Electric Ensemble Presents... TONIGHT!

Tonight @ ARTS Lab:

WHAT:      The Electric Ensemble Presents: The Cooper-Moore / Jeremy Barnes Duo
WHEN:     7:30 PM, Friday, February 26th
WHERE:   UNM ARTS Lab, 131 Pine St., NE

COOPER-MOORE:

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, storyteller, instrument-builder and educator Cooper-Moore’s approach to music has gone beyond simple categorization. His work emerged from the jazz avant-garde, but never lost sight of the traditions he deems so important. This adherence to tradition is reflected in his name, derived from the family names of his two grandmothers and adopted in 1985.

Cooper-Moore’s interest in theater informs his entire oeuvre: his music is as theatrical as his stories are musical. His pianism can invoke moment-to-moment shades of Cecil Taylor’s multilinear constructs or Jaki Byard’s historically informed paraphrases. It exists, as one of his album titles proclaims, Deep in the Neighborhood of History and Influence.

Whether playing piano or any one of his homemade instruments, his music exudes a striking directness and simplicity that evokes everything from rhythm and blues to the simplest vocal monody. These points of reference lend his music multileveled appeal while always allowing for a fresh approach to composition and performance. They harken back to the infinitely complex yet starkly simple myths from which human communities draw for continued survival; for Cooper-Moore, this is as it should be. “We often forget the simplest human emotions, and it’s part of my job as a musician, as a performer, to remind people.”

JEREMY BARNES:

A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeremy Barnes began playing music professionally at the age of 19, with a then unknown psych/folk band called Neutral Milk Hotel. After touring extensively in the U.S and Europe, the band split up and Barnes moved to Chicago, where he worked at the Hothouse (Center for Creative Music), where he met many of the improvising music scene's greats- Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker, Han Bennink and Cooper Moore, among others. He moved to France in 2000, where he formed the project A Hawk and A Hacksaw. After a few albums and tours of Europe and The U.S., the band was awarded a grant from the Arts Council of England, which funded a high profile tour of the UK as well as an ongoing collaboration with 4 Hungarian folk musicians. In 2007 they were also awarded best live music performance at the Brighton Fringe Festival in Brighton, England. Barnes and Heather Trost, violinist in A Hawk and a Hacksaw, moved to Budapest for two years as a result of the Arts Council grant and tour. . In 2008 they returned home to New Mexico, and have toured more in the U.S. and Europe as well as Australia, Israel, and Turkey. They sold out the Outpost performance space in the fall of 2009.

The Cooper-Moore/Barnes duo is a new project that the two have discussed for years. They will be recording an album in the Spring and playing shows in New York in June of 2010.


ELECTRIC ENSEMBLE / The Chuppers

Electric Ensemble is a collaboration between the UNM Music Dept., UBIK Sound and IFDM ARTSLab. Each Chupper is a unique amalgam of old and new technology, including audio processors, speakers, computers, microphones, cameras, traditional and non-traditional instruments, projectors, etc.  Analog, digital: anything electric, with an emphasis on collaboration - respecting musicianship as well as recognizing the technician as artist.  Standing on the shoulders of giants, we boldly go where others have gone before. Facilitated by Manny Rettinger