Odd Job back in NY

at Location One for a one night reunion

Friday, January 21 st , 2005

8:30 pm
Tickets: $12

Fifteen years after making a brief splash as an ill-fated downtown supergroup in the avant jazz and experimental music scene, Odd Job (Shelley Hirsch, Ned Rothenberg, David Weinstein and Samm Bennett along with new member bassplayer Stomu Takeishi) will give a one night reunion concert at Location One on Friday, January 21st , 2005.

In 1990 the group surprised and thrilled audiences by mixing skilled free noise improvisations with revisionist post-pop arrangements of rock and jazz standards. Their imaginative revisiting of songs by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bill Withers and other well-known pop icons subjected familiar melodies and structures to brutally altered arrangements and irreverent reconstruction.

Their inside-out recording of Hendrix’s Foxy Lady (female vocalist Hirsch, guitarless band) has earned them near legend status (Live at the Knitting Factory, Vol 2).

After one year the group disbanded amidst a host of invitations and exaltations, citing schedule conflicts and personal differences.

Shelley Hirsch is an unorthodox, extraordinary fusion of vocalist, composer and performance artist whose work encompasses story telling pieces, staged performances, compositions, improvisations, collaborations, installations and radioplays, which have been presented on 5 continents. Hirsch has performed hundreds of concerts of improvised music with Anthony Coleman,Christian Marclay, Toshio Kajiwara, Aki Onda, Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Billy Martin, DJ Olive, Dennis Delzotto, Fred Frith, Min Xiao Fen, David Watson and many many others.
Her vocals can be heard on 30 cds including her most recent releases “The Far In Far Out Worlds of Shelley Hirsch” (Tzadik) and “Duets” with guitarist Uchihashi Kasuhisa ( Innocence) and “O Little Town of East New York” (Tzadik) and “Haiku Lingo” both with longtime collaborator, keyboardist/composer David Weinstein.

Photo by Caroline Forbes
Composer/performer Ned Rothenberg has been internationally acclaimed for both his solo and ensemble music, presented for the past 25 years in North and South America, Europe and Asia. He leads the trio Sync, with Jerome Harris, guitars and Samir Chatterjee, tabla. Recent recordings include Intervals, a double-CD of solo work, and Are You Be, by R.U.B. (Rothenberg/Kazuhisa Uchihashi/Samm Bennett) on Rothenberg’s Animul label. Chamber music releases include Ghost Stories, on Tzadik and Power Lines on New World, along with Port of Entry, Sync’s release on Intuition. Other collaborators have included Sainkho Namchylak, Paul Dresher, John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Yuji Takahashi and Evan Parker. For more visit www.nedrothenberg.com

photo by Mark Lentz
David Weinstein is keyboardist, composer and multimedia artist whose musical works juxtapose sound effects, traditional and non traditional instruments, synthetic sound, ancient and exotic tunings and noise. His group Impossible Music uses sound effects, found sound and cheap electronics to construct virtual soundtracks. As a keyboardist Weinstein has recorded and performed in collaboration with musician/artists including Shelley Hirsch, Angie Eng, Elliott Sharp, Doris Vila, Ned Rothenberg, John Zorn, Zeena Parkins, Rhys Chatham, Butch Morris, Christian Marclay and many others. Weinstein’s discography includes “Perfume” (Avant/Hips Road) and “A Classic Guide¡¨ (No Man’s Land).
Samm Bennett is a composer and percussionist who over the past 25 years has blazed his own paths in the exploration of rhythm and polyrhythm. He’s long maintained an interest in electronic instruments as well as acoustic percussion, and his music has always been defined by an enthusiastic embrace of new sonic possibilities. The years he spent in NY saw him working as an improvisor or bandmember with Elliott Sharp, Shelley Hirsch, Ned Rothenberg, Hahn Rowe, Tom Cora and many others, as well as a bandleader and singer/songwriter with his own groups Chunk and History of the Last Five Minutes. Since 1995 he has resided in Tokyo, where he’s performed and recorded with musicians such as Haino Keiji, Yoshigaki Yasuhiro, Haco, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Carl Stone, Akiyama Tetuzi, Tanaka Yumiko and others. He is a member of the the song/electronica project Skist, along with vocalist and sound creator Haruna Ito. Solo performance has become Bennett’s main focus over the last couple of years, and in 2004 he released “Secrets of Teaching Yourself Music” (Improvised Music From Japan IMJ-516), a live recording from solo concerts at various Tokyo venues. The album features his work on WaveDrum plus various other instruments and gadgets. The Wire’s Edwin Pouncey called the record an “amusing and entertaining DIY musical primer… Bennett’s lively manipulation of sound never fails to uncover some new means of communication between the objects he has assembled.”

photo from downtownmusic.net
Electric bassist Stomu Takeishi has recorded and toured with Myra Melford’s Crush Trio, Henry Threadgill’s Make A Move band, Eric Friedlander’s Topaz and with Dave Tronzo’s Tronzo Trio. He has recorded with Paul Motian and Mick Goodrick and has performed with Don Cherry, Bob Moses, Dave Liebman, Wynton Marsalis, Randy Brecker, Rasheed Ali, and Leni Stern.
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