Black Hat Records presents a matinee concert with two very exciting jazz groups. Yes, two for the price of one, a Chinese New Year special. Please, join us for an afternoon that will get your heart, mind, and soul racing with excitement.
CKW Trio
The Scott Hill Ensemble
About CKW Trio:
CKW Trio's approach to acoustic modern Jazz allows for a freedom of emotional expression. With solid grooves and explosions of energy and sound, CKW Trio's music reminds one of the music being played by Ken Vandermark, and John Zorn¹s Masada. The instrumentation is similar to Julius Hemphill's trio, woodwinds, cello and percussion.
CKW trio plays in a free jazz style and experiments with time and rhythm. They use various non- western scales as central points for launching improvisations. This adventure in jazz is created by the unique sounds and ideas of the members of the group.
Members of CKW Trio:
Michael Cooke: flute, soprano, alto, tenor sax, bass clarinet, bassoon, and percussion
The multi-instrumentalist
Michael Cooke heads up the group, with his aggressive tenor saxophone style. This Louis Armstrong Jazz Award winner mainly plays tenor, but you will also hear him play soprano sax, alto sax, flute, bass clarinet, bassoon and percussion. Michael started playing jazz in High school where he played for homeless shelters in Atlanta. A cum laude music graduate University of North Texas, Michael has played in Europe, Mexico and all over the United States. Relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area, he is striving to develop his style and has recently started studying Larry Ochs "Radar" composition techniques.
Denise Berardini of the San Francisco Beacon describes Michael's "talented sax flowing out color and tone with such feeling I haven¹t heard in quite a while. Michael plays with such dimension and flavor, that it sets (his) sound apart from the rest."
"Uncompromising, fiery, complex, passionate, and cathartic" is how the All Music Guide labeled Michael¹s playing on Searching by Cooke Quartet and Statements by
Michael Cooke.
Alex Kelly: cello and igil
Cellist and composer Alex Kelly is currently completing a D.M.A. in Cello Performance with a secondary area in Composition from the University of Oregon. As a cellist, Alex has performed throughout the United States and Canada for the past ten years. In the past three years, he has premiered almost one hundred solo and mixed chamber works.
His versatility is demonstrated in his variety of styles, which range from renaissance to romantic, from avant-garde to pop. He has studied Baroque cello and performance practice and has improvisation experience with acoustic and electric cellos.
In the Pacific Northwest he is known for his performances with a variety of ensembles, including the new music ensemble "100th Monkey," a free improvisational group called "The Knotty Ensemble," a tonal improvisational group called "Confluence," and a jazz funk group called "The Freedom Funk Ensemble."
In San Francisco he is known for his performances with the "New Pickle Family Circus", "Iron and the Albatross", and as co-creator of the "Starr Spectacular".
Andrew Wilshusen: percussion
Whether drumming with avant-garde or Coltrane influenced jazz groups such as trumpeter Eddie Gale or recording his own improvisations, Andrew Wilshusen is always seeking to explore the boundaries of music. His keen ears and fluid coordination make him a drummer whose rhythms, which range from minimalist colorations to polyrhythmic tirades, always perfectly compliment his band mates while propelling them to new heights of their own. His drumming has been referred to as heart-felt, communicative, explosive, and highly imaginative.
About The Scott Hill Ensemble:
Scott walks the edge between contemporary concert music, jazz, and total free improvisation. His work is highly composed yet leaves large areas for exploration. "I like to set the mood via composition, then I let go of the controls and let my companion musicians morph the work into something else. It takes trust and communication, but the result is always satisfying."
"As both a clarinetist and composer Hill can easily be considered a peer with both Byron and Sclavis."
-John Kelman, "All About Jazz" (Canada)
The Scott Hill Ensemble consists of:
Aaron Germain - upright bass
Dan Cantrell - accordion
Jon Arkin - drums
Scott Hill - clarinet
Scott Hill:
Oakland clarinetist Scott Hill has been performing in the Bay Area for over ten years where he has played in a diverse variety of musical ensembles. In 1991, Scott co-founded a group with Persian musician Aldoush Alpanian. The first release in 1992 received SF Chronicle’s Wammie Award for “Best World Music Bandâ€. In the following years Scott produced several innovative multimedia soundtracks for cdrom company Inverse Ink.. His explorations into improvisational forms continued with the avant-garde electric power trio Three Bean Salad, which in 1994 released their international debut “Legumanityâ€(XDOT 25). His debut independent release in 2000, “Stepsâ€, combined ethnic themes from eastern European and middle eastern sources combined with contemporary jazz. Included on this debut was a powerful roster of musicians including drummer Scott Amendola, bassist John Shifflett and special guest appearances including Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio), Leonard Thompson, and Aldoush Alpanian. Scott's latest release recorded in France - March 2002, "Narrow Streets", expands his clarinet repertoire with a unique quartet formed with Paris-based musicians Michael Felberbaum - guitar, Stephan Kerecki - bass, and with New York session drummer Mark Dodge.
Dan Cantrell:
Dan has been playing accordion for the last 10 years, focusing primarily on Balkan music. I perform in several groups in the San Francisco Bay Area, including The Toids, Peoples Bizarre, and Orkestar Shopov. He also produced the film score for the KQED documentary "Home Front" for which he was presented an Emmy in 2001.
Aaron Germain:
Aaron Germain grew up in Massachusetts where he learned to play music studying bass with Sal Macchia and Joe Sallins, and composition with Yusef Lateef, Jeff Holmes and Andy Jaffe. He cut his teeth gigging around New England with blues, bluegrass, funk, and jazz bands, and eventually started playing with local world musicians like the Senegalese kora played Youssou Sidibe. In 1998 he played a concert with Yusef Lateef in Connecticut and in 1999 played a concert in front of the great pyramids of Egypt with Transglobal Millenium Ensemble. Upon moving to the bay area in 2000, Aaron has become a steady freelancer on the upright and electric bass. He can be seen performing as a member or as a substitute in such bands as Blowout, Reorchestra, The United Brassworkers Front, Telepathy, Gubbish, Bitches Brew, Montuno Groove, Bolero y Mas, The Post Junk Trio, Shotgun Wedding, Hannibal, Pankind, The Buddy Craig Band, and others. He has performed with Yusef Lateef, Stanley Jordan, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Craven, Andy Narell, Gordon Stone, and Calvin Keyes.
Jon Arkin:
Drummer Jon Arkin was born and raised in the Boston area and began his music career playing various school functions and local gigs. After studying drumset, percussion and jazz theory while in high school, he was accepted by the University of Miami School of Music. During his years there, he played with a wide variety of musicians in many different genres, and he studied general music, jazz, percussion, and composition (both jazz-based and contemporary classical). In 1998 he received a BA in studio music and jazz drumset performance.After graduating, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he now performs with a diverse selection of artists. as well as composing for many different ensembles and instrumentations.
Location
The Jazz House is located at 3192 Adeline Street in Berkeley, a half block southwest of the Ashby BART. (Please note there is an incorrect Adeline Street in Oakland.)
The Jazz House is a small, non-descript warehouse located next to the police station where Martin Luther King and Adeline Street meet. A blue light and a peculiar "Ant" sign reside above the entrance
Cost: $8-12 Sliding Scale Donation