Secret Society

Yeah we gotta little ol' convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?

I am not sure whether UnitedCDL sells t-shirts with this design, but if so, you'd think they'd at least have had the courtesy to send me one:

  

Source (scroll down)

I'm looking for pound notes, loose change, bad checks, anything

I'm swamped right now with various things, but I took a break to read this Nate Chinen post on the recently unveiled Chamber Music America commissions and on grants for jazz generally. The ensuing conversation includes comments from pianist Vijay Iyer and bassist Ronan Guilfoyle and is well worth your while. This is a discussion that's been going on the classical community for a very long time, as grants play a much more important and prominent role over on that side of the fence. But we haven't seen much talk of this in the jazz community as of yet and it's interesting to see some of the same issues play out -- especially, the concerns over (people's perceptions of) what grant panels want to see influencing the viability of certain types of projects.

I don't remotely have the time to weigh in at the moment (in part because I'm, um, working on a pending grant application), but here's a taste of what's being said:

Nate Chinen:

Commissions like these have become a fundamental part of the jazz economy. And, I’d add, now a significant factor in jazz’s creative life. Last year I confessed some guarded ambivalence about this fact in a related Gig column, musing about the specific qualities of these “new jazz works” that tend to look good in grant-proposal form.

I know, I know: Gift horse, mouth. It seems churlish, maybe even foolish, to question any institutionalized program that sees fit to distribute funding in the name of creative music. 

Looking over the list of past recipients, I can’t help but notice many who later made excellent related albums. Consider Chasing Paint(Arabesque), by soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom; Swimming(OmniTone), by French hornist Tom Varner; Tragicomic (Sunnyside), by pianist Vijay Iyer; Ivey-Divey (Blue Note), by clarinetist Don Byron; and Codebook (Pi), by Mahanthappa. Or Steve Lehman’s Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi), one of this year’s best so far.

That’s just a small handful, and it doesn’t even begin to account for the many commissions -- from Chamber Music America and other organizations, including venues -- that only led to concert and festival performances. I’ve seen quite a few of these, including some that felt overwrought or overthought. Whether that was a consequence of the commission is, of course, impossible to know.

Ronan Guilfoyle: 

Coming from Europe I always find it intriguing at the soul-searching that goes on the US jazz community whenever the music is given any grant aid. In this case the money is for commissioning of compositions and as far as I can make out is one of the few areas where jazz musicians CAN actually apply for some money to help them out in the brutal economic scene that surrounds the playing of jazz in America. Coming from a country where you can apply for grants not only for composition, but for touring, recording, performing, buying expensive instruments and even the development of an idea, it seems strange that there’s any questioning of something as small as the awards available to jazz composers from Chamber Music America. As an expression of percentage of population America probably gives less money to the arts than anywhere else in the western world. And I know many European jazz musicians are baffled at America’s lack of support for jazz in particular – America’s great gift to the musical arts. So when some small support does come it seems doubly strange to question it – these guys can use all the help they can get in trying to make a living playing creative music!

Vijay Iyer:

Nearly every prominent composer in the history of classical music had patrons (as did plenty of less prominent ones). Now we're talking about a miniscule amount of patronage for American jazz. There are so few grants of this nature in the U.S. that Ronan's mention of "funding bodies" in the plural feels like an exaggeration. CMA's two programs - New Works and the French-American initiative - are the only jazz-specific ones out there to my knowledge, and they have been the source of controversy among CMA constituents, who skew heavily towards classical performers and their patrons.

(All other nationwide programs that commission new jazz works - e.g. NEA, American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, Guggenheim - have "classical/new music" and "jazz" composers competing for the same funding. Classical people have their own additional resources, institutions, and infrastructure that we don't have.)

Like Ronan, I have been both a recipient and a panelist for various grants. I received some key project support and awards early in my career. In most cases I sought these things because I had no choice - there were no other means of support for the work I wanted to do.

Read the rest here. I should say that my own career thus far would not have been possible without the support I've received from the Jazz Gallery's Large Ensemble Series, the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, and -- most recently -- the Aaron Copland Fund for Music's Recording Program. It goes without saying that I am honored and grateful to all of them. But I should also note for the record that were it not for the early, substantial support I received from the Canada Council for the Arts, it's hard to imagine how I would have been able to keep my head above water long enough to even begin to apply for any US-based grants. It's thanks entirely to the Canada Council's support that I was able to study with Bob Brookmeyer and Maria Schneider, and participate in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. If I'd been born on this side of the border, I'm not sure I'd be running a big band today.

Must've missed the sign that said it was a fire sale

Please be advised that the fabulously stylish and highly desirable Secret Society T-Shirts are almost completely sold out. Our friends at Hemlock Ink will be silkcreening a new batch for us shortly, but meanwhile, we are blowing out our remaining inventory for a mere $10 each. These freshly discounted shirts are available in any size you want, provided it is S. I would like them out of my apartment and into your wardrobes, please.

"Act now," "while quantities last," "limited-time offer" -- I sense you have heard these words before. But hark, is that summer I spy, just around the corner? Do you really want to be caught without a fashionable and lightweight garment which proclaims your allegiance to the Society?

So everybody buy my shit or I'ma come and kill you

Fan-financed recordings (ahem) are nothing new, but they are definitely taking off, and stories about them seem to be everywhere these days.

I am forced to admit that drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, Devo) offers better premiums:

$75,000 (limited edition of 1)

-Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
-T-shirt**
-Come out on tour with me for a few days.
-I write, record and market a 5 song EP about you and your life story.
-Take home any of my drumsets (only one but you can pick which one)
-*Take shrooms and cruise Hollywood in Danny from TOOL's Lamborgini OR we play "quarters" and then hop on the Ouija board for a while.
-If you have a band, I'll join it for a month....play shows, record a CD together, have a swim party, etc.... or none of the above. We could also just sit in yer basement and jam old Van Halen.
OR
If you don't have a band I'll be your personal assistant for a month (4 day work weeks....10 am to 5 pm) and then we take a limo down to Tijuana and I'll show you how it's done (what that means I can't legally get into here, right this minute). If you don't live in LA but are in the USA I will come to you and be your personal assistant/cabana boy for 2 weeks.
-Take a Flying Trapeze lesson together in the San Fernando Valley and then Robin from NIN and his wife make us raw lasagna.

(No takers on that one yet -- act now, there's still time! -- but one teenage fan did spring for the $20,000 mini-golf package.)

My fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, precludes me from offering anything of tangible value in exchange for tax-deductible online contributions -- let alone offers to hook up contributors with illegal substances. But listen, if you want to pop a handful of Demerol and go hang at the Vanguard, have your people talk to my people.

(Rembmer, children, in the immortal words of James Brown: "If you use drugs... you better leave it alone." )

And so today, my world, it smiles

We are down to serious crunch time with the mixing of Infernal Machines -- I crashed on the studio couch Sunday night (er, well, more like Monday around 7 AM, when I finally collapsed from exhaustion), and will likely do so again more than once before we are finished. But I did want to take this time to express my deepest thanks to the people who are making it possible for us to make this record sound as good as we possibly can. You guys rock and we love you. 

I would also like to give an extra-special shout-out to Dave Lisik, Suzi Beyerstein, and Team Sinsheimer for sponsoring a musician. I have been overwhelmed by the incredible show of support and hope that you will all be pleased with the final result when the record is released this May.

Know your Co-Conspirators: Jon Wikan

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

And now, the thrilling conclusion of our 18-part series, Know Your Co-Conspirators, in which we have been introducing you to the musicians involved in the making of our debut recording, Infernal Machines. Your final co-conspirator is the engine of the band, drummer and percussionist Jon Wikan.

Jon was born in Petersburg, Alaska, but grew up in Seattle, where he attended Central Washington University. He took a year off to tour with the Mills Brothers and Ellington alumnus Herb Jeffries. After college, he immersed himself in the Seattle jazz scene and was taken under the wings of multi-horn man Jay Thomas, Bill Ramsay, and composer James Knapp. During this period he became one of the busiest sidemen in the northwest area backing international artists including Pat Labarbra, Herb Ellis, John Fedchock, Rick Margitza, Buddy Collette, Roswell Rudd, Mark Murphy, Kurt Elling, Bobby Shew, Brad Turner, Jessica Williams and Dan Faehnle.

Since moving to New York, Jon has recorded with pianist Geoff Keezer, toured Japan with Downbeat Vocalist of the Year Mark Murphy, and performed at the Blue Note with the New York Voices. He has performed with the Ingrid Jensen Quartet at the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, the Savannah Jazz Festival, and a live CBC radio concert in Montreal. He's also worked with Karrin Allyson, Sam Yahel, Ron Affif, Seamus Blake, Marcus Strickland, Jay Collins, David Budway, Mark Elf, David Berkman, Jeffery Smith, Antonia Bennett, and Aaron Parks. He is an active clinician/teacher, teaching drums and percussion at The New School and out of his home studio in Queens, NY.

Jon and his family have a place in Ellensburg, Washington, which was one of the communities hard hit by the recent flooding. He spent most of January out west rebuilding and repairing, including laying all-new floors.

Before:

After:

He got back from the reconstruction just in time to play our Feb. 6 Jazz Gallery hit. His hands were all cut up from a month of 18-hour days working on the house, but I made him play the cajon anyway. No mercy.

Jon has been with Secret Society since our inaugural gig and has played almost every show ever since. It's impossible to imagine the band without him.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Jon's appearance on our debut album.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) is February 23, 2009. It's now February 21, which means you have two more days to take advantage of either offer. If you have a flair for the dramatic, now is the time to act.

However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album's release in May. This recording is an incredibly ambitious and hugely expensive endeavor. The only reason it is happening at all is because of individual donations from people like you. 

We say this a lot, but we really are extraordinarily grateful to all of our generous supporters. We would not be here without your help. Thank you all so very much.

PREVIOUSLY...

Seneca Black
James Hirschfeld
Tom Goehring
Mark Small
Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Invisible touch

The NYT Arts Beat blog can't avoid unburying the lede:

He may not particularly need the money, but the tenor Plácido Domingo has been named the winner of the first Birgit Nilsson Prize, which bestows its recipient with a $1 million award for outstanding achievement in classical music, the Birgit Nilsson Foundation said in a release on Friday.

Domingo was personally selected by the late Ms. Nilsson as the first recipient of this prize (subsequent winners of the most lucrative award in classical music will be "nominated by a jury and selected by the foundation's board") -- well gosh, that certainly dispels any petty concerns anyone may have had about back-channel chumminess trumping "outstanding achievement in classical music."

It's worth asking: what, exactly, is the point of this kind of award, beyond astonishing the proles with its magnitude? Does it do anything to improve the health and vitality of classical music? Or is this better understood as an attempt by the Birgit Nilsson Foundation and its board to make a bit of a splash by handing out double the MacArthur coin?

Of course, the MacArthur Foundation awards 25 fellowships a year, and not all of them to folks for whom a million-dollar windfall is like a light breeze wafting through their bank account. Why, you'd almost think the MacArthur Fellowships are about actually trying to make a difference in the world, not merely the courting of prestige and influence.

Know your Co-Conspirators: Seneca Black

Our profile series featuring the musicians of Infernal Machines is almost complete. The penultimate installment features our indispensable lead trumpet player, Seneca Black.

Seneca grew up in a musical family in Florida. He first picked up the trumpet at age 9, having being inspired by one of his sisters. He graduated from the New World School of the Arts in Miami in 1996, and then moved to New York City to attend the Manhattan School of Music. There he enrolled in the jazz program and was there for three semesters before being recruited for the gig you probably know him from -- lead trumpet in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Seneca toured the world several times over with Wynton & co. and recorded often with the group from 1997-2003. He departed to pursue a solo/freelance career in the spring of 2004 and has been a fixture in the New York City music scene since. This also freed him up to play our gigs, which do not pay quite as well as the JALC hits.

Seneca has performed with several well known jazz artists and groups most notably the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, the Oliver Lake Big Band, Carla Bley, Bob Belden, the Mingus Big Band, Chico O'Farrills Afro-Cuban Orchestra, among many others. (Jazz Wars? What Jazz Wars?) He's also backed up a wide variety of vocalists including Bobby Short, Patti LuPone, and Jennifer Holliday. 

Seneca has been an active clinician throughout the world, having gained a lot of exposure through Lincoln Center's Education department. He performs with his own groups around NYC, and performs solo concerts and workshops throughout the world.

Seneca played our first-ever show at a venue that had the word "jazz" in its name, and has been with us ever since. He is really an astoundingly sensitive and selfless musician. Do you know any lead trumpet players? Yes? Then you know that's not generally how they roll. The demands I make of him are, frankly, insane ("Yeah, that long, drawn-out high E you are leaping up to? Can you make it much softer and much darker?" "Hey, listen, be careful with your intonation on that exposed cup mute line that's all up above the staff") but he's never failed to rise to the occasion.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Seneca's appearance on our debut album.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) has been extended to February 23, 2009. However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album's release in May.This recording is a very ambitious and very expensive endeavor, and it is only possible thanks to individual contributions from supporters of independent music such as yourselves. We are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.

PREVIOUSLY...

James Hirschfeld
Tom Goehring
Mark Small
Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: James Hirschfeld

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

We continue our ongoing profile of the musicians involved in the making of Infernal Machines with a look at trombonist James Hirschfeld.

In addition to playing trombone, James also plays tuba, melodica, percussion, and an "electronic valve instrument" which he built himself. He plays in the Respect Sextet, a group he co-founded as a student at the Eastman School of Music. James has performed and/or recorded with Alarm Will Sound, Tactus, Electric Medicine, Six Types of Ambiguity, and his own groups. James holds a degree in jazz and a Performer’s Certificate in classical performance from Eastman. He needs to update his website.

James's first appearance as a Society co-conspirator was as a last-minute sub on this hit (July 7, 2006). I guess he must have done a decent enough job because I seem to have kept asking him back. James is featured on "Habeas Corpus" and it is actually kind of disturbing how far inside that piece he gets. The solo here can't be at all showy, it is all about personal expression and it necessarily comes from kind of a dark place. Probably the most gratifying thing for any jazz composer is when you write something that requires an improviser to do something outside their comfort zone, but they feel that need as well, and just go there without your having to tell them anything.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor James's appearance on our debut album.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) has been extended to February 23, 2009. However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album's release in May.This recording is a very ambitious and very expensive endeavor, and it is only possible thanks to individual contributions from supporters of independent music such as yourselves. We are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.

PREVIOUSLY...

Tom Goehring
Mark Small
Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Tom Goehring

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Our ongoing series profiling the musicians involved with the making of Infernal Machines continues! Today's featured co-conspirator is Tom Goehring.

Originally from Mystic, Connecticut, Tom came to NYC back in 1980 to attend Columbia University, where he studied Political Science. But while in college, he was also regular at Barry Harris' classes at the Jazz Cultural Theatre. Tom worked in radio as a board operator and DJ (NPR, WKCR), then as a studio producer for WOR-AM. A a trumpet player, he spent many years freelancing around NYC playing all manner of gigs before deciding to limit his musical activities to those projects he actually enjoys ("Yeah, I have a day job." — Tom G.). 

Tom has performed with big bands led by Jamie Begian, Sherisse Rogers, Andrew Rathbun, J.C. Sanford, and Bill Warfield. He's also performed with Harvie S, Virginia Mayhew, Vic Juris, Gene Perla, and John Hart, among others. He currently lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and it active locally with the Easton Jazz Express. A fluent composer in his own right, he's been an active participant in the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop since 1996 and had two of his works nominated for the Charlie Parker Award/Manny Albam Commission. He has studied with Garry Dial and Mike Longo (improvisation, composition), Bob McCoy and Laurie Frink (trumpet), Roger Rosenburg (counterpoint) and master percussionist Glen Velez (tar drum). 

I met Tom during my own days in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. Tom has been a very loyal co-conspirator, having been with us since our very first gig  (CBGB Lounge, May 2005). On gigs, Tom occasionally spells off Seneca Black on lead trumpet, and also plays all my insane 2nd Trumpet parts that are strewn with notes that do not rightly belong in a 2nd Trumpet book (like the long held high E's at the climax of "Transit.") 

Tom also gets (rightfully) upset when people forget to include the "h" in his last name. He would much rather that people believe that he is related to this guy.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Tom's appearance on our debut album.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) was originally today -- February 15, 2009 -- but has been extended to February 23, 2009. If you would like to take advantage of either of these offers, as of this writing you have seven more days to do so. We would very much like to see one more sponsored musician on this project, so if you can donate at that level, now is the time!

However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album's release in May.This recording is a very ambitious and very expensive endeavor, and it is only possible thanks to individual contributions from supporters of independent music such as yourselves. We are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.

PREVIOUSLY...

Mark Small
Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Mark Small

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Our ongoing series profiling the musicians involved with the making of Infernal Machines continues with a focus on Mark Small, today's featured co-conspirator.

Like Josh, Jennifer, and myself, Mark studied at Boston's New England Conservatory (home to sax gurus Jerry Bergonzi and George Garzone) before moving to NYC in the early 2000s. He co-leads the band Bronze, in which he shares the front line with another young tenor demon, Walter Smith III. Mark has performed throughout the Northeast supporting artists such as Maynard Ferguson, Nat Adderley, Maceo Parker and others, and has appeared at numerous festivals including the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, the Jackie Robinson Jazz Festival, and the Berklee composers series (with Jim McNeely). Mark was a semifinalist in the 2002 Thelonious Monk saxophone competition. He has performed with Dick Oatts, John Mosca, Cladio Roditi, Joe LaBarbara, Ed Soph, Kenny Wheeler, Tiger Okoshi, Benny Golson, Chico O’Farrell, Harold Danko, and Bruce Barth, and -- in between Society gigs -- has spent the last two years touring the world with Warner Brothers recording artist Michael Bublé... and if you get a few beers in him he will regale you with some excellent road stories.

Mark's first hit with Secret Society was our appearance as the house band at the 2006 3 Quarks Daily ball at Flux Factory, which was a seriously fun gig, as we got to perform for a hip and artsy crowd of people in a partying mood who had mostly never heard of us. Mark's big feature is "Phobos," wherein his voice represents either the doomed moon of Mars or a bloody sacrifice to the Greek God of Fear. It depends on the night.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Mark's appearance on our debut album.

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) is February 15, 2009. However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album is released in May. It is individual contributions from supporters of independent music that are making this recording possible, and we are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.

PREVIOUSLY...

Laurie Frink
Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Laurie Frink

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

I realize I have been rather negligent with resuming these profiles of the musicians who contributed to the recording of Infernal Machines. To be honest I have been so involved with mixing the record that there has been time for little else. But today we return with a focus on the Society's most recently inducted co-conspirator, Laurie Frink.

Laurie is new to this band but she is hardly a neophyte. She has been a freelance trumpet player in New York City since the 1970’s. She has performed and recorded with an amazing array of musicians: Benny Goodman, Gerry Mulligan, Mel Lewis, Bob Mintzer, John Hollenbeck, Dave Liebman, Andrew Hill, and Kenny Wheeler, and of course she is a regular member of the Maria Schneider Orchestra. In addition to her active private studio, she is a member of the faculties of New York University, New School University and the Manhattan School of Music. She and (frequent Pulse collaborator) John McNeil co-authored FLEXUS --Trumpet Calisthenics for the Modern Improvisor, and she is well known for her insightful ability to solve physical difficulties experienced by many brass players.

It would be hard to overstate Laurie's reputation among trumpet players, especially for her teaching. Here's what no less a figure than Dave Douglas recently wrote about Laurie on the Greenleaf Music blog:

Laurie has been my trumpet teacher for over a decade, and I know many other trumpeters who rely on her for advice and counsel. She is the kind of gifted teacher who takes a personal interest in her students, crafting exercises specifically to their needs. She has also made herself available in emergencies -- I once called her for advice from Zurich, in panic on the day of a recording session. She called right back and listened to me play over the phone. She gave me several exercises to do to work out the issues. Something about it really clicked, though I would be hard pressed to tell you how... I did go into the studio with Tiny Bell Trio that day to record Constellations.

In recent years she has been teaching me how to figure out the solutions for myself, and she has had a major influence on the way that I teach and craft the program at Banff. [...] And recently Laurie started a new practice, taking appointments for private lessons via the internet using ICHAT/video or SKYPE/video. I have seen her do it and it is pretty amazing.

When I found myself needing to find one more trumpet player for the recording, I knew it would have to be not just a great player -- someone which great time and great intonation who could be relied on to nail the parts cold -- but also someone with tons of recording experience, a player who would not be fazed by the inevitable frustrations of the recording process. I was delighted when it turned out Laurie was available. She didn't know this at the time, but I was hoping she'd act as a stabilizing influence when the long stressful days in the studio inevitably began to take their toll on everyone (most definitely including me). She didn't disappoint. Anyone who has hung out with Laurie knows about her bone-dry sense of humor, and on several occasions her cutting wit turned out to be the perfect thing to defuse a tense moment on the studio floor.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Laurie's appearance on our debut album. 

IMPORTANT: The deadline for sponsoring a musician (or becoming our Executive Producer) is February 15, 2009. However, you can continue to make individual donations (and have your name listed on our Thank You Page, if you wish) right up until the album is released in May.

We are also very pleased to announce a new sponsorship! Sam Sadigurksy has been sponsored by Suzi Beyerstein. It is individual contributions from supporters of independent music that are making this recording possible, and we are grateful beyond words to all of our generous supporters.

PREVIOUSLY...

Rob Wilkerson
Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

-----

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Rob Wilkerson

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays. After a brief hiatus, we are resuming our regular profiles of the musicians involved in the making of our debut recording, Infernal Machines. Your featured co-conspirator for today is Rob Wilkerson.

Based in New York City since 2001, Rob leads his eponymous group, composes, and performs with both small and large jazz ensembles. Imaginary Landscape, Rob’s debut on Fresh Sound New Talent, reflects his diverse influences, and was deemed worthy of several Best of 2004 lists. As an improviser and composer, Rob is deeply interested in melody and mood; harmony serves these considerations, rather than dictating them. In the words of Marc Meyers (All About Jazz), "Rob Wilkerson speaks to our times. His music is personal, profound, and thoroughly refreshing."

In addition to performing his own original music, he has played in the Yumiko Sunami Big Band, the composer consortium Pulse, Schumacher/Sanford Sound Assembly, Russ Spiegel Big Band, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano, and is a regular guest with several small ensembles. Rob has shared the stage with Joe Lovano, Jim McNeely, James Moody, Jon Gordon, Randy Johnston, and Chris Cheek. Since 2005, Rob has played lead alto with the Grammy Award winning Warner Bros. artist Michael Bublé, performing and recording all over the world.

Rob participated in many of the early reading sessions I held prior to forming Secret Society. His first gig with us was 21 April 2006 and he's been a Society regular ever since. He gets to tear it up on "Flux in a Box," our DFW-inspired discursive blowout.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Rob's appearance on our debut album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Matt Clohesy
Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Zero Hour

Hey all,

So. This is really happening. In about twelve hours we will be convening on Bennett Studios to begin the sessions for our first studio date, Infernal Machines.

We are all grateful beyond measure to the individuals whose contributions have made this possible -- I know how truly dire things are out there for a great many people right now and I have been absolutely floored by the generosity of our supporters. This recording simply would not happen without your support, and I feel a huge debt to you all. It is my sincere hope that these sessions result in something that everyone who made a contribution can be proud of.

A gentle reminder that if you are of a giving mind, any donations to our recording fund are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law, thanks to our fiscal sponsorship by the good people at Fractured Atlas. And it is not too late for you to sponsor a musician, or even for you to be our Executive Producer, should you be so inclined. These offers will remain open until February 15, 2009, and all funds go to help us make the best recording we can possibly make. Or, if you would like something more tangible and/or are looking for a holiday gift for the obscurant in your social circle, please allow me to recommend our very fine Secret Society T-Shirts. Finally, but most importantly, even if you are not able to contribute anything other than your valuable listening time, we are all deeply appreciative. Being able to create music that means something to people is the greatest thrill there is.

Thank you for supporting creative independent music. We would not be here without you.

Know your Co-conspirators: Matt Clohesy

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Today we return to our regular series of Secret Society co-conspirator profiles by casting a wary eye towards bassist Matt Clohesy. Matt left his home in Melbourne to move to New York in 2001. Since then, he has become one of the most in-demand bassists on the NYC jazz scene. He has played on recordings led by Geoff Keezer, Ingrid Jensen, Matt Shulman, Julia Dollison, and others, and can be seen regularly performing with Eric Alexander, Joel Frahm, Diego Urcola, Eric Person, Will Vinson, Lage Lund, Kendrick Scott, Gretchen Parlato, Seamus Blake, and Donny McCaslin, amongst others. He is also a regular member of the Respect Sextet -- one of two Respectees in the Society.

The thing about Matt is, he and Society drummer Jon Wikan play together all the fucking time. They don't just gig together all the fucking time. They don't just play sessions together all the fucking time. On top of that, the two of them will also get together and drink beer and play time all the fucking time. I do not have the words to tell you how fucking important that is. For a bigband to have a rhythm section that has a hookup like a real fucking rhythm section is the motherfucking end.

(Oh, I'm sorry, I appear to have channelled Chopper Reed for a moment there. My deepest fucking apologies to those of you with delicate fucking sensibilities, eh?)

Matt was inducted into the Society on Oct. 25, 2005, our second-ever gig and the first of our many appearances at the Bowery Poetry Club. He was an invaluable addition to Secret Society North on our mini-tour earlier this year, especially seeing as our Toronto hit took place at Tranzac -- i.e., the Toronto Australia New Zealand Club. (Although I don't actually recall any Australians in the audience. At least there was one at the bar afterwards.)

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Matt's appearance on our debut album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Jennifer Wharton
Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Jennifer Wharton

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Your featured co-conspirator today is bass trombonist Jennifer Wharton. Jennifer has a diverse list of credits in both the classical and commercial realms on bass trombone and tuba. Her Broadway experience includes Curtains, Mary Poppins, Gypsy, Young Frankenstein, Wicked, The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera. Jennifer has performed and/or recorded with ensembles such as the NYC Trombone Trio, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra , the Jeff Fairbanks Jazz Orchestra and the Disneyland College Band and has worked with popular artists Natalie Cole, Bernadette Peters, The Temptations, and Ann Hampton Callaway. Her playing inspired Dave Eshelman's Wharton Concerto, premiered by Jennifer and the Los Medanos College Jazz Ensemble in 1998. Jennifer holds a performance degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and is training for her fourth Half Ironman Triathlon.

I actually didn't meet Jennifer when she was in Boston -- she started at NEC just after I skipped town. But she goes way back with Brookmeyer protégé Ayn Inserto — they are both originally California girls, and Jennifer played a stint in Ayn's tremendous Boston orchestra before moving on to New York. 

In a bigband, bass trombone does more to influence the overall sound than any other horn save lead trumpet. And it requires a delicate balance -- you want power and depth and resonance, but without the blattiness that usually comes with. You need someone with great agility and time and an unshakeable hookup with the bass player. Jennifer's been bringing all that since she first started playing with us in April of this year, and I'm delighted to have her on this recording.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here if you would like to sponsor Jennifer's appearance on our debut album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Mike Holober
Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Mike Holober

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Your featured co-conspirator for today is pianist Mike Holober. Mike is a compositional heavyweight in his own right -- he leads the Gotham Jazz Orchestra and recently became Associate Music Director of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, and he was a 2003 and 2004 MacDowell Fellow. He has three recordings as a leader on Sons of Sound -- the small group recordings Canyon and Wish List, with Tim Ries, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Brian Blade, and  John Patitucci or Scott Colley, plus his big band project with The Gotham Jazz Orchestra, Thought Trains, with Ron Carter and John Riley holding down the rhythm section. A busy sideman on the New York jazz scene, Mike’s recordings include Pete McGuinness’ Sliding In and Coast to Coast, Charles Pillow’s In This World, Dave Pietro’s Now Becoming Then and Nick Brignola's First Set: Live at Sweet Basil and It’s Time, amongst others.

As a composer, his commissioned works include “Views From a Train,” for the American Saxophone Quartet, “Road Trip,” for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (premiered by New York Philharmonic saxophonist Dave Demsey), “Toccata for Flute and Marimba”for flutist Karen Demsey and percussionist Greg Giannascoli. An active educator, Mike is an Assistant Professor at the City College of New York where he directs the big band and teaches jazz composition, arranging, sight reading, rhythm section, and coaches combos. Other current teaching activities include “Outreach,” the Summer Jazz Workshop at Schwaz, Austria, and The Hartwick College Summer Music Festival & Institute. Mike regularly adjudicates and performs as guest soloist/conductor at educational festivals and his master classes in piano, composition, and group performance include a recent visit to The Royal Conservatory in Stockholm. He has been invited to give master classes at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, and was in residence this past summer at the conservatory in Innsbruck, Austria.

Mike is another longtime co-conspirator, having been a part of the Society since the beginning -- an auspicious start that began with us trying to cram into the CB's basement space and arguing with the staff there about whether the keyboard was blocking the fire exit. Mike is featured on "Flux in a Box"--  after all of the frenetic composed activity that precedes it, his solo is like a taste of sorbet (to use a favorite Brookmeyerism).

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician.  Click here if you would like to sponsor Mike's appearance on our debut album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Ingrid Jensen
Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Ingrid Jensen

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Our second featured co-conspirator today is trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, who will need no introduction to most jazz listeners -- Ingrid has been among the most outstanding artists on her instrument for many years. Born in Vancouver and raised in Nanaimo, Canada, she headed east after receiving a number of scholarships to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Since graduating in 1989, her life has been a whirlwind of musical activities. From her early days playing in the subways of New York, to establishing herself as a leader and soloist in a wide array of musical genres, Ingrid has made her mark. Her three CDs for the ENJA label and her latest album, At Sea, won her nominations from the Canadian Juno Awards, including an award in 1995 for Vernal Fields.

Ingrid's performances as a leader and as a featured soloist have taken her around the world from Canada to Japan, Australia, South America, the Caribbean and to almost every country in Europe and Scandinavia. She can be heard with the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra, the IJQ with Geoffrey Keezer, Project O, Nordic Connect and a number of New York-based bands. She has received rave reviews and has a strong reputation among critics and peers. In 2003 she was nominated, for the second time, alongside trumpeter Dave Douglas for a Jazz Journalist Association Award in New York and is seen yearly in the top five of the Downbeat Critic polls in the Talent Deserving Wider Recognition category. Ingrid was featured on Gil Evans' Porgy and Bess at the San Francisco Jazz Festival, under the direction of Maria Schneider and was also a guest in the festival's "Tribute to Woody Shaw and Freddie Hubbard", alongside Terence Blanchard, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson and Kenny Garrett. Some of the many musicians she has performed and or recorded with include; Steve Wilson, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Marc Copland, Bob Berg, Gary Thomas, Gary Bartz, Jeff Hamilton, Bill Stewart, Terri-Lynn Carrington, Geoffrey Keezer, Billy Hart, George Garzone, Chris Connor, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, Frank Wess, Dr.Billy Taylor and the DIVA Big Band. In addition to performing, she conducts master classes, clinics, and workshops around the world.

Before Secret Society made our official debut in May 2005, I spent about a year and half holding various ad-hoc reading sessions, trying out music and players and ideas and basically trying to psych myself up for embarking on such a daunting project. Ingrid played on many those sessions, and eventually buttonholed me after rehearsal and told me it was time for me to set up an actual gig for the band. So I did.

I wrote "Transit" to feature Ingrid and there are many great versions in our live audio archive -- I am partial to this one.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. We are delighted to announce that Ingrid Jensen has been sponsored! She will appear on our debut recording courtesy of Dave Lisik. We are very grateful for this generous contribution, as we would not be able to record without your support. If you, too, would like to sponsor a musician on our upcoming album, please click here for the details. 

PREVIOUSLY...

Josh Sinton
Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Josh Sinton

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

We are going to feature two co-conspirators today -- the first is baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton. Josh was raised in the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey. He began piano lessons at age 8 and by the time he was 11 started playing the clarinet. At age 16 he finally got his first saxophone (an alto). He's attended schools in Israel, Pennsylvania, Chicago and Boston and studied with a variety of teachers including Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, Dominique Eade, Ari Brown, Ken Vandermark and Howard Sandroff. Since moving to New York in 2004 he's performed with Andrew D'Angelo, Curtis Hasselbring, Jim Black, Bill McHenry and Jaimie Saft among others. Josh has written and performed for dance and theater companies in Chicago, India and New York. Currently he leads the bands Ideal Bread and holus-Bolus. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife Laura.

Josh and I met at New England Conservatory and he is the one Society co-conspirator who is also a veteran of the NEC Jazz Composers' Orchestra. He is featured on "Lizard Brain," the oldest chart in the Secret Society book -- this was (amusingly, to me at least) the closing tune on my Masters' recital and Josh played it then, too. It's kind of impossible for me to imagine anyone else playing it. Josh is a huge wine snob but is not so far gone that he cannot be lured back from the edge by an occasional Sixpoint Craft Ale or a well-mixed cocktail. He is a sometime guest-blogger here -- he has written about Steve Lacy and still owes us a post about Ran Blake. (Everyone knows that Josh does the best Ran Blake impression.)

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. And we are very pleased to announce that Josh Sinton has been sponsored! He will appear on our debut recording courtesy of Team Sinsheimer. This is not an issue that has come up before now, but for the record: yes, it is possible for you to pool your resources with others in order to sponsor a musician. And yes, previous donations will count towards your team's total.

PREVIOUSLY...

Mike Fahie
Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Mike Fahie

Today's featured co-conspirator is Mike Fahie, who has been active as a trombonist, composer, and bandleader in New York for the past eight years. An Ottawa native, Mike began his professional career in Montreal, working as a first-call trombonist with numerous artists, including the legendary Canadian composer/pianist Vic Vogel, prolific salsa producer Jesus “El Nino” Alejandro, and singer Ranee Lee. In late 2000, Mike moved to New York City to pursue a Master’s Degree at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was the first ever Candian Fulbright Scholar in the field of jazz. Mike has collaborated with many up-and-coming jazz musicians in New York, including Will Vinson, Jason Rigby, Jeff Davis, Ryan Keberle, Scott Dubois, and others.

In 2003, Mike was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trombone Competition. Mike’s developing passion for composition led him to create the Mike Fahie Jazz Orchestra. He is the principal trombonist of the Gramercy Brass Orchestra, and is also in their highly acclaimed Principal Quintet. He has a regular small group with legendary trumpet player John McNeil, and has performed with Ingrid Jensen, Jon Cowherd, Pedro Giraudo, Alan Ferber, Pete Yellin, Michael Wolff, Andrew Green, Marshall Gilkes, Paul Carlon & Ileana Santamaria. Mike has been on the faculty of the United Nations International School since 2002, leading the jazz band and teaching private lessons.

Mike shares lead trombone duties in Secret Society with Ryan Keberle. He was also integral to the success of our Canadian splinter cell, Secret Society North. Of all the musicians in Secret Society, I have known Mike the longest -- we were both undergraduates at McGill in the 90's. (I believe Mike is the only Society co-conspirator who has heard me play club date piano.) Check his playing on "Ritual" and Secret Society North's performance of "Habeas Corpus" (live at IAJE).

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here to sponsor Mike's appearance on our debut album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Sam Sadigurksy
Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Sam Sadigursky

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Saxophonist and multi-reedist Sam Sadigursky is today's featured co-conspirator. Sam has played and recorded with artists as diverse as Ray Brown and Brad Mehldau. He has won a number of awards, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, the NFAA/IAJE Clifford Brown-Stan Getz Fellowship, and the John Coltrane Young Artist Award. He performs in many top jazz and world music venues, Broadway pits and has toured the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Japan. He has also played in the Monterey, JVC, Aspen, Ravinia, and CMJ festivals, and is featured on saxophone and flute on the score to the film Seeing Other People. As a composer, Sam has been commissioned by vocal groups, film directors, and has collaborated with modern dance choreographers in live performance of their works. He can be heard in New York with the Mingus Orchestra, Gabriel Kahane, Lucia Pulido, Edmar Castaneda, Folklore Urbano, La Cumbiamba e Neye, and others. 

In 2007, Sam released a collection of his vocal compositions based on poetry, The Words Project, on New Amsterdam Records. The album was hailed as "an impressive debut" by the New York Times and given a four-star review in Time Out New York and picked as one of their top ten releases of 2007. Steve Smith called it "that rare anomaly: a jazz-and-poetry record that sounds utterly natural and convincing." Besides recently releasing a second CD as a leader, Words Project II, Sam appears as a sideman on numerous recordings for labels such as Fresh Sound New Talent, Playscape Recordings, Chonta Records, and World Culture Music.

Sam has been a loyal co-conspirator since our first gig, and for an insidious subversive who despises the good folk of Real America, he throws a mean July 4th BBQ. Sam is responsible for playing the wickedly high soprano sax part on "Desolation Sound" with inhuman ease -- so much so that soon I will soon have to take the whole chart up a minor third just to keep him from getting complacent.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here to sponsor Sam's appearance on our album. We are pleased to announce that Sam has been sponsored by Suzi Beyerstein.

PREVIOUSLY...

Sebastian Noelle
Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Sebastian Noelle

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Sebastian Noelle is today's featured co-conspirator. His most recent album as a leader is Across The River on Fresh Sound New Talent). An active member of the NYC's creative music scene, Noelle performs regularly at venues like the 55 Bar, Cornelia Street Café, Louis 649, and others. He has appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreux Jazz Festival, and has led tours in Holland, Japan, Slovakia, and his home country (Germany).

Noelle's compositions are often rhythmically intricate, drawing from the elaborate harmonic language of modern jazz and classical music and enriched by Middle Eastern, Asian,  and South American folk music. One of his regular projects is KOAN, featuring Loren Stillman, Thomson Kneeland, and Ted Poor -- here they are live at Cornelia St.:

Seb is in very high demand for projects around town because he is the rare guitarist who can (A) read insanely difficult music and (B) rock hard. (At the same time, even.) I've known him since we were in grad school together at NEC and he's been a vital weapon in the Society's arsenal since the very beginning. Seb's tasty guitar work is all over just about everything -- full-frontal assault tunes like "Ferromagnetic" wouldn't be remotely possible without him -- but we let him off the leash at the end of "Ritual," and he gets to show off his more introspective side (and his loop pedal) on "Redeye."

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here to sponsor Seb's appearance on our album.

PREVIOUSLY...

Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

PREVIOUSLY...

Nadje Noordhuis
Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know your Co-conspirators: Nadje Noordhuis

(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein)

Our next featured co-conspirator is Nadje Noordhuis (pronounced "NA-dia NORD-house"). Based in New York for the past four years, Nadje has performed at numerous jazz festivals in Europe, Australia, Asia, U.S.A and Canada,  and has shared the stage with acclaimed artists including Tom Harrell, Dave Liebman, Jim Black, Ben Monder and Carmen Bradford. Nadje was also a semi-finalist in last year's Thelonious Monk International Trumpet Competition. Born in Sydney, Australia, she discovered Miles Davis in college and it changed her life. After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in sound engineering and multimedia, she moved to Melbourne where she attained a Bachelor of Music Performance degree with Honors from the Victorian College of the Arts. She moved to NYC to study at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Laurie Frink (who will also appear on our debut album).  In 2002, she was commissioned to compose a suite to accompany streetscape photography, which she performed with her new music group comprised of strings, percussion and trumpet.

Nadje is a recent inductee into the Society, having played her first gig with us about ten and a half months ago. Like all Australians, she is practiced in the art of drunken late-night Nick Cave rasp-alongs. She is featured on "Transit" (click to listen; right/ctrl click to download) from our recent Live at LPR recording.

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. Click here to sponsor Nadje's appearance on our album.

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PREVIOUSLY...

Ryan Keberle
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know Your Co-conspirators: Ryan Keberle

(Photo: Jen Trail)

As part of our fundraising efforts for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. For a tax-deductible (via Fractured Atlas) donation of $500 or more, you will be credited in the liner notes, plus other neat perks. So I am posting profile of the musicians who will be appearing on this recording. Today we feature Ryan Keberle, who splits lead trombone duties with Mike Fahie.

Ryan arrived in NYC eight years ago and has been keeping extremely busy. He's played hits at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room, Birdland, and the Bowery Ballroom, and tours frequently, having performed in Scandinavia, Italy, Ireland, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, etc. (He's in China right now!) Ryan graduated in 2001 from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Steve Turre and composers Mike Abene and the late Manny Album. He went on to study with Wycliffe Gordon and David Berger at Juilliard, and was a member of Jazz at Juilliard's first graduating class.

Ryan has also performed or recorded with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Charles McPherson, Percy Heath, Teo Macero, Joe Lovano, Eric Reed, Ivan Lins, Jon Hendricks, Madeline Peyroux, and Alicia Keys among others. He is the regular trombonist for the Broadway musical In the Heights. In April of 2007 Ryan released his debut CD, Ryan Keberle Double Quartet, which the New York Times's Nate Chinen hailed as an "auspicious debut."

Ryan plays in like a bazillion bigbands in town, including Maria's. But I would like to go on the record to state that she stole him from me, and not the other way around — Ryan has been a Secret Society co-conspirator since October 2005 (our second-ever gig). I wrote "Zeno" as a feature for him, and he also tears it up on "Ritual."

Click here to sponsor Ryan's appearance on our recording.

Previously...
Erica vonKleist

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Know Your Co-conspirators: Erica vonKleist

(Photo: Dani Gurgel)

As some of you know, as part of our efforts to raise money for our upcoming recording, Infernal Machines, we are offering you the opportunity to sponsor a Secret Society musician. For a tax-deductible (via Fractured Atlas) donation of $500 or more, you will be credited in the liner notes: "[MUSICIAN'S NAME] appears courtesy of [YOUR NAME]." Plus you will get an exclusive autographed photo and thank-you note from the musician you've sponsored.

In the hopes of encouraging more people to take advantage of this, from now until Dec. 15, I'll be posting more info about the amazing musicians who will be appearing on this recording. Today we begin with Erica vonKleist, who leads our wind section.

Erica's a West Hartford native who moved to New York in 2000 to study at the Manhattan School of Music. She finished her studies at Juilliard after they launched their jazz program, earning the first Bachelor's Degree in jazz in the history of the school. Since 2003, she's been a member of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Arturo O'Farrill. She plays flute in Chris Potter's Tentet, and is featured on last year's Song for Anyone. In 2006, Erica released her first album as a leader with her band, Project E, and she will soon begin recording for her next project. She also paints!

Erica has been a Secret Society co-conspirator ever since our first gig back in May 2005. In addition to being a kickass improvising saxophonist, Erica is like a scarily good flutist. A lot of jazz saxophonists can double on flute well enough to get by in most casual situations, but Erica is actually serious about the instrument. This means I can write real flute parts for her in Secret Society, which is awesome.

Erica is featured on alto flute and soprano sax on "Chrysalis" (click to listen; right/ctrl-click to download). She is sad that she almost never gets to play her main horn in this band, so one of the new pieces I'm working on will be an alto sax feature for her.

Click here to sponsor Erica's appearance on our recording.

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Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

... and now my life has changed in oh so many ways

Last Sunday I posted in praise of New Amsterdam Records, who will be releasing our debut recording. I also posted a link to the NewAm Artist Agreement, which details, in plain English, the financial arrangement I have with them. As you can see, it is extremely artist-positive — I retain full copyright of the recording and proceeds from album sales are split 80/20 in my favor until the recording costs are recouped.

The flip side of this, however, is that the artist does not get an advance to pay for recording costs. However, since in a traditional record contract, the "advance" is often a one-way ticket to perpetual indentured servitude, the NewAm terms are ultimately much more favorable. But it does mean that the responsibility of raising the necessary capital to make the recording in the first place is 100% on the artist. And recording a big band in the studio is a crushingly expensive proposition — which is why I have avoided it thus far.

What happened to change my mind? Well, on top of the offer to sign with New Amsterdam Records, whose generous terms make breaking even at least a theoretical possibility, I also received a commission from the Jazz Gallery’s Large Ensemble Commissioning Series, an invitation to make this recording a WBGO Studio Session, and the SOCAN/IAJE Emerging Composer Award. The combined proceeds are still several significant digits short of a MacArthur, but they are enough to get the ball rolling.

However, in order to actually complete this recording, I need your help. It’s donations from people like you that made our January 2008 tour possible. Thanks to your generous support, we were able to raise over $1000 towards our travel costs and make good on our invitation to appear at the 2008 IAJE conference. Were it not for you, we would never have played in Montreal or Toronto, and we'd never have gotten these rave reviews for those shows. We would not have had the chance to collaborate with Tim Hagans (check his unbelievable solo on “Ferromagnetic”). And in all likelihood, we would not be headed into the studio this fall, either. You came through when we needed you, for which I am abidingly grateful. But now, for this recording, we need your support more than ever.

I understand that this is the single worst time to ask for money in living memory. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of waiting out the current financial meltdown. This recording is — seriously — a make-or-break proposition for us. The choice was stark: either I thank everyone in the band for their time and call it a day, or I book us some studio time and double down on the album being a success. Secret Society has gotten as far as we possibly can without the benefit of a proper studio recording. That’s a lot farther than was once possible, but there is definitely an upper limit and we have reached it.

The reality is, we cannot make this album without your help. But the upside is that thanks to the fine people at Fractured Atlas, your contributions are all tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. It’s easy and secure to make an online donation — just click the button below:

For this project, I considered offering various levels of support, just like your favorite Large Arts Institution. You know, tiered categories like "Friends," "Notables," Patrons," etc. But honestly, that didn't feel quite right. I mean, we are grateful beyond belief to everyone who contributes. Small internet-based donations have transformed politics, and they have the potential to transform the music scene as well. Trust me, the contributions of ordinary people kicking in a few bucks makes an enormous difference to the success of a recording like this. Small donations help us do the little-but-crucial things — like making sure the band gets fed and properly caffeinated during our marathon 12-hour recording days.

That’s why all donors at every level will be listed on our Thank-You Page (unless of course, you wish to give anonymously) -- no matter how much you give, you have our undying gratitude. But there was one thing I thought might be a nice incentive for those of you who are able to contribute a bit more — I’m offering you the opportunity to sponsor one of the musicians who appears on the album.

SPONSOR A MUSICIAN

If you contribute $500 or more via Fractured Atlas, you'll be underwriting a musician’s appearance on the album, and you will get a credit in the liner notes for doing so — e.g.: "Erica vonKleist appears courtesy of [YOUR NAME GOES HERE]." You’ll also get a one-of-a-kind autographed glossy photo from the recording session, and a personalized handwritten thank-you letter from the sponsored musician. Plus, naturally, you'll get a listing on our Thank-You Page and our undying gratitude.

There are only 18 of these sponsorship slots available -- one per musician -- so when you make a donation of $500 or more, please also send me an email letting me know who you would like to sponsor. For an up-to-date list of which musicians are still available for sponsorship, please check here.

BE OUR EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Alternatively... if you contribute $5000 via Fractured Atlas, in addition to personally sponsoring ten(!) musicians, you will also get the coveted Executive Producer credit for the recording. (Only one person can be Executive Producer.) Plus you will receive an invitation to Bennett Studios in Englewood, NJ to watch us record in person. And, it goes without saying, a listing on our Thank-You Page and our undying gratitude.

Just to be clear, one thing I can’t do with these online donations is to offer anything of tangible monetary value as an incentive. So much as I’d personally love to send donors who give X amount a free copy of the CD and a Secret Society T-Shirt, I can’t. If you want swag — and it is fine, fine swag — you will have to purchase it separately. Sorry.

But remember — all donations made via Fractured Atlas are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. If your employer has a matching gift program for charitable contributions, in most cases Fractured Atlas is eligible for that — just shoot them an email and they will give you further instructions.

If you like to kick it old-school, we can also accept donations by check -- please email me in advance and I will let you know how this works.

I don’t need to tell anyone reading this how important this recording is to me and to all of the musicians in the band. I can’t wait to finally have the opportunity to document this music properly and get it out there to a wider audience. But we can’t afford to do it alone. I truly hate asking for money, especially at a time like this, but the bottom line is that we absolutely need your help. If you’ve enjoyed seeing the band live or listening to the live recordings I’ve given away over the years, please donate. If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog, please donate. If you want to encourage the survival of independent, creative, unreasonably ambitious music, please donate. Your support means the world.

Yours most sincerely,

— Darcy James Argue

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Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag

Kass writes in the comments:

After a Christian McBride concert:

Geoff Keezer - "Is that a Darcy Argue shirt?"

Me - "Yeah"

GK - "That is so hip! I want one of those so I can be that hip!"

You know who else is hip? John Guari, who kindly sent me this pic:

(Photo: Michael Garcia)

Perhaps you, too, harbor a desire to be hipper than Geoff Keezer. (This is understandable, as Geoff Keezer is exceptionally hip.) If so, you can acquire your very own Secret Society T-Shirt from our Swag Page. These are quality silkscreened tees from Hemlock Ink -- not like those cheap-ass CaféPress transfers. And you'll be helping to fund Secret Society-related program activities, like recordings and tours.

Thank you

Well, the fundraising for our IAJE-killing winter 2008 tour (N.B. we did not actually kill IAJE) has officially concluded, and I'd like to give one final shout-out to all of the individuals who helped make it happen. Last year around this time was when I first decided, "Fuck it, let's take the band on the road and see what happens." What happened was that we played for tremendously supportive crowds, garnered some very positive writeups, laid the groundwork for future excursions, and somehow enticed Tim Hagans into becoming an official co-conspirator. But at the time I had no idea how I was going to pay for any of it -- even the most bare-bones, couch-surfing, car-stuffing, favor-expoiting, goodwill-straining bigband tour in history still costs a whole lot more than it could ever hope to bring in. And so it was, well, terrifying. Especially when the cruel hand of fate denied us basically all of the grants we had been counting on. There was a point (several points, actually) when I was ready to scuttle the whole tour. But thanks to individual donations from you guys -- supporters of the band, readers of the blog -- we were actually able to pull it off.

I am incredibly grateful to the following people:

Lori Kirchen
Jack Brown
David Rothschild
Mwanji Ezana
John Murphy
Gerard Hogan
Michael Bradley
Paul James Birchenough
Christopher Ekman
Richard Kamins
Amy Cervini
Patrick Boyle
Steve Bellamy
Ayn Inserto
Leigh Daniels
Anthony Cammarata
Suzi Beyerstein
Janet Allen
Gord & Nancy Argue

And also to:

David Ryshpan
Caitlin Smith
Jennifer Koopman & John Bickle

There is absolutely no way we could ever have done it without you.

* * * * *

So now that tour and post-tour fundraising has officially wrapped, we have shifted our Fractured Atlas fiscal sponsorship project to long-term support for Secret Society, which allows individual donors to make tax-deductible online contributions, which help ensure that we can keep making this music.

I do have a very exciting, long-awaited major endeavor to announce soon, but in the meanwhile, consider this a friendly reminder that your support is always, always deeply appreciated.

MANDATORY DISCLAIMER GOES HERE: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

What's your addy? I'll send merch!

That's right -- we are now offering Secret Society t-shirts.

Take a look:

These were designed by my good buddy Travis Williams, and lovingly silkscreened by Hemlock Ink of Somerville, MA -- a musician-owned enterprise that does top-quality work. No cheap-ass CaféPress transfers here, this is the real deal. 100% preshrunk cotton, and you can have it in any color you want, so long as it is black. Available in S, M, L, XL, they ship worldwide via USPS Priority Mail. You will also be able to buy them in person at our Dec. 16 Bowery Poetry Club gig.

This shirt can be yours for a mere $15 plus shipping. All proceeds go to our Winter 2008 Tour Fund, or as I like to call it, the Jazz Musician Hypothermia Prevention Endowment.

Click here to order. N.B. The web store is powered by PayPal, but you do not need a PayPal account to order.