Deli Crashing: Because that Indie band at Studio B can wait

Have anything planned for Friday night? Of course you don't, you're a procrastinator like the rest of us! Well, here's your chance to set yourself right in the eyes of Jesus:

The Hoover Dam Collective Presents: DeliCrash

Get ready for the premiere of Brooklyn's most aesthetically attractive free jazz trio, "Little Drake". They will be accompanying Theo Boguszewski's interpretation of that ever-so-catchy Ornette Coleman song you heard had a hip title to name-drop.

Mokaad will be fighting the elements of tension to bring you a set to dance your problems away.

Bot Jiz will bring you face-to-face with these problems, only to disorient you so heavily you'll forget about whats-her-name and whos-his-face.

Along with Melissa Ahern, Andy Smart, Stimpy Lockjaw, and the infamous NYU dubstep duo Hirshi and Phlegm, how can you say no this night? It's impossible, you can't!

Take the J or M train to Lortimer St. or Flushing Ave. and find this Broadway Bodega between Manhattan or Graham. If you enjoy free stuff, get there at 8 and utilize the wine and cheese assortment we will present you with.

Senior Recital!

Last Wednesday was the one and only performance of Zach Koeber and David Cutler Present: Escape From the Burn Zone. Both of our recitals went very well: attendence was high and the music sounded great. After doing a bit of makeshift mixing and track cutting, I have a presentable version of my recital recording. I placed the recorder a bit too close to my saxophone, making the levels a bit uneven. However, it's a decent overall recording.

Download it HERE

Cosmic Inventions

I've been working on this electronic piece for a few months now. It started with the idea of having several different bell sounds/timbres interacting and eventually branched into a truly meditative work. The time artificially slows down at one point, which is controlled by accenting every 5 16th notes instead of the standard 4. I also used a sample from a Carl Sagan video I found on youtube. Here's the video, and then my song. Enjoy!

Soul and the Literal Truth

Last weekend I had the pleasure of playing on my friend Spencer Murphy's recital. A video of his finale, a cover of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind". It featured Jarad Lippi on drums, Davy Levitan on guitar, Devon Dixon on piano, Adrienne Mack-Davis and Gabe Garzon-Montano on vocals. Here's a clip from the song, featuring my solo:

If you enjoyed it, check out all 3 parts of the video!

ZaDaza: Doing it Live

This Thursday, my good friend Zach Marks will be playing his senior recital at Purchase college. It will feature David Cutler on bass, Colin Gordon on Alto, Nick Llerandi on guitar and yours truly on Tenor. Our trio will be premiering a composition of Zach's, which I posted in beat form here. It starts at 8 pm in room 0081 at the music conservatory.

For the Sake of Art - This Wednesday and Thursday @ 8 PM!

One of the greatest things about an arts school is the amount of talent contained on campus. From Visual Arts to Dance, Film to Music, SUNY Purchase seems to have a myriad of artistic capability. A goal/dream of mine has been to participate or be involved in a large-scale multimedia event that features artists from all mediums collaborating on a project.

This week will be a realization of this aspiration.

For the Sake of Art was conceived by dancer Theo Boguszewski and made possible by a grant from the state of New York.

Alex Mackinnon (aka Doc Brown) and I have been working on a beat for a choreographed dance number. It's a dubstep track that features Spencer Murphy reading a TS Eliot poem. We cut up some Iannis Xenakis samples, as well as some King Tubby drums and some live clips of Bot Jiz!

Rachel Pazdan did an excellent write-up on the event that you can read here:

Motion Manifesto - For the Sake of Art

Remember to come to the Dance Theater Laboratory on Wednesday and Thursday at 8 pm. This is a show you definitely do NOT want to miss!

Facebook event here:

For the Sake of Art

RIP Nujabes

I'm extremely saddened to report that one of my favorite contemporary hip-hop producers, Nujabes, has died. His death was made public yesterday, but apparently he died from a car accident on February 26th.

To me, Nujabes was one of the more tasteful sampling artists out there. I always respected his choices of jazz to sample, and his beats were never overproduced. He stayed true to the original samples, while still managing to transform them into his own phrasing and expression. Here are two of my favorite tunes of his: