From Mass and Canada & New York (also by way of So. Africa):
THB – cornet, flugelhorn, compositions
Jacqueline Kerrod – harp
Allison Burik – bass clarinet
Ken Filiano – bass
Improv, Free Jazz, New Music
He's more than important!
A commander of the cornet/brass, a leader
With the stellar 4tet on tour leading to a recording!
For the first time in five years, since the release of his critically acclaimed 2019 recording The Ambiguity Manifesto (Firehouse 12 Records), Taylor Ho Bynum leads a band on the road for a week of concerts throughout New England, culminating in a live recording of this new all-acoustic improvising quartet at Firehouse 12 in New Haven on Friday May 31.
Tuesday May 28, 7pm: Baker-Berry Library at Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
Wednesday May 29, 7:30pm: Jazz Shares at Holyoke Media, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke, MA
Thursday May 30, 8pm: Creative Music Series at The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge MA
Friday May 31, 8:30 & 10pm: Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St, New Haven CT
Featuring a new cast of deeply creative artists and an unusual instrumentation of subtle timbres and sonic possibility, THB’s JAK4 offers a contemplative and organic approach to creative music making, freely blending the composed and the spontaneous, maximizing the individual agency of the performers while in service to the collective sound.
In addition to the live quartet recording that will be made on the tour’s final concert, Bynum and harpist Jacqueline Kerrod’s debut album as a collaborative duo, Simple Ways Such Self, will be released on Orenda Records on May 3, 2024, and will be available at these performances.
Taylor Ho Bynum:
Taylor’s expressionistic playing on cornet and other brass instruments, his expansive vision as composer, and his idiosyncratic improvisational approach have been documented on over twenty recordings as a bandleader and over a hundred as a sideperson.
Taylor still plays with friends in collective ensembles like his duo with Tomas Fujiwara, Illegal Crowns (with Fujiwara, Benoit Delbecq, and Mary Halvorson), and Geometry (with Kyoko Kitamura, Tomeka Reid, and Joe Morris), and as a sideperson in Tomas Fujiwara’s Triple Double and Shizuko, Jim Hobbs & the Fully Celebrated Orchestra in JP every month, and Bill Lowe’s Signifyin’ Natives.
Bynum’s two decades of work with Anthony Braxton is recognized as one of the most generative partnerships of that legendary composer’s career, with projects ranging from duos to orchestras and everything in between.
From 2004-2019, Bynum maintained an ever-evolving ensemble that morphed between his Sextet, 7-tette, 9-tette, and 15-piece Plustet. Always anchored by a core trio with Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara,
Taylor is the director of the Coast Jazz Orchestra at Dartmouth, where he also teaches composition, improvisation, and music history.
Bynum also worked closely with such departed masters as Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor, with other collaborative credits including The Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Nels Cline, Emily Coates, Bill Cole, Kris Davis, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Stephen Haynes, John Hebert, Fred Ho, Jason Kao Hwang, Titus Kaphar, Ingrid Laubrock, Living by Lanterns, Nicole Mitchell, Joe Morris, Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng, Mali Obomsawin, William Parker, Matana Roberts, Eliott Sharp, Wadada Leo Smith, Tyshawn Sorey, Yo La Tengo, and Zemog El Gallo Bueno.
Bynum is also recognized for his “Acoustic Bicycle Tours” (East Coast 2010, West Coast 2014), where he traveled to concerts solely by bike across thousands of mile.
Classically trained from the age of 9, South African harpist Jacqueline Kerrod has worked at the highest level in the classical, pop, free jazz, and improvised music worlds. Her debut solo record “17 Days In December” (2021) released on Orenda Records was noted as a best debut 2021 by The New York City Jazz Record. She has toured nationally and internationally with composer and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, both in duo and as part of his ZIM music ensemble. She was a founding member and co-songwriter of the pop duo Addi & Jacq, who were winners of NYC's Battle of the Boroughs WNYC 2015, and toured her show “Harps Uncovered” featuring vocalist Hannah Sumner through twelve states of the US. She has played principal harp with top orchestras and performed with elite chamber groups (Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players), contemporary music ensembles (International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound and Metropolis Chamber Ensemble), and pop superstars including Anohni, Rufus Wainwright and Kanye West.
Described as an ‘eclectic harpist’ by Lucid Culture, Most recently, she has begun a local series dedicated to improvised and experimental music hosted by Morpeth Contemporary art gallery in the heart of Hopewell, NJ. For more information visit: jacquelinekerrod.com
Within recent years, Tio'tia:ke/Montréal-based artist Allison Burik has emerged a key part of the city's vibrant jazz and experimental music scenes. Their recent debut solo album, Realm, explores the sonic possibilities of the woodwinds through electronics and contact microphones, resulting in soundscapes that are both earthy and alien.
A member of groups such as Bellbird (alongside Claire Devlin, Eli Davidovici, and Mili Hong) and duo Umbrella Pine, they've also played various projects fronted by acclaimed musician Mali Obomsawin including on her celebrated 2022 album Sweet Tooth. Originally from Kansas City, Burik moved to Boston to pursue degrees from Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory.
Following their graduation, they've maintained a steady engagement with an array of different musical forms. Over the years, they have worked with notable musicians including Taylor Ho Bynum, George Garzone, Joe Morris, Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, Ran Blake, Carla Kilhstedt, Anthony Coleman, Frank Tiberi, Bobby Watson, Jaleel Shaw, Kaïa Kater, Tia Fuller, and others.
Ken Filiano: Maybe the world’s most in demand Jazz/Creative Music bassist, for decades, and to come!
Also a composer, improviser, and teacher who performs around the world, fusing the rich traditions of the double bass with his own seemingly limitless imagination. A “creative virtuoso” (JazzValley), Ken has performed and recorded with a veritable who's who in multiple genres, from Anthony Braxton to Pablo Ziegler. Ken leads two quartets, Quantum Entanglements and Baudolino's Dilemma, and is co-leader of The Steve Adams/Ken Filiano Duo and other collective ensembles. Ken's extensive discography includes the solo CD, "Subvenire"(Nine Winds) and Quantum Entanglements's "Dreams From a Clown Car" (Clean Feed). Ken has performed and/or recorded with Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso, Bobby Bradford, Anthony Braxton, Connie Crothers, Bill Dixon, Ted Dunbar, Giora Feidman, Vinny Golia, Taylor Ho Bynum, Jason Kao Hwang, Joseph Jarman, Raul Juanena, Joelle Leandre, Frank London, Tina Marsh, Warne Marsh, Dom Minasi, Hafez Modirzadeh, Barre Phillips, Roswell Rudd, ROVA Saxophone Qt., Paul Smoker, Fay Victor, Andrea Wolper, Pablo Ziegler, and many more leading artists in jazz and improvised music. Ken was on the faculty at Mansfield (PA) University. He teaches master classes in bass and improvisation, has a private bass studio, is a frequent guest teacher at School for Visual Arts and Hunter College (New York City), and is a Guiding Artist and Advisor at Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY.