whom John has relegated all duties pertaining to web PR and general online upkeep. 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

Refuge Trio’s Stop-Motion Spring, Pre-Orderage Continues, and the Tour Dates March On

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 23:13:47 +0000

We begin our broadcast with this lovely stop-motion animation from German artist-designer Sarah Hartwig That mellifluous background sound you’ll hear is none other than Refuge Trio, the nom-de-jazz of John’s combo with Messrs Theo Bleckmann & Gary Versace.

Delightful, no? Now we return you to the ever-pressing concern of Pre-Ordering the New Claudia Quintet + 1 album, What is the Beautiful?. As we’ve recently reminded you, you can get an agressive head-start on your ownership of this superb new album by pre-ordering it from this website right here.

For those who may not know, this latest CQ+1 record features and is dedicated to the poetry of Kenneth Patchen. For a swell overview of Mr. Patchen’s interdisciplinary oeuvre, we refer you to this Rochester City Newspaper article, an article that just so happens to conclude with a review of CQ+1′s addition to the canon:

…a recording produced by Richard Peek (Director of Rare Books and Special Collections, UR Libraries), percussionist, keyboardist, and composer John Hollenbeck masterfully sets Patchen’s evocative works to decidedly modern music. His band, The Claudia Quintet (Ted Reichman, accordion; Chris Speed, reeds; Matt Moran, vibraphone; Drew Gress, bass; and Matt Mitchell, piano) plays them beautifully. The all-important voices are supplied by a nicely theatrical Kurt Elling and a wonderfully plaintive Theo Bleckmann.

Check out the new album on the CQ+1 Bandcamp, download the new “Job”, and get on the pre-ordering train so you can pre-own this fast-oncoming record!

But wait, there’s….

DATES!

First & foremost, we promised you more details on JH’s appearances at the James Madison University this October 3rd-5th. Here, complete & excerpted for John-centricity, we present to you, the program:

Monday, Oct. 3

8 pm – Concert I (Forbes Center Concert Hall)

The Claudia Quintet with John Hollenbeck and Theo Bleckman

John Hollenbeck: Grey Cottage Studies – Wanchi Huang, violin; Michael Overman, vibraphone

Tuesday, Oct. 4

11am – 12 noon (RH)

Talk with John Hollenbeck and Theo Bleckmann

Wednesday, Oct. 5

12:20-1:10 pm (Music Building Rm 142)

Composition master class with John Hollenbeck

1:25-2:15 pm (Music Building Rm 142)

Voice demonstration/lecture with Theo Bleckmann

7:30 pm – Pre-concert talk with John Hollenbeck and Theo Bleckmann (CH)

8 pm – Concert IV (CH)

“Chamber Music Meets Jazz”

Michael Gordon: Industry, for solo amplified cello – Carl Donakowski, cello

John Hollenbeck: Ziggurat, for 4 saxophones and 5 percussionists

JMU Jazz Ensemble plays selections by John Hollenbeck, featuring the Madison Singers and Theo Bleckmann, with Andy Connell, Dave Pope and Bob Hallahan

“This festival is sponsored in part by the JMU Office of International Programs.

Concerts I-IV are ticketed. All other events are free and open to the public. For ticket information, visit http://www.jmu.edu/jmuarts/, call the Forbes Center Box Office at 540.568.7000, or visit the Box Office between 10:00 am and 5:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

Could you ask for anything more?

Yes?

Well November 18th, CQ+1 will reemerge at the Stone in New York, followed by a November 19th gig at Philadelphia Art Alliance. On November 20th they perform, with Theo, at the Cuneiform Records Showcase in Baltimore, MD. December 16th-17th CQ+1 will visit The Cornelia Street Café. Finally, on February 18th, JHLE will perform at Amherst College, in Massachusetts.

Got all that? Watch this space for further details and more show dates and visit this page to stay atop the scene…

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You can pre-order Claudia Quintet’s new album RIGHT NOW

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:56:04 +0000

Sure, you can wait and regular order What Is the Beautiful?, the newest release from the Claudia Quintet+1 feat. Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann. But then it’ll be later. Pre-order the album now and while waiting to feast on WITB? snack on a sweet six-track digital sampler. Four excellent CQ tracks of various vintage, plus a new song from WITB?, ”Job”, and a live track, “No D”, all completely yours to bounce between your ears whenever you want.

This is what the professionals call aggressive foresight. Curious what the gang has in mind for Mr. Kenneth Patchen, the artist & poet to whom this album is dedicated and whose poetry is read aloud alongside the instruments? “Job” will provide a taste. Eager to get onboard with digging this band and looking for a quick way into the oeuvre? These six hand-selected tracks will guide your way. Meanwhile, when October 11th(ish, depending on your shipping address) rolls around, you’ll have the new CQ+1 disk. You will have foreseen, aggressively.

Still feeling uncertain? Take a baby step with “Job”, listenable–and downloadable–right here.

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LIVENESS:

For those of you who enjoy live music (or despise recorded music), there’s good news as well: Claudia+1 will be crisscrossing the Northeast as they perform throughout the autumn & winter.

Next month, all ye Virginians, John & Co. will be doing all sorts of fun and interactive gigs at the 31st Contemporary Music Festival at James Madison University. To wit: October 1st is a CQ+1 open rehearsal (time & location still TBD (ooh!)). On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 2nd, CQ+1 perform 4pm at the Jazz Festival in Crozet and then 9pm at The Camel. Monday, October 3rd, John CQ+1 reunite with Theo for a live performance at JMU. Then, with appetites surely whet, you’ll get the chance to learn firsthand from John & Theo as they host a masterclass/clinic on October 4th. On October 5th, the James Madison University Jazz Ensemble will be performing John’s music as John himself looks on, his feet tapping all around the beat. You can call (540) 568-7000 to demand entry or hunt for access at this site here.

Meanwhile the massive John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble will be performing at the ninth Festival of New Trumpet Music at the Jazz Standard which runs from October 20th-23rd, with JHLE appearing October 21st-22nd in tribute to (and alongside!) octogenarian vet Kenny Wheeler.

Looking ahead: On November 18th, CQ+1 will reemerge at the Stone in New York, followed by a November 19th gig at Philadelphia Art Alliance. On November 20th they perform, with Theo, at the Cuneiform Records Showcase in Baltimore, MD. December 16th-17th CQ+1 will visit The Cornelia Street Café. Finally, on February 18th, JHLE will perform at Amherst College, in Massachusetts.

Got all that? Watch this space for further details and more show dates and visit this page to keep track of all that is upcoming…

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