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Monika and I have been invited to present a showcase of our jazz opera Windward Passages in Milan, Italy on January 25, 2009. I will bring a 21-piece jazz all-star orchestra with improvising jazz and opera singers. Having the opportunity to present this work in a prestigious environment and excellent international artists is a dream come true for us both. The Bordeaux Jazz festival has honored me with 3 days/4 concerts this year, billed as "The Complete Dave Burrell at Bordeaux". I've re-arranged parts of Giaccomo Puccini's opera La Boheme: La Vie de Boheme. My trio includes two Italian virtuosos, trumpet player Giovanni Falzoni and viola player Paulo Botti perform this beautiful music. Special guest Harrison Bankhead on double bass violin will complete the ensemble. This is definitely a work I would like to re-record, especially since BYG has not re-issued my 1969 LP as of yet. Some of the music from my last Italian trio performance in Firenze, Italy has popped up on YouTube, where we're playing an original composition, Blackmail Tango.
Since my Jelly Roll Joys CD-release in the 90s, I have continued to lecture and perform the music of Jelly Roll Morton, most recently last week at the Jazz Improv Conference in New York City, Dave Burrell Interprets the Music of Jelly Roll Morton. It's great to see so many international scholars of jazz participate in these significant events. I am very much looking forward to my next opportunity to share and discuss the incredible music written by one of America's greatest jazz pianists and composers. Monika Larsson is completing my extensive discography and sessionology. Some of the recordings from the late 60s are constantly being re-issued, both in Europe and Japan. I am very appreciative and thankful to her for this invaluable effort. Over 130 recordings are included in this compilation, and each and every musician, composition, composer, arranger is accounted for. Monika is using the discography as the back-bone for her book, A Jazz Life that reads like a "who's who" of the avant garde from its early stages on the Lower East Side of New York City to the worldwide resurgence enjoyed by avant garde musicians and their audiences today. Thank you for your continuous feedback. It is greatly appreciated. Updated April 16, 2008 |
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I have composed a piece inspired by the writing of the American poet, Pulitzer Prize - winner Marianne Moore (1887-1972). The Rosenbach museum has an extensive collection of Moore's work, including her furnished residence study. As I poured over her biographical records I wrote Syllables of the Poetry of Marianne Moore, based on four of her poems. After the success of the concerts at Rosenbach in February, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present my new work in 2 performances in duo with bassist Michael Formanek, Friday June 13, "Jazz After Five".
Since my 2004 Expansion-CD on High Two of Dave Burrell Full Blown Trio, I have made four additional recordings under my name. In 2005 I did a solo date for Splasch Records in Milan, Italy, Margy Pargy. Mark Christman of Ars Nova in Philadelphia booked a duo concert with me and drummer Billy Martin from Medeski, Martin and Wood. Billy released our duo concert on his Amulet label, Consequences in 2006. I hope to play more with Billy. We have a unique rapport. My second recording for High Two, featuring Michael Formanek and drummer Guillermo Brown, Dave Burrell Db3 Momentum was released late 2006. I was joined by bassist Harrison Bankhead and Guillermo Brown at the Etna jazz festival in Catania for a recent Db3-gig. Singer Leena Conquest was featured on some of the compositions. In September, 2007 RAI Trade Records in Italy released William Parker: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield. This group will performed in Milan on January 20, 2008. Leena and I have been busy touring Europe with a project of mine and Monika's, Leena Conquest Sings the Songs of Dave Burrell. We plan a recording for High Two Records, Dave Burrell Songbook with this project. Monika Larsson wrote all the lyrics.