This JNE/Sage promotion looks interesting.:
- Jazz North East & The Sage Gateshead presentENESCU re-IMAGINEDTony Malaby (saxophones); Ralph Alessi (trumpet); Lucian Ban (piano); Mat Maneri (viola); Albrecht Maurer (violin); Drew Gress (bass); Mark Ferber (drums); Badal Roy (tabla)
The contemporary classical composer George Enescu, who died in 1955, is little known in the UK (although an iconic figure in his native Romania), but the harmonic underpinnings of his work are very close to those of jazz, a fact recognised by expatriate pianist Lucian Ban, who pulled together this outstanding New York octet to re-interpret his music at the 2009 Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Ban subsequently took the project to Chicago and New York (where it made several critics’ ‘Gigs of the Year’ lists for 2010), and now comes to the Sage for one of only two UK performances – the other being at the London Jazz Festival.
Working at the edge of classical, jazz, and New York’s downtown scene, this has some affinities with Uri Caine’s acclaimed jazz take on Mahler, which came to Tyneside around a decade ago (also with Ralph Alessi on trumpet), but this may be even more of a revelation. Certainly you could hardly hope for a more exciting line-up, including, in addition to Alessi, storming reedsman Tony Malaby, viola virtuoso Mat Maneri, top bassist Drew Gress and one-time Miles Davis percussionist Badal Roy. It’s a band that would be worth hearing in any context, but in this exciting and adventurous project, it’s likely to give us an unforgettable event.-----The above is from the Jazz North East Facebook page.Lance.
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