Musical Ecology
More trees, and Rivers
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June 14, 2019
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul 7:30 p.m. $15 / $10 students & seniors |
The Eco-jazz quartet Musical Ecology returns for the 3rd time to Studio Z with a new collection of compositions and spoken word.
While much “jazz-based” music tends to be urban/human based, Musical Ecology explores the intersection of the functionality and processes of nature and the human world. Last autumn’s tour produced a CD, Trees, which will be available for purchase. Todd Harper: composer, director, piano, oration Jun Miyake: flutes, tenor saxophone Aaron Kerr: cello, arranger Eric Coursen: percussion Todd Harper & Jun Miyake are SGI Buddhists who met at their culture center in September 2016. They resolved to perform together the next year. In September 2017, Miyake flew in from New York to perform a five-concert tour with Harper and his musical friends. They recorded they have recorded two CDs: Before Dawn, recorded at the end of their first tour, and Trees after their second tour.
Jun Miyake is a flutist and saxophonist born in Toyo’oka in Hyogo Japan. He is a graduate of the An Jazz School of Kyoto and studied woodwinds privately with Kenji Mori. He accomplished honors in flute study at Berklee College of Music with Matt Marvgulio. He piloted an ensemble that toured the Northeast named Groove Merchant in the late 1990’s. He plays regularly on the upper West Side of Manhattan in addition to making occasional re-visits to Japan, sharing his gifts.
Todd Harper is the son of ecologist and high school biology teacher Herbert Harper. Ecology is a theme the younger Harper is never far from, as seen in compositions such as The Power of Rivers ( for nonet, 1997), The River inside of trees (art song cycles for soprano Kim Sueoka, 2010) Bear and Rabbit want the same apple (jazz opera, 2009). Harper has performed at various venues, including The Walker Arts Center, First Avenue, Patrick’s Cabaret, The Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Northern Spark Festival, and Studio Z. His compositions have been performed by the Temporal Mechanics Union percussion ensemble, Dr. Michael Jorgenson, Bill Banfield’s B Magic Orchestra, and the Edgewild players of Bigfork. As a curator, Harper has collaborated with pianists/composers Paul Cantrell and Carei Thomas, for a 16-year annual concert “Keys Please.” Recently Harper has been focused on creating new works for mid-sized ensembles which involve structure and adequate room for invention and exploration by the players.
Tickets can be securely purchased by credit card or through your PayPal account in advance, or by cash, check, or credit card at the door. Tickets purchased online will be held at the door.
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