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| Geggie Welcomes Celebrated Avant-garde Jazz Musicians The Fourth Stage of the National Arts Centre, Toronto, is pleased to announce an evening of fiery duets and trios featuring renowned bassist John Geggie and his unique special guests on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 8PM. Geggie will be joined by baritone saxophone virtuoso David Mott and the celebrated New York-based pianist, Andy Milne. Commenting on the programming for this concert, John Geggie explained: "This is actually a reunion of sorts since Andy studied with David many years ago in Toronto and since once again David is performing on this series." Be prepared for a daring evening of genre-bending compositions as well as free improvisation Toronto native Andy Milne draws inspiration for his musical concept from various forms of music, politics, philosophy, comedy, and science fiction. Some of his musical influences include Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, Herbie Nichols, Bela Bartok, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder. Recipient of the New Works commission and the French-America Jazz Exchange grants from Chamber Music America in 2006, and voted "Rising Star Keyboardist" by Down Beat Magazine in 2004, Milne is one of the most important and respected young voices in jazz today and has established himself as a distinctive force at the heart of New York's creative jazz scene. Milne has toured and recorded with Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Alessi, Carlos Ward, and Grammy-nominated vocalist Carla Cook. In addition to performing, Milne shares his concept with students at both New York University and The New School in New York where he is on faculty. David Mott is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and holds the degrees of Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Yale University School of Music, where he also taught graduate composition and directed the Yale Jazz Ensemble. Mott maintains an enthusiastic interest in the cultures of Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. Many of his compositions bear evocative titles that reflect an Eastern-inspired concern with nature and its ways, or relate to the explicitly Buddhist approach to music defined in his article, Towards a New Mind/Body Music, first published in the journal Musicworks over the course of four issues from 1982 to 1983. His music is recorded on Music Gallery Editions, Opus One Records, Hamagi Records and Unity Records. He has also recorded with a wide variety of creative artists, including pianist DD Jackson. He has been an Associate Professor at York University in Toronto since 1978 John Geggie is greatly in demand as a versatile musician and creative composer both in Canada and internationally. He has toured extensively with the award-winning jazz group Chelsea Bridge and the Juno-nominated DD Jackson Trio. Past performances have included concerts with Ben Monder, Craig Taborn, Sheila Jordan, David Murray, Andrew Cyrille, Donny McCaslin, Ted Nash, Billy Hart, Marilyn Crispell, Myra Melford. Bill Carrothers, Cuong Vu and bassist, Mark Dresser. Last summer, John returned as host of the Late Night Jam Sessions at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Previously, he has performed at various music festivals including in Rouen and Maubeuge (France), in Molde (Norway), in Montreal, as well as, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he continues to maintain a busy concert schedule with the 13 Strings Chamber Ensemble and the National Arts Centre Orchestra and he is involved in many recording projects. John is on faculty at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam (NY). John Geggie, Andy Milne and David Mott will present a jazz masterclass with regards to free improvisation and interaction, on Friday, February 29, 2008, starting at 7pm, at the National Arts Centre. The focus will be on free playing and interaction; the clinicians will be discussing their approach and philosophy to this kind of creavity and they are urging participants to bring their instruments to sit in. UPCOMING CONCERTS IN THIS SERIES On April 5, 2008, Geggie welcomes New York piano player George Colligan (Don Byron's Junior Walker project) and Toronto drummer, Ted Warren. The season finale, on May 10, 2008, features a fascinating project involving improvised chamber music with Peter Lutek on reeds, David Braid on piano and Matt Brubeck on cello. J write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |