Empirical // Nels Cline Lovers // Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio

For three days leading up to this concert, Empirical will have played to passers-by in a public location. It is a strategy the British quartet has previously used with great success in London and Birmingham, attracting an audience that would not normally listen to jazz while working on new compositions in what amounts to an open rehearsal. It is also a reminder of a largely lost era when jazz clubs booked bands for a week or two at a time, allowing them the time and space to explore the evolution of their music in relaxed surroundings. After first meeting in 2007 while taking part in Tomorrow’s Warriors, a development scheme for young jazz musicians in London, Empirical settled on their current line-up in 2008. They have released five albums, won many awards, and appeared at a number of festivals, including Newport, Molde, North Sea, London, Toronto, New York and Bath.
www.empiricalmusic.com

Inspired to become a guitarist by hearing Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” as a teenager in Los Angeles, Nels Cline has been found playing jazz with Julius Hemphill, Charlie Haden, Vinny Golia and Wadada Leo Smith as well as alongside fellow guitarists Thurston Moore, Henry Kaiser and Elliott Sharp in various projects at the more experimental end of rock. In 2004 he joined the rock band Wilco, appearing on their last six albums. The “Lovers” project is one from the heart: “I have been dreaming about, planning and reworking my rather obsessive idea for more than 25 years,” he says. In Michael Leonhart’s tender, delicate arrangements for trio and chamber orchestra, a selection of ballads from the American Songbook merge with the compositions of Jimmy Giuffre, Gábor Szabó, Sonic Youth and Annette Peacock and several of Cline’s own pieces into an absorbing sonic reverie that reaches beyond time and category to discover a new kind of very modern beauty.
www.nelscline.com
www.michaelleonhart.com
www.annaviechtl.com
www.martinklenk.de
www.florianmenzel.de
www.marisajorico.com
www.fynngrossmann.de
www.marcdoffey.com
www.haukerenken.com
www.facebook.com/morten.d.aarup

Among the more comforting glories of jazz is the tradition of soulful Hammond B3 organists clustered around the Blue Note label, where a line beginning with Jimmy Smith ran through John Patton, Baby Face Willette, Freddie Roach and others before culminating with Dr. Lonnie Smith, who was on the company’s roster from 1967 to 1970. His triumphant return to Blue Note last year coincided with the award of a Jazz Masters Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States' highest accolade for a jazz musician. Born in 1942 in Lackawanna, New York State, Dr. Lonnie made his initial impact on joining George Benson’s quartet in 1966. His latest release, “Evolution”, features his regular trio, completed by the guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and the drummer Johnathan Blake, with guest appearances by Robert Glasper and Joe Lovano, and explores moods ranging from hardcore funk to Coltranesque spirituality, infusing contemporary textures with old-school warmth and swing.
www.drlonniesmith.com
www.jonathankreisberg.com
www.xavierbreaker.com