Posts Tagged ‘aram shelton quartet’

After a slow moving day in the heat of Columbia, lunch at the Blue Cactus, a walk through the 5 points area, mosquito bites at the ranch, we packed almost all of our things and headed up to Asheville for a show at Static Age Records. I say almost because when we loaded into the record store I realized i’d forgotten something very important – my saxophone. Ouch. I was pretty pissed at myself. Thankfully the drive to Columbia is 2 and a half hours if you don’t make any stops. So, I planned to drive back after the show, sleep down there again, and then return to Asheville in the morning to meet up with Anton, Marc & Keefe.

It was a friday night in Asheville, which meant that everyone in town was out eating at restaurants and checking out bands playing in the street. It was a warm summer evening, perfect time to be in town.

The show at Static Age started about an hour later than scheduled, mainly because the crowd came in slowly.  We played first and I played my first all clarinet set. Challenging, though not so much in playing as in scheduling the set, as typically in this group I play alto in the pieces with higher energy.  I actually thought the set was very good for us – we had a common focus throughout the set, and though it had a lower energy than usual, it had more space, and we explored some very interesting places. but, i think Marc got a little weary of it by our last piece. He wanted us to go for the higher energy in “fleeting” instead of the out of time, more open feel of “barely talking”.  we finished the set, i talked to some folk, then hit the road back to columbia, making it there by 2AM, saxophone safely back in possession. Unfortunately I had to miss Shane Perlowin’s set, but much thanks to him for setting up the show.

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We drove two hours south from DC and stayed at a hotel in Richmond right next door to the headquarters of Phillip Morris and the infamous tobacco tower. It smelled like cigarettes in the air, no lie. Keefe asked for a smoking room, the night man gave him the room 420. Nice.
Woke up, took a dip in the hotel pool, we hit the road around 10, had about six hours on the road and got into Columbia. Arnold whipped up some snacks, then we had some down time before heading over to the 701 CCA for the show. Nice place – large contemporary arts center with two levels and several large galleries.

The show was well promoted with articles in the State and the Free Times. A solid turnout came ready to listen. We played two sets, easily our best playing both individually and collectively so far on the tour. The acoustics of the space, which had a healthy resonance, allowed us to play without any struggle to be heard, Even small sounds flowed throughout the large room. I played an unaccompanied clarinet solo during one of the new pieces where I got into a very high & busy circular breathing thing – the resonance made it work that much better, it let the sounds carry through and intermingle. Marc played a great drum solo on our final song “fleeting”, a free swing tune.

Columbia has never disappointed, but the combination of setting and turnout made this my favorite show there yet.

Performing in Columbia, SC at the 701 CCA

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We had a choice – which way to get to DC – down the wasteland of tolls & traffic on 95, or a bit of a roundabout through pennsylvania? We chose the latter, thinking that it’d be a nicer drive & of course google maps said it would only take a little bit longer. Unfortunately google can mislead. Took us 7 hours. It really shouldn’t.  We also stopped by the DMG on our way out of New York.  That took us a little longer as Wednesday’s aren’t a day where they’re normally open. Thankfully ran into Chuck on his way to pick up his lunch. When he got back he talked to Bruce on the phone, who gave him the greenlight to buy a nice amount of records.
Basically all this extra time meant that we were late to our show in Adams Morgan. We got there just as the first group (which included Jacob Zimmerman) was packing up. we brought in our things, set up, took a ten minute breather and played a short set, cause we needed to be done by 10. Ed Ricart, who set up the date, was understanding and very helpful – and I think we played really well given the circumstance – a new untitled fast time tune was particularly good.  As soon as we finished we had to break down and pack out – partly due to a late show happening at the venue, and partly because we hit the road that night to split the drive to columbia. Before hitting the road we had some great falafel with an amsterdam style to the serving, their name? Amsterdam Falafel.

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The drive to New York was the longest one of the tour yet – 7 hours on paper. After staying out pretty late we had breakfast and hit the road at about 9am. After a detour through downtown we hit the highway and finally got to the Holland Tunnel right around 5 – excellent timing. Drove through Manhattan and over the Williamsburg bridge. Got to the Douglas Street Music Collective around 6, met up with Josh Sinton there. Took a walk, had a well made cappucino at Root Hill Cafe. We’d arranged with Josh to play a third set with myself, Keefe, Josh, Matt Bauder, Owen Stewart-Robinson on guitar and Marc on drums. Think of it as a saxophone quartet plus rhythm section. We did a short rehearsal at 7, there were two pieces by Steve Lacy that Sinton transcribed, and two pieces that focused on a long melody, one each by Bauder and Stewart-Robinson.

Unfortunately, not much of a crowd – New York can be disappointing like that. It’s a complicated thing – on one hand I feel it’s important to go to be heard at least by other like minded musicians, on the other, it’s difficult to get in & out of the city and if you’re in for only a night, you don’t get to enjoy any of the many things that the city has to offer. Anyway, the first set was a quartet called The Sporting Life with Sinton, Jacob Wick, and the guitarists Jonathan Goldberger and Stewart-Robinson.  Most of the music by Stewart-Robinson. Reminded me of Gastr del Sol at times. Some singing. Interesting.  During our set we played with a lot of energy – I definitely vented some of my frustration, ruined a reed that way, but sometimes you just gotta let it out. The set with the quartet ++ was pretty fun actually. The four of us saxophonists work pretty well together – made me think that we should do a quartet at some point. Peter Gannushkin was there and took photos – we talked a bit about photography, I’ve been geeking out lately cause of my new Lumix, he’s got the same one. He took plenty of photos of the gig

Afterwards Keefe & I hung with Bauder in the ‘Shwick.  A warm night in Brooklyn.

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A completely reasonable 5 hour drive to Pittsburgh through Ohio and the rolling hills of northwest Pennsylvania.  A gorgeous day for a drive.  Got into pittsburgh in the early evening, it was still hot – in the low 90s I think. Took a walk around the negihborhood towards a large cemetary, the Allegheny Cemetary. I think we saw a beaver climbing through the iron fence. Played at the Thunderbird Cafe. David Bernabo played the first set with Darryl Fleming. Two guitars playing mostly improvised pieces.  Our set was good, and the music is starting to feel more natural. Though the crowd was small, we were able to sell some albums. Afterwards went with my friend John Greenwell to a new Cantina that had delicious seitan tacos.

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The start of an 8 night tour and this was the First date  – we left Chicago in the early afternoon for the 4 hour drive to Ann Arbor (add an hour for the time change). Got into town with time to spare before the show so were able to warm up and rehearse a few things. The Kerrytown House is a good sized venue and completely suitable place for acoustic music – they did a great job of promoting the show and I was glad to see that they had pre-sold a  number of seats. We had a good turnout, with some serious jazz listeners from Detroit in the front row. We played one long set, which included all of the pieces from the new album, These Times, and a few new ones that I brought along for the trip. Being the first show on the tour I expected a few hiccups, but they were very minimal – everyone listened to each other and played strongly – it was really the perfect way to start the tour. our friend Tim Haldeman had recently moved back to Ann Arbor, so we stayed with him.  Thanks to Karen and everyone else at the Kerrytown.

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Singlespeed Music is happy to announce “These Times” by the Aram Shelton Quaret.

The Aram Shelton Quartet features Chicago-based musicians Keefe Jackson, Anton Hatwich and Marc Riordan. Related to the Fast Citizens (Delmark), of which Shelton, Jackson and Hatwich are all members, this quartet displays a musical range on their debut album “These Times” that encompasses free swing, creative improvisation, space & patience, and fiery energy.

In the quartet, Shelton plays equal amounts of alto saxophone & clarinet, approaching each distinctly while displaying both the large and subtle differences of the instruments. Jackson contributes on tenor saxophone with a full sound and unique approach to the utilization of extended techniques. Hatwich’s bass playing grounds the music and drives it in a compelling way, while Riordan’s drums serve as backbone to the rhythmic aspects and a frame to the open sections.

A tour celebrating the release of “These Times” is scheduled from July 23rd to 31st with dates including Chicago, New York, Ann Arbor and Washington DC. The full itnerary is below. The CD will be available at all shows.

You can listen to the album and purchase it in digital format here: http://singlespeedmusic.bandcamp.com

Aram Shelton Quartet “These Times” 2010 Tour:

July 25 – Kerrytown Concert House – Ann Arbor, MI
July 26 – the THunderbird  – Pittsburgh, PA
July 27 – Douglas St. Music Collective – Brooklyn, NY
July 28 – Bossa – Washington, DC
July 29 – 701 CCA – Columbia, SC
July 30 – Static Age Records – Asheville, NC
July 31 - Ya-Yas – Lexington, KY
August 1 – the Hungry Brain – Chicago, IL

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