Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Big Bad Wolf - Pond Life (2017)



Big Bad Wolf is a London based band featuring washy guitars, ambient vocals, brassy hooks and deep grooves…

...this distinctive sound arises largely from the band's consistently egalitarian process of group composition, where all 4 members are present from conception to completion of each song. Starting each writing session by recording an open-ended group improvisation, they then listen back, pick out the best ideas and then develop them into intricate and concise pieces of music. Big Bad Wolf have developed a unique way to bridge the gap between improvised music and contemporary pop/rock styles. All four band members have a strong grounding in jazz from their studies on the prestigious jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music and at Leeds College of Music. From this background, the band strives to constantly push the boundaries and blur the edges of the genre through a wealth of influences, from Bjork to Derek Bailey, brought to the table by each member to the group. From the band’s first experimentations in late 2014 there has always been a primary focus on the instrumental blend within the slightly unconventional line up (trombone, guitar, bass VI and drums) and how to work that into forging an individual, contemporary sound whilst still honouring the improvisational element of the jazz tradition. 

Big Bad Wolf are proud recipients of a Help Musicians UK Development Grant and are also winners of the 2015 Zealous X Music Category

"I really like the kind of combination of lazy trombone and darting guitar riffs" - Jez Nelson, BBC Radio 3 (Jazz On 3)


1. Canary 05:16
2. Flats In Dagenham 06:08
3. Frog 06:14
4. Quiet Coach 09:16
5. Hopkins' Choice 04:32
6. Grassfish 07:28
7. Pond Life 06:02
8. The Plight Of The Typewriter 07:42




TOUR

Cuneiform Artists on Tour - April 2017


April 2017
New Releases: Out Now / February 2017



Upcoming Shows


April 14 - Monty Hall - Jersey City, NJ [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 18 - The Shelter - Detroit, MI [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 19 - Mac's Bar - Lansing, MI [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 20 - Shank Hall - Milwaukee, WI [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 21 - The House Cafe - Dekalb, IL [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 22 - Blue Moose Taphouse - Iowa City, IA [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 23 - The Bottleneck - Lawrence, KS [opening for Thank You Scientist]

April 27 - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - 280 Fenway - Boston, MA [opening for Ruby Rose Fox]

May 6 - Waiting Room - Buffalo, NY [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 7 - The Haunt - Ithaca, NY [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 9 - The Ottobar - Baltimore, MD [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 10 - Chameleon Club - Lancaster, PA [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 11 - Canal Club - Richmond, VA [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 12 - Motorco Music Hall - Durham, NC [opening for Thank You Scientist]

May 18-21 - FIMAV - Victoriaville, Quebec G6P 6T3 - Canada

Listen to Say So


April 27 - Jazzahead! 2017 - Bremen, Germany

Listen to Out Of The Blue


May 15 - Songbyrd - 2477 18th St NW - Washington, DC 20009 (202) 450-2917

Listen to Super Petite


September 22 - tba - Hamburg, Germany

September 24 - tba - Scarbourough, UK

October 19 - Berklee School of Music - Boston, MA



September 15-17 - Rock In Opposition Festival - Cap D'ecouverte - Le Garric 81450, France



July 2 - Blazing Telecaster Madness with guitarists Anthony Pirog & Dave Chappell, John Previtti (b) & Barry Hart (d) - Bertha's - 734 South Broadway - Baltimore, MD - 3:00 til 6:00

Listen to Mother Stump


April 12 - Pianos - NYC, NY

April 13 - Wichita Jazz Festival - Wichiata, KS

April 14 - The Riot Room - Kansas City, MO

April 15 - Barleycorn's - Wichita, KS

April 20 - Musica - Akron, OH

April 21 - Community High School - Ann Arbor, MI

April 21 - Cliff Bells - Detroit, MI

April 22 - Cliff Bells - Detroit, MI

April 23 - The Trocadero - Reno, NV

April 24 - tba - Sacramento, CA

April 25 - Black Cat - San Francisco, CA

April 26 - Buchanan High School - Clovis, CA

April 27 - Blue Whale - Los Angeles, CA

April 28 - Reno Jazz Festival - Reno, NV

May 19 - SLO Jazz Festival - San Luis Obispo, CA

May 31 - New Morning - Paris, France

June 6 - Cross Club - Prague, CZ

June 8 - KSET - Zagreb Croatia

Aug 25-27 - Smida Jazz Fest - Cluj, Romania

Listen to Somnambulist


April 6 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542



April 6 - Bar Django - Thorvald Meyers gate 25 - 0555 Oslo, Norway

April 8 - Nordic Black Theatre - Hollendergata 8 - 0190 Oslo, Norway

April 29 - Jazz & Cookin' Festival - Veles e Vents, Marina Real Juan Carlos I - 46024 València, Spain - 17:00

June 7 - Palau de la Musica - Passeig de l'Albereda, 30 - 46023 València, Spain - 20:00

July 14 - White Night Music Joint - Fontanka river embankment, 59 - Saint Petersburg, Russia

July 15 - Petrojazz Festival - St Petersburg, Russia

September 7 - Amstel Arts - Veles e Vents, Marina Real Juan Carlos I - 46024 València, Spain - 19:00

Listen to Bye


April 23 -  Festival Prog-Resiste - Espace Victor Jara - 31 place van Zeeland - Soignies, Belgium

June 7 - Petit Bain - Paris, France

June 10 - Le Triton - Triton Fest - Les Lilas, France [with drummer Arthur Narcy]



April 4 - Machine With Magnets - 400 Main Street - Pawtucket, RI [opening for Calvin Johnson, Arrington De Dionyso]

April 5 - The Studio at 550 - 550 Massachusetts Ave - Cambridge, MA 02139 [opening for Calvin Johnson, Arrington De Dionyso]

Listen to Sister Death


April 8 – CREATE Festival - Firehouse 12 - 45 Crown St - New Haven, CT 06510

April 9 – CREATE Festival - Firehouse 12 - 45 Crown St - New Haven, CT 06510

June 8 – Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer - Ojai Music Festival - Libbey Bowl - Ojai, CA

June 15 – Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer - Zellerbach Hall - Berkeley, CA

July 18  – Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer - Molde Jazz Festival - Newport, RI

August 4 – Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer - Newport Jazz Festival - Newport, RI

October 13 – Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet - performing 'Ten Freedom Summers' - tba - Houston, TX

October 14 – Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet - performing 'Ten Freedom Summers' - tba - Austin, TX

October 15 – Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet - performing 'Ten Freedom Summers' - tba - New Orleans, LA



June 3 - Birdsongs of the Mezoic will rise from Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction to unleash a rollicking set of their primordial punk jazz classical car-wreck ouevre - ONCE Lounge & Ballroom - 156 Highland Ave - Somerville MA - 10 PM harpist Audrey Harrer / 10:45 Birdsongs - $10.00

and related:
April 23 - Brockton Symphony will perform Erik Lindgren’s 25-minute orchestral suite “Extreme Spirituals” featuring Atlanta bass baritone Oral Moses - Christ Congregational Church - 1350 Pleasant Street - Brockton MA - 3 PM $20 / $15 seniors/students & kids free

The Bespoke Consort will perform an invigorating concert of crossover classical chamber music sans boundaries featuring Thomasine Berg on flute, Vessela Stoyanova on vibraphone, Valerie Thompson on cello, and Erik Lindgren on piano

May 6 - Johnson Strings - 1039 Chestnut Street - Newton Upper Falls, MA - 7:30-9:30 followed by reception $10

May 7 - First Unitarian Universalist Church - 25 South Main Street - Middleboro, MA - 10:30-12:00 free Note: musical selections will be performed during the service

May 7 - Middleborough Public Library - 102 North Main Street, Middleborough, MA - 2-4 free

June 24 - Private Party evening performance TBA

June 25 - Plymouth Center for the Arts - 11 North Street - Plymouth MA - 4 PM wine & cheese reception followed by a 5-7 performance - $12



July 31 - Beat Kitchen - 2100 W. Belmont Ave - Chicago, IL 60618 [opening for Free Salamander Exhibit!]

September 15-17 - Rock In Opposition Festival - Cap D'ecouverte - Le Garric 81450, France



April 25 - 29 - 'Pop-up Jazz Lounge' - Unit 30 - Great Western Arcade at Birmingham's Coleman Business - near Snow Hill Station - Birmingham, UK

June tba - 'Pop-up Jazz Lounge' - Old Street Underground station - London, UK

September tba - 'Pop-up Jazz Lounge' - Liverpool, UK


May 6 - Apollo - Shimo-Kitazawa - Tokyo, Japan

May 7 - Gig - Yokohama, Japan

May 8 - Star Eyes - Nagoya, Japan

May 9 - Mokkiriya - Kanazawa, Japan

May 10 - UrBANGUILD - Kyoto, Japan

May 11 - Left Alone - Ashiya, Kobe, Japan

May 13 - Bird - Hiroshima, Japan

May 14 - Candy - Chiba, Japan

May 15 - Tokyo Club Meguro - Meguro, Tokyo, Japan

May 16 - Airegin - Yokohama, Japan

June 11 - Hot Club Ghent - Ghent, Belgium

CD out in May!


May 14 - The Legion Bar - 790 Metropolitan Ave - Brooklyn, NY - 9:00



April 13 - Jazz Spot Candy - Chiba, Japan

April 14 - Velvet Sun - Tokyo, Japan

April 15 - tbd - Tokyo, Japan

April 16 - Nanya - Nogoya, Japan

April 17 - Big Apple - Kobe, Japan

April 18 - Pepperland - Okayama, Japan

April 19 - Jazz Riverside - Fukuoka, Japan

May 3 - Vortex - London, UK

May 4 - Vortex - London, UK

May 5 - Blue Orange Theatre - Birmingham, UK

May 6 - Fuse Art Space - Bradford, UK

May 7 - The Bridge Hotel - Newcastle, UK

May 8 - Bramley's Bar - Canterbury, UK

May 12 - Jazztage Goerlitz - Goerlitz, UK

Listen to The Good Egg


April 3 - 5 - Experimental Sound Studio - 5925 No. Ravenswood - Chicago, IL 60660



September 15-17 - Rock In Opposition Festival - Cap D'ecouverte - Le Garric 81450, France

September 22 - La Casa di Alex - Milano, Italy

September 23-24 - Freakshow Art Rock Festival - Wurzburg, Germany

Listen to Cobra Fakir


April 1 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542

April 10 - The Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY

May 8 - The Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY

June 3 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542

June 19 - The Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY

August 19 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542

August 21 - The Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY

October 28 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542

December 23 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542



July 2 - Blazing Telecaster Madness with guitarists Joel Harrison & Dave Chappell, John Previtti (b) & Barry Hart (d) - Bertha's - 734 South Broadway - Baltimore, MD - 3:00 til 6:00



April 30 - Cheltenham Jazz Festival - Cheltenham, UK

May 1 - Sproggits - Wharf Chambers - Leeds, UK

May 2 - Number 39 - Darwen, UK

May 3 - Kazimier Garden - Liverpool, UK

May 12 - Jazz Live Im Speicher - Leer, Germany

May 14 - Moods - Zurich, Switzerland

May 19 - AMR - Geneva, Switzerland

May 28 - Theatre 2.21 - rue de l'Industrie 10 - Lausanne, Switzerland

June 4 - Bad Bonn Kilbi - Düdingen, Switzerland

July 4 - Resonance(s) Festival - Perryscope - Lyon, France

July 5 - Parquet Sonare - Grenoble, France

August 4 - Bambole Openair - Winterthur, Switzerland

Listen to X


April 17 - Live Spot RAG - Empire Building, 5th floor, 521 Kamiosaka-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

April 18 - Mokkiriya - 3-6 Kakinokibatake, Kanazawa 920-0999, Ishikawa Prefecture, Kanazawa, Japan

April 19 - Jazz Flash, Giappone, 951-8065 Niigata Prefecture, Niigata, Japan

April 20 - Rakuya - Tokyo, Japan

April 21 - Nardis - Kashiwa, Japan

April 22 - Candy - 3 Chome-10-12 Inagehigashi, Inage Ward, Chiba, Chiba - Inage, Japan

April 23 - Airegin - 5-60 Sumiyoshicho, Naka Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa - Yokohama, Japan

Listen to Black Light


20 U.S. Communities celebrate 26 "Jazz Heroes" Announced by Jazz Journalists Association


20 U.S. Communities celebrate 26 "Jazz Heroes"
Announced by Jazz Journalists Association

Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation ED,
Educators, Presenters, Jazz Police, 
Asian Improv aRts Co-Founders,
and a Native American Family Jazz Band
Are 2017 'Activists, Advocates, Altruists
Aiders and Abettors of Jazz'


More than two dozen "Jazz Heroes" -- people exerting unusual positive musical influence on their communities, whether they're musicians or not – are to be celebrated in 20 U.S. locales throughout April, Jazz Appreciation Month, as announced by the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit organization of media professionals in collaboration with diverse jazz grassroots groups, institutions and supporters.

The complete list of Jazz Heroes, with their portraits, detailed bios and Awards celebration information, is at the JJA Jazz Heroes webpage

From Atlanta to Washington State, Minnesota's Twin Cities to New Orleans, the San Francisco Bay Area to Brooklyn, individuals identified locally as "activists, advocates, altruists, aiders and abettors of jazz" and further certified by a JJA process launched in 2001 will receive engraved statuettes at public presentations, often accompanied by official proclamations from municipal and/or state officials.

This year's roster includes Jazz Heroes of immigrant backgrounds and descent – San Diego trumpeter-band director-mentor Gilbert Castellanos, for instance, and Asian Improv aRts co-founders Jon Jang and Francis Wong – as well as women who are changing the sound of jazz (Chicago's improvising cellist Tomeka Reid), documenting it (photographer/historian Andrea Canter of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Judith Korey of the Felix Grant Jazz Archives) and sustaining its humanitarian legacy (Fran Morris Rosman of the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation). Tallahassee hero Adam Gaffney teaches jazz appreciation from his special perspective as a blind listener. There are veteran presenters such as Jack Kleinsinger (producing Highlights in Jazz in Manhattan for 45 years), Marty Ashby (30-year executive producer of MCG Jazz, Pittsburgh), Viola Plummer (22 years running Sistas' Place in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood), Sam Yi (formerly of Churchill Downs, Atlanta) and Jason Patterson of New Orleans' Snug Harbor. Also entrepreneurial musicians including pianists Wayne Horvitz (Seattle) and Darrell Grant (Portland, OR), and broadcasters and journalists (Lew Shaw, W. Kim Heron, J. Michael Harrison and Richard Henderson). All work to advance jazz beyond requirements or duties of their employment.

Organizations collaborating on Jazz Hero events this year include the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Philadelphia), the Mason Tavern (Atlanta), Jazz in the Neighborhood (San Francisco), Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago), B Sharps Jazz Café (Tallahassee), Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar (St. Paul), Black Dog Coffee and WIne Bar (St. Paul), Portland PDX Jazz Festival, the Arizona Classic Jazz Society, the International Jazz Day AZ Foundation and the Calvin Jones Big Band Festival at University of District of Columbia.

Sponsors of the Jazz Heroes initiative and the subsequent 21st annual JJA Jazz Awards include the Jazz Foundation of America, the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Brother Thelonious Belgian Style Abbey Ale, the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, Century Media Partners, Sunnyside Records, Scott Thompson Public Relations, High Note/Savant Records, Motéma Music, Braithwaite & Katz Communications,Thirsty Ear Records, Jazz Promo Services and the Tucson Jazz Festival.


For further information on the 2017 Jazz Heroes, Jazz Awards, memmbership or support of JJA activities, contact Howard Mandel, President@JazzJournalists.org or Jim@JazzPromoServices.com