New Music for trumpet, piano & string quartet
New classical/jazz/funk crossover commissioned works by Robert Davidson, Martin Fondse, Tom Green, Steve Newcomb, Robert Maggio and Oene van Geel. I will be recording these new works in June (2012) at Fattoria Musica, which is an amazing recording studio in Osnabrück, Germany. I’m also very excited to say that prominent European sound engineer Chris Weeda will be the engineer/producer for this album. The lineup for the group will be myself on trumpet, Martin Fondse on piano and the incredible Zapp 4 (string quartet):
Trumpet: Clint Allen
Piano: Martin Fondse
Violin: Jeffrey Bruinsma
Violin: Jasper le Clercq
Viola: Oene van Geel
Cello: Emile Visser
CrXssover Big Band
The ‘CrXssover Big Band’ is comprised of Brisbane’s top classical, jazz, studio and commercial musicians, who come from a variety of backgrounds and bring with them a range of performing styles. The ensemble debuted in early 2010, performing the music of Frank Zappa at a sold-out Brisbane Jazz Club, where the venue was forced to disappoint scores of enthusiastic patrons eager to attend the concert, by closing its doors on the already packed venue. The ensemble was also featured at the Globe Theatre (Fortitude Valley), and the Brisbane Festival in 2010, again selling out the Spiegeltent with over 500 people in attendance. After playing the music of Frank Zappa to sell-out audiences in 2010, the ‘CrXssover Big Band’ turned its focus to the music of Icelandic songstress, Bjork, whose diverse and eclectic musical style has been influenced by many different pop and avant-garde musicians and genres, including alternative rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical, folk, ambient and hip hop. In 2011, the band performed to a huge crowd at the Broadbeach Jazz Festival (Gold Coast) and will also perform on two nights at the Woodford Folk Festival (in December, 2011).
It seems ideal that an ensemble, with a base musician core of 18 (5 woodwinds, 7 brass, piano, guitar, bass, percussion/midi, drums, vocalist) be best equipped to play music from such a variety of sources. Although this instrumentation is the standard ‘big band’ lineup, it is hoped that other groups come from this ‘collective’. It is equipped to tackle the music of avant-garde composer David Sanford (who won the Rome Prize and used it to write totalist/big band compositions), interpretations of the music of Satie and Strauss by Matthias Ruegg (who directed the Vienna Art Orchestra for 25 years), music for big band and strings by Markus Stockhausen, adventurous rock compositions by Frank Zappa and alternative rock outfit, Radiohead; angular compositions by Louis Andriessen and Michael Torke (premiered by the infamous Orkest de Volharding), hip-hop inspired pieces that feature turntables and sampling (such as the work of Paul Leary), new works that blend genres by controversial Dutch composer Jacob Ter Veldhuis, jazz theatre works inspired by Mozart from Germany by trombonist/composer Markus Geiselhart, new commissions by Martin Fondse (who runs his own Starvinsky Orkest in Amsterdam), and electronica-inspired arrangements of Icelandic songstress, Bjork.
Churchill Fellowship trip to Europe
I’m looking forward to meeting, and working with many European trumpeters such as Eric Aubier (Paris), Wim Van Hasselt (Amsterdam), Marcus Stockhausen (Cologne), Thierry Caens (France), Pierre Dutot (Lyon), Andre Heuvelman (Amsterdam), Ruud Breuls (Amsterdam), Marco Blaauw (Amsterdam)…..