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PIANIST TIGRAN HAMASYAN BACK IN LA FOR ANGEL CITY FESTIVAL
Tigran Hamasyan
asbarez
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
LOS ANGELES-Young piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan and his Tigran Quintet
will return to Los Angeles to perform at the Angel City Jazz Festival,
which returns to the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday October 1.
Called "Amazing" by no less a jazz piano authority than Herbie Hancock
and regarded as an absolute prodigy of his instrument, Hamasyan is a
recent winner of the world-renowned Thelonious Monk Piano Competition
and the Montreux Jazz Solo Competition. Originally from Armenia and
living in Paris now, Hamasyan combines the folk melodies of his home
country with the complexities of jazz. Described by the NY Times as
"intensely searching...an intuitive force," his quintet performance
with Ben Wendel on sax, and Nate Wood on drums, both of the popular and
influential group Kneebody, Sam Minaie on bass and Armenian vocalist
Areni will be an energetic and visceral experience. Tigran solo CD,
A Fable will be released on September 27 through top jazz label Verve.
Festival producers Rocco Somazzi and Jeff Gauthier continue to explore
new and provocative avenues of creative jazz at the 4th annual Angel
City Jazz Festival. The theme for the 2011 festival is Global Jam,
with artists representing nine countries at seven events in six venues
throughout Los Angeles. The festival centerpiece production will
take place Saturday October 1 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre,
2580 Cahuenga Blvd East, Hollywood, CA 90068.
The Jam begins at 5 p.m. with Los Angeles' own Pan Afrikan People's
Arkestra celebrating its 50th anniversary of furthering the legacy of
iconic pianist Horace Tapscott, followed by the dynamic Japanese duo
of Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet at 6:15 p.m.,
continuing with the French progressive ensemble The Kandinsky Effect at
7 p.m., The Tigran Quintet featuring Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan
at 8pm, and finishing with Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa
and Samdhi in their first west coast appearance at 9:30pm.
Tickets are $45 for adults, $18 for full-time students with ID and $12
for children 12 and under and are available at www.FordTheatres.org
or 323 461-3673 (for non-visual media, 323 GO 1- FORD). Through
the Ford's early buyer incentive program, adults who buy tickets
on or before September 25th pay only $40. This event is produced in
association with the L.A. County Arts Commission.
Sited in the historic Cahuenga Pass in the world famous Hollywood
Hills, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre was originally known as the
Pilgrimage Theatre and is one of the oldest performing arts venues in
Los Angeles still in use. The Amphitheater has a rich jazz tradition
which included a regular jazz series in the 1960s and 70s, and an
annual Mother's Day Jazz & Blues Extravaganza.
Also featured on bill is the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra, which is a
performing arts organization comprised of instrumentalists, vocalists,
dancers, writers, and teachers. The "ARK", as it is affectionately
known, was formed in the Los Angeles area in the early 1960's by the
late composer/ pianist, Horace Tapscott. Under the musical direction
of saxophonist Michael Session, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra
has featured world renowned musicians such as pianist Nate Morgan,
bassist Roberto Miranda, saxophonist Azar Lawrence, and trumpeter
Steven Smith. This unique musical ensemble is the realization of Mr.
Tapscott's vision of developing and showcasing the extraordinary
talents of artists from the local community. Currently under the
direction of lead vocalist extraordinaire Dwight Trible, Great Voices
of Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension Choir speaks as one
voice for the community, in truth and love. These two musical entities
combine to preserve Mr. Tapscott's ultimate vision of a community-based
group of artists dedicated to performing and preserving the original
compositions of Pan-African artists throughout the world. Today's
performance marks the 50th anniversary of The Ark.
Satoko Fujii is one of the most original voices in jazz today. Half of
an impressionistic husband and wife piano & trumpet duo from Tokyo,
Japan, she is a "virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and
a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John
Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on over thirty-five albums
as a leader or co-leader, the Tokyo resident synthesizes jazz,
contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an
innovative music, instantly recognizable as hers alone. Her spouse
Natsuki Tamura has an active performing career split between his
homeland and the United States. He has been widely recognized for
his unique and accomplished sound and has been compared with players
as diverse as Lester Bowie, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard. He has
been featured worldwide at festivals including the 1998 Texaco New
York Jazz Festival in a solo trumpet performance, Newport Jazz in
Madarao, Japan Jazz Aid, Yokohama Jazz, Yatsugatake Jazz, Kobe Jazz,
and Hibiya Jazz, as well as in clubs such as the Knitting Factory in
New York, the Carnival Jazz Club, Babel 2nd, and Pit Inn in Tokyo,
Airgin in Yokohama, and the Willow Jazz Club in Boston, among others.
The Kandinsky Effect is a post-modern jazz Trio searching for new
ways to improvise within the jazz idiom by blending the borders of
jazz, rock, electronic, hip-hop, and experimental sounds to create
a truly singular voice within instrumental music. Improvisation is
ever-present, and spontaneity is paramount. The band has been touring
extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe over the last few
years building new audiences with an adventurous yet accessible sound
and a flair for the unexpected. As the Los Angeles Times puts it "The
young Paris-based trio, The Kandinsky Effect, offers an invigorating
approach to modern jazz improvisation."
Composer, Guggenheim fellow and 2011 Downbeat International Critics
Poll "Alto Sax Player of the Year," Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the
most innovative musicians in jazz today, fusing the musical culture
of his Indian ancestry and jazz with myriad other influences to
create a groundbreaking artistic vision. In Sanskrit, Samdhi means
"that which combines or unites" or "the interval between day and
night." In more traditional Hindu terms, it refers to the period
between the end of one age and the dawn of another. For Rudresh
this project represents a new direction in combing the complex
melodic and rhythmic elements of both South Indian music and the
traditions of jazz within an electro-acoustic format consisting of
alto saxophone with electronics, electric guitar, electric bass,
and drums. A direct result, of his research as a Guggenheim fellow,
this new work will deeply engage the listener while breaking new
ground in the multicultural landscape of modern music. Mahanthappa's
Samdhi album will be released on September 27, 2011 through Act Music.
About The Angel City Jazz Festival Angel City Arts proudly announces
the lineup for the 2011 ANGEL CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL September 22 -
October 2, 2011. The theme for the fourth annual festival is Global
Jam, with artists representing eight countries at seven events in
six venues throughout Los Angeles.
The festival venues include LACMA, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts
Theater), The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Zipper Hall, The Echoplex,
and The Blue Whale. Some of the artists performing at the festival
include Armenian pianist and Thelonius Monk competition winner Tigran
Hamasyan, Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, the African ensemble
Burkina Electric with percussionist Lukas Ligeti and special guest
D.J. Spooky, Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, German vocalist Theo
Bleckmann, French artists The Kandinsky Effect, the Australian trio The
Necks, and a tribute to Art Ensemble of Chicago legend Roscoe Mitchell
and a performance by his trio in celebration of his 71st birthday.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
About The Ford Amphitheatre The Ford Amphitheatre is located at
2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101
Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal
Studios. The grounds open two hours before showtime for picnicking. The
Ford offers a number of dining options: a variety of food and beverages
is available on site and box dinners for evening events may be ordered
in advance. Patrons are welcome to bring their own food and drink.
The Ford is disabled accessible. Portable wireless listening devices
are available upon request. On-site, stacked parking costs $5 per
vehicle for evening shows and $1 per vehicle for morning family shows.
For evening shows only, FREE non-stacked parking serviced by a FREE
shuttle to the Ford, for evening amphitheatre performances only, is
available at the Universal City Metro Station lot at Lankershim Blvd.
and Campo de Cahuenga. The shuttle, which cycles every 15-20 minutes,
stops in the "kiss and ride" area.
This event is part of the Ford Amphitheatre 2011 Season, a
multi-disciplinary arts series produced by the Los Angeles County
Arts Commission in cooperation with Los Angeles County-based arts
organizations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Tigran Hamasyan
asbarez
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
LOS ANGELES-Young piano virtuoso Tigran Hamasyan and his Tigran Quintet
will return to Los Angeles to perform at the Angel City Jazz Festival,
which returns to the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday October 1.
Called "Amazing" by no less a jazz piano authority than Herbie Hancock
and regarded as an absolute prodigy of his instrument, Hamasyan is a
recent winner of the world-renowned Thelonious Monk Piano Competition
and the Montreux Jazz Solo Competition. Originally from Armenia and
living in Paris now, Hamasyan combines the folk melodies of his home
country with the complexities of jazz. Described by the NY Times as
"intensely searching...an intuitive force," his quintet performance
with Ben Wendel on sax, and Nate Wood on drums, both of the popular and
influential group Kneebody, Sam Minaie on bass and Armenian vocalist
Areni will be an energetic and visceral experience. Tigran solo CD,
A Fable will be released on September 27 through top jazz label Verve.
Festival producers Rocco Somazzi and Jeff Gauthier continue to explore
new and provocative avenues of creative jazz at the 4th annual Angel
City Jazz Festival. The theme for the 2011 festival is Global Jam,
with artists representing nine countries at seven events in six venues
throughout Los Angeles. The festival centerpiece production will
take place Saturday October 1 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre,
2580 Cahuenga Blvd East, Hollywood, CA 90068.
The Jam begins at 5 p.m. with Los Angeles' own Pan Afrikan People's
Arkestra celebrating its 50th anniversary of furthering the legacy of
iconic pianist Horace Tapscott, followed by the dynamic Japanese duo
of Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet at 6:15 p.m.,
continuing with the French progressive ensemble The Kandinsky Effect at
7 p.m., The Tigran Quintet featuring Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan
at 8pm, and finishing with Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa
and Samdhi in their first west coast appearance at 9:30pm.
Tickets are $45 for adults, $18 for full-time students with ID and $12
for children 12 and under and are available at www.FordTheatres.org
or 323 461-3673 (for non-visual media, 323 GO 1- FORD). Through
the Ford's early buyer incentive program, adults who buy tickets
on or before September 25th pay only $40. This event is produced in
association with the L.A. County Arts Commission.
Sited in the historic Cahuenga Pass in the world famous Hollywood
Hills, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre was originally known as the
Pilgrimage Theatre and is one of the oldest performing arts venues in
Los Angeles still in use. The Amphitheater has a rich jazz tradition
which included a regular jazz series in the 1960s and 70s, and an
annual Mother's Day Jazz & Blues Extravaganza.
Also featured on bill is the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra, which is a
performing arts organization comprised of instrumentalists, vocalists,
dancers, writers, and teachers. The "ARK", as it is affectionately
known, was formed in the Los Angeles area in the early 1960's by the
late composer/ pianist, Horace Tapscott. Under the musical direction
of saxophonist Michael Session, the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra
has featured world renowned musicians such as pianist Nate Morgan,
bassist Roberto Miranda, saxophonist Azar Lawrence, and trumpeter
Steven Smith. This unique musical ensemble is the realization of Mr.
Tapscott's vision of developing and showcasing the extraordinary
talents of artists from the local community. Currently under the
direction of lead vocalist extraordinaire Dwight Trible, Great Voices
of Union of God's Musicians and Artists Ascension Choir speaks as one
voice for the community, in truth and love. These two musical entities
combine to preserve Mr. Tapscott's ultimate vision of a community-based
group of artists dedicated to performing and preserving the original
compositions of Pan-African artists throughout the world. Today's
performance marks the 50th anniversary of The Ark.
Satoko Fujii is one of the most original voices in jazz today. Half of
an impressionistic husband and wife piano & trumpet duo from Tokyo,
Japan, she is a "virtuoso piano improviser, an original composer and
a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver," says John
Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on over thirty-five albums
as a leader or co-leader, the Tokyo resident synthesizes jazz,
contemporary classical, avant-rock and Japanese folk music into an
innovative music, instantly recognizable as hers alone. Her spouse
Natsuki Tamura has an active performing career split between his
homeland and the United States. He has been widely recognized for
his unique and accomplished sound and has been compared with players
as diverse as Lester Bowie, Miles Davis, and Freddie Hubbard. He has
been featured worldwide at festivals including the 1998 Texaco New
York Jazz Festival in a solo trumpet performance, Newport Jazz in
Madarao, Japan Jazz Aid, Yokohama Jazz, Yatsugatake Jazz, Kobe Jazz,
and Hibiya Jazz, as well as in clubs such as the Knitting Factory in
New York, the Carnival Jazz Club, Babel 2nd, and Pit Inn in Tokyo,
Airgin in Yokohama, and the Willow Jazz Club in Boston, among others.
The Kandinsky Effect is a post-modern jazz Trio searching for new
ways to improvise within the jazz idiom by blending the borders of
jazz, rock, electronic, hip-hop, and experimental sounds to create
a truly singular voice within instrumental music. Improvisation is
ever-present, and spontaneity is paramount. The band has been touring
extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe over the last few
years building new audiences with an adventurous yet accessible sound
and a flair for the unexpected. As the Los Angeles Times puts it "The
young Paris-based trio, The Kandinsky Effect, offers an invigorating
approach to modern jazz improvisation."
Composer, Guggenheim fellow and 2011 Downbeat International Critics
Poll "Alto Sax Player of the Year," Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the
most innovative musicians in jazz today, fusing the musical culture
of his Indian ancestry and jazz with myriad other influences to
create a groundbreaking artistic vision. In Sanskrit, Samdhi means
"that which combines or unites" or "the interval between day and
night." In more traditional Hindu terms, it refers to the period
between the end of one age and the dawn of another. For Rudresh
this project represents a new direction in combing the complex
melodic and rhythmic elements of both South Indian music and the
traditions of jazz within an electro-acoustic format consisting of
alto saxophone with electronics, electric guitar, electric bass,
and drums. A direct result, of his research as a Guggenheim fellow,
this new work will deeply engage the listener while breaking new
ground in the multicultural landscape of modern music. Mahanthappa's
Samdhi album will be released on September 27, 2011 through Act Music.
About The Angel City Jazz Festival Angel City Arts proudly announces
the lineup for the 2011 ANGEL CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL September 22 -
October 2, 2011. The theme for the fourth annual festival is Global
Jam, with artists representing eight countries at seven events in
six venues throughout Los Angeles.
The festival venues include LACMA, REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts
Theater), The John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Zipper Hall, The Echoplex,
and The Blue Whale. Some of the artists performing at the festival
include Armenian pianist and Thelonius Monk competition winner Tigran
Hamasyan, Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, the African ensemble
Burkina Electric with percussionist Lukas Ligeti and special guest
D.J. Spooky, Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, German vocalist Theo
Bleckmann, French artists The Kandinsky Effect, the Australian trio The
Necks, and a tribute to Art Ensemble of Chicago legend Roscoe Mitchell
and a performance by his trio in celebration of his 71st birthday.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
About The Ford Amphitheatre The Ford Amphitheatre is located at
2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood, CA 90068, just off the 101
Hollywood Freeway across from the Hollywood Bowl and south of Universal
Studios. The grounds open two hours before showtime for picnicking. The
Ford offers a number of dining options: a variety of food and beverages
is available on site and box dinners for evening events may be ordered
in advance. Patrons are welcome to bring their own food and drink.
The Ford is disabled accessible. Portable wireless listening devices
are available upon request. On-site, stacked parking costs $5 per
vehicle for evening shows and $1 per vehicle for morning family shows.
For evening shows only, FREE non-stacked parking serviced by a FREE
shuttle to the Ford, for evening amphitheatre performances only, is
available at the Universal City Metro Station lot at Lankershim Blvd.
and Campo de Cahuenga. The shuttle, which cycles every 15-20 minutes,
stops in the "kiss and ride" area.
This event is part of the Ford Amphitheatre 2011 Season, a
multi-disciplinary arts series produced by the Los Angeles County
Arts Commission in cooperation with Los Angeles County-based arts
organizations.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress