Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra with special guests Strings Theory Trio (plus 1)

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra with special guest Strings Theory Trio; presented in Jamaica Plain by the Jazz Composers Alliance (JCA). General admission $12, students/seniors $8. Advance tickets: www.jcaorchwithstringstheory.eventbrite.com; tickets at the door cash or check only. For further information, contact JCA: www.jazzcomposersalliance.org, 781-899-3130.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Jazz Composer Alliance (JCA) has kept true to its roots by providing an active public forum for the presentation of new jazz works and offering a concert series that includes a visiting composers component. For spring 2015, JCA has invited the experimental Strings Theory Trio (STT), with added violist David Wallace, to join their Orchestra on the bill. This is the first time in the history of the JCA that strings will be an integral part of the Orchestra's program.

Mimi Rabson, founder of STT, has created a new composition in honor of this special occasion. To highlight the addition of Strings Theory, the concert will also feature recent and new works by resident JCA composers David Harris, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, and guest artist/bassist Bruno Råberg.

The evening's program includes the following performers:

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra:
alto sax: Dianne Wernick, Ken Field; tenor & soprano sax: Phil Scarff; bari sax & bass clarinet: Kathy Olson; flute: Hiro Honshuku; trumpets: Jeff Claasen, Forbes Graham, Gary Bohan; French horn: Dirk Hillyer; trombones: Bob Pilkington, David Harris; tuba: Kevin Ildefonso; piano: Mina Cho; vibes: Vessela Stoyanova; guitar: Norm Zocher; bass: Bruno Råberg; drums: Mike Connors; percussion: Gilbert Mansour; and vocals: Rebecca Shrimpton.

Joined by:
Strings Theory Trio:
5 string violins: Mimi Rabson, Helen Sherrah-Davies; violoncello: Junko Fujiwara; and special guest David Wallace, viola.

The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra with special guest Strings Theory Trio concert is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events.

Further background information:

Jazz Composers Alliance (JCA)
When the Jazz Composers Alliance (JCA) was founded in 1985, its agenda included the establishment of an active public forum for the presentation of new jazz works, the creation of the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, and a concert series that included a visiting composers' program. Since then, the JCA has released ten CDs, and had created the Julius Hemphill Composition Awards, a competition which ran for ten years, promoting the most interesting and progressive work by jazz composers around the world. JCA also initiated an intermittent outreach program in Boston area schools, which has offered youngsters the chance to create and perform their own compositions with the visiting JCA performers.

There have been over 15 resident composers writing for the JCA since its inception. With some of New England's finest improvising musicians in its ranks, the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra has premiered over 120 new pieces by its resident composers, along with commissioned works by Muhal Richard Abrams, Marty Ehrlich and Wayne Horvitz. JCA performances have featured collaborations with major jazz recording artists such as Tim Berne, Henry Threadgill, Sam Rivers, Anthony Davis, Bob Moses, Dave Holland, Julius Hemphill, Ricky Ford, Michael Gibbs, Fred Ho, Maria Schneider, and Dave Fiuczysnki. Hemphill and Rivers can be heard on earlier Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra albums.

The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, led by Darrell Katz, recently released their latest "Why Do You Ride?" recording, praised by "All About Jazz" as being "polished and damn near perfect" and going on to say that "its varied textures and continually shifting stylistic approach may well please those more attuned to the post-modern sounds of contemporary jazz usually played by much smaller bands." www.jazzcomposersalliance.org

Strings Theory Trio (STT)
The Boston Musical Intelligencer recently reviewed the Strings Theory Trio (STT) in concert and described their "genre-defying" performance as "lively and engaging, a journey that you are thrilled to be on." Formed in 2012 by violinist Mimi Rabson, SST is dedicated to exploring the fine line between composed improvisation and improvised composition. The group recently released their first recording ("Strings Theory Trio") which the Intelligencer proclaims as entirely "exciting, and sometimes fun, sometimes powerful." STT includes founder Rabson and Helen Sherrah-Davies on 5 string violin, Junko Fujiwara on cello, and for this concert, special guest David Wallace on viola. Their musical conversations are enhanced by the strength of each player's rich and varied musical vocabulary, combined to then build dynamic new musical worlds based upon on-the-spot creations as well as preplanned frameworks. www.mimirabson.com/mimirabson.com/Strings_Theory_Trio.html