Author: Kerry

Weasel Walter Large Ensemble: Igneity

What: Multi-instrumentalist and composer Weasel Walter presents a longform work for large ensemble harnessing free jazz virtuosity with deliberate structural control and variation.
When: Monday, February 21, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Multi-instrumentalist and composer Weasel Walter presents a longform work for large ensemble harnessing free jazz virtuosity with deliberate structural control and variation. The 12-piece group (featuring multiple reeds, brass, guitars, double basses, and Walter himself on drums) delivers an outrageous assault of ceaseless momentum and musical surprise with orchestration ranging from unaccompanied solos to the full-bore apocalypse of the full orchestra, and everything in between. Building off the traditions of John Coltrane’s legendary Ascension, Globe Unity Orchestra’s various works, and the complex sonics of modern composers like Xenakis, Penderecki, and Stockhausen, the Weasel Walter Large Ensemble conjures a high-energy atmosphere where instrumental extremity is paramount. Previous soloists in the group have included Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp and Peter Evans.

Weasel Walter founded the band The Flying Luttenbachers in Chicago in 1991 and currently performs as part of Cellular Chaos and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus. A major contributor to the Chicago no-wave/noise/improvised music underground during the 1990s and early 2000s, Walter has performed with The Flying Luttenbachers, Miss High Heel (with Jim O’Rourke and Azita of The Scissor Girls), Lake of Dracula (with Marlon Magas and Heather M. of the Scissor Girls), To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, Hatewave, among others. Collaborators include Evan Parker, Elliott Sharp, Marshall Allen, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Jim O’Rourke, as well as influential underground rock bands including Lair of the Minotaur, Bobby Conn, U.S. Maple, Harry Pussy, and more. Walter has produced albums by Lydia Lunch and Glenn Branca.

Curated by Meredith Monk: American Contemporary Music Ensemble

What: American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) will perform works by Timo Andres, Meredith Monk, and Caroline Shaw.
When: Monday, February 13, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) will perform works by Timo Andres, Meredith Monk, and Caroline Shaw.This concert celebrates the release of ACME’s new album, Thrive on Routine, available on Sono Luminus in February 2017.

Described by NPR as “contemporary music dynamos” and by The New York Times as “vital,” “brilliant,” and “electrifying,” ACME’s dedication to new music extends across genres and has earned them a reputation among both classical and rock crowds. ACME’s many collaborators have included The Richard Alston Dance Company, Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, Gibney Dance, actress Barbara Sukowa, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, Grizzly Bear, Low, Matmos, Jeff Mangum, A Winged Victory for the Sullen, Roomful of Teeth, Lionheart, and Theo Bleckmann. The group has performed at leading venues including Carnegie Hall, BAM, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Miller Theatre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Constellation Chicago, Stanford Live, UCLA, Peak Performances, Melbourne Recital Hall, among many others. ACME has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, New World, New Amsterdam, and Butterscotch Records, and will release its first portrait album on Sono Luminus in spring 2017, featuring music by members Caroline Shaw, Timo Andres, and Caleb Burhans, plus John Luther Adams. The group’s 2016-2017 season includes a tour with Blonde Redhead; a tour with Grammy- and Oscar-nominated composer Jóhann Jóhannsson; two performances of Jóhannsson’s ACME-commissioned Drone Mass; a concert of composer Lisa Bielawa’s works at National Sawdust; and a performance with Jóhannsson during the LA Phil’s Reykjavik Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

About the Series: Curated by Meredith Monk features performers selected by Monk who are following his or her own path, asking questions, finding places that fall between the cracks of genres or categories.

[CANCELLED] Joseph Houston & Aisha Orazbayeva: For John Cage

Roulette regrets that this concert has been cancelled. All tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase. The artist has determined that current U.S. immigration restrictions are prohibitive and discriminatory and has withdrawn from all engagements in the United States.

What: The piano + violin duo of Joseph Houston + Aisha Orazbayeva give a rare performance of Morton Feldman’s “For John Cage.”
When: Sunday, February 12, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – The piano + violin duo of Joseph Houston and Aisha Orazbayeva give a rare performance of Morton Feldman’s 1982 composition, “For John Cage.” The 75 minute performance will run without pause. The piece unfolds with slow, fragile gestures, often repeated with minute rhythmic variations, and always operating on the edges of audibility.

Aisha Orazbayeva and Joseph Houston came together in 2015 to play music by Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff and John Cage in a series of concerts across the UK, Europe and the US. They have since commissioned a new work by Wolff, with whom they worked at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, Belgium.

Aisha Orazbayeva is a Kazakh-born, London-based violinist with an interest in filmmaking. Recent releases include Seeping Through EP with Tim Etchells on PRAH Recordings and Scelsi’s Duo EP for violin and cello. Orazbayeva regularly performs with ensembles Plus-Minus and Apartment House.

Joseph Houston is a pianist based in London and Berlin. His wide-ranging curiosity has led to activity in a variety of fields, particularly in contemporary and experimental music. He has performed all over Europe and in China, and his performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, and Albanian national television.

Josiah Cuneo: The Paper Dance

What: Josiah Cuneo presents The Paper Dance, a new work of dance, theatre and film that is interlaced by a narrative of transformation through nonhierarchical modes of artistic expression.
When: Friday, February 10, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette is pleased to present The Paper Dance, a one night site-specific film and live performance directed by Josiah Cuneo. The Paper Dance is a new work of dance, theatre and film that is interlaced by a narrative of transformation through nonhierarchical modes of artistic expression. Exploring the oblique nature of communication, often stymied by constructed notions of authority, the production follows a young woman as she evolves through a sense of collaboration and self-actualization. Woven between performances on stage and on screen, this theme is further contemplated through music and dance created through a complex system of extemporized scores. Emerging through collaboration and improvisation, the music performed is based on aleatoric compositions created and led by Cuneo.

Featuring Leanne Darling and Joanna Mattrey on viola, Meaghan Burke on cello and Jesse Pietroniro on guitar, the resulting compositions involve melding arrangement and spontaneity. Utilizing the film and live dance as inspiration, the underlying structure of the music is informed by a nonhierarchical collaboration with the dancers, wherein visual cues are exchanged within and between both groups; guiding time, movement, cadence, and interaction. Malin Barr and Ben Van Berkum undertake lead roles in a site-specific film, which weaves into their performance on stage, where they are joined by Marilyn Sokol and an ensemble of ten dancers. While informed by the conceptual work of avant-garde composers such as John Zorn, Iannis Xenakis, and John Cage, Cuneo’s use of image sequencing through an amalgamation of photography, printmaking, collage, video, and music composition, evokes the tradition of live orchestration from the silent film era as much as it conveys a romanticism of the everyday; situating his practice in lineage with filmmakers such as Luis Bunuel and Maya Deren.

Josiah Cuneo is a Brooklyn based filmmaker and composer. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (BFA, 2004) and his work has been exhibited at venues including Sevengaits, Southbridge, MA (2008); Gallery SATORI, New York (2008); Exit Art, New York (2015); DCTV, New York, (2015); Otion Front Studio, New York (2015); The Picture Show, New York (2015); and Anthology Film Archives, New York (2015). Cuneo’s work has been performed at the Hampden Gallery Incubator Project Space, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2008); ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn, New York (2008); and at the Montague Phantom Brain Exchange, Turners Falls, Massachusetts (2008). Cuneo was the recipient of a Dance Film Association Production Grant (2015) and the Roulette Artist in Residency Program with the support from the Jerome Foundation (2016). Cuneo recently produced twelve films for artist Duane Michals’ multimedia exhibition Talking Pictures: Twelve Mini-Movies, held at DC Moore Gallery, New York (2016).
This is Cuneo’s second performance at Roulette, which presented the premier of his multimedia performance Scenes in 2014.

Susie Ibarra: Dreamtime Ensemble

What: Susie Ibarra’s Dreamtime Ensemble performs the NYC premiere of Perception.
When: Tuesday, February 8, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Susie Ibarra’s Dreamtime Ensemble performs their New York City premiere of Perception, a suite of music composed by Ibarra and created with the ensemble for their forthcoming new recording on Decibel Collective. The performance will feature special guest Yuka C. Honda on electronics.

Percussionist Susie Ibarra is known for her innovative style and cultural dialogue as a composer, improviser and humanitarian. She is interested in the intersection of tradition and avant-garde and how this informs and inspires interdisciplinary art, education and public service. Ibarra creates live and immersive music that explores rhythm, Indigenous practices, and interaction with the natural world. Notable works include: Musical Water Routes in the Medina of Fez, a music and river route mobile app in collaboration with architect Aziza Chaouni; Mirrows and Water, a composition and sonic installation commissioned for Ai WeiWei’s Circle of Animals / Zodiac Signs at the sculpture trail of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, Wyoming; Digital Sanctuaries, a modular music app walk that remaps cities with sanctuaries of music and engages with historical and cultural sites; Circadian Rhythms, commissioned by EMPAC for Earth Day 2013; and We Float, a 2014 commission by Ecstatic Music Festival with singer songwriter Mirah. A 2014 TEDSenior Fellow and Faculty member at Bennington College in Vermont, Ibarra teaches Percussion and Performance at the Center for Advancement in Public Action with focused advocacy on human rights extended equally to women and girls and rebuilding cities with the arts.

Richard Sussman Evolution Ensemble: The Evolution Suite

What: Richard Sussman’s Evolution Ensemble presents The Evolution Suite for jazz quintet, string quartet, and electronics.
When: Tuesday, February 28, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Richard Sussman’s Evolution Ensemble presents their ground-breaking Evolution Suite for jazz quintet, string quartet, and electronics. The five-movement, hour-long composition was premiered and recorded on December 20, 2015, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space in New York City. The evening’s performance will function as an album release concert for the recording, currently available on Zoho Records.

Richard Sussman is a jazz pianist, composer, music technologist, educator, and author. Sussman has performed with many jazz greats including Lionel Hampton, Lee Konitz, Houston Person, Randy Brecker, Donna Summer, Blood Sweat & Tears, among others. Known for his large ensemble arrangements and compositions, his music has been performed by the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Westchester Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra of Holland, and the American Composers Orchestra in New York. A member of the jazz faculty at the Manhattan School of Music since 1986, Sussman is the author of Jazz Composition and Arranging in the Digital Age, published by Oxford University Press. Sussman is the recipient of numerous awards, including two NEA grants in Jazz Composition, an ASCAP Jazz Composition Award in 2008, and a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant in December 2015. His extensive work in the field of film and TV has included projects for ABC, NBC, CBS, Disney, and Nickelodeon.

Invisible Anatomy: Transfigure

What: Brendon Randall-Myers’ Invisible Anatomy ensemble presents Transfigure, the third and final creation in a triptych of collaboratively written, evening-length musical compositions integrating lighting, video, and choreography.
When: Thursday, February 2, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette welcomes back rising young composer Brendon Randall-Myers as an artist-in-residence for the Winter + Spring 2017 season. For this performance, Randall-Myers presents Transfigure, the third and final creation in a triptych of collaboratively written, evening-length musical compositions that integrate lighting, video, and choreography. Co-composed by all six members of the group Invisible Anatomy, the piece unpacks notions of change through a mix of improvisations, arguments, and screaming into a snare drum.

Invisible Anatomy (IA) is a composer-performer ensemble that explores the human body as the most fundamental aspect of music creation and performance. Formed in 2014 by six graduates of the Yale School of Music, IA creates and develops shows from the ground up by writing and performing all new compositions. The group harnesses elements from classical, jazz, experimental rock, performance art and theater, combining an omnivorous stylistic palette, virtuosic physicality, and dramatic visual presentation. IA’s inaugural show BODY PARTS dismembers, manipulates, and reanimates bodies in performance – creating a chattering chorus of woodblock teeth, wearing pop songs as a mask, and floating screaming eyes on TV screens. Their second show, DISSECTIONS, features six interconnected pieces that probe the destruction, transformation, and intimacy inherent in peeling away our surfaces. Derived from a collaboratively generated text over numerous workshops, these works trace a line from ornate to bare, taking the scalpel to instruments, gestures, and language. After the group’s 2015 debut concerts in New York City, IA was invited to China for three shows, including a featured solo concert at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. IA’s second season opened with an intimate house concert of BODY PARTS hosted by David Lang, followed by the world premiere of DISSECTIONS at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust. The group performed DISSECTIONS at Pomona College and The Blue Whale in Los Angeles in February 2016, followed by appearances with Heartbeat Opera and at Roulette in New York City, and at the Yale School of Music in New Haven, CT. The group was the first runner-up in the 2016 SAVVY Chamber Competition, and recorded their debut studio album in June 2016.

[RESIDENCY] James Brandon Lewis Trio: No Filter Feat. Guitarist Anthony Pirog

What: The first performance in Roulette’s annual residency program features the James Brandon Lewis Trio performing works from their new album, No Filter.
When: Wednesday, February 1, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette is pleased to present the first performance of our annual residency program. The James Brandon Lewis Trio, with the addition of guitarist Anthony Pirog, will perform songs from No Filter, the follow up to Lewis’ 2015 album, Days of FreeMan. Combining elements of R&B, 90s hip hop, and experimental jazz, No Filter is a raw, gritty, mind-bending journey of soulful jazz funk.

Saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis has received accolades from cultural tastemakers such as Ebony Magazine, who hailed him as one of the “7 Young Players to Watch” in 2013. Lewis has shared stages with icons such as Benny Golson, Geri Allen, and Dorinda Clark Cole, as well as Roulette artists Ken Filiano, Darius Jones, and Jason Hwang. Lewis attended Howard University and holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Bassist Luke Stewart is a seminal figure in Washington, DC’s music community. Regular ensembles include Trio OOO with drummer Sam Lohman as well as legendary free jazz saxophonist Aaron Martin. Stewart is also a member of experimental electronic group MOM^2 (Mind Over Matter, Music Over Mind), with whom he was invited to perform and lecture at the University of South Carolina.

Warren G. Crudup III has always had a passion for the drums. Born in Alabama and raised in Maryland, Crudup developed musically in church and is well-versed in diverse styles of music including jazz, gospel, funk, and reggae. A member of the University of the District of Columbia’s prestigious Big Band, he has recorded and performed with artists such as Edward “Butch” Warren, Cheick Hamala Diabate, Tarus Mateen, and David Ornette Cherry, among others.

Anthony Pirog has made his mark on the guitar-playing universe one sonically enthralling project at a time. From his work on Janel and Anthony’s Where is Home, described in Guitar Player Magazine as “approachable experimentalism,” to to what AllMusic described as “pristinely executed rock guitar solos” with Skysaw, Pirog displays a “crystalline tone immediately recognizable as his own” in his evolving conception of how a guitar can sound.

Gary Lucas: Too Much Johnson

What: Gary Lucas presents a solo guitar score accompanying Orson Welles‘ 1938 surreal silent comedy “Too Much Johnson.”
When: Friday, January 27, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Roulette is pleased to present the world premiere of Gary Lucas’ solo guitar score accompanying Orson Welles‘ rediscovered 1938 surreal silent comedy “Too Much Johnson.” Long thought to be lost, the silent slapstick film was produced and directed by Orson Welles to be integrated into Welles’s Mercury Theatre production of the 19th century farce “Too Much Johnson” by William Gillette. However, due to the absence of projection facilities at the venue, the motion picture sequences could not be shown. The 66-minute print went unseen publicly until its rediscovery in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy in 2008. For this performance, Lucas will present a score comprised of both composed and improvised elements.

Hailed as “one of the best and most original guitarists in America” by Rolling Stone, Gary Lucas has released over 30 acclaimed albums in a variety of genres. Lucas is a pioneer of live film scoring, beginning with his 1989 score for the German Expressionist film “The Golem” (1920). He has composed ten live soundtracks to date for both silent and sound films, including the Spanish “Dracula” (1931), Luis Bunuel’s “El Angel Exterminador” (1964), and Carl Dreyer’s “Vampyr.” A Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, Lucas has performed in over 40 countries and at international festivals and venues including the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, the Jerusalem Film Festival, the American Film Institute in Maryland, the Havana Film Festival, and more.

Club d’Elf Album Release Party ft. Hassan Hakmoun & Mat Maneri

What: Boston-based, Moroccan-influenced dub-jazz collective Club d’Elf celebrates the release of Live At Club Helsinki.
When: Friday, January 20, 2016, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Boston-based, Moroccan-dosed dub-jazz collective Club d’Elf celebrates the release of Live At Club Helsinki, an epic double album that expands the band’s mix of avant jazz, electronica, hip hop, psychedelia, dub and Moroccan trance. Featuring John Medeski, the music explores touchstones as disparate as John Cage, Studio One, Gnawa, and drum n’ bass. Joining the band for this show are special guests Hassan Hakmoun and Mat Maneri, who add elements of Moroccan folk music and microtonal free jazz to the mix.

Orbiting around permanent members Mike Rivard (bassist + composer) and Dean Johnston (drummer), each Club d’Elf performance features a different line-up drawing from creative improvisers from the jazz, DJ, rock, and world music scenes of Boston and New York City. The band owes its Moroccan trance influences to core member Brahim Fribgane, who hails from Casablanca. Informed as much by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick’s ideas of shifting reality and parallel universes as by Miles Davis & Fela Kuti, the band draws inspiration from many sources, including the avant comedy of Firesign Theater and Mr. Show. Guitars, turntables, Fender Rhodes, laptops, horns, tablas and all manner of exotic instruments flow in and out of the mix. Derived from ancient sources, trance forms the central core of the Club d’Elf aesthetic, unifying the various genres the band has absorbed.