by Andrey Henkin German pianist George Gräwe said nary a word before or after his 50-minute solo recital at Roulette (Feb. 1st), the first half of the first concert in the spring Interpretations series. Rather than think he was uncomfortable speaking English, it is better to assume he had said all he needed at the […]
New York Times Review: Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble
by Nate Chinen SEM and Ostravska Banda perform Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, & Roscoe Mitchell // The Trio (Abrams/Lewis/Mitchell) “Reductio ad absurdum!” Thomas Buckner pronounced, in stentorian voice, at one point in “AACM50,” a momentous new-music concert on Wednesday night at the Bohemian National Hall. It was just one of many lines of text, […]
Huff Post Review: String Noise / Bozzini Quartet
by Glen Roven Leonard Bernstein said, “The nineteenth century dies hard.” By that he meant his American concert-going audience would rather hear the lush, romantic music of over a hundred years ago –Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Verdi — than the angular, anguished music of the twentieth –Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Shostakovich.Personally I love 20th century music, especially Britten, […]
New York Classical Review: Reinier Van Houdt & James Ilgenfritz
by George Grella George Grella of New York Classical Review talks about December’s concert with bassist James Ilgenfritz and pianist Reinier Van Houdt! Before the music began Thursday night at Roulette, singer and Interpretations series impresario Tom Buckner took the stage to express outrage over the difficulty his organization faced in securing a performing […]
New Music Box Review: Momenta Quartet & Gene Coleman Ensemble N_JP
by Ratzo B. Harris March 21, 2013 @ Roulette: Kathleen Supové “Earth To Kathy” // Melvyn Poore + Cort Lippe A thematic thread running through the last month of posts has been the concept of location as a reflexive component in how genre is expressed and understood in musical performance and its reception. A question […]
New York Times Review: Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble
by CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM “Human Sounds, Painful or Haunting: The Ensemble Ekmeles at Roulette in Brooklyn” Within the contemporary-music scene of New York, the vocal ensemble Ekmeles inhabits its own neighborhood on the border between music and linguistics. The name of this ensemble, which is dedicated to music by living composers, refers to the Greek […]
NYC Jazz Record Review: Peter Evans and John Eckhardt
by Kurt Gottschalk The Interpretations series brought an inspired first time pairing to Roulette (Oct. 11th) in the form of trumpeter Peter Evans and visiting German bassist John Eckhardt, each playing short solo sets before an exploratory duet. Eckhardt opened with a surprisingly rich arco growl and slowly crawled up the neck, deftly moving between […]
Capital New York Review: Robert Ashley
by Seth Colter Walls “A Presentation of Work From Radical Composer Robert Ashley Shows An Oeuvre In Flux” Inimitable art has a way of inoculating itself from any critical approach that relies on analogy. Potentially evocative points of reference can seem halfway correct though also not quite right. When it comes to the radical American […]
New York Times Review: Wadada Leo Smith
by Nate Chinen “For a Big Birthday, Leading Three Groups A Night” Leo Smith 70th Birthday Celebration Wadada Leo Smith was a force in motion during the early stretch of his concert at Roulette in Brooklyn on Friday night. Stalking the stage, busily directing the output of his Golden Sextet, he gave off an air […]
Village Voice Review: Wadada Leo Smith
by K. Leander Williams “Wadada Leo Smith Throws Himself A Lively Birthday Party At Roulette” Last year during a pre-concert interview at the Library Of Congress in Washington D.C., composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith got a laugh when he spoke about recruiting bassist John Lindberg. At the time, Smith was in the process of rebuilding his […]