The 1st Annual
Albert Ayler Festival
Record Fair & Musical Celebration

Saturday July 10th, 2010

05/14 @ 8:00pm – Giuseppi Logan’s 75th Birthday Bash + Befo’ Quotet + TAUOM

Buy Tickets | Admission: $10

Giuseppi Logan

Giuseppi Logan (born May 22, 1935) is a jazz musician originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who taught himself to play piano and drums before switching to reeds at age 12. At the age of 15 he began playing with Earl Bostic and later studied at the New England Conservatory. In 1964 he relocated to New York and became embroiled in the free jazz scene.

Logan played alto and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, piano and Pakistani oboe. He collaborated with Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Bill Dixon before forming his own quartet made up of pianist Don Pullen, bassist Eddie Gomez and percussionist Milford Graves. After Pullen’s departure, pianist Dave Burrell joined the group. Logan was a member of Byard Lancaster’s band and toured with and appeared on records by Patty Waters. He recorded two albums for the ESP Disk record label and later appeared on an album by Roswell Rudd on the Impulse! label.

http://www.tompkinssq.com/giuseppi_logan.html

TAUOM
Ricardo Gallo, piano
Satoshi Takeishi, percussion
Dan Blake, saxophones
Ricardo Gallo

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Ricardo Gallo is active as a composer of contemporary concert music, both acoustic and electronic, and as a pianist performing jazz and improvised music.  He leads different projects that relate aspects of Colombian folklore to contemporary musical expressions, and performs with several improvisational groups.  Gallo started his studies at Universidad Javeriana in his native city of Bogotá, and then transferred to the University of North Texas (UNT), where he graduated in 2002, and was honored Outstanding Composition Student the same year. Ricardo is at the moment a PhD candidate in composition at Stony Brook University. He has been awarded a scholarship from the university and has been an assistant for the Computer Music Studio, as well as assistant of the Jazz Department under the direction of trombonist Ray Anderson.

He leads since 2004 his Bogotá-based quartet along with some of the best musicians from the scene in Colombia: Jorge Sepúlveda on drums, Juan Manuel Toro on double bass, Juan David Castaño on percussion, and Ricardo Gallo on piano. With this group Gallo has released two albums as leader: “Los Cerros Testigos” (December, 2005), and “Urdimbres y Marañas” (December, 2007), both with great critical acclaim.

In New York he has performed his music with several groups including musicians such as: Ray Anderson, Mark Helias, Pheeroan akLaff, Dan Blake, Satoshi Takeishi, Jorge Roeder, Tom Blancarte, Sam Sadigursky, Franco Pinna, among others. He has performed with Ray Anderson’s groups and is currently member of Peter Evan’s Quartet. Ricardo has also collaborated with other Colombian musicinas’ projects. His most recent release is a CD of his duo with guitarist Alejandro Flórez, titled “Meleyólamente”.  His music appears in several compilations in Colombia, U.S. and Europe.

This time at Issue Project Room Ricardo Gallo will present “Tauon”, a trio with Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, Dan Blake on saxophones a Ricardo Gallo on piano, performing all original music, improvised and/or notated.

Satoshi Takeishi (Percussion, Electronics)

Satoshi Takeishi, drummer, percussionist, and arranger is a native of Mito, Japan. He studied music at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee he developed an interest in the music of South America and went to live in Colombia following the invitation of a friend. He spent four years there and forged many musical and personal relationships. One of the projects he worked on while in Colombia was ‘Macumbia’ with composer/arranger Francisco Zumaque in which traditional, jazz and classical music were combined. With this group he performed with the Bogota symphony orchestra to do a series of concerts honoring the music of the most popular composer in Colombia, Lucho Bermudes. In 1986 he returned to Miami, U.S. where he began working as an arranger/producer as well as a performer. In 1987 he produced ‘Morning Ride’  for jazz flutist Nestor Torres on Polygram Records. His interest expanded to the rhythms and melodies of the middle east where he studied and performed with Armenian-American oud master Joe Zeytoonian. Since moving to New York in 1991 he has performed and recorded in vast variety of genre, from world music, jazz, contemporary classical music to experimental electronic music with musicians such as Ray Barretto, Carlos ‘Patato’ Valdes, Eliane Elias, Marc Johnson, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, Paul Winter Consort, Rabih Abu Khalil, Erik Friedlander, Ned Rothenberg, MIchael Attias, Shoko Nagai, Paul Giger, Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, Ying String Quartet, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Dhafer Youssef, Lalo Schifrin and Pablo Ziegler to name a few. He continues to explore multi-cultural, electronics and improvisational music with local musicians and composers in New York.

Daniel Blake (saxophones)

Daniel Blake has been featured as a composer and saxophonist throughout Europe, South America, and the United States.  He has appeared on recording and in performance with Anthony Braxton, Kenny Werner, Herbie Hancock, Danilo Perez, and many others.  A versatile force in both the chamber and improvised music worlds, his works have been performed by Duo Diorama, redfish bluefish ensemble, and The Cygnus Ensemble, among others.  His playing has been called “joyous, upbeat, and ebullient” (Cadence Magazine), and his work as a composer “viscerally entertaining” (All About Jazz NY).  He is currently in demand as a saxophonist, and is a regular member of Lukas Ligeti’s Kaleidoscope, Peter Evans’ Sparks Orchestra, and the Julian Lage Group. As a recording artist, Blake is a featured soloist on Anthony Braxton’s “Trillium E” project, and was recently a featured soloist on Danilo Perez’s Grammy-nominated “Panama Suite.”

In 2008, Dan Blake was awarded the John Lennon Songwriting Contest’s Grand Prize, ASCAP’s Young Jazz Composer’s award, and City University’s Morton Feldman Composition Award.  Since February 2007, he has co-curated the “Defacto Series,” a concert series dedicated to experimental multi-media and improvised music in Brooklyn.  Dan Blake is currently a Ph.D. candidate in composition at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and serves as adjunct lecturer in music history at Brooklyn College.  He currently studies composition and improvisation with Robert Dick. Past teachers include Steve Lacy, John McDonald, George Lewis, Tania León, Danilo Perez, and Jason Eckardt.

Befo’ Quotet is a rhythm and dues band that takes a folkloric approach in paying tribute (hence the term ‘dues’) to the rhythmic contributions of African diaspora communities such as blues, jazz, and R & B. African and Caribbean rhythms and spoken word are woven throughout their music.

The “Befo’ Quotet” includes:

Atiba Kwabena-Wilson: vocals, flutes and percussion

Yoshiki Miura: guitar

William Dotts: bass

Sean Brock: drums

Ray Graham: percussion

Atiba Kwabena-Wilson (musician/poet/storyteller) is the founder and artistic director of both Songhai Djeli and the Befo’ Quotet. He was the recipient of a full Scholarship for voice and flute, earning his B.A. in Music from Long Island University. Mr. Kwabena-Wilson studied arrangement and orchestration for jazz ensembles with Calvin Hill (bassist with Max Roach and faculty advisor for L.I.U.). He also studied Jazz Improvisation with the late John Lewis (pianist with the Modern Jazz Quartet and professor at City College).

Yoshiki Miura

20 years performing in the New York City area, with a funky, energetic jazz sound. His music crosses the traditional modern jazz boundaries, injecting R&B, and Latin styles.

His numerous performances include; “Texaco New York jazz Festival ‘98 & ‘97 “, “Grand Central’s Anniversary 2000?, “JVC Jazz Festival at Saratoga”, “Live at Blue Note in NY 2000?.

He was selected to recording session with EMI label under the Amalia Gre group on 2003 & 2005. also music tour with Amalia Gre in Italy, March – August 2004, April – May 2006 include performance at Blue note in Milano, and opening act for Michael Blecker group at Trino jazz Festival.