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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
POWERS OF THREE
Refuge Trio reunites for three Northwesterner gigs! First, a residency and concert at University of Oregon on May 9th, then, on May 15th, as part of Earshot’s Spring Series in Seattle, and, finally, at PDX Jazz at the Mission Theatre, on May 16th. Tickets available at the afore-linked links.
For those uninitiated or curious, check out this preview article from the Eugene Weekly(featuring a super-dashing photo of Theo to add to your collection). You’re also encouraged to scroll down for a Rashomon-style interview with each member of the group…
THE UN-CONSERVATORY
The Claudia Quintet with Matt Mitchell will appear at Brooklyn Conservatory on Thursday, June 13, at 7 and 9:30 pm. They will play the Conservatory’s “Jazz Club,” performing—per special request—music from Claudia’s 2010 LP, Royal Toast. Reports, if they can be believed, say BYOB. OK!
What could be better than classic Claudia and hand-brought beer? Why, a live pre-concert Q&A with noted music journalist David Adler! Not bad!
Personnel on hand:
John Hollenbeck, drums
Chris Speed, clarinet and tenor saxophone
Red Wierenga, accordion
Drew Gress, acoustic bass
Matt Moran, vibraphone
And SPECIAL GUEST: Matt Mitchell, piano
To purchase tickets please click here
To hear “Sphinx,” from Royal Toast, click here.
Below, a love song for John’s beloved Kate, entitled “Love Song for Kate,” from Claudia’s first record, matched with the poetry of Dylan Thomas. A splendid look for all involved.
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ECOUTEZ L’ENSEMBLE CAIRN
“Flock,” John’s piece for French contemporastronauts L’Ensemble Cairn, is now listenable as a podcast by clicking here. Please note this podcast is only available for listening until JUNE 5th. No dawdling!
What you’ll hear if you’ll listen is the premiere performance at the Theatre d’Orleans, from March 8th. The Ensemble plays “Limpidity of Silences” (previously recorded by Claudia Quintet, this is its first actual performance), followed by a new commission for them, “The Commons,” then an orchestration for the Ensemble of John’s Bang On A Can commission, “Rainbow Jimmies.” “Flock” is the encore.
The concert starts with a great piece called “Aschenblume,” by Mauro Lanza, plus a premiere by the crafty New York wildcat, Alex Mincek, titled, “Donegal.” (But if you’re in a hurry, the Hollenbeck portion starts at 34:40.)
For those fortunate enough to be shouting distance from Douai, you can see L’Ensemble perform this piece live, at the Hippodrome Douai on June 1st. Allez!
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AS PROMISED ABOVE, AN INTERVIEW WITH EACH OF THE MEMBERS OF REFUGE TRIO, IN CASE YOU WERE CURIOUS
Courtesy UOregon’s Liner Notes Blog
Gary Versace:
1. What are you planning to bring to the performance at the University?
Lots and lots of weed. (Not really. But if you know anyone… 🙂
2. Can you tell us the musical journey of Refuge Trio? How did you start as a band?
With instruments and microphones, then we plugged the shit in, and BAM. Wok tee, baby.
3. What are your biggest influences in music that shape your style today?
Spandex.
4. Do you have any upcoming projects that you’d like to share with the readers?
A large toothpick replica of st. patrick’s cathedral that i’ve been working on for months…it’s pretty sweet.
Theo Bleckmann:
1. What are you planning to bring to the performance at the University?
Old and new music performed in new ways.
2. Can you tell us the musical journey of Refuge Trio? How did you start as a band?
This trio was formed to play at the 2002 Wall-to-Wall Joni Mitchell Marathon Concert at Symphony Space in NYC. Since then, they have continued to explore music from all genres following a unique collaborative path.
Their repertoire includes their own originals as well as compositions by Joni Mitchell, Theolonius Monk, Dmitri Schostakovitsch, Sidsel Endresen and Allan Holdsworth among others.
3. What are your biggest influences in music that shape your style today?
Pretty much everything influences me, either in a good way that makes me want to learn about it and have more of it in my life, or in a way that defines what I want to avoid.
4. Do you have any upcoming projects that you’d like to share with the readers?
I am working on a new band with harpist Zeena Parkins (Björk) performing some of my new songs and some baroque music.
John Hollenbeck:
1. What are you planning to bring to the performance at the University?
TOYS…LOTSA TOYS
2. Can you tell us the musical journey of Refuge Trio? How did you start as a band?
gary has the funny answer, theo the real one….so I think you got all you need on this one!
3. What are your biggest influences in music that shape your style today?
yesterday I heard a great album from a band from Berlin called Schneeweiss and Rotenrot-the album is called Pool-check it out!
but usually I’m behind the current trends….as I’m writing this I’m listening to deerhoof and just to show how unhip I am-this is my first time listening to them…..I get into everything about 5-10 years after everyone else it seems……next up for me is probably The Dirty Projectors since I’ve been hearing about them for about 5 years…..
eternal favs:
Peter Garland, Brian Eno, György Ligeti
4. Do you have any upcoming projects that you’d like to share with the readers?
That reminds me that what I should be doing right now is finishing music for the upcoming Claudia Quintet record, called September that is coming out in, you guessed it-September! Also revising some new music for this great new music ensemble from Paris, France, Ensemble Cairn, that I will play with in a few weeks….yikes I got to get back to work.
