Thursday, March 31, 7 pm ($15/10)
Workers Arts & Heritage Centre
51 Stuart St., Hamilton
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET (Los Angeles/Buffalo/Toronto)
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH trombone
DAVID MOTT baritone saxophone
JONATHAN GOLOVE electric cello
CHRISTOPHER GARCIA drums/marimba/percussion
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KEN ALDCROFT & MIKE GENNARO (Toronto)
KEN ALDCROFT guitar
MIKE GENNARO drums
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH, trombonist, composer, and arranger, is one of the leading talents among Los Angeles improvisational players. Located on the West Coast since 1973, he is an emotionally charged performer, comfortable in a variety of jazz and world music styles. Vlatkovich has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His improvisationally free music expresses raw power and beauty in a minimally structured format.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Vlatkovich began studying music with the school band in the third grade. He distinguished himself in high school and was awarded a music scholarship to attend the St. Louis Institute of Music. Prior to his education at the Institute, Michael took part in an intensive six week workshop with internationally acclaimed saxophonist Oliver Nelson and guest soloists, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Roland Hanna, Ron Carter, and Phil Woods. Among his fellow students were Hamiett Bluett, Joe Bowie, Julius Hemphill, and Oliver Lake.
In addition to leading his own diverse imaginative ensembles, Vlatkovich has performed with a wide array of singers and instrumentalists including Peggy Lee, Brian Setzer, Ricky Lee Jones, Solomon Burke, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Boingo, Don Preston, Bobby Bradford, Gerry Hemingway, Vinny Golia, Andrew Cryrlle, Rob Blakeslee, Rich Halley, among many others. The trombonist has also performed on sound tracks for a variety of television and film projects including The Mask, Jingle All The Way, and the critically acclaimed John Cassavette’s film the Tempest.
In 1981, the composer formed Thankyou Records in order to document the truly unique forward thinking musical concepts and ideas of both himself and his music collaborators. These recordings have received critical acclaim in music publications and periodicals throughout the United States and Europe. Many of them have been selected for the lists of ten best jazz recordings.
Most recently the trombonist has been performing with his own ensembles, and co-leading Transvalue with poet Charles Britt. Vlatkovich is also a regular member of the Rich Halley 4 and the Bobby Bradford Motet.
DAVID MOTT (baritone saxophone) is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and holds the degrees of Master of Music, Master of Musical Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts from the Yale University School of Music, where he also taught graduate composition and directed the Yale Jazz Ensemble. He has been an Associate Professor at York University in Toronto since 1978.
The earliest of his compositions date from 1964, and include chamber works in a style the composer describes as “contemporary western art music”, pieces for both small and large jazz ensembles, and compositions demonstrating his spectacular mastery of his own instrument, the baritone saxophone, either by itself, with electroacoustic elements, or in conjunction with his colleagues in the Toronto-based saxophone quartet, 40 fingers.
Mott maintains an enthusiastic interest in the cultures of Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. Many of his compositions bear evocative titles that reflect an Eastern-inspired concern with nature and its ways, or relate to the explicitly Buddhist approach to music defined in his article, Towards a New Mind/Body Music, first published in the journal Musicworks over the course of four issues from 1982 to 1983. His music is recorded on Music Gallery Editions, Opus One Records, Hamagi Records and Unity Records.
JONATHAN GOLOVE (electric cello) is a native of Los Angeles, California and a resident of Buffalo, New York. He currently serves as Lecturer in the Music Department of the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he received a Ph.D. in musical composition as a Woodburn Fellow. His principal composition teachers have been David Felder and Donald Erb, and he has studied computer music with Cort Lippe. He has worked with or participated in master classes given by composers including Marc-Andre Dalbavie, Philippe Manoury, Lukas Foss, Roger Reynolds, Gerhard Staebler, and Walter Zimmermann.
Mr. Golove is an accomplished cellist, having been a student of Siegfried Palm and Ronald Leonard. In 1997 he was featured as soloist in Morton Feldman’s Cello and Orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and will perform Gubaidulina’s Detto II for cello and ensemble with the Slee Sinfonietta in April 1999. He is active, as well, in the field of improvised music, appearing on a number of recordings with noted composer/performer Vinny Golia.
CHRISTOPHER GARCIA (drums, marimba, percussion) was born, raised, and still resides in East L.A. (Never to be confused with West L.A.). His background includes performances in a wide variety of musical settings including; Progressive Jazz, Rock, World Music, traditional Mexican music, percussion ensemble, soundtracks, and cartoon music. He attributes his musical growth to his studies with Professor John Bergamo, Pandit Tarnath Rao, Swapan Chadhouri and Leonice Shinemann where he studied tabla, while attending California Institute of the Arts on a full scholarship. Chris was also a member of the award winning Cal Arts Percussion Ensemble in 1979. He attributes his “style”(?) to Listening to EVERYTHING, logging in thousands of hours, practicing, rehearsing,performing and touring constantly with musicians interested in stretching and reinventing themselves. Chris’ drumming is unusual in that it incorporates not only the standard rhythms and their permutations, but also a fluency with odd time signatures and sonic textures, which he seamlessly incorporates into his playing. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Asia. He has consistently held the drummer/percussionist chair in several Vlatkovich ensembles since 1992.
He has also been the drummer/percussionist of several critically acclaimed ensembles including: Continuum – fusion for the 21st Century, Quarteto Nuevo – a world music improvising chamber ensemble, The Michael Vlatkovich Trio, Quartet, Quintet & Sextet – Avant trombonist, The Jihad Racy, Roberto Miranda, Christopher Garcia – world music trio, the World Music Percussion Quartet with Gustavo Aguilar, Park Je Chun, Takinojo Mochizuki, The Grandmothers – Ex Mother Of Invention – Don Preston, Roy Estrada, Bunk Gardner, Napoleon Murphy Brock, and duets with Drummer/percussionist Alex Cline, guitarist Nels Cline and multi woodwinds master Vinny Golia.
“Vlatkovich’s concepts start with the very aggressive Elvin Jones-muscular beat of drummer Chris Garcia. From this foundation, the piano-less band shifts pattern and time, not in sharp angles but sure-footed movements. They hop from blues to tangos and marches, all the time the trombones are vocalizing, articulating, and encouraging discourse. ” — All About Jazz
KEN ALDCROFT & MIKE GENNARO
Two veterans of the Toronto improvised music scene, KEN ALDROFT and MIKE GENNARO have been playing as a duo on and off since 2011. In the last year they have become more active and as a result have collected enough recorded material for a soon to be released live record. The duo has a very energetic and rhythmic sound and freely references jazz, rock and bossa nova in their often sprawling improvisations.
ZULA Presents 