6pm EST
$15 suggested donation

THE LOCKDOWN SESSIONS - Every Monday at 6pm.  Each musician presents a short set of music recorded from their homes, and joins us for the culminating concert & hang.

This week’s Lockdown Sessions features musicians from label, Biophilia Records. Biophilia Records is an American record label founded in 2011 by musician Fabian Almazan in Harlem, New York. Biophilia means "love of life or living systems." This music label is a home to meaningful, imaginative artists who care about the environment.

NORTONK
The legacy of iconic, free-minded jazz bands without a harmony-establishing chordal instrument, such as a piano or a guitar, is long and compelling: from the classics of the Ornette Coleman Quartet and Gerry Mulligan/Chet Baker Quartet to venturesome contemporary groups like the Mark Turner Quartet and Chris Speed’s Endangered Blood. The young players of the New York quartet Nortonk take inspiration from that great lineage and stake their own claim with Nortonk, the group’s absorbing debut album, to be released by the Harlem-based Biophilia Records on March 19, 2021. Nortonk – Thomas Killackey (trumpet), Gideon Forbes (alto saxophone), Stephen Pale (double-bass) and Steven Crammer (drums) – showcases original music by each of its members on the quartet’s first album. That music is a mix of serpentine melody and interactive rhythms, from the hushed to the raucous – with the album’s highlights including the exciting “Duuzh” and the pensive, richly melodious “Herzog.”

KYLE SAUNIER (Awakening Orchestra)
Kyle Saulnier, a dynamic American writer focused on what he refers to as post-modern third stream music. His music for the Awakening Orchestra features the most concentrated versions of his influences, from the classic big band heritage and 20th Century classical music to the alt-rock, industrial, hip-hop and electronic music of the modern era. Donaldson writes that “Saulnier is a composer and arranger certainly deserving of considerable attention… While it’s tempting to compare [his]… broad sonic spectrums to Gil Evans’s, [he] has developed his own approach.”

GIAN SLATER
Gian is a prolific vocalist and composer based in Melbourne, Australia with an approach that incorporates wordless singing and improvisation, songwriting; electronics and extended vocal techniques; new music and contemporary composition and collaborations with theatre and dance practitioners. She has released eight albums of her original music, and has featured on many projects and recordings for acclaimed Australian and American artists.

DESMOND WHITE
Bassist and composer Desmond White is rapidly becoming one of New York City’s most in-demand sidemen, as well as leading his own group performing his original material drawing influence from the worlds of jazz, pop/rock and folk music. Originally from Perth, Western Australia, he is a graduate of the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. He has performed with some of Australia’s leading jazz artists including Joe Chindamo, Jamie Oehlers, Rumberos, Los Cabrones, Julien Wilson, Mark Fitzgibbon, Stephen Magnusson, James Muller, Zac Hurren, Scott Tinkler and many others. He was a founding member of the ARIA winning pop/rock group Washington, touring extensively with this band to major festivals around the country. After building a successful career in Australia, he relocated to NYC in 2009 to pursue his Master’s degree in Jazz Performance on a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music.