Jessica Lurie
| Status | October 6/7/8 |
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Bio
JESSICA LURIE is a composer and multi-instrumentalist performing on saxophone, flute, clarinet, as well as voice and accordion. She performs and records worldwide with several groups including the Tiptons Sax Quartet, Jessica Lurie Ensemble, Circus AmokLa Buya (nyc) and Sheqer (nyc). She has garnered rave reviews internationally, and fluency in diverse genres has made her welcome in many musical scenes. She has performed with artists such as Bill Frisell, Indigo Girls, Danijel Zezelj, Amy Denio, Skerik, Mike Clark, Danijel Zezelj, Eyvind Kang, Wayne Horvitz, Sleater Kinney, Big Head Todd, Chuck D, Frank London and Kenny Wollesson among others. She was a 2006 Sundance Composers Fellow and Lurie started her own label, Zipa! Music in 2000.
About
RECENT PRESS:
“... she plays jazz that loops, sails, and soars without ever losing the listener. An enormously prolific and talented composer, Lurie's works are both groundbreaking and addictive.” Bumbershoot International Music Festival
"While she is not afraid to get her hair in a tangle, this bandleader puts the accent on melody and the remote-control imperative that drives the tapping of your helpless toe.” Greg Burk, LA Weekly
"Playing saxophone and accordion as well as vocalizing, Jessica Lurie wears many hats in this adventurous but melodic group. (The Jessica Lurie Ensemble)." Nate Chinen, New York Times
Review of new release Shop of Wild Dreams, Dennis Cook, Jambase, Feb. 2009
"... Jessica Lurie is such a rarity, a composer and instrumentalist of gliding power and true invention. Case in point, Shop of Wild Dreams (released in January on Zipa!Music), which begins with the post-bop electricity of the early ’70s Atlantic Records jazz stable and then proceeds to morph through feeling soaked moods dappled with banjo, brass, gutsy singing, elemental soundscapes and emotionally potent observations.
Lurie has matured into a really interesting, ear-snagging vocalist, buttery but capable of chilled, melted or slightly browned flavorings. “I don’t care/ Just set your heart down anywhere,” she growls on the aptly titled “I Don’t Care If I Don’t Care,” which evokes primo Nancy Wilson given jittery, Monk-ish piano jump by Erik Deutsch and even more jittery electric guitar squall from Brandon Seabrook. In fact, the entire Ensemble - rounded out by Todd Sickafoose (acoustic bass), Allison Miller (drums) and Lurie’s own thick arsenal of alto & tenor sax, flute, accordion and baritone ukulele - is bloody marvelous. There’s seriously great interplay, and the wide scope of their textures and interests sprinkles interesting bits all over this set. The totality of their playing, in service of continually strong Lurie compositions, makes for a deeply enjoyable listening experience that embodies both the lushness and the strangeness of great jazz-influenced music."
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