MP3 Fred Hess/Boulder Creative Music Ensemble - Ninth Street Park

My music is described as acoustic post-bop, but is "informed" by all the jazz styles that preceded it.

9 MP3 Songs
JAZZ: Post-Bop, JAZZ: Free Jazz

Show all album songs: Ninth Street Park Songs


Details:
"BCME ...PROVES THAT JAZZ ON THE EDGE doesn't have to be a battle with the inexpressible-that even in its explosiveness and unpredictability, there can be a level of stasis that's alluring to the most unaquainted fan. The musical ideas are launched in a historical context, with most cuts starting and ending on familiar ground.

This recording...features elaborately constructed nods to Duke Ellington on"Loose Leaves" and Lester Young on "After the Leap." The entire ensemble throw themselves into "Clarinade," emphasing their devotion to collective creativity, and it proves to be an excellent springboard for their ideas."
Nate Guidry - JAZZTIMES (5/99)

"IN HIS MUSICAL QUEST, HESS has explored both the outer edges of the music and its historical center of gravity in terms of repertory pieces. What is so impressive about NINTH STREET PARK is its integration of these very different principles into a coherent whole. In Tracks such as After The Leap and Loose Leaves, the bows to Lester Young and Duke Ellington are turned into a launching pad for Hess' imagination rather than destination points.
Norman Provizer - ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

NINTH STREET PARK
FRED HESS/BOULDER CREATIVE MUSIC ENSEMBLE

THIS offering by the BCME comes as a surprise. After the release of Between the Lines: The Complete Studio Recordings (Tapestry 76002), there seemed no further future for the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. However, public clamor and sentiment have made us reconsider our demise, and out of the ashes rises NINTH STREET PARK, representing new life for the BCME.
Actually, weâve never truly gone away, as our interest in developing contexts for an improvising ensemble only deepens as our experiences in the
genre gives us further inspiration. This edition of music has been developing
over the last eight years, since the BCMEâs last recordings. Whatâs new is the addition of the rhythm section of bassist Kent McLagan and drummer Tim Sullivan, whose excellent music skills made performing such complex music possible.
We hope you enjoy this latest effort of the BCME, a truly Creative
music ensemble.

Born in Abington, Pennsylvania, Hess grew up in New Jersey, attending Trenton State College, before moving to Colorado in 1981. He graduated with a doctorate in music composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1991. His early experiences include studies with saxophonist Phil Woods, a stint with bandleader Fred Waring, and composing music for the world premiere of a Sam Shepard play. As a composer, his influences encompass the contributions of the great figures in jazz history, avant-garde classical sources, as well as Anthony Braxton and the members of the AACM. He is currently Director of Composition at The Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Committed to exploring the boundaries of notated and improvised music, Fred Hess attended the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, NY (1979), founded the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble (1982), Denverâs Creative Music Works Orchestra (1993), and was a member of drummer Ginger Bakerâs DJQ.

Recording twelve CDs under his own name, Hess received Coloradoâs Composition Fellowship (1986/1994), won Denverâs inaugural Hennessey Jazz Search (1992), the Jazz Composers Alliance, Julius Hemphill Award (2000), and first prize at the First International Jazz Composers Symposium (2006). Favorable articles and reviews have appeared in DownBeat, Jazziz, JazzTimes, Coda, The Wire, JazzWise, Cadence, and online jazz websites.

WHAT IS A CREATIVE ENSEMBLE? Here are three possible answers:
1) an ensemble that acts or reacts creatively to a musical situation.

2) an ensemble that plays Creative Music (music that allows the players significant freedom of choice in the music making.)

3) an ensemble that has its origins in the ambitious experiments of such composers as Anthony Braxton, George Lewis Leo Smith, and Roscoe Mitchell.


The Boulder Creative Music Ensemble fits all these criteria. The brainchild of reedman composer Fred Hess, BCME came into existence in 1982. In 1978, Hess attended the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY to study the compositional techniques of the aforementioned composers. After moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1981, Hess found a group of like-minded
musicians who became the core BCME members.

In early 1982, the ensemble began concertizing,while keeping a regular rehearsal meeting, meeting every Sunday at 11AM. This continued until 1990, when the ensemble recorded its final projects, heard for the first time on this CD. During its decade of activity, the BCME often collaborated with artists from other disciplines, structuring improvisations to include calligraphy, storytelling, dance, mime, and even Japanese flower arranging into its vision of a user-friendly performance practice. This central element, a spontaneous music making environment, is present in all their music. Whether working with visual structures (which create controlled textures full of instrumental color), or, specifically composed materials (integrating jazz elements with the improvisatory techniques usually associated with the later twentieth-century classical ensemble), the BCME remains a fruitful example of a new kind of musical vision - the Creative Ensemble.