Sunday December 4th
2pm
Douglass Street Music Collective
295 Douglass St.
Brooklyn, NY
$10 suggested donation
Our final concert of the year will feature noted saxophonist, composer, and educator Dan Blake performing The Party Suite, which won the John Lennon Songwriting Prize while Dan was still in college. The piece features two saxophones, bass, and drums, and combines high-energy improvising with a unique melodic and rhythmic language, which the musicians will help introduce children to.
Dan Blake has established himself as a positive force in many areas of creative music. His versatility and ecclectic interests have brought him to the forefront of many different creative communities. As saxophonist, he has performed and toured internationally with artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Werner, Danilo Perez, Lukas Ligeti, Peter Evans, Ricardo Gallo, and many others. In January 2010 he joined Grammy-nominated artist Julian Lage and has been touring internationally as a composer and saxophonist with this group. Most recently, the band was featured at Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Newport Jazz festival. He was recently selected to be a featured soloist for Anthony Braxton's "Trillium E" opera cycled, to be recorded in March 2010, and performed in June 2011. His compositions have garnered recognition by ASCAP and the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and have been featured by such notable new music ensembles as Cygnus Ensemble, The Kenners, Duo Diorama, and redfish bluefish ensemble. Most recently, he saw the premier of his work First Beginnings for recorder and interactive 8-channel electronics was premiered at the Electronic Music Foundation’s annual symposium in New York City. His latest recording "The Aquarian Suite" is due for release in the fall 2011 for Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records.
Dan Blake is currently a Ph.D. candidate in composition at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and serves as adjunct lecturer in music history at The Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. He was recently awarded the 2010 Baisley Powell Elebash Fund for an ongoing research project examining New York City’s improvised music scene.
For more about Dan, visit http://danielblake.net/
