The Jazz Gallery is one of the greatest places to hear music in the entire world. Anyone who's ever seen a show there knows this. I've seen master improvisers like Henry Threadgill and Lee Konitz from the Gallery's front row, sitting mere inches from their horns. I've been envelopped by the sound of large ensembles packed ino the tiny space -- groups led by Sherisse Rogers, Pedro Giraudo, and other amazing composer-bandleaders. It's a stage that encourages and nurtures new artists -- when they invited us to perform there for the first time, back in 2007 they were the first"real" jazz venue to offer us a gig! Before we recorded our first album, Infernal Machines, we warmed up with a weekend at The Jazz Gallery that included the premiere of two works commissioned by their Large Ensemble Comissioning Series -- "Obsidian Flow" and "Jacobin Club." (What other jazz venue has a large ensemble comissioning series?)
Sadly, The Jazz Gallery have been forced to move out of their much-loved current location in mid-December. (Never fear, we fully expect them to rise again, phoenix-like, before too long — you can help them do it here.) Meanwhile, this weekend, we are celebrating the living history of the current location with two nights of music, including the two works comissioned by The Jazz Gallery, and a preview of our upcoming recording, Brooklyn Babylon. We hope you'll join us for this final bigband blow-out at one of my all-time favorite venues.
WINDS
Ben Kono
Rob Wilkerson
Janelle Reichman
John Ellis
Carl Maraghi
TRUMPETS
Jonathan Powell
Tom Goehring
Matt Holman
Nadje Noordhuis
David Smith
TROMBONES
Mike Fahie
Ryan Keberle
Shannon Barnett
Jennifer Wharton
RHYTHM
Sebastian Noelle, guitar
Adam Birnbaum, piano
Matt Clohesy, bass
Jon Wikan, drums
One the most distressingly common questions I get asked by presenters is: "can't you do something a bit... smaller?" I have to patiently explain that no, we really are an 18-piece band (plus me) and I really do need all of them. But I'm often tempted to unleash the snark: "Smaller… why, that's brilliant! It simply never occurred to me before that I could have saved myself all that hassle — not to mention a small fortune — by simply reconstituting Secret Society as a solo project! Why have I been bothering with 18 flesh-and-blood musicians when I could just do the whole thing myself with a keyboard, laptop, loop pedal, and drum machine?"[1]
But when George Wein asked me to do present my music with a small group for his Seeing Jazz series, that was different. George has been an early and vocal supporter of Secret Society (for starters, he's brought us to Newport twice in the past three years) so I promised him I'd find a way to make it work.
I knew it wouldn't make sense for me to try to create small-group versions of Secret Society works, but I thought perhaps it might make sense for someone else, someone unconnected to the band, to reimagine this music and make it their own. Ideally that person would have some familiarity with bigband music, some understanding of why certain things are written the way they are. I wanted someone who was a strong composer and bandleader in their own right, someone with a distinct personal style who could really bring something different to the table.
Bassist-composer-bandleader Pedro Giraudo fit the bill in all respects. He's an oustanding composer in his own right — I became an instant fan of his music the first time I heard it, shortly after moving to New York. Pedro hails from Córdoba, Argentina, and his music creates a beguiling and deeply personal synthesis of contemporary jazz and folkloric elements, simultaneously sophisticated and earthy. Check it out:
Pedro has led groups of various sizes and configurations, from trios to mid-sized groups right up to his Expansions Big Band, which made their debut at Birdland this summer. This show will feature his regular septet which includes Giraudo, Todd Bashore on reeds, Tatum Greenblatt on trumpet, Jess Jurkovic on piano, Eric Doob on drums, Paulo Stagnaro on percussion, and a, ah, familiar face on trombone.
I'm pretty excited about this: I told Pedro to approach this project in the spirit of Bob Brookmeyer, whose standard disclaimer when he was commissioned to create arrangements was: "I cannot guarantee one recognizable note." I have not been privy to any of the rehearsals (though there's been some Facebook chatter about them) -- I'll be hearing them for the first time on Friday night, at the same time as you guys. I look forward to being surprised.
Tickets are here -- those under 30 can get half-price ($15) admission at the door.
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1. Actually, that is a real question I have asked myself on more than one occasion.
Was disco the last musical genre that absolutely everyone had to get in on? It wasn't just the likes of Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones and Wings-era Paul McCartney and the Grateful Dead and Kiss… a surprising number of major jazz artists also made disco-inflected records. There's Ron Carter's 1976 Pastels, which opens with the glossy string-sweetened "Woolaphant." Also in '76, Dizzy Gillespie put out a record called Dizzy's Party — here's the title track. Sonny Rollins even put out a tune called, of all things, "Disco Monk" — it's from 1979's aptly titled Dont Ask. (Rembmer, Thelonious was still around at this point and consequently had no grave to spin in.) Almost all of the big bands had their disco moments, too — Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Thad & Mel — but nobody embraced disco with as much gusto as Maynard Ferguson. I still vividly remember the time when my teenage self first heard his disco version of the theme to Battlestar Galactica — I think my jaw still hurts from where it hit the floor.
The above tracks (and more) were all referenced in a recent Twitter discussion of jazz-disco crossovers — I'm grateful to Jacob Garchik, Dave Sumner, Mark Stryker, and everyone else who chimed in with their suggestions.
The discussion was instigated somewhat by the fact that Secret Society is going to be appearing this Saturday, August 25 at the Ecstatic Summer Festival, where we'll be joined onstage by the 17-piece neo-disco band, Escort. In addition to separate sets, we'll be bringing both bands together for a few tunes, including an original of mine called "Penumbra" (think late 70's Quincy Jones meets Guillermo Klein's rhythmic filter) and my arrangements of two influential disco-era tracks recorded by Donald Byrd, "Stepping Into Tomorrow" and "Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)" — both of which will feature special guest soloist Tim Hagans.
This isn't a vein of music that we in Secret Society get to tap explicity very much, but that doesn't mean we don't love it or aren't deeply influenced by it. So let's take a minute to get a few things straight:
• DISCO IS AWESOME. Notwithstanding the ill-advised crossover attempts listed above, the decades-long knee-jerk "Disco Sucks" backlash is lazy and tired and needs to stop. Yes, there is baddisco. There is bad everything. But disco was the natural outgrowth of 70's funk and Philly soul, and there's no shortage of deeply grooving disco tracks that easily stand up today. For the skeptical, I recommend and endorse this Sound Opinions podcast on disco's early years. For the advanced class, y'all need to get Nile Rogers' amazing autobiography, which came out last year. GQ has an extended excerpt, and the story of Chic's first single, "Everybody Dance," is one of the best things you'll ever read.
• ESCORT ARE AWESOME. Disco was always more of a product of the recording studio than the live stage, partly due to the nature of late 70's nightclub culture but also due to the huge number of musicians required to make that music happen. Escort does it up right, wtih a full 17-piece band including multiple strings, horns, percussionists, guitarists, and backup singers. They groove hard, and their lead singer, Adeline Michele, is a force of nature: Exhibit A.
• TIM HAGANS IS AWESOME. I don't think this is a particularly controversial point, I just want to remind everyone that Tim Hagans is a bad motherfucker and we're incredibly excited to feature him with us on this show.
• DONALD BYRD'S 70's RECORDS ARE AWESOME. Seriously, these records are nothing like those embarassing jazz-disco cuts by other artists referenced above. Unlike most of his peers, Donald Byrd made the transition to electric groove-based jazz successfully, and a big part of that success was his longtime association with the Mizell Brothers.
Larry and Fonce Mizell met Donald Byrd while they were students at Howard, where Byrd was on faculty. Larry earned a degree in electrical engineering and worked on the Apollo Lunar Module. Fonce went out to LA where he was a founding member of The Corporation, the Motown songwriting and production crew responsible for most of the Jackson 5's hits, including "I Want You Back." Larry eventually went out west to join his brother and together they founded Sky High Productions. The Mizells contributed to Byrd's 1972 Ethiopian Nights, but their big breaktrhough was Black Byrd, which became the best-selling Blue Note record of all time.
Larry and Fonce Mizell continued to produce all of DB's 70's output for Blue Note, including Street Lady (1973), Stepping into Tomorrow and Places and Spaces (both 1975) and Caricatures (1976). When the Mizells and Byrd parted ways, things start to go a bit astray — 1978's Thank You… For F.U.M.L. (Funking Up My Life) has an unbeatable title and is still a fun listen ("Your Love Is My Ecstasy" almost made the cut for the August 25 show) but without the Mizells' guiding hand, the cheese factor ramps up precipitously.
The Mizell-era Donald Byrd records were reviled by jazz critics and by many of Byrd's peers, who branded him an apostate and a sellout for abandoning the acoustic hard bop style he helped define. But they are seriously beloved by DJs and soul and disco afficionados, and have been widelysampled by hiphop artists — if anything, Donald Byrd is probably held in higher esteem by them than he is by jazz fans. (When I first sat down to talk repetoire with Escort's co-founders, Dan Balis and Eugene Cho, they already knew all about these records.)
It's easy to hear why — the playing, writing, arranging, production, and recorded sound on these records is just brilliant, particularly on Stepping Into Tomorrow and Places and Spaces. The music is concise, soulful, and unpretentious, qualities a lot of other 1970's recordings by jazz artists could maybe have used a little more of. The rhythm section is anchored by the unstoppable team of bassist Chuck Rainey (one of the most-recorded bassits of all time, probably best-known for his playing on Aretha Franklin's Young, Gifted, and Black, plus all of Steely Dan's best records) and drummer Harvey Mason (Headhunters, Brecker Brothers).
The tunes are full of inventive details, like the incredibly hip descending minor 9th bassline in "Stepping Into Tomorrow," or how the chord progression in"Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)" passes through the bII MA7 in the turnaround. And Donald Byrd himself is in fine form on all these records — and he doesn't just play, he also contributes lead vocals! So okay, no one's going mistake him for Donny Hathaway, but seriously, he acquits himself just fine.
The Red Bull Music Academy released this excellent video interview with the Mizells:
If you jump to about 1:19:10 you can check out a fascinating breakdown of the groove on "Think Twice," a song from Stepping Into Tomorrow. It starts with just Harvey's bass drum mic solo'd, and gradually brings in the hihat mic, snare mic, and overheads, and then finally bass, congas, rhythm guitars, and piano. More than a master class in rhythmic authority, this breakdown also lets you hear the players interact in real time. They're constantly embellishing around the basic rhythmic structure, trading fills, etc, all without stepping on each other or getting in the way of the groove. This is the best kind of rhythm section playing: it's selfless, unshowy, and relentlessly badass.
Want more? Here's a rare recording (never issued on CD, so far as I know*) of Donald Byrd & co. live at the Roxy, absolutely destroying on "(Fallin' Like) Dominoes":
Donald Byrd's 1970's records with the Mizells succeed because of the authentic and profound craft that went into their creation. They weren't carelessly tossed-off in a crass attempt to try to cash in on current trends, they were meticulously shaped by master muiscians at the very top of their game. They were made by artists who were engaged in a real conversation with contemporary muiscal culture, and even helped define it: "Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)" was a legitimate hit on the dancefloor. And the legacy and spirit of these groundbreaking recordings is alive and well — just look at the albums Robert Glasper and Esperanza Spalding released this year.
Some of you may still be thinking "Yes, but is it jazz?" To those people, I say, "Seriously? That is literally the least interesting qustion you could ask about this music."
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* UPDATE: In comments, Neil points out that the live version of "(Falling Like) Dominoes" is available on this compilation.
Secret Society returns to the Newport Jazz Festival tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 4) — we play the Fort Stage at 2:20 PM. Looking forward to seeing you there! I'll be available after the show to sign CDs and/or general chitchat, or like if you want to buy me a lobster roll or something. And for those of you not able to attend in person, there will be a live video feed broadcast on the inter-webs, courtesy of the National Public Radio.
Our Newport co-conspirators include:
WINDS Erica vonKleist Rob Wilkerson Sam Sadigurksy John Ellis Josh Sinton
TRUMPETS Seneca Black Tom Goehring Matt Holman Nadje Noordhuis Ingrid Jensen
TROMBONES Mike Fahie Marshall Gilkes James Hirschfeld Jennifer Wharton
RHTYHM Sebastian Noelle, guitar Gordon Webster, piano, electric piano & melodica Matt Clohesy, bass Jon Wikan, drums
My friends, a reminder that today is the last day to get discounted tickets for the Newport Jazz Festival -- you need but click here and enter the promo code "BIGBAND." Secret Society's will be appearing there on Saturday, August 4, and the lineup for both Saturday and Sunday is outstanding. We are thrilled to be returning to this historic festival, still going strong after all these years.
Also, if for some reason you have never seen the classic concert film from Newport '58, Jazz on a Summer's Day, you need to go right now and put it at the top of your Netflix instant queue. The performances (Monk, Louis, Jimmy Giuffre, Chico Hamilton, Mahalia Jackson, a sky-high Anita O'Day) are breathtaking, and the cinematography is truly beautiful -- it's easily among the best concert films of all time.
My co-conspirators and I make our return to Le Poisson Rouge for a show on May 22 -- downbeat is 10:30 PM. Tickets may be had here.
It's a bit of a birthday gig for both me and the band: my personal odometer turns over another year at midnight that night, and May 22 is just a few days shy of the 7th anniversary of the first-ever Secret Society show. (May 29, 2005 at CBGB, for the record.) My official reaction to this is: "Holy crap have I really been at this for seven motherfucking years?" Once you start indulging your bigband habit, it's all a blur...
Seriously, though, this seems an approriate time for me to thank all of you for all of your support -- most especially those of you who have been coming to see us since those early shows at CB's and the Bowery Poetry Club. We did not get where we are because of a big record label push or a glitzy PR campaign or by riding on the coattails of famous people. Whatever success we've had, we've had because you guys started coming to our shows and telling your friends about the band. And now, thanks to you, Secret Society gets to play all over the world, and I get to make writing and performing music the focus of my life. That's pretty rad.
Here are a few of the things we have coming up after that May 22 LPR show:
In early June, we are going to Brazil. Secret Society is playing the BMW Jazz Festival -- we'll be in São Paolo on June 10 and Rio de Janeiro on June 13. Brazil! I can scarsely wait. Such a staggering variety of inventive, grooving, deeply soulful sounds originating from there...
The day after we get back from Brazil, I'm heading up to West Point where I will be the composer-in-residence for the 2012 Jazz Knights Composer's Forum. I'll be giving masterclasses, working with selected composer participants, and premiering a newly comissioned work: "Codebreaker," my tribute to Alan Turing, written to commemorate his 100th birthday.
Immediately after the Composer's Forum wraps, I'll be taking Secret Society into the studio to record the music from Brooklyn Babylon. A lot of you have been asking me "When is the next record coming out?" and now I finally have an answer for you: it's coming out in the spring of 2013.
This week, my co-conspirators and I will mounting our second incursion into The Nation's Capital -- we'll be assembling at the Atlas Performing Arts Center for an 8:00 PM hit on Wednesday, April 4. Full details and tickets may be procured here.
Last time we were in DC (just over a year ago), it was for one of the most memorable double-headers in Secret Society history. We began the evening with a performance at Kennedy Center's Millenium Stage -- video evidence of this can be had on our YouTube channel -- after which, we joined Richmond VA's Fight The Big Bull for an underground show in an alternative venue, i.e., a house party in someone's basement. [This writeup (with photos) on CapitalBop.com captures something of the flavor of the event.]
As you might expect, the two crowds couldn't have been more different, but we of the Society pride ourselves on putting on a great show no matter the setting. Posh theatres or grimy clubs, cherry tree-lined parks or feral ghoul-infested Metro tunnels, it's all the same to us.
It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Right after our Galapagos hit, (see the Village Voice review), I flew down to Springfield, MO, where I'd been invited to be the first (for lack of a better word) "jazz-identified" composer to serve as guest composer for Missouri State Univeristy's annual MSU Composition Festival. It was a blast -- saxophonist Randy Hamm did a superb job preparing the MSU Jazz Studies Ensemble for the wholly unreasonable demands of my music. I also enjoyed my one-on-one sessions with MSU's composition majors, who each evidenced wildly different approaches to music-making.
After that, instead of returning to New York, I took a little detour to Austin for my first-ever trip to South by Southwest. Damn but that was fun -- especially with Amanda Marcotte and Marc Faletti as my stalwart concergoing companions. I also heard friends Olga Bell and Lis Rubard perfom (with Charilift and The Loom, respecitvely), and had the distinct pleasure of meeting Chicago pianist Josh Moshier and NextBop's Anthony Dean-Harris. Saw so much oustanding music -- highlights include the 17-piece(!) Brooklyn-based neo-disco band Escort (which happens to include Society co-conpsirator Ryan Keberle on trombone); the primal force of nature known as Beth Ditto, of Gossip; Edmonton-based keyboard-driven electro-dance band Shout Out Out Out Out; and Austin's own down-and-dirty funketeers Brownout -- first on their own, and (to close things out, at 1 AM on the final night of South By) in their alternate incarnation as Grupo Fantasma... backing GZA.
It turns out Texas is so much fun I can't stay away, so I'm heading striaght back down there this weekend -- and this time I'm bringing the band. Yeah, that's right: this Saturday, March 24, Secret Society is performing our first-ever US gig outside of the Northeast, headlining the 50th annual(!) Tarleton Jazz Festival in Stephenville, TX.
As I discovered, even most Texans have not heard of Stephenville, so here's a map -- it's about an hour and change southwest of Fort Worth. Tickets are just $10 and Secret Society doesn't get to play in this part of the country much... or, like, ever. So tell your Lone Star State friends to fill up their pickups and hit the road this weekend. (Was that sufficiently folksy? I've started saying "y'all" unironically, does that help?)
More info can be had here -- hope to see y'all soon!
On March 9, 2012, my co-conspirators and I will be returning to Galapagos Art Space for a double-bill with the estimable Anti-Social Music. In addition to selections from Brooklyn Babylon, Secret Society will be playing music written especially for the band by Vijay Iyer and David T. Little. This is a rare opportunity to hear the band play compositions by someone else for a change. Also, Vijay and David have both written fantastic works that cut against the grain of what's expected from a large ("j-word") ensemble.
For their part, Anti-Social Music will be bringing their own Large Assemblage (though not quite so Large as ours... ) to Galapagos. They are reviving music from 11tet, a jazz composers’ workshop from the late 90′s (do you remember the '90s?), and new works written for ASM by Kamala Sankaram, Dan Lasaga and Pat Muchmore.
I'm a longtime fan of Anti-Social Music -- I think my favorite gig email from them was entitled "ASM presents 'The Glorified Rehearsal!'" -- and this double-bill has literally been years in the making. Tickets are $20 (less than $0.67 per musician! whee!) and may be procured here.
[cross-posted to the new Jazz Gallery blog, Jazz Speaks]
My co-conspirators and I have, as they say, "a history" with The Jazz Gallery. They were the first legitimate jazz venue to host Secret Society -- by "legitmate jazz venue," I mean a venue with the word "jazz" in its name. (That was April 5, 2007, for those keeping track.) Two selections from Infernal Machines, "Jacobin Club" and "Obsidian Flow," were commissioned by and premiered at The Jazz Gallery immediately prior to us going into the studio. Those who have not seen a big band perform in the Gallery's intimate confines are often surprised that we are able to fit at all, but we've done it enough to develop a refined and intricate method of squeezing the band onto the stage. It's always a kick to perform with the audience so close to the band, and the sound in the room is vivid, clear, and natural.
Additionally, in tribute to the memory of my compositional menor, Bob Brookmeyer, we will also be performing pieces of mine that bear his unmistakable imprint.
For these shows, we're very pleased to announce the return of co-conspirator emeritus Tim Hagans, whom we first encountered four years ago, during our first Canadian incursion. He'll be joined by the usual band of miscreants and ne'er-do-wells:
WINDS Erica von Kleist Rob Wilkerson Sam Sadigursky John Ellis (Jan. 6) Mark Small (Jan. 7) Josh Sinton
TRUMPETS Seneca Black Tom Goehring Nathan Eklund Nadje Noordhuis Tim Hagans
TROMBONES Mike Fahie Ryan Keberle James Hirschfeld George Flynn
RHYTHM Sebastian Noelle, guitar Adam Birnbaum, piano Matt Clohesy, bass Ted Poor, drums
Tickets are $20/$10 for members/FREE for APAP badge-holders (reservations required - email [email protected]).
This Friday, September 30, Secret Society will be returning to Boston (my old stomping grounds, circa 2000-2003) for a show at the Museum of Fine Arts -- 8 PM hit.
We will be performing, for the first time, a sizeable portion of the music from Brooklyn Babylon, which needless to say we are very very excited about.
Tickets are available here -- and for you collegians out there, student tickets are slightly less than half-price.
We hope to see you there. Espeically considering you could probably really use the opportunity to take your mind off of the Red Sox' epic meltdown.
Here are the co-conspirators I'll be bringing to Boston:
WINDS Ben Kono Rob Wilkerson Sam Sadigursky Jon Irabagon Josh Sinton
TRUMPETS Seneca Black Tom Goehring Matt Holman Dave Smith Ingrid Jensen
TROMBONES Mike Fahie Ryan Keberle James Hirschfeld Jennifer Wharton
RHYTHM Sebastian Noelle, guitar Gordon Webster, piano Matt Clohesy, bass Jon Wikan, drums
click song titles to listen; right-click or ctrl-click to download
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Thanks to those who came to this awesome double-bill. As mentioned, this was our last NYC hit until Brooklyn Babylon opens at BAM in November -- but meanwhile, we are all very excited about our first-ever Canadian tour at the end of the month.
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Finally, while I've been more than a little distraught about the utterly appalling and shameful riot that has blemished my hometown, I'm also encouraged by the way decent, civic-minded Vancouverites have come together to clean up in the aftermath, and inspired by the stories of brave individuals, like this dude, willing to stand up to the mob.
Tonight, Secret Society is thrilled to present a double-bill at Littlefield (622 Degraw in Brooklyn) with the great bassist-composer Ben Allison. Showtime is 8 PM, tickets available here or at the door.
You have all heard Ben's awesome new release, Action-Refraction, I hope? Wherein the prolific composer (and Jazz Composer's Collective founder) turns his attention to other people's music -- in this case, songs by PJ Harvey, Donny Hathaway, the Carpenters, et al? It's a tremendous album, my favorite new jazz release this year, and it's currently streaming on demand from Ben's website, so y'all really need to get right on that "play" button.
I've previously lamented the lack of double-bills in the jazz concert culture, because as an audience member, there is nothing I like better than a nice live music pairing. For instance, I don't know how many of you caught the Todd Sickafoose/Mary Halvorson two-hander at LPR last week, but those of you who made it know that it was freaking awesome -- Todd's band was open-hearted and transfixing, and Mary's band was jagged and mysterious. There should be more of that kind of thing. So, even though we always lose a ton of money doing them, Secret Society has tried to make double-bills happen whenever possible. In fact, our last hit at Littlefiled was actually a full-on triple-header, as we were joined by Richmond, VA's Fight The Big Bull, and Steve Bernstein's Sly Stone project. (In which Ben was playing bass... and so a seed was planted, and now here we are.)
There's an excellent interview with Ben Allison up on JazzTimes, wherein he says many things I want to co-sign, but most especially and emphatically, this:
For me, writing simple music is riskier than writing complex music, because musicians sometimes think that making music more complex is going to make it more interesting. To a certain extent, that’s true. But I’m fascinated by really simple melodies that you want to hear more than once. How does John Lennon write a three-chord tune and 35 years later, I’m still interested to hear it? I don’t know.
When I leave a concert, I leave in one of two ways. One, I leave saying, “Wow, that guy played some stuff I could never play.” Or I leave feeling emotionally inspired. At the end of the day, I prefer the second one. If I’m listening to a piece of music and the only thing I’m trying to do is figure out the time signature, it doesn’t sustain my interest.
As for Secret Society, we'll be playing music old and new, including the Manhattan New Music Project-commisioned "Sift," and, in what is still a rare move for us, a work by a guest composer. In this case, it's David T. Little's "Conspiracy Theory," which we first unleashed at our Ecstatic Music Festival show earlier this year.
Also: this will also be Secret Society's last NYC performance before our BAM Next Wave Festival show in November. Be seeing you soon, I hope.
Soon, I will have much more to say about this epic undertaking (now that I'm allowed to actually tell people about it!). But for now, just check out the awesome trailer, which will give you a taste of the stunning animation my collaborator Danijel Zezelj's is creating for the show.
My homeland has recently been behaving in a most extraordinary manner. The Canadian dollar is currently worth more than the Gringo greenback, the NDP are outpolling the Liberals in the upcoming Federal election, and last night, to everyone's shock, the Vancouver Canucks somehow managed to not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Game 7.
Further investigation is clearly warranted. Therefore, I am authorizing Secret Society for a strategic insertion into Canadian territories. Our incursion will proceed as follows:
In all seriousness, Secret Society have performed in London, Milan, Amsterdam, and various other European locales but will be our first time hitting the Canadian jazz festival circuit and I am so stoked to be able to bring my co-conspirators on a tour of my home and native land. We're counting on our Canadian partisans to help get the word out, so please tell all your buds about these shows!
Bigband travel expense are no joke and there's no way we would be able to do this without the very generous support of the following awesome organizations:
The Society is insanely grateful to both of these organizations for making this tour possible.
Also, there is some official stuff I am supposed to say in acknowledgement of their support. Ready? Okay:
"This tour is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which enables Canadian audiences to discover artists from other regions and provinces."
And:
"This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation."
This show has been a very long time in the making. It represents several important firsts for us, and you have my personal guarantee that this concert will be thoroughly awesome.
First the First: Since our formation in 2005, I have very selfishly monopolized Secret Society for my own nefarious purposes. (Hey, it's my band.) But for this special occasion, we have decided to put the ensemble at the disposal of three very fine composers, none of whom are known for their bigband writing, just to see what they would come up with. The results have been thrilling and we can't wait to share them with you.
Pianist Vijay Iyer, who is by popular consensus one of the most badass musicians alive, has written a rhythm-shifting tour-de-force called "Three Fragments." Montreal composer Nicole Lizée has crafted a vertiginous and darkly atmospheric work, "Lock the Door, Swallow the Key," inspired by Stanley Kubrick's The Shining -- here, I'll let Nicole tell you about it: "The Overlook Hotel, hedge maze, room 237, the Gold Room, the Red Room, the significance of the number 12, even the patterns on the carpets and wallpaper informed the musical and structural content of the piece." And drummer David T. Little has created "Conspiracy Theory," a hard-rocking anthem of decidedly paranoid tendencies.
First the Second: In the event that you are so difficult to please that three mind-blowing premieres are not incentive enough, I will also be unveiling some new music of my own: Part I of The Sleep Room, a song cycle I'm currently developing for Newspeak, a most estimable new music ensemble (which just happens to be directed by the aforementioned David T. Little). The Sleep Room is inspired by the incredible true story of the secret CIA-funded mind control experiments that took place at a Montreal psychiatric hospital in the late 1950's and early 1960's.
This song cycle is my first time composing for an established new music ensemble, and also my first time writing actual songs with, you know... words. (To be fair, I "borrowed" some of the text from the doctor who devised these "beneficial brainwashing" techniques, Dr. Ewen Cameron -- but I also contributed some original lyrics as well.) On Thursday, Newspeak will unveil the first handful of songs from The Sleep Room. They are doing an incredible job bringing this music to life and I can't wait for people to hear it.
The musicians of Secret Society and Newspeak have all been working extremely hard over the last several months to prepare all of this outstanding music, and we know you'd just be heartbroken if you missed it.
For those of you not in New York, the concert will be streamed live on WQXR’s Q2 and taped for future broadcast on WNYC.
Irregular, sporadically-updated blogging will resume following the concert.
(Last but not least: how about one more big round of applause for the excellent individuals who helped make this concert possible?)
Comrades, I emerge briefly from my work-cocoon to mention that today is the final day of Secret Society's Fall/Winter fundraiser. We are all enormously grateful to those who have contributed to help fund our recent and upcoming activities -- please allow me to thank these excellent individuals by name:
Roger Richards Michael Jacobs Randy Castleman Richard Kamins Domenic Turchi Dan Schmidt Dave Lisik Mike Janssen John & Wendy Sinton Jackie Campo Greg Masters Chris Doire Naoko Ishida Ken Katz
These are the people that make Secret Society viable, for which we are all enormously appreciative.
N.B. Our irregular schedule of sporadic blogging will resume following our Ecstatic Music Festival performance. Thank you all all for your patience during this extended interweb hiatus.
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Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Fractured Atlas will receive grants for the purposes of Secret Society, provide oversight to ensure that grant funds are used in accordance with grant agreements, and provide reports as required by the grantor.
Today also marks the beginning of Secret Society's Fall 2010 Fundraiser -- please help support Secret Society by making a tax-deductible donation via Fractured Atlas:
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.
Information about Secret Society's autumnal activities (including hits in London and Milan) can be found here.
Also, 2011 might seem like a ways off yet but I am extremely excited about our contribution to the Ecstatic Music Festival -- this will be my first time writing for Newspeak and Secret Society's first time playing newly-comissioned music composed by people other than myself -- namely, Vijay Iyer, Nicole Lizee, and David T. Little.
Our next NYC hit is Tuesday, March 23 at Jazz Standard, as part of the New York-based celebrations surrounding the 40th anniversary of my alma mater's jazz program. It is great to be a part of this -- many of my most important musical/personal relationships began at NEC. In fact, that is where I first met and started working with Secret Society co-conspirators Josh Sinton and Sebastian Noelle. This will also be our first gig at Jazz Standard. It's a pretty sweet room for bigbands -- I have vivid memories of mind-blowing shows there by Maria Schneider's Orchestra and John Hollenbeck's Large Ensemble -- and we are definitely looking forward to our own debut on that stage.
Of course, before this whole NEC-in-NYC shebang rolls in, the band is heading up to Boston for a gig at the Regattabar on February 25. Tickets are currently on sale for the 7:30 PM set -- if, ahem, "demand warrants," the club will add a second show at 10 PM, so the Society encourages our Boston-area partisans to buy early and, ideally, often.
Both the Regattabar and Jazz Standard performances will feature the return of some of our favorite guest co-conspirators, saxophonists John Ellis and Marc Phaneuf. Also joining the lineup for our Home game on March 23 is the unstoppable Ben Kono.
More photos from our CD launch hit at Galapagos are available here, courtesy of official Society photographer/consort Lindsay Beyerstein.
Deepest thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate the impending release of Infernal Machines. We are, as always, honored and grateful for your support.
This also the opening night of New Amsterdam's Undiscovered Islands. NewAm is hosting a pre-party at reBar (just around the corner) beginning 7 PM.
Lots of people have been asking about where they can buy the album. It is not out yet! But the release date is just a few days away —Tuesday, May 12. On that date, CDs and digital downloads will be available here. I am sorry there is no way to preorder -- believe me, that is something I wanted very much. But kindly be patient for just a few more days and on Tuesday you'll be able to get your fix.
Or if you can't wait for May 12, come to the Galapagos hit tonight! Advance copies of Infernal Machines will be available at the show.
The Society has some upcoming engagements to announce.
On May 8, we will be kicking off New Amsterdam's Undiscovered Islands, a month-long new festival at Galapagos Arts Space. This is also the official pre-release show for Infernal Machines -- the record goes on sale May 12, but you can pick up an advance copy at this May 8 hit.
On May 14, I will be appearing at the National Jazz Awards at the Flex Theatre in Toronto, premiering a newly-commissioned work with an all-star Canadian band and accepting the SOCAN/CAJE Phil Nimmons Emerging Composer Award.
On May 28, the Society makes its European debut, performing at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam.
On May 29, we will be appearing at Domicil in Dortmund, Germany.
Extracurricularly: Pulse and Joy Askew are presenting our Songs From The Hudson River project at Roulette this Sunday, March 22. If you missed the hit at Barbès, we will be reprising those songs and featuring some of Joy's own work as well.
Adam Schatz has been doing great things recently with his Search and Restore Series, which has consistently featured some of the most exciting forward-thinking jazz artists in town. Their final blowout show at the Knitting Facotry on Dec. 2 featured Dan Weiss+Miles Okazaki, Pete Robbins's sILENT Z, Steve Bernstein's Millenial Territory Orchestra, James Carney, Todd Sickafoose's Blood Orange, and the Hasslebring/D'Angelo Big Band, all on the same bill. Since the Knit's recent relocation, Search and Restore is expanding to new venues, including the Jazz Gallery, where they will be presenting yrs trly & co. on Feb. 6 and Jason Lindner's NOW vs. NOW on Feb. 7. Please join us for our first post-recording gig -- we will be reviving the new works we premiered in December (in case you missed them) and also reaching back into the Society archives for some older material we have been neglecting of late.
Part of the Jazz Gallery's Large Ensemble Commissioning Series
there will be new music
It is a sincere honor for us to be playing the inaugural concert in the Jazz Gallery's 2008-2009 Large Ensemble Commissions Series. This year's lineup also includes concerts by Josh Roseman, Sherisse Rogers, Pedro Giraudo, Gregg August, David Binney, Jason Lindner, Yosvany Terry and John Ellis. This is also our final series of gigs before entering the studio to record our debut album, Infernal Machines, to be released in May 2009 on New Amsterdam Records. We hope you will join us at the Jazz Gallery for the premiere of two newly commissioned works -- "Obsidian Flow" and "Jacobin Club" -- plus all of your Secret Society favorites.
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.
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.
All Nite Soul at St. Peter's is New York's longest running jazz festival, now in its 38th year. It's a pretty serious marathon, kicking off at 5 PM with Jazz Vespers featuring the Tia Fuller Quartet and, as advertised, going all night. Over 100 musicians will be inovled, including yrs trly and the following eighteen co-conspirators:
WINDS Ben Kono Jeremy Udden Sam Sadigursky John Ellis Josh Sinton
TRUMPETS Kevin Bryan Thomas Goehring Amir ElSaffar Nadje Noordhuis Colin Brigstocke
TROMBONES Ryan Keberle Mike Fahie James Hirschfeld Jennifer Wharton
RHYTHM Sebastian Noelle guitar Mike Holober piano Ike Sturm bass Ted Poor drums
This being a marthon, we are only contributing a short set (20 minutes) -- but dude, check out the rest of the lineup:
Benny Powell and Jane Jarvis, Dr. Billy Taylor, Randy Weston, Frank Wess, Dick Katz, Carline Ray, Jared Schonig, Catherine Russell, Dave Stryker, Steve Slagle, Jimmy Owens, Reggie Workman, Billy Hart, Steve Turre, Sarah McLawler, Rolando Briceno, Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, Sam Newsome, Helen Sung, Bernice Brooks, Bertha Hope, Chip Jackson, Francina Connors, Aaron Diehl, Gene Bertoncini, Sara Caswell, Jon Cowherd, T.K. Blue, Paul Knopf, Omer Klein, Ziv Ravitz, John Ellis, Billy Harper, Andrew Cyrille, Charles Tolliver, Chandra Rule, Ted Poor, Sayuri Goto, Essiet Essiet, Rhythmic Prophecies, Melissa Stylianou, Jamie Reynolds, Francesca Tanksley, Barry Harris, Keisha St. Joan, Brian Lynch, Joe Wilder, Dotti Anita Taylor... and more besides.
What can you say? It's a fucking honor. (Oh, shit, I gotta start watching my language. It's church, fercrissakes.) Anyway, the suggested donation for the entire night is just $20 — stay a little while, or stay all night.
My comrades, hearken to us as we unveil Secret Society's autumnal campaign:
SUNDAY, OCT. 12 - We shall be performing a brief set as part of the long-running All Nite Soul jazz festival at St. Peter's Church (619 Lex @ 53rd). Indeed -- your eyes do not decieve you, the powers-that-be actually intend to vouchsafe our entrance into a g-dd-mn'd church. (My co-conspirators and I, inveterate sinners that we are, impeach you to pray for our immortal souls, lest divine wrath strike us down afore we cross the threshold.) This will be a rare opportunity to hear the Society with a completely new rhtyhm section: Ike Sturm (who is also organizing the festival) on bass, and Ted Poor on drums. We are scheduled to hit around 10 o'clock PM. SUNDAY, NOV. 9 - The Society returns to one of our most-frequented haunts, the Bowery Poetry Club. We shall take the stage at 7:30 PM or thereabouts to reignite the flame of steampunk bigband on the Bowery.
Wherever
there is a "thriving underground arts ecology," it is all but certain
that the villains and miscreants of Secret Society shall be found
skulking in the shadows. So it can come as no surprise that rogue
composer Darcy James Argue and his cabal of eighteen co-conspirators
have ensconced themselves in Greenwich Village's latest house of ill
repute, the "burlesqueish performance spot" known as (Le) Poisson
Rouge. Word on the street has it that this nefarious order will take
the stage to at 7:30 PM on July 9th to proselytize
for the dark art of steampunk bigband. Though some may be lured by the
venue's seductive amenities — including a 9-foot Steinway,
state-of-the-art multichannel sound system, and a practically limitless
store of Madam Geneva — those of a delicate and superstitious sensibility would be well-advised
to avoid (Le) Poisson Rouge entirely, as it is said that the place is
haunted by the ghost of Jacques Brel.
It is with some alarm that we note that Secret Society appears to have
lured into its orbit heretofore respectable members of the Jazz
Community, including trumpeter Tim Hagans, who was last spotted fraternizing with the Society at the New Languages Festival. Other co-conspirators making their Society debut include trombonists Rick Parker and Pete McIvor, and pianist Gordon Webster,
who rejoins the group in New York after having aided and abetted their
Canadian infiltration in January. The Society has also successfully
lured saxophonists Rob Wilkerson and Mark Small back
into the fold after a prolonged absence -- it seems their deprogramming
was ultimately unsuccessful. All of them are surely doing their reputations irreparable harm.
Those who have stood vigilant against the Society's insidious propaganda
efforts will no doubt be aware that the group makes a practice of
recording their presentations and enticing the unwary to down-load them
at their leisure. Now is not the time to let down your guard, as rumors are circulating
that Secret Society will be making a lavish 48-track digital live
recording of the proceedings at (Le) Poisson Rouge, to be subsequently
"mixed" and "mastered," therefore allowing steampunk bigband to be
distributed to the masses in a much more potent form than ever before.
Be mindful. You have been warned.
The Society is extremely pleased to have been invited to play this year's edition of the New Languages Festival, now in its fourth year and in an exciting new venue -- the Living Theatre on the Lower East Side (21 Clinton Street btw E Houston & Stanton). The lineup for the entire three-day festival is outstanding, but we are especially pleased to share the stage on Friday, June 13 with Tony Malaby (with Matt Brewer, bass, and Gerald Cleaver, drums) and tireless festival organizer Jackson Moore (with Eivind Opsvik, bass, and Eric McPherson, drums). You can hear all three bands for a mere $10.
As for our set on Friday, June 13 at 11 PM, I'm pleased to announce that the new co-conspirators will include trumpeters Tim Hagans and Ron Horton. Tim is technically already a Society co-conspirator, having played with our Canadian splinter cell at Toronto's Tranzac -- and incidentally, there is now YouTube video available from that hit (Part 1 & Part 2) -- but we had so much fun playing with him, we had to invite him back to play with us in NYC. Ron Horton, is, of course, a tremendous composer in his own right, and the former musical director of the Andrew Hill big band, in addition to being a first-rate improvising trumpet player. I am deeply honored to have both of these amazing musicians join the Society fold for our night at the New Languages Festival.
Here is the complete list of co-conspirators for this date:
"This powerful and well-stocked ensemble juxtaposes postwar big-band conventions with ideas borrowed from indie rock, classical Minimalism and a handful of other idiomatic regions. The results are well worth hearing."
Having rested and regrouped in the months following their recent cross-border infiltration,
Darcy James Argue and his wily co-conspirators will soon retake the
stage at SoHo's Jazz Gallery for their first-ever weekend showcase at
the this most esteemed and respectable venue. That these unsavory molls
and blackguards will apparently be permitted to besmirch this hallowed
stage for two consecutive nights, in spite of their dubious
record of preserving the sanctity of the Big Band Tradition, is but one
more lamentable sign of this debauched age.
Worse still, Mr. Argue will be inducting yet more impressionable youths into his degenerate ways: namely, saxophonists John Ellis (Charlie Hunter Trio) and Mike McGinnis (The Four Bags, Loser's Lounge) and trumpeter Sam Hoyt (Perdro Giraudo Jazz Orchestra). Sometime co-conspirators Alan Ferber (trombone) and Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet) are also backsliding their way into the fold, to take their place amongst irredeemable Society habituals such as Ingrid Jensen, Erica vonKleist, and infernal duo of Matt Clohesy and Jon Wikan.
It is sobering to note that ever since the Society's Canadian splinter cell, Secret Society North, appeared at the 2008 International Association for Jazz Education conference
in Toronto, even otherwise respectable scribes have been taken in by
Mr. Argue's devious original compositions. Carl Wilson, of The Globe & Mail and zoilus.com, writes:
"it was like hearing Duke Ellington and minimalism and Tortoise and
Funkadelic and Elliott Carter and much else besides melding into one
floating, shifting, dodging music." And Juan Rodriguez of the Montreal Gazette recounts:
"After it was over - a full 110 minutes of music - there was a sense
among the musicians and the packed, rapt audience that they had
participated in something historic."
We implore you not to allow yourselves to become similarly infatuated with
an ensemble that -- lest we forget -- has not once extended to its
audience the simple courtesy of a saxophone soli in 4-part block
voicings. And need we remind you that in the wake of their performance
at the IAJE conference, the 40-year-old organization is facing a debilitating financial crisis? Can this truly be coincidence?
Will you sit back and allow steampunk infiltration, steampunk
indoctrination, steampunk subversion, and the international steampunk
conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids? Or
will you take action?
We have told you when and where they can be found -- we trust you will do the right thing.
Been busy rehearsing this week for the April 18 & 19 hits at the Jazz Gallery. We will be premiering a brand-spankin' new tune, composed via the tried-and-true method of putting together a run of increasingly frantic and overcaffeinated all-nighters at the last possible minute. It's inspired by this and this, but also this -- like Zeno of Elea, we will rock you with our unstoppable paradox style.
I always enjoy inducting new co-conspirators into the Society, especially players on the level of Mike McGinnis, John Ellis, and Sam Hoyt -- these guys sound amazing. And this rare chance to play four sets on two consecutive nights means that we will have the opportunity to feature just about everyone, and play everything I have ever written for this band -- I guess this means that, like Lindsay Lohan, it's time for my Mid-Career Retrospective.
"This powerful and well-stocked ensemble juxtaposes postwar big-band
conventions with ideas borrowed from indie rock, classical Minimalism
and a handful of other idiomatic regions. The results are well worth
hearing."
WHEN: Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 6:30 PM WHERE:Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (btw East 1st Street & Bleecker), NYC SUBWAY: F to 2nd Ave / D, F to B'way-Lafayette / 6 to Bleecker COST: $15 TICKETS: At the door. MAP: Click here.
What could be more magical than Christmas on the Bowery? With the entire avenue gaily lit by the lights of the Whole Foods Compound, and absolute must-have holiday fashions on offer at the new Varvatos@CBGB boutique (hint: those $125 t-shirts make great stocking stuffers!), you'll want to do all of your seasonal shopping this year on Old Bowery Lane.
And once you've filled your gift bags to the brim, why not stop in at the Bowery Poetry Club and put up your feet for a spell? Perhaps sip an egg-nog, or several? And should you chance to step inside on Sunday, December 16, you should know that yrs trly and his unindicted co-conspirators will take the stage at 6:30 PM for an early evening celebration of euphonious spectacle. This gang of charmingly rakish scoundrels will inflect your favorite Yuletide ditties with authentic Bow'ry brim and brio, including such uplifting holiday airs as "The Perils of Empire" and "Habeas Corpus."
While at IAJE, in addition to our own showcase, we will also have the great honor of premiering the 2008 ASCAP/IAJE commissioned works by Established Composer Tim Hagans and Emerging Composer Ayn Inserto. And on top of that, Tim will be joining us on Friday Jan. 11th at Tranzac -- he is someone who actually came up through the big bands, old-school (Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, the Danish Radio Big Band under Thad Jones), and that's a depth of knowledge he brings to his current gig as artistic director of the Norrbotten Big Band. It's an incredible honor and privilege for us to perform Tim's music, and to have Tim perform my stuff as well. Ayn is someone I have known since grad school -- like me, she is a Brookmeyer protegé, and if you don't know her stuff, you should. Ayn's piece will also feature another special guest -- George Garzone on tenor sax. I'm not sayin' anything, I'm just sayin'. The commissioned works will be premiered on Thursday, Jan. 10 at 2 PM at IAJE, and we will reprise Tim's piece at Tranzac on Jan. 11.
A few words about the opening bands -- in Montreal, on Jan. 8, we will kick things off at La Sala Rossa with a set by Joel Miller's Mandala. The group emerged from an series of compositional workshops organized in 2003 by Miller with fellow musicians Thom Gossage (drums), Bruno Lamarche (reeds), Fraser Hollins (bass), Bill Mahar (trumpet) and Kenny Bibace (guitar). The band has received praise from audiences and critics across Canada, the United States and France, including an Opus Award for Concert of the Year. Joel is one of my favorite small-group composers, period, and his music was a tremendous inspiration to me when I was going to school in Montreal.
In Toronto, on Jan. 11 at Tranzac, Chet Doxas is the man to get this party started. His trio just happens to include the stalwart Secret Society rhythm section -- he and Matt Clohesy and Jon Wikan played together constantly during Chet's stint in New York City, so this gig will be a reunion for them as well. Reviewing Doxas's Justin Time debut, Sidewalk Ettiquette, for Down Beat magazine, Greg Buium writes: "Still in his mid 20s, Chet Doxas seems to have leaped straight into that line of Canada's most estimable tenor saxophonists." Chet also played in my quintet for my last ever-Montreal gig in August of 2000. (Well, last-ever until now.)
However amidst all of this excitment, I'm afraid I've had some rather crushing news on the financial front, as most of the grants I'd been counting on to help finance this trip have failed to materialize. Now, more than ever, I am depending on your support to help me make sure that all of these fine musicians can get where they need to be, and have a roof over their heads when they get there. (Trust me, you don't want them sleeping outdoors in January in Montreal and Toronto.)
If you have enjoyed any of the music I've posted or any of the blogging I've been doing here, please consider making a contribution to our tour fund:
Thanks to the good people at Fractured Atlas, anything you contribute is tax-deductible. Any amount is deeply appreciated. We are doing this tour straight-up couch-surfing car-pooling econo-style, but cheap ain't the same as free -- especially not for an ensemble this size. If you can help me see to it that the band is taken care of, you will have my eternal gratitude. We will naturally also give you a massive shout-out in our IAJE program -- assuming you do not prefer to remain anonymous, retaining that precious air of mystery. We're down with that too.
-----
MANDATORY DISCLAIMER GOES HERE: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society North's Winter '08 Tour
is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service
organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret
Society North may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are
tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Friday, January 11th 8:00 PM Tranzac, Toronto opening artist TBA
Secret Society North is the Canadian cousin to my New York-based steampunk bigband, Secret Society. It began as a response to the bigband leader's dilemma -- how the hell do you go on the road with an 18-piece ensemble? I realized I could make it work if I put together a hybrid edition of Secret Society, one that augments the core of the NYC band with some of my favorite Canadian musicians, a handpicked group made up of friends and collaborators from my years on the Montreal jazz scene. I call this band Secret Society North.
Secret Society North have been invited to perform at the 2008 IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education) Conference in Toronto. This is by far the largest jazz event in the world, regularly attracting over 7,000 attendees. Our gig there is an important opportunity to present Secret Society tunes to a much wider audience, but more than that, it's a chance for us to perform fresh and forward-looking music for students and educators who too often let their focus on jazz's past obscure their view of what is happening right now.
Secret Society North will also be playing non-IAJE hits at a couple of very cool venues -- La Sala Rossa in Montreal and Tranzac in Toronto. Believe it or not, this is the first opportunity I've had to present Secret Society music in my home and native land. I am planning on marking the occasion by premiering a brand-new work, written expressly for the talents of these amazing musicians.
However, we cannot do this alone. It's never easy asking for money but we really do need your help to make this mini-tour happen. Like most events of this kind, IAJE does not actually pay the bands that perform there. And we do not have the luxury of a record-company supported showcase gig -- instead, we are appealing directly to you, our loyal fans. We humbly ask for your support to help us defray the travel expenses and other costs associated with bringing our innovative and genre-defying music to audiences in Toronto and Montreal that have never heard anything quite like it before.
Thanks to the good people at Fractured Atlas, your donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. In fact, you can make a secure online contribution right now:
Or, if you prefer to contribute by check, that can also be arranged -- contact me for details.
Please allow me to introduce the members of Secret Society North:
If you are not familiar with these tremendous musicians, take a moment to click through to their individual websites. It is my great honor to have them perform my music.
Please consider joining the august ranks of those who have already made a contribution to this project.
MANDATORY DISCLAIMER GOES HERE: Darcy James Argue's Secret Society North's Winter '08 Tour
is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service
organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue's Secret
Society North may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are
tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Secret Society's clandestine infiltration of the jazz establishment begins anew as we return from summer hiatus, and return to The Jazz Gallery (having made our debut at the west SoHo space in April of this year). Truly, can a Down Beat
cover story, lavish major label recording contract, and whirlwind
international tour be far behind? With Secret Society set to perform at
the 2008 IAJE convention,
no doubt we will soon be catapulted to Chuck Mangione-like levels of
fame. Yes, the day is fast approaching when we too will be banned from
the Umbria Jazz Festival for heaping scorn and abuse upon thousands of
fans -- but you, my friends, will be able to proudly claim that you
were scorned and abused by Secret Society back when they were cool.
Mayhap even afore they were cool.
The performance will include some never-before-heard compositions from yrs trly, inflected by
the mellifluous voices of Ingrid Jensen, Sam Sadigursky, James Hirschfeld, and
all your favorite co-conspirators. Join us as we revel in the
bacchanalian pleasures of euphonious spectacle -- before we all become
old, jaded, and indifferent.
2 sets - 9:00 PM and 10:30 PM. $12. Tickets at the door, or in advance here. The Jazz Gallery is at 290 Hudson St.
Rejoice, comrades, for our summer hiatus will be coming to an end on Thursday, October 4, when we return to the Jazz Gallery for Round 2. Details to come, but rest assured that this hit brings not only the return of your favorite co-conspirators, but also the official unveiling of some spiffy new music.
Here's an early heads-up: Secret Society North -- the mutant offspring of Secret Society, featuring a few hardy co-conspirators alongside some of my favorite Canadian musicians -- has been selected to perform at the 2008 IAJEMadness Conference in Toronto. I'm not exactly sure when the hit will be, but the conference runs from January 9-12 so we will be in there somewhere, representin' steampunk style.
[For the perplexed: IAJE is like SXSW for jazz musicians. Except it's actually nothing like SXSW at all, apart from the whole shitloads-of-bands-trying-to-get-noticed-by-the-right-people aspect. But it's ours, and it's the only one we've got, so we love it anyway.]
I'm also gonna try to set up some local club hits in Montreal and Toronto around that time, so that actual civilians can see us too. I've wanted to bring this music to my old stomping grounds for a long time and I'm really excited that it's finally going to happen.
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