home catalog news contact otwo Music for an Imaginary Band gen 14
Gordon Beeferman
Personnel
Gordon Beeferman (piano & compositions)
Nate Wooley (trumpet)
Matt Bauder, Evan Rapport, Josh Sinton (saxophones)
Brad Kemp (bass)
Michael Evans (drums)Track Listing
Side A:
No MeatSide B:
Far InterludeFormat: 7" Record - 33 rpm
Released: 2009
Cover design: Ian Crowther
Recorded: May 23 2009, Italian Academy, Columbia University, New York City
Gordon Beeferman's IMAGINARY BAND: a real 7-piece group with a rotating roster of some of NYC's most remarkably creative musicians. Performing Gordon's new compositions -- gnarly, lyrical, whimsical, free-form -- an idiosyncratic mix of new-music, jazz, and free improv. Selected Press
"Beeferman's Music for an Imaginary Band, comprising such fine experimentalists as trumpeter Nate Wooley and saxophonist Matt Bauder among others, is also featured on a 7," providing a rare chance to hear his harmonically rich compositions." Marc Medwin, All About Jazz - New York
"Gordon Beeferman's Music for an Imaginary Band project may have a cumbersome name, but its output is some of the tightest, most skillfully arranged free jazz we've run across for some time. Beeferman and his collaborators—including local VIPs such as trumpeter Nate Wooley, and saxists Matt Bauder and Josh Sinton—help us imagine what '60s firebrands such as Albert Ayler would've sounded like set against lush, post-Ellingtonian backdrops.." Time Out New York
"...The bastard child of a soundtrack to a deranged Broadway show and a trip through the glorious times of jazz's big bands, the whole arranged by fairly rational-minded Stravinskian zealots...intelligence abounding throughout. There are ways of demonstrating dissidence besides making noise: Beeferman's music is perfect in that sense. Beautiful record..." Massimo Ricci, Squid's Ear
"No Meat" displays the frenzy found in NYC avant-jazz, with trumpeter Nate Wooley shining. "Far Interlude" is a quiet post-bop track with a changing, heavy time signature that refuses to take off. On green vinyl, for those of you who dig that kind of details." François Couture, Monsieur Délire
"Far Interlude" features some tight, complex arrangements for this unique line-up of three saxes, trumpet, piano, bass & drums. The piece keeps shifting in Zappa-like way with a number of short, strong solos from Josh Sinton on bari sax and Matt Bauder on tenor. The flipside, "No Meat" is a more restrained, slower piece with thoughtful harmonies for the trumpet, clarinet & saxes. The band sounds completely different, the subtly makes for some more reflective listening." Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
"Jazz, if you like it frenzied and not entirely sane. I have to say, though, that the real band playing these two songs is most impressive. A lot of ideas are crammed into a small space, yet Beeferman and company make it work well." Jon Worley, A&A
Artist Bio
GORDON BEEFERMAN is a composer and pianist whose work spans opera, orchestral and chamber music, improvisation, and collaborations with dance and other arts. His music has been commissioned and/or performed by the New York City Opera orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Quartet New Generation recorder collective, eighth blackbird, Momenta Quartet, the California EAR Unit, American Brass Quintet, and others. The New York Times hailed his chamber opera "The Rat Land" as "complex and daringly modern...gritty, fidgety and intriguing." A "fully liberated pianist" (Cadence Magazine), Beeferman has performed extensively in New York as well as across the US and Canada; highlights include appearances at Roulette, ISSUE Project Room, the Vision Festival, MATA Festival, Hallwalls (Buffalo, NY), and the Music Gallery (Toronto). His collaborations with choreographers have been produced at the Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, The Chocolate Factory, and Abrons Arts Center. Beeferman has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, the BMI Foundation, and Concert Artists Guild, three BMI Student Composer Awards, a Tanglewood fellowship, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the Copland House. His recordings are available on Generate, Genuin, and Summit Records. Links
Photo by Scott Friedlander © 2009
