SCOTT ROBINSON / WADADA LEO SMITH
NOV 3 AT ROULETTE
The Interpretations Series continues on Thursday November 3rd, 2022 with split bill featuring the music of multi-instrumentalist/composer Scott Robinson & composer/trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith. A respected performer in all areas of jazz,Robinson will present Hypocycloid, a suite of original compositions based on a set of parametric plane curves including astroid, epicycloid, hypotrochoid and others. He will be joined by composer/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp. Wadada Leo Smith returns to Interpretations with a program of rarely heard works from the 1990s, including Meditations, Reflections and Studies, a collection of eight solo piano pieces to be performed by Erika Dohi, and Bardsdale Suite for solo guitar to be performed by Jordon Dodson. The concert will take place at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students & seniors are available at Roulette.org.
About the artists:
Composer, performer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is one of the most acclaimed creative artists of his time. For the last five decades, Mr. Smith has been a member of the historical and legendary AACM collective. He distinctly defines his music as “Creative Music.” Mr. Smith’s diverse discography reveals a recorded history centered around important issues that have impacted his world. Born in Leland, Mississippi, his musical life began in high school concert and marching bands. At the age of thirteen, he became involved with the Delta Blues and other music traditions. He has been on the faculty of the following institutions: The University of New Haven (1975-’76), The Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY (1975-’78), and Bard College (1987-’93). From 1994 he was on the faculty at The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts. There he was the director of the African-American Improvisational Music program. Mr. Smith retired from CalArts in 2013. Mr. Smith’s awards and commissions include: DownBeat Magazine’s 65th Annual Critics Poll: Artist, Trumpet, and Album of the Year (America’s National Parks). Mr. Smith is featured on the cover of the August 2017 issue of DownBeat. And in the 2016 Jazz Times’ Critics Poll, he was honored the Artist of the Year. A finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, he received the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award and earned an honorary doctorate from CalArts, where he was also celebrated as Faculty Emeritus.
One of today’s most wide-ranging instrumentalists, Scott Robinson has been heard on tenor sax with Chet Baker, on trumpet with Lionel Hampton’s quintet, on alto clarinet with Paquito D’Rivera’s clarinet quartet, and on bass sax with the New York City Opera. On these and other instruments including theremin and ophicleide, he has been heard with a cross-section of jazz’s greats representing nearly every imaginable style of the music, from Braff to Braxton. Primarily a tenor saxophonist, his discography includes more than 275 recordings with collaborators such as Frank Wess, Hank Jones, Joe Lovano, Ron Carter, and Bob Brookmeyer. He has performed in some 60 nations in such diverse and prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, the Library of Congress and the Vienna Opera House. His performances for dignitaries worldwide have included a U.S. Presidential Inauguration and a performance honoring the birthday of the king of Thailand. Scott has served as Artist-in-Residence at jazz festivals in Ancona, Italy and Aarhus, Denmark, and as Musical Host at the Louis Armstrong Festival in Hungary. Since moving to New York in 1984, Scott has been awarded four fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts, and participated in a number of Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning recordings. A staunch advocate for creative music around the world, he was selected by the US State Department to be a Jazz Ambassador for 2001, completing an eight-week, eleven-country tour of West Africa performing his arrangements of the compositions of Louis Armstrong.
PLEASE NOTE: As of April 1st, 2022, vaccination and masks are recommended but no longer required to enter Roulette. Visit roulette.org/safety for the latest updates.
UPCOMING INTERPRETATIONS CONCERTS:
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2023: TYSHAWN SOREY / ADAM RUDOLPH
THURSDAY MARCH 9, 2023: DAN JOSEPH / MICHAEL BYRON
THURSDAY APRIL 13, 2023: ALEXANDRA GARDNER / JOHANNES SIDENIUS
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The Interpretations series, now in its 33rd season, is a New York-based concert series focusing on the relationship between contemporary composers and their interpreters. Sometimes the interpreters are the composers themselves; more often, the series features performers who specialize in the interpretation of new music. Since its inception in 1989, Interpretations has featured leading figures in contemporary music and multimedia, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Robert Ashley, Anthony Braxton, Thomas Buckner, FLUX Quartet, Joseph Kubera, Annea Lockwood, and Alvin Lucier, Roscoe Mitchell, Phill Niblock, Pauline Oliveros, Ursula Oppens, and Morton Subotnick.
Interpretations began as a collaboration with Robert and Helene Browning and the World Music Institute, presenting concerts at Merkin Concert Hall, then at Roulette, at its Greene Street location in Soho. When Roulette moved to the current space in Brooklyn, Interpretations moved with it. Interpretations is thrilled to co-produce at Roulette, which has developed into a premiere venue for new and innovative music, with excellent acoustics and world-class technical facilities.
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ROULETTE:
509 Atlantic Ave. Downtown Brooklyn
2, 3, 4, 5, C, G, D, M, N, R, B & Q trains & LIRR.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students for students & seniors are available at Roulette.org