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Environ (Loft)
Environ was a performance space that was influential during the Loft Jazz scene of the mid-1970s in NYC. It was located on Broadway in SOHO and close to two other noted Loft Jazz venues: RivBea and Ali's Alley. Environ was established by Chris Brubeck and Danny Brubeck sons and band mates of noted jazz musician Dave Brubeck. Environ was managed by John Fischer pianist leader of Interface with assistance by staff Mark Forman indie media producer and Brian Olewnick music blogger and reviewer for Bagatellen. Environ offered performance space to many Loft Jazz musicians, dancers and other performance artists. Dave Holland (former Miles Davis bassist), Anthony Braxton, Charles Tyler, ''Hamiet Bluiett,'' David Murray, Lester Bowie, Joseph Bowie, Chico Freeman were some of the many free jazz artists that performed there. James Siegfried, who was later to become better known as James Chance, and the Contortions (part of the No Wave scene in NYC) had his debut there. Environ attracted ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loft Jazz
Loft jazz (or the loft scene or loft era) was a cultural phenomenon that occurred in New York City during the mid-1970s. Gary Giddins described it as follows: " new coterie of avant-garde musicians took much of the jazz world by surprise... ey interpreted the idea of freedom as the capacity to choose between all the realms of jazz, mixing and matching them not only with each other, but with old and new pop, R&B and rock, classical music and world music... emingly overnight new venues - in many instances, apartments or lofts (hence the phrase 'loft jazz') - opened shop to present their wares." According to Michael Heller, "lofts were not an organization, nor a movement, nor an ideology, nor a genre, nor a neighborhood, nor a lineage of individuals. They were, instead, a meeting point, a locus for interaction." Heller stated that "loft practices came to be defined by a number of key characteristics, including (1) low admission charges or suggested donations, (2) casual atmospheres tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Bowie
Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in the historic village of Bartonsville in Frederick County, Maryland, United States, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. At the age of five he started studying the trumpet with his father, a professional musician. He played with blues musicians such as Little Milton and Albert King, and rhythm and blues stars such as Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, and Rufus Thomas. In 1965, he became Fontella Bass's musical director and husband. He was a co-founder of Black Artists Group (BAG) in St Louis. In 1966, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a studio musician, and met Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell and became a member of the AACM. In 1968, he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago with Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors. He remained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the United States, Canada and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo and as a solo pianist. His musical affiliations constitute a "who's who" of the jazz world, including Max Roach, Dexter Gordon, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Art Farmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago. Early life Abrams's mother, Edna, was born in Memphis. His father, Milton, was born in Alabama and moved with his parents to Chicago. Richard Lewis Abrams was born there, the second of nine children, on September 19, 1930. His father became a self-employed handyman; his mother was a housewife. "Abrams's paternal grandfather was 'what you call a junk man', selling the fruits of neighborhood foraging. Abrams and his brother would pull the cart aro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avant-garde Jazz
Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Originally synonymous with free jazz, much avant-garde jazz was distinct from that style. History 1950s Avant-garde jazz originated in the mid- to late 1950s among a group of improvisors who rejected the conventions of bebop and post bop in an effort to blur the division between the written and the spontaneous. Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor led the way, soon to be joined by John Coltrane. Some would come to apply it differently from free jazz, emphasizing structure and organization by the use of composed melodies, shifting but nevertheless predetermined meters and tonalities, and distinctions between soloists and accompaniment. 1960s In Chicago, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians began pursuing their own variety of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Chance
James Chance, also known as James White (born James Siegfried, April 20, 1953), is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer. A key figure in no wave, Chance has been playing a combination of improvisational jazz-like music and punk in the New York music scene since the late 1970s, in such bands as Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, James Chance and the Contortions, James White and the Blacks (as he appeared in the film ''Downtown 81''), The Flaming Demonics, James Chance & the Sardonic Symphonics, James Chance and Terminal City, and James Chance and Les Contortions. Biography Born and raised in Milwaukee and Brookfield, Wisconsin, Chance attended Michigan State University, then the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. There, Chance joined a band named Death, which performed covers of the Stooges and the Velvet Underground before moving toward original songs. At the end of 1975, Chance dropped out and moved to New York City after the dissolution of the band an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chico Freeman
Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with ''Morning Prayer'', won the New York Jazz Award in 1979 and earned the Stereo Review Record of the Year in 1981 for his album ''The Outside Within''. Early years He was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Freeman was introduced to the trumpet by his brother Everett, who found a trumpet in the family basement. Freeman began playing, inspired by artists such as Miles Davis. He went to Northwestern University in 1967 with a scholarship for mathematics and played the trumpet in the school, but did not begin playing the saxophone until his junior year. After practicing eight to ten hours per day and trying out for the saxophone section, Freeman quickly changed his major to music, and graduated in 1972. By that time he was proficient in saxophone, trumpet, and piano. After graduation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Bowie
Joseph Bowie (born October 17, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. The brother of trumpeter Lester Bowie, Joseph is known for leading the jazz-punk group Defunkt and for membership in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Career Bowie was greatly influenced by his older brothers, saxophonist Byron Bowie and trumpeter Lester Bowie. His first international tour was with Oliver Lake of the Black Artists Group in 1971. During this time in Paris, he worked with Alan Silva, Frank Wright, and Bobby Few. He also worked with Dr. John in Montreaux in 1973. He moved to New York City, and with the help of Off Broadway Theater impresario Ellen Stewart he established La Mama children's theater. He performed with Cecil Taylor, Human Arts Ensemble, Nona Hendryx, Leroy Jenkins, Vernon Reid, Stanley Cowell, Sam Rivers, Philippe Gaillot, Dominique Gaumont and Ornette Coleman. In 1976 he moved to Chicago, where he led bands for Tyrone Davis and other R&B artists. Returning to New Y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Murray (saxophonist)
David Keith Murray (born February 19, 1955) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who performs mostly on tenor and bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s. He lives in New York City. Biography Murray was born in Oakland, California, United States. He attended Pomona College for two years as a member of the class of 1977, ultimately receiving an honorary degree in 2012. He was initially influenced by free jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler, Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp. He gradually evolved a more diverse style in his playing and compositions. Murray set himself apart from most tenor players of his generation by not taking John Coltrane as his model, choosing instead to incorporate elements of mainstream players Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves into his mature style. Despite this, he recorded a tribute to Coltrane, ''Octet Plays Trane'', in 1999. He played a set with the Grateful Dead at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Brubeck
Christopher Brubeck is an American musician and composer, both in jazz and classical music. As a musician, he mainly plays electric bass, bass trombone, and piano. The son of noted jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck, in 1972 he joined his father and brothers Darius Brubeck, Darius and Daniel in ''The New Brubeck Quartet''. He later formed ''The Brubeck Brothers Quartet'' with his brothers. Overview Chris Brubeck has been touring for about 30 years with guitarist Joel Brown and singer and harmonica virtuoso Peter Madcat Ruth as a group called "Triple Play", a jazz band in a swinging Louisiana style. Known as a member of "New Heavenly Blue", Chris also participated and recorded as a keyboardist/trombonist/guitarist in "Educated Homegrown" in 1970. In 1999, Chris Brubeck and his brother Daniel Brubeck joined with other musicians to form ''The Brubeck Brothers Quartet''; the brothers previously had briefly partnered with Andy LaVerne for a 1972 album as "The Brubeck-LaVerne Trio" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hamiet Bluiett
Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A member of the World Saxophone Quartet, he also played (and recorded with) the bass saxophone, E-flat alto clarinet, E-flat contra-alto clarinet, and wooden flute. Biography Bluiett was born just north of East St. Louis in Brooklyn, Illinois (also known as Lovejoy), a predominantly African-American village that had been founded as a free black refuge community in the 1830s, and which later became America's first majority-black town. As a child, he studied piano, trumpet, and clarinet, but was attracted most strongly to the baritone saxophone from the age of ten. He began his musical career by playing the clarinet for barrelhouse dances in Brooklyn, Illinois, before joining the Navy band in 1961. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Tyler (musician)
Charles Lacy Tyler (July 20, 1941 – June 27, 1992) was an American jazz saxophone, saxophonist. He focused on baritone & alto saxophone and also played clarinet. Biography Tyler was born in Cadiz, Kentucky, United States, and spent his childhood years in Indianapolis. He played piano as a child and clarinet at the age of seven, before switching to alto saxophone in his early teens, and finally baritone saxophone. During the summers, he visited Chicago, Illinois, New York City and Cleveland, Ohio, where he met the young tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler at age 14. After serving in the army from 1957–1959, Tyler relocated to Cleveland in 1960 and began playing with Ayler, commuting between New York and Cleveland. During that period played with Ornette Coleman and Sunny Murray. In 1965, Tyler recorded ''Bells'' and ''Spirits Rejoice'' with Ayler's group. He recorded his first album as leader the following year for ESP-Disk. He returned to Indianapolis to study with David Baker (co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
