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modern jazz

Don Byron

Don Byron (b.1958) is a U.S. composer and clarinettist. While he is considered a jazz musician, he is stylistically very adventurous, having recorded klezmer music, German lieder, and cartoon music. Byron was born on 8th November 1958 in the Bronx, New York City and was raised by his parents who were themselves musicians, his mother a pianist; his father a bass player for calypso bands. His parents raised him listening to all kinds of music, taking him on trips to the ballet and the symphony, and also exposing him to jazz such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis records.

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Vijay Iyer

Dubbed one of the "new stars of jazz" by U.S. News & World Report, and one of "today's most important pianists" by The New Yorker, VIJAY IYER is a forceful, rhythmically invigorating performer who weds a cutting-edge sensibility to a unique sense for compositional balance. Recently in the Village Voice, Gary Giddins described him as "one of the most original and accomplished young pianists in years... Iyer's percussive yet supple keyboard touch is something to marvel at.

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Mingus Big Band

"The Mingus Big Band is a jazz band, based in New York City, that specializes in the compositions of the late Charles Mingus. The band is managed by his widow, Sue Mingus. In addition to its weekly Monday night appearance at the Jazz Standard/Blue Smoke Barbecue in New York City, The Mingus Big Band also tours frequently in Europe and other parts of the world." The band are most notable for their very unique big band sound, which consists of many different parts all weaving around eack other to great effect.

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Ambrose Akinmusire

Akinmusire was born in Oakland CA, raised in Oakland, California. Before he was eighteen, Ambrose had already performed with such famed musicians as saxophonists Joe Henderson, Joshua Redman, Steve Coleman, and drummer Billy Higgins. After graduating from Berkeley High School in 2000, he moved to New York to begin a full scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Vincent Pinzerella from the New York Philharmonic, Dick Oatts, Lew Soloff, and Laurie Frink,[1] and obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in 2005.

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Colman Brothers

COLMAN BROTHERS
Mat (trombone) and Andrew (trumpet/flugelhorn) have been working together for over 7 years writing music for film, TV and other projects. At the moment they are busy writing more material to go with their massive hits ‘El Niño’ (featured on the award winning short film 'Bigboy_74') 'She Who Dares' & 'Sem Amor' for an album release later this year!
Both are busy musicians who have performed/recorded with jazz, pop, funk and soul musicians across Europe. Currently Mat can be seen with the Herbaliser and has just finished recording on their latest album.

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Fight the Big Bull

Fight the Big Bull is a Richmond, Virginia based improvisatory ensemble with two 2010 recordings selected for NPR's best of the year lists. The band was founded in the mid-00s by guitarist Matt White, one of the organizers of the Patchwork Collective, an arts group dedicated to creating a vital local music scene.The original configuration- called simply Fight the Bull- was a trio with drummer Pinson Chanselle and trombonist Bryan Hooten. The group was subsequently expanded to eight players (or nine, with the occasional addition of ex-Agents of Good Roots percussionist Brian Jones.

Read more about Fight the Big Bull on Last.fm.

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The Claudia Quintet

The Claudia Quintet is proof positive that the pessimists were wrong: jazz is not dead, despite being embalmed by major labels and confined by the narrow-minded to dead-ends. The stunningly original and lyrical works of this NY based ensemble, led by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck, reveal breathtaking new vistas for jazz beyond genre walls. In compositions that meld mental challenge with charm, captivating audiences with austere beauty or propulsive grooves, jazz breaks through its rigid shell, recombines with a myriad of other musics, and is reborn in a transcendent new form.

Read more about The Claudia Quintet on Last.fm.

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Laurent de Wilde

Laurent De Wilde, the Mid-Atlantic piano player of the year, is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure. This school and a few others like it are called Les Grandes Ecoles and they are comparable to the Ivy League. They produce the elite in this country. And so it seemed appropriate to ask De Wilde: "What's a nice guy like you doing in a métier like this?" He replied with a very American have-a-nice-day croon: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Read more about Laurent de Wilde on Last.fm.

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Portico Quartet

The Portico Quartet are a 4-piece modern jazz group from London. Their sound is made distinctive by the use of the hang, a 21st Century percussion instrument used on all their tracks. They comprise Jack Wyllie (soprano and alto saxophone), Duncan Bellamy (hang and percussion), Milo Fitzpatrick (double bass), and Nick Mulvey (hang and percussion). After nearly two years of playing mainly small gigs and busking regularly outside the National Theatre in London, they signed to Babel Label in 2007.

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