The performing ensembles James is involved with cover a wide swathe of aesthetic ground. They range from the Allos Musica projects, hovering in the cracks between jazz, world, and contemporary chamber music, to KLANG, very much a jazz project, to Le Bon Vent, the celebrated French folk ensemble headquartered in New England. Many of these ensembles have been awarded grants for touring and new music composition and are documented on several cds. See the Recordings section for samples and purchasing information. Information about the where and when for any of James' performances can be found in the Events section.
ALLOS MUSICA ENSEMBLES
"Falzone is an articulate and interesting composer who utilizes the structure of classical music, the rhythms of Klezmer, the spark of polytonality and an abandon witnessed in free blowing to build a vibrant body . . . the effect is stunning."~Jerry D'Souza, All About Jazz
The Allos Projects consist of a variety of ensembles put together for particular performances, commissions, or interests of James. Some of the ensembles reflect a contemporary chamber music sensibility while others are more jazz or world music oriented. States James: “The “liquid” instrumentation of the Allos ensembles has allowed me to approach my writing and concepts from several vantage points with improvisation never far from my mind. Whether I'm writing for a larger group with strings, a small jazz based group, or a trio with ‘ud, clarinet and percussion, I attempt to reflect the same aesthetic interests. I know these players well and so can literally write for them as opposed to just writing for their instruments. I also use the ensembles as an outlet for my interpretive interests and have arranged other composers' music for the groups including Eric Satie, Charles Ives, Henry Purcell, and various settings of medieval, folk, and popular musics.”
Allos Musica ensembles have performed at recital halls and jazz venues throughout the country and have been documented on two recordings: 2000's The Already and the Not Yet, and 2007's The Sign and the Thing Signified. See the Recordings section for samples and purchasing information.
KLANG
"The music is neat, concise and engagingly hip" ~ Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
Started by James in 2006 as a response to a local gig, KLANG features Jason Adashevitz on vibes, Jason Roebke on bass, Tim Daisy on drums and James on clarinet. KLANG plays compositions from all the members of the ensemble and picks up the swing era thread of pairing clarinet and vibes, while also exploring its collective interest in the innovative sounds of Jimmy Giuffre's early small groups of the mid-1950's.
"Klang is the German word for sound or sonority," James explains, "and I often think of the sound of something, whether that be a group, a composition, or a musician, before anything else. The mixing of vibes and clarinet is a sound explored famously by Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton in the pre-bop era, and then taken up again by Eric Dolphy and Bobby Hutcherson. There is something in the acoustic make-up of the two instruments that allows them to blend well."
"As for the Giuffre connection," James adds, "I've always been taken with his early groups, before the trios with Jim Hall and Bob Brookmeyer, and well before the trios with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, though I love those trios, too. The earlier groups had a way of using the drums that was less about time keeping and more about making the drums as another element of counterpoint. And, his unique approach to his instrument has fascinated, confused and delighted me beyond explanation since I heard The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet at 12 years old. "
KLANG has performed at many of Chicago's jazz clubs and festivals including the 2007 Umbrella Festival of Improvised Music and the 2009 Chicago Jazz Festival. The group has released a live recording on Lumniscence Records and Tea Music which received much critical acclaim. Samples and details in Recordings.
THE GRACE CHICAGO CONSORT
Since the autumn of 2002, James has been Director of Music and Resident Composer at Grace Chicago Church. In this capacity he founded and now directs the Grace Chicago Consort in the weekly liturgy of the church in addition to extra services at high church times (Advent, Lent, Easter, etc). This ensemble currently consists of Davin Youngs voice, Marty Metzger guitar, Tim Mulvenna percussion, Karen Schulz-Harmon cello, and Rebekah Cope violin. The ensemble performs many of James' original liturgical works as well as sculpted improvisations to augment the weekly Grace Chicago worship experience. The Consort has also released a wonderful recording featuring many of James' compositions and arrangements. Visit Grace Chicago's website for more info and sound samples.
VOX ARCANA
"Create a productive tension between written sections and wide-open improvisation: rigorously structured, highly kinetic parts dissolve into spontaneous eruptions where lines and texutres collide in exhiliarating bursts." ~ Peter Margasak, The Chicago Reader
Vox Arcana is the exciting chamber-jazz trio started by drummer/percussionist Tim Daisy and featuring James on clarinet and Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and electronics. Vox Arcana will release its first recording, Aerial Age, on James' Allos Documents label in August 2010.
LE BON VENT
"Remarkable and charming . . . this "Good Wind" from across the Atlantic breathes with a revitalizing humanity."
~Michel Esbalin, Trad Mag, St. Venant, France
James is a pivotal member of Le Bon Vent (the good wind), the six-piece French folk music ensemble founded in 2001 by Vermont accordionist Jeremiah McLane. This highly successful ensemble has performed to enthusiastic audiences around the country and has been supported by grants from the New England Arts Council, the Vermont Arts Council, and the Rotary Foundation. In addition to James and Jeremiah, the ensemble features fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld, soprano Cristi Catt, percussionist Taki Masuko, and guitarist Adam Larabee. In 2005 they were featured at the Montreal House of Culture with subsequent broadcast of this concert on Canadian Public Radio in the following year. Their debut recording, Goodnight Marc Chagal, was released in 2006 on Epact Records. Visit the Le Bon Vent website.
THE FLATLANDS COLLECTIVE
“In one of the festival’s strongest sets, Dutch saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra, and his Flatlands Collective reinvented American Jazz in a way that remained true to its template, while finding new territories to explore. Earthy, meditative and very accessible, the Flatlands Collective was the perfect fusion of composition and improvisation.”~ Will Stewart in the Ann Arbor News on the Edgefest performance October 2008
The Flatlands Collective brings together the remarkable Dutch alto saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijkstra with some of Chicago’s most interesting improvisers. In Chicago, one of the most important musical cities in the US, he found a common ground in a more trans-national way of improvising, using open forms, and a looser interpretation of the American jazz tradition. Dijkstra says: ”I believe that the landscape in which you grow up has an effect on how your music sounds. This is what’s so interesting about jazz: musicians in New York, Barcelona, Moscow, Shanghai or Addis Ababa play this music, but there is always a distinctive local interpretation.” And he adds: “I called this group The Flatlands Collective after the landscape heritage I share as a Dutchman with the Chicago players.”
Dijkstra provides most of the compositions, in which he strives towards a balance between composed material, clear guidelines for musicians to improvise, and openness for the most adventurous kinds of improvisations. The group has developed a way of improvising that blends Chicago-style free jazz, texture-based minimalism, and melodic layering into an eclectic yet organically coherent repertoire. Dijkstra’s use of the Lyricon (a vintage analog wind synthesizer from the 1970s) and Fred Lonberg-Holm’s amplified cello adds an electronic touch to the rich variety of ideas, structures, and textures of the group sound. The Flatlands Collective has released their debut CD Gnomade in December 2006 on Skycap records, which received 4 stars from Downbeat Magazine, and much critical acclaim by the international press. Their second CD Maatjes has been released on Clean Feed Records in December 2008.
Visit Jorrit's website for more reviews and sound samples: www.jorritdijkstra.com>>
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FRANK ROSALY'S CICADA MUSIC
James is also a frequent collaborator with the wonderful children's artist Jim Gill for whom he composed and arranged the Symphonic Music Play suite, first performed by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra in 2005. Visit Jim's website to learn more about this project and accompanying book A Soup Opera and all his great music for children: www.jimgill.com/