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Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

12:00am

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Kinan Azmeh's CityBand and Suphala w/ percussionists John Hadfield and Matt Kilmer About This EventMinimum Age:18+Doors Open: 6:30 PMShow Time: 7:00 PMDescription:This is a first come seated event. Seating is limited and not guaranteed; please arrive early.ArtistsKinan Azmeh's CityBand Formed in 2006 in New York City, Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand immediately gained recognition for their virtuosic and high energy performance, receiving praise from such sources as the New York Times' Vivien Schweitzer, who deemed the segment, "the highlight of the evening." Azmeh's impressive resume includes performances in Paris, London, Berlin, New York, Moscow, and Damascus, both as a soloist and composer. With this New York ensemble, he strives to reach a balance between classical music, jazz, and the music of his homeland, Syria. Azmeh's expressive clarinet meets Kyle Sanna's rustic guitar, soaring at times over the dynamic and volatile backdrop of John Hadfield's percussion and Josh Myers' double bass. Each band member has come from varied backgrounds to add their personal flair to this ensemble, resulting in a thoroughly exciting and rewarding listening experience. Musicians: Kinan Azmeh, Clarinet Described as a “virtuoso" by the New York Times, "unique sound” by the Daily Star and “Engagingly flamboyant” by the L.A Times, Kinan Azmeh was Born in Damascus, Syria 1976, he is the first Arab to win the first prize at the Nicolay Rubinstein international competition in Moscow 1977, a graduate of the Juilliard school in New York and the High Institute of Music and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Damascus. He is currently working towards his music doctoral degree at the City University of New York. Kinan has appeared as soloist, composer and improviser worldwide including The Kennedy Center, Opera Bastille, Mozarteum, Carnegie Hall and the Damascus Opera for its opening concert. He has shared the stage with artists such as Marcel Khalife, Francois Rabbath and Daniel Barenboim. Kyle Sanna, Guitar: Kyle Sanna’s music eludes simple categorization. From his introduction to the guitar through rock music to his formal study of jazz and composition to his immersion in the traditional music of Ireland and the Balkans, Kyle is continually forging his compositional language and playing style out of these and other diverse interests. Kyle has arranged music for such diverse artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Kaki King, and Martin Hayes, and has recorded and performed with some of acoustic music's greatest virtuosos, including, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. Kyle holds a degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Oregon and has studied composition at the Université Lumière in Lyon, France. He currently lives in Manhattan where he is recording a solo album. John Hadfield, Percussion: Percussionist John Hadfield’s dedication to bending genres has taken him from the jungles of Indonesia and India to concert halls and clubs across the world. This diversity has allowed him to perform with a broad variety of ensembles including Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road ensemble, The Saturday Night Live Band on NBC, Bang on a Can, The Michael Gordon Band, the rock bands Amandla and Dead Heart Bloom, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Combo Nuvo, MAYA, Phil Kline, The Bassam Saba Ensemble, Ethos Percussion Group and Gamelan Dharma Swara. While performing with jazz groups John has worked alongside Kenny Werner, Lenny Pickett, George Garzone, Gil Goldstein, Andrew D'Angelo, Bobby Watson, Dominique Eade, Ben Monder, Satoshi Takeshi, Brad Shepik, Mike Richmond and Erik Friedlander. Currently, John lives in NYC and is on Jazz faculty of New York University. www.jhadfield.com Josh Myers, Bass: Josh Myers is an acoustic and electric bassist, composer, leader of BIG WORDS and the Josh Myers Quintet, and cofounder of Smoothe Moose Laboratories and Recordings, a Brooklyn-based artist collective and record label. Myers has quickly cultivated a reputation for his original approach to his instrument and to composition – a philosophy that blends traditional and modern styles with an open ear and an open mind, allowing him to play as a sideman in several groups of various genres and still maintain a personal sound on the bass. He has collaborated with Kenny Werner, Wayne Krantz, Gerald Cleaver, Ben Monder, and Andrew D’Angelo, among many other fantastic musicians. Suphala w/ percussionists John Hadfield and Matt KilmerSuphala is one the most versatile young tabla artists making music today. Raised in the U.S. by Indian parents, Suphala began learning western classical music on the piano at age four, performing at age five, and as a teenager transferred her passion to one of the world’s most complex percussion instruments: the tabla. She combines an unparalleled technical command of her instrument with a playful sense of experimentation as she switches effortlessly between composing, producing and performing. Suphala is a protégé of the great tabla masters Ustad Allarakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain, whose constant inspiration compels her not only to dedicate herself to the study of Indian classical music but also to extend the reach of the tabla into an ever-growing variety of musical genres and cultural contexts. Her fluency in a diversity of musical traditions informs her unique compositions and her highly improvisational performances. The three albums she has released to date – Instru Mental (2000), The Now (2005) and Blueprint (2007) – go beyond the limits of genre and style while referencing such diverse influences as Western classical, Indian classical, jazz, folk and soul. But it’s not just her original music that is groundbreaking, her concerts provide an inspiring case-study in cultural diplomacy: she made history in early 2005 when she traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan as the first musician to play in public since the fall of the Taliban. According to the New York Times, "Kabul's badly depleted music scene received a welcome injection of excitement last week. [Her] arrival… caused a sensation in the war-torn country. ‘I have not played with a woman before,’ one Afghan tabla master said. ‘Our grandfathers do not even know of it.’” Collaboration is one of the touchstones of her prodigious musical output: the musicians she has recorded or performed with include Norah Jones, Perry Farrell, Edie Brickell, Vernon Reid, Timbaland, Sean Lennon, 4Hero, Harper Simon, Yoko Ono, Vijay Iyer, Joan Osbourne, and Michael Bland among others. Many of these artists have sought Suphala out to lend her talents to tours, her songwriting skills to specific tracks or her producing prowess to recordings. The artistic alliances Suphala forms -- including ensembles with vocals, strings, woodwinds, reeds and percussion -- are an integral part of her innovative approach to making music. With her unique rhythmic and melodic vocabulary and production chops that are both rigorous and inventive, this next phase of Suphala’s evolving musical expression is bound to continue a trajectory rooted in a deep understanding of the proud legacy of the tabla and a passionate commitment to expand the scope of its expression and to communicate it to the wider world.