Jon Irabagon’s new quartet! From the winner of the notable 2008 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition to a leading and in-demand figure in Jazz world-wide…
“There are few players who can so deftly stride from postbop to free improvisation, and then wander from chaotic collage-spraying to sleek-blowing fluency.” – The New York City Jazz Record.
“Irabagon is a subverter of the jazz form; he’s a revolutionary who’s secretly messing with the changes. He might be dismantling the music’s mechanics from the inside, but from the outside he can frequently persuade a crowd that he’s an old- school practitioner – The New York City Jazz Record.
Dan Weiss’s intense study of jazz, classical Indian, contemporary classical, West African, and metal sets a musical platform that creates a sound that transcends conventional style or genre.
Chris Lightcap performed weekly with the Cecil Taylor Big Band in 1995. For the next two years he worked regularly throughout New York City in a trio led by saxophonist George Garzone.
Matt Mitchell, “A pianist of burrowing focus and an indispensable fixture of the contemporary vanguard” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times
This program is supported in part by a Grant from the Cambridge Arts Council a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
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Made possible with the support of Jazz Road, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
A first-generation Filipino-American Jon Irabagon (b. 1978, Chicago) has been influenced by the self-empowering and individualistic philosophies and aesthetic of the great AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) ensembles. Irabagon builds on this foundation by adding modern classical and late-period John Coltrane to his compositional base.
After earning a Bachelor of Music from DePaul University, Irabagon continued his education by earning a Master of Arts from the Manhattan School of Music and completing post-graduate studies in the jazz program at Juilliard. He’s a winner of the Rising Star award in Downbeat Magazine for both alto and tenor saxophones, and the recipient of a Philippine Presidential Award, the highest civilian honor an overseas Filipino can receive.
Named one of New York City’s 25 Jazz Icons by Time Out New York, Irabagon composes for his ensemble Outright! which received a 5-star Masterpiece review in Downbeat Magazine for Unhinged (2014), as well as the Jon Irabagon Trio, featuring Barry Altschul and Mark Helias,
Irabagon has been an integral part of ensembles such as the Dave Douglas Quintet, the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Septet and Octet, Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor, Ralph Alessi’s This Against That, Mostly Other People do the Killing and Uri Caine’s Catbird.
Irabagon currently runs his own imprint, Irabbagast Records, to release his own uncategorizable works as well as other cutting-edge, creative artists.
Two-time Shifting Foundation Grantee Dan Weiss has been hailed as one of the top five jazz drummers by The New York Times
Weiss has been studying tabla under Samir Chatterjee for twenty five years. He’s performed classical Indian music with the legendary Ashish Khan and Ramesh Misra
With his trio, which includes Jacob Sacks and Thomas Morgan, he’s released three records (‘Now Yes When’, ‘Timshel’, and ‘Utica Box’ )
Weiss also leads a unique sixteen piece large ensemble that features some of NYC’s most gifted musicians. As a sideman, Weiss has played/toured with Lee Konitz, Chris Potter, Noah Preminger, Kenny Werner, Rudresh Mahanthappa, David Binney, John Zorn, and many others. And a duo project with Miles Okazaki (double vinyl release scheduled for late 2021).
Born and raised in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Chris Lightcap played violin and piano before taking up the electric bass at fourteen. As a senior in high school he started to study the upright bass.
He studied bass, composition, classical performance, and improvisation with Milt Hinton, Cameron Brown, Robert Suderburg, Alvin Lucier, Jeff Levine and Bill Dixon. He also had the privilege of studying and performing with master drummer Edward Blackwell
In 2000 Chris joined the ensemble of Regina Carter, and has been featured alongside the rest of her group with the Boston, Atlanta and Minnesota Symphonies
In 1998 he began to write for his own group, a quartet featuring Gerald Cleaver on drums and Tony Malaby and Bill McHenry on tenor saxophones
He has worked with Marc Ribot, Craig Taborn, Glen Hansard, Mark Turner, John Medeski, Jason Moran, The Kronos Quartet, Tomasz Stanko, Chris Potter, Paul Motian, John Scofield, Dave Liebman, Paquito D’Rivera, Anthony Braxton, Joe Morris, Sheila Jordan, James Carter, Butch Morris, Ben Monder, Mary Halvorson, Julian Lage, Mark Turner, Henry Butler, Nels Cline, Tomasz Stanko, Ravi Coltrane, Joe Morris, Steven Bernstein, Ben Monder, Terrel Stafford, Ralph Alessi, and Rob Brown.
Matt Mitchell is a pianist and composer interested in the intersections of various strains of acoustic, electric, composed, and improvised new music. He currently composes for and leads several ensembles featuring many of the current foremost musicians and improvisers, including Tim Berne, Kim Cass, Kate Gentile, Ben Gerstein, Jon Irabagon, Travis Laplante, Ava Mendoza, Miles Okazaki, Ches Smith, Chris Speed, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Tordini, Anna Webber, Dan Weiss.
He is an anchor member of several significant creative music ensembles which integrate composed and improvised music, including Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, the Dave Douglas Quintet, John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Dan Weiss’s Starebaby, Jonathan Finlayson’s Sicilian Defense, Steve Coleman’s Natal Eclipse, Kate Gentile’s Mannequins, Mario Pavone’s Blue Dialect Trio, Anna Webber’s Simple Trio, Ches Smith’s We All Break, the Dave King Trio, and Quinsin Nachoff’s Flux. He is also among the core performers of John Zorn’s Bagatelles.
Musicians with whom he performs and has performed include Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Bird Calls, the Darius Jones Quartet, Jon Irabagon, Michael Attias’ Spun Tree, Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet + 1, Ohad Talmor’s Grand Ensemble, JD Allen, Rudresh Mahanthappa and Bunky Green’s Apex, Rez Abbasi’s Invocation, Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Alessi’s Baida Quartet, Dave King’s Indelicate duo, Amir ElSaffar, Marc Ducret, David Torn, Vernon Reid, Clarence Penn and Penn Station, Linda Oh, Rudy Royston, Allison Miller, Donny McCaslin, Brad Shepik, and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society.
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