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(“the many reeds of the JHLE” — photo courtesy Mr. Jason Linnell)
TOP TEN TIMES
End-of-year listmaking is a (perhaps even THE) venerable tradition in American cultural criticism, occasioning as it does such a sweeping and easily-digested review of the preceding year’s highlights. “Remember that one!” we can all exclaim together. Or, perhaps, “Wow, was I living under a rock this year, avant-garde musical comedy-wise, or what?” End-of-year lists are the greatest.
Despite that his music tends to resist morsel-sized blurbing, John is of course no stranger to end-of-year lists. A couple of our favorites this time around:
In ARTFORUM, composer-pianist-
Of course National Public Radio has no shortage of love for the Hollencrew, as evidenced in this year’s pick for vocal maestro Theo Bleckmann’s excellent reframing of Kate Bush tunes, “Hello Earth: The Music of Kate Bush”. You see that list, read a blurb on Theo’s latest (which features John on drums (who else?)), and even listen to a sampling of song, at NPR Music’s ever-more elegant site here.
UPCOMING ALBUM IS COMING UP—PRE-OWN IT.
In case you’ve been dozing on our previous installments, you’d best be aware that John’s latest record, Songs I Like A Lot, is fast on its way. The album contains a smattering of favorite music from Jimmy Webb, Ornette Coleman, Imogen Heap, Freddie Mercury, and others, all rearranged and scrambled by John. It features Frankfurt Radio BigBand, Theo Bleckmann, Kate McGarry, and Gary Versace—and you can PRE-OWN it now.
That’s right, why wait for conventional in-the-moment ownership, not available until January, when you can fast forward into future tense and PRE-OWN the record today?
Pre-order the CD before release on January 29, 2013, and you’ll ALSO receive a digital download of the album on or around January 29. Not only that, but in the immediate term, you get a free download of “Canvas,” the Imogen Heap offering of the album. The link to do so is this familiar website here: http://johnhollenbeck.
What’s that you say? No more Compact Discs in your life? No worries, you can pre-order the digital-only version from iTunes here: http://bitly.com/12CmQy9
Cliff Bellamy has already (p)reviewed it for The Herald Sun, and, yes, you should be jealous he got to hear it. Not only did he dig the tunes, but his writeup bespeaks deepset access to the man himself, as it contains many nuggets of golden Hollinsight. Have yourself a click here, and glean some extra liner notes to tide you over as you enjoy the many benefits of pre-ownership.
EVERYTHING ELSE COMING UP TOO
John’s got a brand new piece for Gotham Wind Symphony being recorded on January 6th and 7th at an undisclosed (and many believe literally underground) location. It will be entitled “…Can’t Hide Love Mantra,” based on an Earth, Wind and Fire tune. Doesn’t that sound rad?
When he emerges, John will have a brief respite before lending his sticks to MEREDITH MONK: A Benefit for Roulette on January 10th. As the name suggests, John, MM, and others will band together to raise money for the excellent and weird-friendly Brooklyn venue Roulette. You can buy tickets at levels ranging from the patronly to the plebeian right here.
Then, time for a brief jaunt over with the Tony Malaby Tuba Trio (yes) and many others at on January 12, to participate in Winter
Jazz Fest; you can buy tickets (and see who all else is playing) here.
Finally, across the country back nestled in Monkland, John joins the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble for the world premiere of On Behalf of Nature, Monk’s “latest evening-length work.” Performances are January 18-20 at UCLA; buy tickets today and then go fly West for Winter!
Last but not least: Don’t you want to look at JHLE’s tour pictures? I know I couldn’t make it to the tour, and maybe you coudln’t either. Have a look at some tour pictures, on us.
