Crying Out Loud

 
Crying Out Loud [The Bridge #2.1]

DAN BITNEY – drums, percussion, electronics
CHRISTIANE BOPP – trombone, voice
ROB FRYE – woodwinds, electronics
JAYVE MONTGOMERY – woodwinds, electronics
SIMON SIEGER – trombone, tuba, accordion, piano

 

TOUR SCHEDULE

5/01 – OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC
quintet concert, double bill with Tornaveus, a Catalan vocal polyphonic group

5/02 – CALIFORNIA CLIPPER
quintet concert

5/03 – DUSABLE MUSEUM
quintet concert

5/04 – PROMUSICA STUDIO
live public recording

5/05 – WOODLAND PATTERN (MILWAUKEE, WI), 7PM
quintet concert

5/06 – DOUG FOGELSON STUDIO, 8.30PM
quintet concert

5/07 – THE WHISTLER, 9:30PM
Olivia Scemama & Simon Sieger play two improvised sets with Gerrit Hatcher, Keefe Jackson, Julian Kirshner, Nick Macri & Isaiah Spencer

5/08 – CONSTELLATION, 8.30PM
quintet concert, double bill with the Marvin Tate, Ben Lamar Gay & Mike Reed trio

5/09 – THE COMFORT STATION, 7PM
Eli Namay & Simon Sieger duo

5/09 – ELASTIC ARTS, 9 PM
imprivsed ensemble with guests TBA, double bill with the Christoph Erb, Joshua Abrams & Mike Reed trio

5/10 – THE LOGAN CENTER FOR THE ARTS, 7PM
quintet concert followed by a public discussion and Q&A

5/11 – EXPERIMENTAL SOUND STUDIO, 2.30PM
live public recording following a Residency at ESS’s Creative Audio Archive,

5/12 – THE HUNGRY BRAIN, 9PM
Fred Jackson Jr, Simon Sieger, Lia Kohl & Olivia Scemama quartet. Double bill with Simon Nabatov.

5/13 – AGITATOR GALLERY, 7.00PM
Olivia Scemama & Consuelo Lepauw duo

5/13 – ELASTIC ARTS, 9PM
Simon Sieger, Jakob Heinemann & Emerson Hunton trio, followed by Peter Maunu, Olivia Scemama & Julian Kirshner trio

5/14 – THE PROMONTORY, 8.30PM
quintet concert, double bill with ensemble TBA

5/15 – THE HIDEOUT, 9PM
quintet concert, double bill with ensemble TBA

5/16 – THE STONY ISLAND ARTS BANK, 5PM
quintet concert

5/17 – ART LIB LAB (MADISON, WI), 8PM
quintet concert

We’ve never seen that before: saxophones, trombones, tuba, accordion, percussions and electronics in all directions, all mutations, superimposed, laminated, split, ventilated, vaporized – vapors. We’ve never seen this before, but we know the principle, and these five from all musical directions know it by heart: the freedom to take many forms. Duke Ellington used to say that. Crying Out Loud is a quintet based on improvisation around tiny written compositions acting as pretexts for interaction. Fragments of melody, rhythm or texture form an environment in which all musicians evolve in an interdependent organic manner. According to the sound and intention of the individual, the other musicians adapt in the manner of an ecosystem with premeditated conditions. The keyword of this ensemble is adaptation: adaptation to the context in which the ensemble is playing, adaptation to the unknown as none of the musicians have played with each other before, and adaptation in terms of sound and concept to the particular fragment that is being interpreted. The quintet format is even more interesting as it is asymmetrical and creates an unbalance, whatever happens. Furthermore, the ensemble can act as a regular band, with the tuba acting as bass inside a rhythm section and two horns in the frontline, but everything can be reversed with three horns playing against an electronic section. The reason why fragments are being used as pretexts for improvisation is to bring the attention to the infinite possibilities of structuring improvisation, as well as to the richness of pure sound making for defining form.

Echoes of an upcoming conversation. Simon Sieger: “The name Crying Out Loud is a reflection of the sad times the world is going through and a paraphrase for the anecdote concerning Peter Brötzmann. Upon being asked why he always played so harshly he answered he couldn’t do otherwise when the world was going such a sad direction.” Rob Frye: “I’ve also wondered why Brötzmann plays so harshly, I see how that style reflects his view of the state of affairs in our world. A friend reminded me of Adorno asking ‘how can you write lyrical poetry after Auschwitz?’ In many ways it would be inappropriate! But I think precisely because of the dark direction we are witnessing, it is even more important to show the world how humans can work together. Art can also teach us about community and about why it is worth remembering that something like beauty exists. Believe me, I too feel like screaming into my horn sometimes!  And if I hear that power, it can make me raise a fist.” JayVe Montgomery: “Now is the only moment. As improvisers we engage the ‘if’ in the middle of life, exhibiting to other humans our greatest shared instinct-improvisation. Playing freely with listening compassion; talking and listening all at once; we aim to exhibit democracy in a form truer that has yet to be seen in the governments of nations.” Christiane Bopp: “Our music will be a weave of our imaginations made of threads of music with different colors. What is the weave? A flying carpet to take off, to travel together and to grow up. A music crossed by songs of birds, human songs, and our hopes for the future.”

 

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