Secret Society

Followup

To this.

This:

[Via Hodgman.]

Hey citrus, hey liquor, I love it when you touch each other

John Hodgman blogs about Rachel Maddow's interview with master mixologist Dale DeGroff. Sweet christ, it's like my own personal triple nerdpocalypse. (And yes, that moment Hodgman references is spectacular, and does nothing to diminish my fanboy love.) 

Many of my friends are foodies, for which I am very thankful, especially around this time of year. But I have carved out my own niche as the cocktail guy. I'll be mixing East Indias and Prosecutors at tomorrow's feast in honor of this convergence.

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.

Secret Society @ Jazz Gallery, 12-13 Dec.

Darcy James Argue's

SECRET SOCIETY

at the

JAZZ GALLERY

Friday 12 December & Saturday 13 December, 2008

two sets each night

9:00 PM & 10:30 PM

Tickets: Dec 12 • Dec 13

Part of the Jazz Gallery's Large Ensemble Series

new music

more info...

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

-----

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.

My pops used to say, it reminded him of bebop

Ouch.

All music genres go through a very similar life cycle: birth, growth, mainstream acceptance, decline, and finally obscurity. With black music, however, the final stage is never reached because white people are work tirelessly to keep it alive. Apparently, once a music has lost its relevance with its intended audience, it becomes MORE relevant to white people.

Historically speaking, the music that white people have kept on life support for the longest period of time is Jazz. Thanks largely to public radio, bookstores, and coffee shops, Jazz has carved out a niche in white culture that is not yet ready to be replaced by Indie Rock. But the biggest role that Jazz plays in white culture is in the white fantasy of leisure. All white people believe that they prefer listening to jazz over watching television. This is not true.

Every few a months, a white person will put on some Jazz and pour themselves a glass of wine or scotch and tell themselves how nice it is. Then they will get bored and watch television or write emails to other white people about how nice it was to listen to Jazz at home. “Last night, I poured myself a glass of Shiraz and put Charlie Parker on the Bose. It was so relaxing, I wish I had a fireplace.” Listing this activity as one of your favorites is a sure fire way to make progress towards a romantic relationship with a white person.

After this, I knew it was only a matter of time.

Pas de Deux

If you have not yet seen Frank Oteri's video interview with Maria Schneider over at NewMusicBox, it is definitely worth your time. There is a transcript, but you really want to watch the video -- Maria's warmth and self-effacing Minnesota charm really come through. I doubt anyone who's tried to play her music would describe it as "almost painfully simple" as she does in the video, but the distinction she makes between music that is "intricate"/"highly detailed" versus music that is "complex" is one that resonates for me. (Not to re-ignite that discussion, but... )

At one point in the interview, Frank references a post I wrote earlier this year on Maria's Bulería, Soleá y Rumba -- if you are curious, here it is again.

Maria's band is at Jazz Standard next week for their annual Thanksgiving week run -- Nov. 25-30, except Nov. 27. Also, her fantastic sophomore album, Coming About, has gotten some remastering love and is being reissued.

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

-----

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.

Mark Turner update

Aaron Parks has posted the latest news regarding Mark Turner's injury. The hand surgery appears to have gone well -- while it is obviously too soon to know for certain, everyone seems optimistic about the prospects for a full recovery. The procedure was (thankfully) covered by Mark's health insurance and he'll be taking on additional private students to help make ends meet during his convalescence. Aaron is also looking into setting up a fund for those who wish to contribute. Naturally I'll post a link to that once it goes live.

I want to hear and see everything

Alex Cline on Mitch Mitchell.

As instant Hendrix fanatics, we ardently followed all the subsequent recordings and developments. The music certainly doesn't need to be reviewed at this point, but some of the truly memorable and outstanding examples of Mitch's drumming that I'd like to mention in this moment are the driving groove that exemplifies the title of the tune on which it is heard, "Fire"; the already mentioned "Third Stone from the Sun," where Mitch seems to be pushing a crazy cosmic big band with his flurries of swinging accents and free-form waves of toms and snare; the free jazz/noise insanity of "I Don't Live Today"; the deep pocket-cum-free-against-the-time soling on "If 6 Was 9" (and where he seems to drop a drumstick in the middle of a furious phrase, ending it midstream); the amazingly swinging, pure jazz brushwork on "Up from the Skies"; the furiously blazing bashing on the otherwise totally silly Noel Redding tune "She's So Fine"; the glorious flanger-heavy close of "Bold as Love" (which I honestly felt at the time was sort of the most ultimately perfect, heavenly musical moment I'd heard till then; I used to play it over and over); the astounding solo on, of all things, a slow blues (!), certainly one of the most amazing slow blues jams of all time, "Voodoo Chile"; and the slushy, wonderful slow backing for the moving "Angel" from Hendrix's last album. These are only few standouts in a catalog of consistently stellar performances, as most people already know. Everything Mitch recorded, which sounded so fresh and remarkable at the time it was waxed, still sounds absolutely astounding today. Adding to the astonishment is the fact that when he started making this music he was only 19 years old! I don’t think I ever realized the weight of this until now. It's almost a Tony Williams scenario! I certainly never sounded anything close to that good when I was that age! Mitch was a phenomenon.

Go read.

How to dismantle an atomic bomb

My friend Isaac Butler very kindly lined up early yesterday in order to snag us a pair of rush seats for the final performance of Doctor Atomic at the Met. Isaac is a very smart theatre director who doesn't regularly go to the opera, so he brings a professional's eye but also an outsider's perspective. His critique of the staging is totally on-point and the flaws he points out are -- in my admittedly ultra-limited experience at the opera -- rather widespread. (Is it really too much to ask that performers move with a purpose whenever they are on stage?)

Also, Mark Adamo is totally right about the libretto. Look, it's an opera. Sung text takes longer to deliver than spoken text. Even when your show lasts for three and a half hours, you only have time for so many words. Make them count. (I quibble only with his critique of the John Donne "Batter My Heart" aria, which is both awesome in and of itself, and a welcome injection of energy into an otherwise moribund production.)

Adams's music is great -- the orchestration is spectacular, and the final ten minutes are especially gripping. But the libretto is a high-concept cop-out and the staging is inert. I can't help but be disappointed -- I so wanted to like this.

Respect

Much love to the recently departed Miriam Makeba and Mitch Mitchell.

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.

Live down on the Bowery somewhere, yeah

Darcy James Argue, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

Sincerest thanks to all who came out to hear us Sunday night. I'm afraid the recording karma was unkind -- my own digital device failed to cooperate (not for the first time), and we are still waiting to see if the BPC's house recording turned out. But in the meanwhile, please feel free to check out our Live Audio Archive and also these very kind writeups from Karen Hildebrand and the indefatigable Terri. Lindsay and Peter have photos. 

Also, I make a cameo appearance at Hooves on the Turf's "Where were you when Obama won?" roundup.

Ours was not the only bigband at the BPC Sunday night. We were preceded by bassist Marty Isenberg's assemblage. I hadn't heard of his group before and only managed to catch their closing number but they were very hip -- check 'em out on MySpace.

Also, anyone catch the name of the badass neo-soul band that went on after us? They were phenomenal.

Secret Society @ Bowery Poetry Club, 9 Nov.

Darcy James Argue's

SECRET SOCIETY

at

BOWERY POETRY CLUB

Sunday, Nov. 9

7:30 PM

Darcy James Argue and his band of eighteen fiendish co-conspirators return once again to what has become their usual haunt on Old Bowery Lane, the Bowery Poetry Club. The BPC is among the neighborhood's few remaining havens for unreconstructed reprobates, picaroons, and steampunk bigband enthusiasts, and the Society is delighted to return to these familiar environs.

It is also our pleasure to induct some fresh co-conspirators, including trumpeters Laurie Frink (who will also be appearing on our upcoming recording), John Bailey, and Nathan Warner and guitarist Pete McCann, alongside repeat offenders John Ellis and Alan Ferber, and hopeless habituals like James Hirschfeld and Jon Wikan.

We are cognizant of the fact that many of our loyal followers are planning on embarking on a weeklong bender of either celebratory or despairing bent (dependent on the outcome) beginning on Nov. 4. Please be advised that there is absolutely no need to sober up before attending our euphonious spectacle, though we do recommend you attempt to remain within staggering distance of the Bowery Poetry Club.

*    *    *    *    *

CO-CONSPIRATORS

Winds

Ben Kono

Rob Wilkerson

John Ellis

Mark Small

Josh Sinton

Trumpets

Nathan Warner

John Bailey

Laurie Frink

Nadje Noordhuis

Tom Goehring

Trombones

Alan Ferber

Mike Fahie

James Hirschfeld

Jennifer Wharton

Rhythm

Pete McCann, guitar

Mike Holober, keyboards

Matt Clohesy, contrabass

Jon Wikan, drums & percussion

Composer, Conductor, Ringleader

Darcy James Argue

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We are fundraising! Please help Secret Society record our debut album by making a tax-deductible contribution.

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.

Mark Turner tragedy

Mark Turner_3, originally uploaded by vladrus.

Sweet christ this is grim. Aaron Parks reported this on his MySpace blog yesterday:

I'm afraid I have some sobering news to share, though, about one of my friends, someone who is an inspiration to countless musicians, a true genius, and a beautiful spirit: Mark Turner.

A few minutes ago, I received a text message from Kurt Rosenwinkel informing me that Mark severely cut two of his fingers with a power saw, and is in the hospital awaiting surgery tomorrow morning. They will be trying to reattach nerves, tendons, and arteries. With luck, the surgery will be successful, and he will eventually regain the use of his injured fingers. It'll be no less than 6 months of rehab, though.

I asked Kurt whether I should keep it quiet or not, and he told me it would be okay to blog about it and get as much positive energy sent in Mark's direction as possible right now, especially until tomorrow's surgery is finished. So, everyone, please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers tonight, and tomorrow morning. My heart is hurting as I imagine the pain that they must be going through right now.

There's not much more I can say. I'm having a difficult time imagining what kind of silver lining can be found in a senseless accident of this kind. Let's just hope that everything heals, that his recovery is speedy, and that he'll soon regain full command of his instrument and will be once again creating those moments of transcendent musical beauty, in the way that he always so uniquely does.

(11/5 update: for those who are wondering, I haven't managed to get any information yet about how the surgery went, but will let you know as soon as I do. In the meantime, I'm working with some friends to try to organize a benefit concert playing Mark's compositions to raise some money for his family. More details to come...)

Mark Turner is, of course, one of the greatest saxophonists of his generation. Here's hoping his surgery is a miraculous success.

UPDATE: More from Aaron...

The show of support for Mark over the last few days has been incredible. Please keep the positivity flowing in.

A lot of people have been asking for an update, so I wanted to pass along the little bit of information that I know. The surgery was this morning, with one of the best hand surgeons in the country, and it apparently went as well as could be hoped for. It'll take some time to know whether the procedure will ultimately be successful in restoring the full use of his hand, but everyone is hoping for the best. Mark is, of course, inspiringly Zen about the whole thing, already accepting things however they turn out. We'll just have to wait: time will tell, I guess.

In the meantime, keep all the support coming. Many people have asked if there's a way they could help financially, since he's basically lost his main source of income for the next 6 months at least. I'll look into it to see if he's receptive to that kind of thing. Will let you know.

Thanks again for all the love you've shown towards him and his family...

I do not speak Italian

... but someone who speaks Italian can check out this interview in the latest issue of Jazz Colours, a monthly Italian email-zine. I think the privilege is yours to read about us, but I and my fellow co-conspirators reserve the right to come to your goddamn cities and begin playing for you. You can even take our picture. Surely our invitation to Umbria is already in the mail?

Let freedom ring

We believe that all men are created equal. Yet many are denied equal treatment.

We believe that all men have certain unalienable rights. Yet many Americans do not enjoy those rights.

We believe that all men are entitled to the blessings of liberty. Yet millions are being deprived of those blessings -- not because of their own failures, but because of the color of their skin.

The reasons are deeply imbedded in history and tradition and the nature of man. We can understand -- without rancor or hatred -- how this all happened.

But it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our Republic, forbids it. The principles of our freedom forbid it. Morality forbids it. And the law I will sign tonight forbids it.

[...]

This Civil Rights Act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and our States, in our homes and in our hearts, to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice in our beloved country.

So tonight I urge every public official, every religious leader, every business and professional man, every working man, every housewife -- I urge every American -- to join in this effort to bring justice and hope to all our people--and to bring peace to our land.

My fellow citizens, we have come now to a time of testing. We must not fail.

Let us close the springs of racial poison. Let us pray for wise and understanding hearts. Let us lay aside irrelevant differences and make our Nation whole. Let us hasten that day when our unmeasured strength and our unbounded spirit will be free to do the great works ordained for this Nation by the just and wise God who is the Father of us all.

Thank you and good night.

— President Lyndon Baines Johnson, July 2, 1964

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled -- Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

— President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, November 4, 2008

Categorical Imperative

If you run into problems at the polls, remember this number -- 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

Joe le taxi, y va pas partout

This is all over the place but too good not to reproduce here -- the "Justiciers masqués," hosts on Montreal radio station CKOI (pronounced "C'est quoi?"), prank call Sarah Palin, hard. It is truly a thing of beauty.

I love how they slip in so much francophone fanservice. The call contains references to Johnny Hallyday (the "French Elvis"), Stef Carse (infamous for recording the French-language version of "Achy Breaky Heart"), Richard Z. Sirois (legendary Quebecois comedian and radio host), and the Vanessa Paradis hit "Joe le Taxi." But one thing I thought for sure was part of the joke turned out not to be -- "Franck Louvrier" (i.e., "Frank the Worker") really is the name of President Sarkozy's communications director.

The best writeups on this so far are by the Canadian Press and La Presse (Google-translated version if you don't speak French). The duo spent five days setting up the call and somehow passed a Secret Service background check. That's right -- Canadian comics don't front.

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.

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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

-----

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.