Revolutionary Snakes w/ guests Jason Palmer & Godwin Louis turning up the heat at the MFA

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Revolutionary Snake Ensemble with special guests Jason Palmer and Godwin Louis. Wednesday, July 22, 7:30-9:30 pm (doors open at 6 pm). General Seating tickets: $24 MFA members, $30 nonmembers. Norma Jean Calderwood Courtyard, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. Wheelchair accessible.

The funky Boston-based Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (RSE), led by alto saxophonist Ken Field, always manages to be musically stimulating and creative, while simultaneously getting a furious dance party going, no matter the setting. In the heat of July, they guarantee to rupture the usually serene scene in the MFA's Calderwood Courtyard, securing that forecast by adding the musical muscle of internationally acclaimed "young lions" Jason Palmer on trumpet and Godwin Louis on alto sax.

Jason Palmer, a winner in the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, has been hailed by Downbeat Magazine as one of the "Top 25 Trumpeters to Watch" and has consistently had his albums placed in Downbeat's 4 star category. Godwin Louis, based in New York City, is a graduate of the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance and has been a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute Sax Competition.

For the performance at the MFA, RSE's Ken Field will also be joined by fellow musical innovators Tom Hall (tenor sax), Jerry Sabatini (trumpet), David Harris (trombone & tuba), Blake Newman (bass) and Phil Neighbors (drums).

Needless to say, folks may arrive with their dancing shoes on, but will probably come away barefoot.

Further background information:

Revolutionary Snake Ensemble (RSE) [www.RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.org, www.facebook.com/RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble]:
RSE's 2014 recording Live Snakes has received airplay on over 100 radio stations throughout the US and Canada, received an Editor's Pick in Downbeat, and was listed on the CMJ Jazz Top-40 chart for almost 3 months. The CD has appeared on a number of Best of 2014 lists, including from CMJ, Tom Hull's "best of year" lists on the Web, WWOZ (New Orleans), and WMSE (Milwaukee). RSE, led by Ken Field, has been repeatedly nominated for the New England Music Award's Best Jazz Act.

The New Orleans magazine Offbeat called Live Snakes "a stone cold killer diller!", adding that "most bands can't get the New Orleans stuff right, but the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is one of the few who does and then takes it in fascinating directions."

CriticalJazz.com called it "Spectacular", and compared it to "Mardi Gras on steroids...Take everything you thought you were familiar with in terms of the music of New Orleans and wipe the slate clean. Boston based Revolutionary Snake Ensemble takes that Crescent City vibe to the next level with a live release that will set your hair on fire!"

None other than the New York Times weighed in on the group's "sinuous, writhing counterpoint, and Time Out New York called it "Sizzling!"

Jason Palmer [www.jasonpalmermusic.com]:
Trumpeter/Composer/Arranger/Educator/Actor Jason Palmer is one of the most in demand musicians of his generation. He has toured 25 countries abroad and numerous clubs and major U.S. festivals with icons such as Jack DeJohnette, Roy Haynes, Jimmy Smith (the organist), Greg Osby, Grace Kelly, Matana Roberts, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Kurt Rosenwinkel (first trumpeter to ever be hired by this highly acclaimed guitarist), Ravi Coltrane, Geri Allen, Matana Roberts, Clarence Penn, Jeff Ballard, Kenny Barron, Phil Woods, Common (hip-hop icon), Roy Hargrove, and Lewis Nash. Palmer placed 1st in the 2009 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition, was a recipient of the 2014 French American Cultural Exchange Jazz Fellowship and was named a 2011 Fellow in Music Composition by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In addition to performing on over forty albums as a sideman, Palmer has recorded six albums as a leader as a Steeplechase Records Recording artist. He starred in the internationally acclaimed movie entitled Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench written by Whiplash director Damien Chazelle. Palmer is currently an Assistant Professor of Ensembles and Brass at Berklee College of Music.

Godwin Louis [www.godwinlouis.com]:
Alto saxophonist Godwin Louis, who tours regularly with Al Foster, was born in Harlem and raised in Bridgeport, CT and Port au Prince, Haiti. He began playing saxophone at age nine. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, he continued his studies and joined the graduating class of 2011 from the Thelonious Monk Institute for Jazz Performance, a full scholarship graduate level program based out of Loyola University in New Orleans. Louis was a finalist in the 2013 Thelonious Monk Institute Sax Competition, and has continued to work with Institute mentors Herbie Hancock, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Clark Terry, Ron Carter, Jack Dejohnette, Jimmy Heath, Barry Harris, David Baker, Emeline Michel, Danilo Perez, John Scofield, Jeff "Tain" Watts, John Patitucci, Steve Coleman, Dick Oatts, Jason Moran, Nicholas Payton, Don Sickler, Chris Potter, and Terence Blanchard. His playing is featured on Dr. Michael White's latest recording "Adventures in New Orleans-Part 1". Louis has performed at the JVC Festival (New York), Blue Note (New York), Monterey Jazz Festival (California), Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan Jazz Festival, Nancy Jazz Pulsation (France), ArtSpring Performing Arts Center (Salt Spring Island, British Columbia), Sky Church - Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum (Seattle), LV's Uptown (Portland, Oregon), San Jose Jazz Festival (California), as well as in Haiti, Mexico, Costa Rica, and China. Earlier this year, Louis and Charles Neville joined RSE in their Mardi Gras extravaganza at the Regattabar.

Jason Palmer with RSE; photo credit: Jean Hangarter

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