2010-11 Concert Series

Theo Bleckmann

Ben Monder

“... so virtuosic and inventive a pair ... the two share a subtle discipline that results in a focused, cohesive whole. Rarely have such individual musicians sounded so single-minded.” –Downbeat Magazine

Dan Galley

“... bold and creative and yet always swinging, nothing is static. Everything moves.” —Chuck Berg (jazz critic, Jazz Times and Downbeat Magazine)

Ron Miles

“Miles occupies a stylistic territory almost squarely between [Wynton] Marsalis and [Dave] Douglas... He branches straight out of a post-bop continuum but works often without clarifying guidelines of an idiom. Most of the time, he sounds like no one but himself." —Nate Chinen, The New York Times

Ralph Allessi

“Dizzy Gillespie wanted to shake jazz up around 1945; Ralph Alessi wants to again. Gillespie delivered his message like a comic; Alessi does it like a scientist.”—Greg Burk, The Los Angeles Times

John Hollenbeck

This performance made possible through generous support from the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series at Willamette University.

“People forget that big bands have been places of real aesthetic boldness. Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider: these were and are no slouches, and there are clear signs that a few younger composer-arrangers will join that list. Let’s start with John Hollenbeck… His music is playful, profound, attentive to the soloists’ strengths and pretty much continuously imaginative.”—Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

Makoto Matsushima

Noru Ka Soru Ka
Improvised Music and Dance
Mike Nord, electric guitar/computers
Georg Hofmann, drums/percussion
Makoto Matsushima, dance/voice
Mao Arata, dance
Hudson Hall
Free Admission

“… it all sounds very seamless, very calculated even at times, despite the total lack of preconceptions. The music is minimalist, but rhythmic, full of lyricism and quite accessible.”—Free Jazz Blog