Fridays on the Spectrum

Nutshell is the current name for Dan Kleederman’s songwriting but anything is possible. There will likely always be a voice and a guitar involved.

The plaque reads:

A psychological thriller and a family drama find an old wooden cabin tucked away in the hills to look up for bright signs at night and listen closely to the rain in the morning.

“Heartbreak is the beautifully helpless side of love and affection and is just as much an essence and emblem of care as the spiritual athlete’s quick but abstract ability to let go.” —David Whyte

Gabriel Zucker - piano, compositions
Anna Webber - saxophone
Nolan Tsang - trumpet
Artemisz Polonyi - voice
Bam Bam Rodriguez - bass
Alex Goldberg - drums

Gabriel Zucker’s indie jazz orchestra The Delegation was founded in 2013, and has already broken new ground in New York’s dynamic music scene. Combining an array of disparate influences into a unique and emotionally immediate sound, The Delegation has performed throughout the Northeast, Canada, and Europe, and Zucker’s compositions for the group have received awards from ASCAP and the American Composers Forum JFund grant. The group’s singular musical philosophy has been profiled at length by the Ottawa Citizen, Jazz Gallery, and the American Composers Forum.

Last fall, The Delegation brought its unique concept to life with the release of Evergreen (Canceled World), Zucker’s maximalist 12-movement composition that serves as the band’s sprawlingly ambitious debut record. The record was awarded 4.5 stars in Downbeat Magazine, and 4 stars in All About Jazz. In the World Music Report, Raul da Gama wrote: “In Zucker’s almost confrontational writing I find the vision of one who is hugely expressive. Here is a young man with a profound sense of tone and colour and how it can be wrought from diverse instrumentation to be affectingly ‘cantorial’, expressive and hugely symphonic too.”

With protean production by Zucker and pop producer Chris Connors, the nearly-two-hour record features everything from angular rhythmic grooves to Radiohead-inspired soundscapes to jarring electronics-infused chamber music to enigmatic lullabies, and is one of 2016’s only contemporary releases on the prestigious ESP-Disk label.

The Delegation
Gabriel Zucker

Nina Dante - voice
Brandon Lopez - bass

Improvisers Nina Dante and Brandon Lopez explore the space between the soprano voice and the double bass.

Specializing in avant-garde classical music, Dante is the soprano and co-founder of Fonema Consort. With them and as a soloist, she has performed across the US and Latin America; and has premiered many new works that push the boundaries of vocal writing. She can be heard on the albums Pasos en Otra Calle (New Focus Recordings) and the audio-visual album FIFTH TABLEAU (Parlour Tapes+).

Described by critic Peter Margasak as “a force on New York’s improvised-music scene”, double-bassist Lopez has performed widely across the US and Europe. Recent appearances include the Ljubljana Jazz Festival 2017, Tirol’s artacts 2017 and NYC’s Vision Fest 2017. Lopez’ recent album with his trio The Mess will be released later in September on the London-based label Tombed Visions. brandonlopez.com

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