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jamie begian big band
wcsu alumni/faculty quartet pulse composer federation presents "Scenes from the Hudson"OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2008 MAKOR & ROULETTE (exact date tbd...)
I was pleasantly surprised by the press coverage my big band received in advance of the April
2004 show; both Jim Macnie (at the Village Voice)
and Kelvin Leander Williams (at TimeOut New York) have been supportive of this project for quite some time now. Check
out my press page to see what they had
to say.
I've put up some of the newer compositions on this website. To check 'em out click here: mp3's
Thanks to all who have
purchased my big band CD online. Never underestimate the power of the
internet!
The CD (in total or just individual tracks) is also available on Apple's iTunes - very, very cool!If you prefer, you can still order it through me directly via my email at this site mail@jamiebegian.com or purchase it at one of our performances; I'll be happy to sign it for 'ya (if you like!) Sign up on my mailing list and I'll let you know all about upcoming performances - mail@jamiebegian.com |
Finally, after a few too many years, I have studio time booked to make our
second recording and document what my big band has been doing since
2003/2004!!! We lay tracks August 6 & 7 at Systems Two in
Brooklyn, the day after our gig at the Bahai center.
I'm being a bit ambitious in that I want to record 9 pieces in about twelve hours of studio time; I think we can do it as the band has been pretty steady over the last few years and everybody's already familiar with the music. I'm just trying to get a handle on how I'm going to cover my part in the band (I'm playing what used to be the piano book on guitar), conduct a few things and oversee the entire session... Wish me luck!
There's a small group project that I'm excited to revive performance featuring some very talented former students from the jazz program at WCSU; the gig we did in February was a real blast! We hope to do some more work this fall and add to our collective book. The group is Jonathan Blanck on saxophone, Chris DeAngelis on bass (Chris is the bassist on "Funky Coffee" on my mp3 page) and Tim Walsh on drums. Stay tuned for more info!
Another project I'm very proud to be part of is
pulse - a
federation of six composers dedicated to writing new music that defies
categorization and a cohort of musicians dedicated to playing that music.
pulse recently
concluded a collaboration of performances with
triocracy
at the Brooklyn Lyceum and at Barbes (to check out my triocracy piece go to
my mp3 page)
We've begun work on a
collaborative project with a wonderful singer-songwriter
Joy Askew
in the fall themed around the quaricentennial of the Hudson River; we've
also had some preliminary meetings with members of the You can also check out the pulse blog here for more audio from all the pulse composers as well as interesting music-blog postings from all the composers.PULSE COMPOSER FEDERATION
THE PULSE FEDERATION As the full-time director of jazz studies at Western Connecticut State University I'm always up to my eyeballs in all the stuff that makes an outstanding jazz program go 'round, even when school isn't in session!We have an outstanding freshman class coming in this year and I look forward to taking some groups out to a school near you this fall. Our next concert at school will feature great jazz faculty in a program of their own material on October 16; you'll hear from Dave Scott on trumpet, Andrew Beals on alto, Chris Morrison on guitar, Peter Tomlinson on piano, David Ruffels on bass and Jeff Siegel on drums - I might even play a bit too!If you'd like more information about the about the Jazz Studies program at WCSU in general email me at: begianj@wcsu.edu
Those of you who've heard my big band the past 4 years are aware of the suite of 4 pieces featuring my outstanding trombone section titled "TAYLORATIONS." The pieces are all
based on a warm-up exercise by legendary trombonist/composer Dave Taylor,
who also happens to be the teacher to 3/4's of my trombone section.
Dave did us the ultimate honor and came out to hear us, and the entire TAYLORATIONS suite, in October,
2004.
After the show, Dave said he really enjoyed the suite, as well as the
entire concert, and that the band was top-notch. It's always an honor to have a "heavy hitter" come out
to a show - thanks to Ben Griffin for setting things up and thanks to Dave
Taylor for his inspiration!
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