| ABOUT FRED FRIED: Amidst a sea of talented guitarists playing today, Fred believes that what sets him apart, especially from other 7-string (8-string) guitarists, is that “although there are players who work out arrangements that have a pianistic aspect, I have trained myself to actually improvise in this manner. That is, I can sit down and improvise inner lines or bass lines or comp under a melody or improvised line. I have developed the ability to harmonize a melody any number of ways. This doesn’t mean that I won’t just let fly on a single line solo. I certainly enjoy that, but I think the harmonic and pianistic aspects of my playing give the guitar greater dimension. I don’t, however, consider this a tremendous feat in any way. It’s just the way I have trained myself to play and I consider myself very fortunate in that over time a very distinctive sound and style has evolved. |
The Audible Think Improvised Music Series
at Gallery X, 169 William Street, New Bedford, MA
presents
the Blood Drum Spirit Ensemble
Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 7:30pm
2 sets, $5 suggested
royal hartigan, percussion
david bindman, tenor saxophone
wes brown, bass
art hirahara, piano
Blood Drum Spirit plays original and historic music in the African American tradition. We adapt elements of world cultures into our playing, including Indian solkattu rhythms and tala (time cycles); Javanese gamelan structures; Philippine kulintang ensemble instruments and timbres, Turkish usul and hand drum techniques; Gaelic bodhran rhythms, Native American songs; West African instruments, melodies, and rhythms; African American clapping plays, camp meeting shouts, and New Orleans grooves.
Our music is a vehicle to express the spirit of the African American heritage and the musics of the world, who we are, and what we have been given from our ancestors.
We toured Asia in 2001, 2004 and 2006, and will return to China and Hong Kong in June 2008. The ensemble has recorded two double CDs; the latest soon to be released by Innova records, entitled Blood Drum Spirit Live in China.
We are in the process of recording a video for Public Television, and will continue to do residencies, record, and perform across the globe.
The group is composed of contrabassist Wes Brown, pianist Art Hirahara, saxophonist David Bindman, and percussionist royal hartigan.
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The Music
Pieces will be announced from the stage, and are drawn from the following repertoire:
Crisis in (Now’s the) Time
Flowing Stream/Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
Threads
A Night in Tunisia
DreamfiresWaking/Invitation
Anlo Kete
Peace, Unknown
High Definition Truth
Generations Suite: Owl’s Nightmare/We’ll Be Together Again/Tenderly
royal hartigan ensemble – blood drum spirit bios:
Wes Brown (bass) has performed and toured with a wide range of musical personalities. Wes plays acoustic and electric bass, keyboard, percussion and African flute. His current interests include African-American/jazz, Afro-pop/world beat, reggae and traditional African styles. Wes has appeared on over two dozen records with various artists and has extensive international touring experience with such artists as Earl "Fatha" Hines and Anthony Braxton.
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David Bindman, tenor saxophonist, is co-founder of the Brooklyn Sax Quartet and leader of his own ensemble. He has performed and recorded with Talking Drums, JUBA, Wadada Leo Smith, Royal Hartigan, Kevin Norton, Ehran Elisha, Anthony Braxton, and Fred Ho, among others. Bindman has collaborated with poet Tyrone Henderson and visual artist Quimetta Perle, creating the multimedia pieces "The Madman" and "Strawman Dance", performed at Performance Space 122 in New York and the Green Room in Manchester, England in 1994. Their CD "Strawman Dance" (Konnex) achieved critical acclaim. He has worked as a soloist and collaborated with artists in theater, dance and visual arts in the United States, England, Bosnia, and Sweden.
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Art Hirahara is a jazz pianist/composer, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, now residing in Brooklyn, NY. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in jazz piano performance at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA and a Bachelor of Music degree in Electronic and Computer Music from the Oberlin College Conservatory in Oberlin, OH.
In the fall of 1996, he was selected by the Arts America office of the U.S. Information Agency to serve as a "Jazz Ambassador" on a seven-week tour in Qatar, Yemen, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where he performed, lectured and conducted workshops with local musicians.
Art has performed regularly around the world, including germany, japan, and the West Asia.
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royal hartigan is a percussionist who has studied and performed the musics of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, including indigenous West African drumming, dance, song, and highlife; Turkish bendir frame drum; Japanese taiko drumming; Philippine kulintang gong and drum ensemble; Chinese Beijing, Cantonese, and Kunqu opera percussion; South Indian solkattu rhythms; Korean Nong Ak gong and drum ensemble; Javanese and Sumatran gamelan; Gaelic bodhran; Cambodian sampho drumming; Vietnamese clapper percussion; Native American drumming; Dominican merengue; Brazilian samba; European symphony, and African American blues, gospel, funk, hip-hop, and jazz traditions.
He was chosen as a J. William Fulbright research scholar through the U.S. State Department, conducting research on traditional Philippine kulintang and kalinga music at the University of the Philippines in 2006.
His publications include Blood Drum Spirit: Drum Languages of West Africa, African America, Native America, Central Java, and South India, a 1700-page analysis of world drumming traditions (University Microfilms International); articles in Percussive Notes, World of Music, Annual Review of Jazz Studies, and The African American Review; and three books with CD/DVD, West African Rhythms for Drumset, Dancin’ On The Time, and West African Ewe Rhythms for Drumset. He has given lectures and clinics on world music and jazz in Africa, China, Europe, and North America. He travels to West Africa each summer to teach, perform, and do research.
The Audible Think: Improvised Music Series
