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IDR is the result of the artistic exchange between Marco Cappelli and Jim Pugliese, whose mutual reverence for the villages’ ritual music brought them to the following statement: reflect the process of memory’s distortion of the second/third immigrantes generation, living in the New Yorker cultural melting pot with a strong traditional background, and give back to the audience a music at the same time far from the original source - for geographic, chronological and cultural reasons - and full of tradition’s elements: impossibile to fit in any conventional standard.

IDR feat: Marco Cappelli, guitars, Doug Wieselman, clarinets, Jose Davila, trombone and tuba, Ken Filiano, double bass, Jim Pugliese, drums, Special Guest: DJ Logic, turntables and many others TBA

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Roulette presents Grammy nominated trombonist Roswell Rudd and his highly acclaimed quartet featuring Ken Filiano - bass, Lafayette Harris - piano; Sunny Kim, vocals. One of the most imaginative players, Rudd is known for his work with groundbreaking groups and musicians like Herbie Nichols, the New York Art Quartet, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, and Steve Lacy. Rudd has worked extensively in the African nation of Mali frequently performing and recording most notable with Malian Kora player Toumani Diabate.

His trailblazing on the trombone has influenced an entire generation of musicians who hear his extroverted gut bucket offerings as the modern incarnation of the New Orleans style. He has equally a passionate lyricism in the tradition of American folk songs and ballads. His jazz operas Blues for Planet Earth and Gold Rush have achieved cult status from their performances in the 1960's. Rudd has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music, Bard College, University of Maine and in 2000 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition.

"he's a one-man chorus on this set of his vigorous songs from a deep 40-year songbook ... Rudd placed the country's recent doleful doom-boom in perspective with such original music in uproarious, life- affirming performances ... To witness, even overhear, transcendent music such as this may well contribute to cures for what ails us, individually and collectively, short-term or bone-deep." - All About Jazz

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Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Nate Wooley- trumpet
Ken Filiano - bass
Mike Bisio - bass

Stephen Gauci's "Basso Continuo"
The name "Basso Continuo" refers not to early music but rather to the double double bass backbone Mike Bisio and Ken Filiano (Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on the CD) provide to Stephen Gauci's quartet. On this remarkable group these sub-sonic kindred spirits interweave to form a lattice work that supports the multitude of sounds that tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci and trumpeter Nate Wooley draw from their instruments and imaginations. Somehow the pair squeeze their oversized axes into every nook and cranny the music creates. They are here, then there, lurking, then striking. In sharp contrast to the faux-baroque name of Gauci's quartet, the title of the album and each of the tracks have Indian overtones,perhaps bringing to mind John Coltrane's late spiritual works. And of course Gauci plays the tenor saxophone, and so, like all who followed Coltrane, owes a debt to the tenor's great master. Gauci's more immediate indebtedness, however, is to his former teachers,"mainstream" greats Joe Lovano and George Garzone. His front-line running mate, Wooley, is one of the most daring experimentalists of present day improvisation and a brass master in his own right. These two teams -the pair of provocative horn players and the contemporary basso continuo - make a fantastic and unexpected combination.

The E.R.A. is a New York City based project that was formed in June of 2007. The E.R.A. is a septet with the power of a trio dealing with a subtle sensibiliy, silence, harmony and texture. Since 2005, these seven musicians have each performed and recorded in various duos, trios, and quartets. Inspired by these smaller combinations, Chris Welcome, Johnathan Moritz, John McLellan and Shayna Dulberger composed and arranged music for this unique instrumentation. They released their first album, 'Introducing...The E.R.A.' in may of 2008. It is available at Downtown Music Gallery and emptyroommusic.net.

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Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet, flugelhorn, Andrew Drury - drum set, Ken Filiano - string bass,
Jason Kao Hwang - composer/ violin, viola

CELEBRATING THE RELEASE OF
STORIES BEFORE WITHIN (Innova Records)

Jason Kao Hwang's quartet EDGE is nested in the urban mountains of New York City where he created Stories Before Within, personal tales celebrating both life and loss. Over the past three years EDGE has embraced both past and future with musical offerings resonant with human and animal overtones. Their instruments sing through sharp lines vibrating between history, cultures and genres.

In 2006, EDGE's first CD (Asian Improv Records) scaled the college radio charts at #14 for CMJ and #4 for Canada's EARSHOT. EDGE was ranked #3 on a Top Ten CDs of 2006 list for ALL ABOUT JAZZ. They have performed Vision Festival XI, Tonic, Brooklyn College, the Living Theater, and the Stone, all in NYC. EDGE also performed at Sangha (Washington, D.C.), An die Musik (Baltimore), the Deep Listening Institute (Kingston, NY), and the Sanctuary for Independent Media (Troy, NY). In the fall of 2008, EDGE will tour Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. They will also perform in EDGEFEST (name has no prior relation) at the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbour, Michigan.

The four manage to meld their individual experiences into a group that can swing hard, evoke the pentatonics and timbres of Asian music traditions or blues edge and push toward freedom.
Michael Rosenstein, SIGNAL TO NOISE, 2006

Jason Kao Hwang (composer, violinist) has created works ranging from jazz, classical, "new" and world music. As violinist, he has worked with Reggie Workman, William Parker, Pheeroan akLaff, Anthony Braxton, Vladamir Tarasov, Butch Morris and Henry Threadgill. As composer he has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts and New Jersey State Council on the Arts and others. His duo with Sang Won Park(kayagum, ajeng, voice), Local Lingo (Euonymus Records), recently broke into the CMJ charts at #36. His chamber opera, The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown (New World Records), was named one of the top ten opera recordings of 2005 by Opera News. Music From China recently commissioned his string quartet, In the Garden of Morning Glories (violin, erhu, pipa, yanqin), which premiered at Symphony Space.

Taylor Ho Bynum (coronet, various brass) is a composer and bandleader born in 1975, raised in Boston, and presently residing in Brooklyn. Bynum has established a reputation as a unique musical voice willing to take chances in a wide variety of artistic contexts. Projects range from ensembles in the jazz tradition, to work with DJs, contemporary classical composers, and world music ensembles, to composing for film and theater, to collaborations with dancers and visual artists. He leads a variety of small groups and the large ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and works with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and the Fully Celebrated Orchestra.

Andrew Drury (drum set) is a drummer/composer whose work has been noted for its lyricism and expansive approach to form and technique. Drury can be heard on fifteen CDs (two as a bandleader) and he has performed in Europe and the Americas with Michel Doneda, Mark Dresser, Briggan Krauss, Myra Melford, Chris Speed, Jack Wright, Kenny Wolleson's Marching Band with Butch Morris, and others. A former student of Ed Blackwell, he photographs drum solos in desert and prairie settings, collaborates frequently with dancers, and has led over 700 junk percussion workshops across the U.S.

Ken Filiano (string bass), has fused the rich traditions of the double bass, bringing out the many voices inherent to the instrument. His solo bass CD, Subvenire (NineWinds), received unanimous critical praise, and was chosen by Cadence Magazine as one of the top ten CDs of 2003. Ken tours widely, performing at the DuMaurier International Jazz Festival, Banlieues Bleues Festival (Paris, France); and on many concert stages including Carnegie Hall. He was principal bassist with the Cascade Festival Orchestra from 1985 - 2002. Ken has also played and/or recorded with artists and orchestras including Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Vinnie Golia, Dom Minasi, Alex Cline, Ted Dunbar, and Joseph Jarman.