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HARLEM RHAPSODY OUT ON 31st MARCH - DAVE BURRELL NEW RELEASE "Harlem Rhapsody", the new album by Dave Burrell to be released on March 31st by Parco della Musica Records - Rome The American pianist and composer will celebrate the event with a concert at the Casa del Jazz in Rome in April. Concerts also in Florence, Bari and in France Dave Burrell is an artist of exceptional standing on the international contemporary music scene: his original style and bold approach to composition, deeply rooted in the African-American tradition but with wider musical and cultural inspirations, provide a unique reading of music and North American history. "Harlem Rhapsody represents the synthesis of my music and at the same time a look to the future" declares Burrell "there is no fixed style, but a continuous interchange and exchange of information, invention and passion, between past and present, present and future: a dialogue of incessant exploration and excitement, from the inside out, from ragtime to non-time”. The artist then confides the intensity of his relationship with the Belpaese: “Italy is my second home and I have a special bond with the city of Rome. I am proud and happy that this album was produced right here and is being presented at this historic moment. The Italian public deeply understands and appreciates my music and I am proud of it." Burrell is a musical poet who celebrates African American culture and the uneasy and multifaceted history of its integration. Grown up in Hawaii, Burrell began his career at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to New York in 1965 where he joined Archie Shepp's band until the following decade; with Shepp, he performed at the Pan African Cultural Festival in Algiers in 1969, in the prison of Attica the year after the 1971 uprising, and throughout America and Europe. Burrell's constant curiosity for all styles of music has seen him hearing and learning from the music of the Tuareg groups he has played with in Algiers, the vodou ceremonies he has heard in Haiti, and his students at the Community Thing in Harlem. Burrell's compositions are dynamic, with blues and gospel roots and recall the tradition of Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson and Duke Ellington, as well as avant-garde composers Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. With the librettist Monika Larsson he wrote his opera, which he calls "the work of a lifetime" Windward Passages (performed in a new and original version at the Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia last October) and a series of compositions concerning the war 'America Secession for the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia. In the States his music is much appreciated and, despite his 82 years, Burrell is still very active and in demand especially on the New York scene. Additionally, Burrell's music and writing archive was recently acquired by the University of Pittsburgh's Center for American Music, preserving the entire span of his remarkable career for posterity. |
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