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Webber/Morris Big Band: Pulse

Tuesday, November 29, 20228:00 pm

Anna Webber and Angela Morris, two composer-performers whose music overturns expectations for the jazz big band, have co-led this ensemble of stellar New York improvisers since 2015. Their critically acclaimed debut album, Both Are True (Greenleaf Music), was featured on several Best of 2020 lists including The New York Times, Bandcamp, and NPR. The band’s instrumentation is a jazz staple, but the composers’ respective pieces are equally rooted in minimalism, pop, noise, and other music of the past century or so. Integrating improvisation and composed material in unorthodox ways and using extra-musical sources—such as poetry or mathematics—to form the foundation of new works, the traditional big band sound mutates into something unpredictable. The saxophonists take turns filling the tenor chair while the other conducts her own works.

For this performance, the band will present works from their 2020 album Both Are True (recorded at Roulette!) and newer works, including a piece by Morris and a suite of pieces in just intonation by Webber.

“Every time the saxophonists Anna Webber and Angela Morris create a piece of music together, they seem to be picking apart their 19-piece ensemble and reassembling it from scratch.” —The New York Times

Angela Morris: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute
Anna Webber: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute
Jay Rattman: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Caroline Davis: alto saxophone, clarinet
Adam Schneit: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Lisa Parrott: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
John Lake: trumpet
Jake Henry: trumpet
Adam O’Farrill: trumpet
Kenny Warren: trumpet
Tim Vaughn: trombone
Kalia Vandever: trombone
Jen Baker: trombone
Jennifer Wharton: bass trombone
Patricia Brennan: vibraphone
Dustin Carlson: guitar
Marta Sanchez: piano
Adam Hopkins: bass
Jeff Davis: drums

Anna Webber and Angela Morris at Roulette 2022 (audio)


Funded in part by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Anna Webber’s Just Intonation Etudes were written with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
Photo credit: TJ Huff

Webber/Morris Big Band: Pulse

Tuesday, November 29, 20228:00 pm

Anna Webber and Angela Morris, two composer-performers whose music overturns expectations for the jazz big band, have co-led this ensemble of stellar New York improvisers since 2015. Their critically acclaimed debut album, Both Are True (Greenleaf Music), was featured on several Best of 2020 lists including The New York Times, Bandcamp, and NPR. The band’s instrumentation is a jazz staple, but the composers’ respective pieces are equally rooted in minimalism, pop, noise, and other music of the past century or so. Integrating improvisation and composed material in unorthodox ways and using extra-musical sources—such as poetry or mathematics—to form the foundation of new works, the traditional big band sound mutates into something unpredictable. The saxophonists take turns filling the tenor chair while the other conducts her own works.

For this performance, the band will present works from their 2020 album Both Are True (recorded at Roulette!) and newer works, including a piece by Morris and a suite of pieces in just intonation by Webber.

“Every time the saxophonists Anna Webber and Angela Morris create a piece of music together, they seem to be picking apart their 19-piece ensemble and reassembling it from scratch.” —The New York Times

Angela Morris: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute
Anna Webber: conductor, tenor saxophone, flute
Jay Rattman: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
Caroline Davis: alto saxophone, clarinet
Adam Schneit: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Lisa Parrott: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
John Lake: trumpet
Jake Henry: trumpet
Adam O’Farrill: trumpet
Kenny Warren: trumpet
Tim Vaughn: trombone
Kalia Vandever: trombone
Jen Baker: trombone
Jennifer Wharton: bass trombone
Patricia Brennan: vibraphone
Dustin Carlson: guitar
Marta Sanchez: piano
Adam Hopkins: bass
Jeff Davis: drums

Anna Webber and Angela Morris at Roulette 2022 (audio)


Funded in part by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.
Anna Webber’s Just Intonation Etudes were written with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts
Photo credit: TJ Huff