Tag Archives: grant

New Film and Concert of Project Hansori, and Other Announcements

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Temple of Memories JF still shot

Dear Friends,

In the five months since my last newsletter I’ve racked up quite a few noteworthy announcements. I hope to re-connect with many of you when my big band, Project Hansori, saddles up for an entire evening of my brand new music in a beautiful setting in my own neighborhood (details below). But first, enjoy this newly-released video featuring yours truly, embedded above and linked here.

FEATURED IN FILM: I’m thrilled to announce the release of The Temple of Memories, a new documentary short film by Rene Sing and OwlSpring Media, about my experiences performing at the 2012 Locating the Sacred Festival. Entertaining and informative, it takes viewers behind the scenes of an epic and unlikely musical collaboration between Japanese Taiko and Big Band Jazz, set in NYC’s oldest Buddhist temple. We get up close to the Taiko group Soh Daiko and my Jazz band, Project Hansori, interwoven with my close, candid interviews. Link: https://vimeo.com/67056594.

Project Hansori and Soh Daiko performing at the Locating the Sacred Festival.
Project Hansori and Soh Daiko performing at the Locating the Sacred Festival.

UPCOMING SHOW: Thursday, December 19th at 7pm
Project Hansori performs “New Sounds of East and West All Saints Church 43-12 46th St Sunnyside, Queens NY 11104 Ph: 718-784-8031 Admission free (donation suggested).
Project Hansori will perform my brand new music in a grant-awarded program called “New Sounds of East and West”. It’s centered on new East Asian-infused Jazz, including our mind- warping take on an ancient ritual shrine ceremony piece — or as I like to call it, Americanized, Koreanized, Chinese music. The concert will feature Satoshi Takeishi on his unique array and style of Eastern percussion. It’s happening right in my neighborhood of Sunnyside, Queens, in the handsome setting of a Gothic style Episcopal church. I’m proud to say “New Sounds of East and West” is funded in part by a competitive grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. Link: www.facebook.com/events/277163692408571/

OTHER UPCOMING EVENTS:
Monday November 4th at 7:00 PM
Hora Decima Brass Ensemble performs a program including my composition Three Dances Christ & St. Stephen’s Church 120 West 69th Street, Manhattan, NY (bet. Bway & Columbus) Admission by Contribution ($20 requested)

Sunday November 24th at 7:00PM
“Now, Here”: a solo recital including my composition Duduk for solo piri (Korean double-reed instrument) Seoul Culture Station 284 in Seoul, South Korea Jin Yunkyong, soloist

ASCAP AWARD: I was just awarded a 2013 ASCAP Plus Award, for my artistic achievements during this year. This makes two years in a row of receiving this honor. Thanks, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers)!

ALBUM APPEARANCE: David Chamberlain’s Band of Bones recorded my arrangement of Manteca last month as part of a session for their next album. It has fully eight trombones, flute, and rhythm section with Latin percussion, set in a funky salsa groove. I got plenty of great comments from band members and I can’t wait to hear it myself. I’ll pass on any announcements about the album’s release.

SINCE LAST TIME: It’s been awhile since my last newsletter, written just before I left for my traditional music workshop in Korea over the Summer. There I was saturated in the world of Gugak (Korean traditional performing arts) for two weeks, learning from incredible world-class artists, meeting sixteen extremely motivated (and fun-loving) fellow participants from ten countries, and taking in the streets of Seoul as well as a side trip to the mystical, muse-full Jindo Island. –An amazing time that surely planted artistic seeds for years to come. …The day after returning to NYC I jumped, fully jet-lagged, right into an intense conference of the International Society for Improvised Music. The three-day event just happened to center on cross-cultural improvisation, with two Korean guest artists (go figure!). There I worked with globe-trotting piri soloist Gamin, and Shin Hyunsik, founder of Ensemble Sinawi; as well as Elliot Sharp, Jin Hi Kim, and other icons of this progressively broad improv scene …My world brass band Street Beat returned to the famous All Nite Soul 43rd annual(!) Jazz festival at St Peter’s Church in Manhattan. This band also did a string of off-the-wall private gigs over the Summer and Fall, such as leading a wedding procession march through Central Park and halfway down the length of the C train; and parading three-year-olds around a hedge fund manager’s estate on an island inaccessible by car (we attract these things). …I’m still laboring away at my commission for the USAF Airmen of Note, acquired by my winning the Sammy Nestico Composition Prize last year.

READ MY REVIEW: In a turn of the tables, I played the role of music critic, in authoring a review of Human Alien, the debut album of Ryan Pate released just last month. Read the review here, and check out Pate’s new album here.  …Incidentally, you’ll have a good chance to see him play live, too, as he’ll join us on Project Hansori’s upcoming concert.

Thank you for your continued interest. Please come say Hi and hear our new program on December 19th!

Thank you,

Jeff Fairbanks
Composer, Performer, Bandleader

Grant, Great Gig, Grace, Gratitude: January/Winter 2013

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SAMSUNG CSCDear Friends,

Happy New Year and a thank you for your continued interest in my music.  2013 is full of promise with both ongoing and new opportunities detailed below: the Composers Now Festival, my commission to compose for the Airmen of Note, and a grant award to fund an exciting new project. You’ll also find links to my recent interviews on WICB radio and Exploring the Metropolis, plus a short recap of the high points of 2012.  Pictured above, I share a break with Chang JaeHyo (at left), during an October rehearsal with his Sonagi
Project.

composers now logoNEW APPEARANCE @ COMPOSERS NOW FESTIVAL 2-17-13
Sunday, February 17 at 5pm at Flushing Town Hall: 137-35 Northern Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11354 map.  Free.   In a first for me, my upcoming lecture offers my closest audience interaction to date. Part of the Composers Now Festival, this event will be a great
chance to meet any local readers (you!) and to open a window into what I actually do between newsletters!  Here’s a blurb about it:
Composer-in-Residence Lecture: Composing on Korean Wind Instruments
I’d like to invite you to a presentation I’m giving at Flushing Town Hall on Sunday, February 17 at 5pm. During the Fall I served as composer-in-residence at this venue, in an opportunity funded by Con Edison and administered by Exploring the Metropolis. To
culminate this residency, I will give a talk about my unique choice to compose during this time solely upon Korean wind instruments, the piri and taepyeongso — including teaching myself to play them. I will talk about this composing method, my findings, and briefly
demonstrate the work in progress on these instruments.
Many of you know me to date as a composer and trombonist. So I’m excited to share this new instrumental path and deeper study of Korean music that I’ve begun; a path I intend to continue long after the residency. I believe those of you who will be in the area on 2/17
will have a unique interest in attending. See event details and links below.
http://exploringthemetropolis.org/event/jeff-fairbanks-at-flushing-town-hall/
http://www.flushingtownhall.org/events/event.php?id=1009#.UO2uD6zxmqE
http://www.composers-now.org/

QCA logoNEW PROJECT AWARDED GRANT
The Queens Council on the Arts has awarded my proposal for a new project I’m calling New Sounds of East and West. It’s still being  developed and I don’t have many details to share yet, but here is a little more info in my recent blog post:
http://fairbanksmusic.com/2013/01/08/qca-grant-awarded/
http://queenscouncilarts.org/

 

WICB logo3WICB INTERVIEW
Listen to my recent interview with WICB 91.7FM Jazz Impressions, where we spoke about the cultural background to Mulberry Street and some recent happenings:
http://soundcloud.com/92-wicb-ithaca/jeff-fairbanks-interview

 

 

ALL ABOUT JAZZ ITALIA REVIEW OF MULBERRY STREET
A new international review! The Italian critic Maurizio Comandini reviewed Mulberry Street recently for All About Jazz Italia.  My link  includes the English translation and a link to the original article.
http://fairbanksmusic.com/2012/11/27/new-review-from-italy/

exploring_the_metropolis_logoETM INTERVIEW
 Read my extensive interview published by Exploring the Metropolis, the organization that administered my composer residency funded by Con Edison:
http://exploringthemetropolis.org/2012/11/a-raw-powerful-expression-of-humanity-an-interview-with-jeff-fairbanks/

IN REVIEW
What an eventful year 2012 was for me, both personally and professionally. My dental
implant procedure is now complete, ‘capping’ a 15-month journey since my career-altering injury. But truly teaching me about healing is my two year old son Kyle, whose miraculous recovery and progress since his traumatic fall in May has made my family is intensely grateful. (Pictured bottom-to-top are Kyle, his mom Choi, brother Teo, and Daddy — after Kyle’s return home in July from two months in the hospital).  Looking back, I thank God for this miracle, as well as for opening professional doors during the year. I find it important to reflect, appreciate, and share highlights of these opportunities here:
…launching and performing with Street Beat in Spring and Fall including being pictured in the NY Times, the alliance of Project Hansori and Soh Daiko at the Locating the Sacred Festival, the Sammy Nestico Award and performance with the USAF Airmen of Note, performance at the All Nite Soul Festival, my first radio interview, an extensive interview with Exploring the Metropolis, an ASCAP Plus Award, a thrilling collaboration with Sonagi Project, the Con Edison Composer Residency, the premiere of Cumberland Gap commissioned by West Point Band’s Jazz Knights, the premiere of Sanjo for Violin and Piano commissioned by JongEun Lee, and new international praise for my 2011 album Mulberry Street.

Best of health, happiness, and musical experiences to you in 2013.

Thank you,

Jeff Fairbanks
Composer, Performer, Bandleader

QCA Grant Awarded

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QCA logoI’m pleased to learn I’ve just been awarded an Individual Artist grant from the Queens Council on the Arts for my new 2013 project New Sounds of East and West.  This project will further my work in fusing elements of certain East Asian musical traditions with those of modern Jazz and Western orchestral composition, using as a vehicle my 17-piece Jazz ensemble, Project Hansori.  Its performance component will take place in Queens later in 2013, and I’ll make more details public in future announcements.  This is the second such
Community Arts Fund grant I’ve received from the QCA, aside from being selected for their Individual Artist Initiative a few years back, so I must acknowledge a lot of support the council has given me over the years.  New Sounds is funded by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Greater New York Arts Development Fund.