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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 Neil Cowley Trio

English jazz pianist Neil Cowley formed a jazz trio with Richard Sadler on double bass, and Evan Jenkins on drums. In June 2006 Cowley formed his own label, Hide Inside Records, and released his debut album Displaced, an outstanding album of original recordings. The album presented Cowley as a dazzling pianist and stunning composer. The trio swiftly became known for their (now trademark) energetic and forceful melodies, catchy hooks, soulful moments and thrilling climaxes. The album was released to huge critical acclaim, and won the award for Best Album at the 2007 BBC JAZZ AWARDS.

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Satoko Fujii

Born: October 9, 1958 Critics and fans alike hail pianist and composer SATOKO FUJII as one of the most original new voices in jazz. A truly global artist, she splits her time between New York City and Japan and has toured internationally leading several different ensembles. Just as her career spans international borders, her music spans many genres, blending jazz, contemporary classical music, and traditional Japanese folk music into an innovative synthesis instantly recognizable as hers alone. “I would like to try many things with my compositions,” she told Don Williamson in a jazzreview.

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Ivo Perelman

Ivo Perelman is free jazz saxophonist born in São Paulo, Brazil on January 12, 1961. Perelman learned to play guitar, cello, clarinet, trombone, and piano while young, and concentrated on tenor sax from age 19. He attended the Berklee College of Music for one semester and then dropped out, moving to Los Angeles in 1986. Perelman released his first album in 1989, which featured Peter Erskine, John Patitucci, Airto Moreira, Elaine Elias, and Flora Purim as guests.

Read more about Ivo Perelman on Last.fm.

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Joe McPhee

Since his emergence on the creative jazz and new music scene in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, Joe McPhee has been a deeply emotional composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist, as well as a thoughtful conceptualist and theoretician. Born on November 3, 1939, in Miami, FL, McPhee first began playing the trumpet at age eight. McPhee continued on that instrument through high school and then in a U.S.

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Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell was born in Baltimore, but was raised in Denver, CO. Once a classical clarinetist, he established a firm base in his traditional harmonic knowledge early on in life. Throughout high school and college he also played guitar in various rock and R&B groups in the Denver area. During high school, however, he became profoundly interested in jazz guitar. In 1971 Frisell attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, and also began studying with Jim Hall, one of the prominent jazz guitarists of the 1960s.

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