Recent Updates
Fri/Sat Nov. 3/4 Cornelia Street Cafe
Andrew Rathbun/Jeremy Siskind @ TD Toronto Jazz Festival
Hall/Rathbun/Hurst This Thursday
Andrew Rathbun Trio, with Robert Hurst and Keith Hall – Sunday 2/19 3pm
Upcoming AR Trio Gig
Related show
ARLE Project Update
Some photos from the soon to be released Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble release. Been busy mixing and editing with Michael Marciano at Systems II over the summer. Almost there!
Colombia Tour
Jeremy Siskind and I went to Colombia last week for concerts in Bogata and Medellin, with a final gig at “Matik Matik” in Bogata. We played a program of adapted preludes by Debussy that we are performing at the Gilmore International Piano Festival in May.
Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble Sunday January 17th
Please join this dynamic ensemble as we prepare to record our debut following this rare performance. Featuring trumpet soloist Tim Hagans and guest drummer Bill Stewart.
Sunday Jan 17th, 8:15 pm Shapeshifter Lab.
New Book of Compositions
A new book of 20 of my toons has just been released by SteepleChase. Contact me if you would like a copy.
New project: THAR
New Project:
THAR at Cornelia St. Cafe
Wed April 15th, 8pm
29 Cornelia Street Cafe
corneliastreetcafe.com
Metrics: WMU Jazz & Dance Collaboration
Wednesday February 11 – 7:30 pm
Dalton Wed@7:30: Live and Interactive!
METRICS – WMU Jazz & Dance Collaboration
Featuring the Advanced Jazz Ensemble, directed by Andrew Rathbun, and choreography by Prof. Kirsten Harvey
Dalton Center Recital Hall
Tickets $12 (Seniors $10, Students $5) available from Miller Auditorium at (269) 387-2300 or (800) 228-9858 & at the door (free for WMU Music students with BPI pass)
Andrew on Kenny Wheeler
Andrew Rathbun explains why he’s paying tribute to Kenny Wheeler in New York (Ottowa Citizen)
Excerpt: What is your personal connection to Kenny and his music?
AR: Like many musicians, I met Kenny at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to go there. Someone had given me a copy of Gnu High, and it was such a revelation. The compositions, the sound that Ken achieves, the fact that his improvisational language is totally his own, had a major impact on me. So going to Banff and hearing that sound in person, was totally incredible. Standing beside him and playing a unison line made you feel like your sound was engulfed by his. People have said that when he solos with a large ensemble, it sounds like the entire big band is coming out of his horn.
Kenny Wheeler Memorial Concert: Andrew Rathbun Speaks
Excerpt: As a Canadian-born jazz musician, can you speak a bit about how Kenny Wheeler was regarded on the Canadian jazz scene?
AR: He was a titan. Everyone was super aware of him and really revered and respected him. He’d come to Toronto every year and do a week at one of the clubs like the Montreal Bistro with Toronto guys like Don Thompson, and he knew those guys really well from Banff [Jazz Workshop].
I think that Banff is the biggest connection that people have to Ken. Through Banff he’d just give his music away, and people would take his tunes and play them at sessions. People were playing his music a lot and it became a word of mouth thing because he was the most self-effacing, humble guy; he was humble almost to a fault. He never did anything to promote himself, so whatever fell into his lap was what happened.
Memorial Concert for Kenny Wheeler
Performing some of Ken’s iconic large ensemble works, including the Sweet Time Suite from Music for Large and Small Ensembles. Featuring soloist Tim Hagans.
JAZZ GALLERY
TUE NOV 11TH 8 PM
1160 BROADWAY, 5TH FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10001
(646) 494-3625
JAZZGALLERY.ORG
CD Release: Numbers & Letters
Wednesday, Jun 11 – 8:30PM
ANDREW RATHBUN CD RELEASE: NUMBERS & LETTERS
Andrew Rathbun, saxophones; Phil Markowitz, piano; Jay Anderson, bass; Bill Stewart, drums
Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia Street, NYC 10014 (212)989-9319
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/
Upcoming Events
Two upcoming events of note:
NEW CD: Freefall from the WJQ
CD RELEASE EVENT:
Saturday March 8th
THE KITANO
with special guest
TIM HAGANS
66 Park Avenue at East 38th St
New York NY 10016
Sets at 8 and 10pm
Tel: 212-885-7000
Rsvn: 1-800-KITANO-NY
www.kitano.com/Jazz-Schedule
and
NEXT WEEK Edward Simon and myself will premiere a number of new works for Orchestra
Wednesday Feb 19
Dalton Live and interactive series:
pre-concert interview 7pm, Concert 7:30pm
Western Michigan Univ.
Dalton Center
Recital hall
School of Music
wmich.edu/music
wmich.edu/jazz
(269) 387-4667
Upcoming Events: Shadow Forms II Released
NEW CD: Shadow Forms II just released.
CD RELEASE EVENTS:
Wed Sept 11th
Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia Street, NYC 10014 (212)989-9319
http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/
8:30 and 10:00 PM
Thur. Sept 12th
Western Michigan University – Dalton Center
7:30 PM
Fri. Sept 13th
Kerrytown Concert House
415 N. 4th Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com
8 PM
Sat Sept 14th
Milwaukee Jazz Gallery
926 E Center Street, Milwaukee WI 53212
7-10 pm
Sun. Sept 15th
Hungry Brain Series
2319 W. Belmont Ave. Chicago, IL 60618
10pm
Interview with Jazz Weekly
An interesting and detailed interview on Jazz Weekly.
Excerpt: Saxist and composer Andrew Rathbun’s career has been filled with a thirst for knowledge, which he uses to pass on to his audience. His first level of education came very young, through public school and his nascent performing career. He recalls, “I was blessed with a real good school in Toronto as a kid. You were pulled out of school and hour a week, and given a private lesson. There were two big bands, a blues band and a rock band, all guided by faculty members. They were all the best jazz guys in Toronto. I’m still in touch with one of the guys who I “blame” for my life as a jazz musician. He got me into all of this trouble; Geoff Young, a guitar playing. Really amazing, under the radar kind of guys. Great taste, and real inquisitive.”
Read full review @ Jazz Weekly
New Videos on YouTube
Some clips of a quartet at Cornelia Street Cafe:
Me + Nate Radley + Joe Martin + Clarence Penn
Frontier Psychiatrist Article
A really nice writer and musician named Alania Ferris wrote a nice profile of me at FRONTIER PSYCHIATRIST.
Excerpt:
What is your musical history and how did you end up where you are today?
I was really lucky in that, when I was young, I went to a school that had a musically rich program – I attended an hour of private lessons each week at the school. That influenced my musical development a lot – started this musical quest. My teachers would mention all these musicians, so I’d set out to the library, borrow as many cassettes as I could carry, listen to them, copy them, learn them, and then go back next week…this became my modus operandi. You know, when you’re young, your cauldron is empty, and I wanted to fill it as fast as possible. I started playing clarinet in fourth grade and then picked up the saxophone in ninth grade. Later, I attended New England Conservatory of Music and am now getting ready to finish my D.M.A. at Manhattan School of Music.
AAJ review: The Idea of North
by Ian Patterson
★★★★
Excerpt: What effect does solitude have on a person? How can one grow as a result of being alone? These questions provoke a musical response from saxophonist, Andrew Rathbun, though the roots of his inspiration for this music lie over forty years ago. In 1967, legendary concert pianist Glenn Gould produced a radio documentary called “The Idea of North” where simultaneously played voices narrated five people’s views on Northern Canada. Gould called this experiment “contrapuntal radio,” an extension of his own musical voice and an exploration of the theme of solitude, a state which he needed creatively and craved personally. In his own way, New York-based Rathbun’s six compositions explore the vast expanses of his native Canada, translating the extremes of geography, climate, and the idea of solitude into musical narratives of contrasting mood.
Downbeat Feb 2011 Feature
New Release: The Idea of North
Andrew Rathbun’s CD The Idea of North was inspired by the late classical pianist Glenn Gould’s radio documentary of the same name, though the latter debuted back in 1967 (after Gould had retired from public performing). Rathbun, a fellow Canadian, used the diversity of his homeland’s geography and climate, plus the solitude of much of the landscape, as stimulus for his compositions. The saxophonist penned six sketches to give his musical interpretation of Canada.
“Harsh” unfolds into the avant-garde, with his hard-blowing tenor sax interacting with the tense rhythm section. As Rathbun switches to soprano sax for the tantalizing post-bop “December,” one can feel the sense of isolation and loneliness during a winter journey far from civilization. The interplay of trumpeter Taylor Haskins and pianist Frank Carlberg is a highlight of Rathbun’s demanding “Rockies.”
Rathbun also incorporates music by others, with a haunting treatment of Wayne Shorter’s ballad “Teru” (playing tenor) and a majestic setting of 18th century German composer Christoph Gluck’s Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits, where he again switches to soprano. Andrew Rathbun’s The Idea of North needs no film footage to convey the wonders of Canada.
– Ken Dryden, ALL MUSIC GUIDE
Andrew Rathbun – saxophones
Taylor Haskins – trumpet
Nate Radley – guitar
Frank Carlberg – piano
Jay Anderson – bass
Michael Sarin – drums
Jazz Times review: Where We Are Now
Downbeat review: Where We Are Now
LA Jazz Scene review: Where We Are Now
by Scott Yanow
Tenor and soprano-saxophonist Andrew Rathbun on Where We Are Now explores postbop jazz, which is music that falls into the large area of being more advanced than hard bop but not quite as free as avant-garde jazz. Rathbun, whose soprano sound (but not his notes) recalls Wayne Shorter, is particularly original as a tenor-saxophonist and a composer. He is joined by guitarist Nate Radley, pianist George Colligan, bassist Johannes Weidenmuller and veteran drummer Billy Hart. Unfortunately the liner notes say little about Rathbun’s nine originals so one has no clue what the background is for the four-part “Son Suite.” However the music does not require any explanation since the playing is at a very high level, Rathbun, Radley and Colligan perform concise and meaningful solos, the ensembles are clean and this is an example of modern mainstream jazz of the early 21st century.