ECM Jazz Mini-Series
This mini-series is part of the acoustic jazz concert series Harlem in the Himalayas, presented with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem.
"The Rubin Museum of Art is a first-rate venue for hearing live, acoustic music in New York City. Its wood paneled concert hall is a perfect setting for unamplified performances." - Douglas Detrick, AboutJazz.com
SPECIAL CD RELEASE MINI-SERIES WITH ECM RECORDS
On three consecutive weeks in June the Rubin Museum of Art presents a mini-series of CD-launch concerts featuring artists from the ECM label. The musicians each stretch the boundaries of jazz in their unique ways and each evening promises compelling listening in its own right.
On June 7th, Romanian pianist-composer Lucian Ban and US violist Mat Maneri will perform a program of self-penned ballads, blues, hymns, spirituals and abstract improvisations the whole informed by the twin traditions of jazz and European chamber music. Bassist Gary Peacock and pianist Marilyn Crispell share an extensive history and will play music from their first recorded duo disc on June 14th. And finally, on June 21st, Norway’s Christian Wallumrød Ensemble – making its New York debut – will perform multi-dimensional chamber music highlighting Wallumrød’s singular compositional style.
Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri
June 7 at 7 p.m. | Buy Tickets
Transylvanian Concert marks an ECM debut for Romanian pianist-composer Lucian Ban and a welcome return for US violist Mat Maneri, in his 9th appearance for the label. The album documents a spontaneously organized performance in Targu Mures, in the region where Lucian Ban grew up. A large, highly-attentive audience follows Ban and Maneri through a program of their self-penned ballads, blues, hymns and abstract improvisations, plus Mat’s chilling solo performance of the spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen," the whole informed by the twin traditions of jazz and European chamber music. Rain, drumming upon the stained-glass windows of the Culture Palace, offers occasional melancholy commentary. In all, a uniquely compelling set.
Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell
June 14 at 7 p.m. | Buy Tickets
Gary Peacock and Marilyn Crispell made outstanding music together in Marilyn’s trio with the late Paul Motian, on ECM albums including Nothing ever was, anyway and Amaryllis, but their duo project also has an extensive history, until now undocumented on disc. With their shared sense of lyricism, their individual compositional styles and their profound background in free playing, Peacock and Crispell are exceptional musical partners. The new album, Azure, recorded in upstate New York, home territory for both musicians, contains pieces written by Peacock ("Lullaby," "The Lea," "Puppets") and by Crispell ("Patterns," "Goodbye," "Waltz after David M"), duo improvisations ("Azure," "Blue," "Leapfrog") and highly inventive piano and bass solos.
Christian Wallumrød Ensemble
June 21 at 7 p.m. | Buy Tickets
The ensemble of Christian Wallumrød continues to evolve in its own idiosyncratic way on the new album Outstairs. By now, Wallumrød’s compositional signature is instantly recognizable. Nobody else writes pieces like this – multi-dimensional chamber music inspired by the sonorities of Norwegian folk and church music, influenced by early music and the post-Cage avant-garde, and liberated by jazz’s freedom of thought. This time around, the ensemble members share the arranging credits between them, making the music still more organic and flexible as new sound combinations emerge.
With Christian Wallumrød on piano, harmonium, and toy piano, Eivind Lønning on trumpet, Gjermund Larsen on violin, hardanger fiddle, and viola, Espen Reinertsen on tenor saxophone, Tove Törngren on cello, Per Oddvar Johansen on drums and vibraphone.
