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Ike Sturm

ENSEMBLE BIOGRAPHY - Integrating jazz and world rhythms in richly textured original music, the New York-based Ike Sturm Ensemble fuses diverse influences into a unified, contemporary style. The unique voices of each of its ten improvising members speak to audiences within a saturated environment of original artwork painted by artist and clarinetist Madeline Sturm to complement the sound and form of the music.

A grant from the Eastman School of Music in 2001 provided an opportunity for the group’s first multimedia performance of "Spirit," a three-movement suite by Ike Sturm. "Reflect" (Live DVD" 2003) is a through-composed six-part suite using paintings, photographs and projected images to convey symmetry in God’s creation. Most recently, the group premiered a new work, entitled "Shape of Day," a 7-part suite that traces the different perspectives of light encountered throughout a single day.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY - Ike Sturm is a bassist, composer and educator in New York focusing on the presentation of original music. In addition to working as an educator and clinician, he leads a 10-piece ensemble in collaborative music and visual art concerts with his sister, clarinetist and artist Madeline Sturm. He recently was named the Assistant Director of Music for the Jazz Ministry at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan, internationally regarded as the “Jazz Church,” where he performs and composes original music for weekly jazz services.

He has performed with Gene Bertoncini, Bobby McFerrin, Ben Monder, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler, and orchestras throughout the US. He has performed with "Alarm WIll Sound" and is a member of "Neos," a new music quintet. He has played on four "Downbeat" award-winning recordings as well as composer Steve Reich's most recent releases on Canteloupe and Nonesuch Records.

Ike studied jazz and classical bass while earning both Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Eastman School of Music. He served as a graduate teaching assistant in Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media Department and co-directed the Eastman Jazz Lab Band. In 1999, he was privileged to study with legendary bassist Dave Holland.

Ike lives in New York with his wife, soprano Misty Ann Sturm. "Spirit," his first CD, was released in early 2004. (www.ikesturm.com)

“This is exceptionally beautiful music played by wonderful musicians displaying a maturity way beyond their years. I'm impressed!”

- Maria Schneider

"Ike Sturm's Spirit is, to my ears, a deeply touching piece of music. In the often harsh world that we live in today, it is refreshing to hear jazz-based music that is so open and vulnerable."

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David Bixler: BEATitude

Read "BEATitude" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Felicity finds its way into the heart and soul of David Bixler's music on BEATitude. Reconvening the quartet that drew wonder out of adversity on In The Face Of Chaos (Red Piano, 2019), this acclaimed alto saxophonist delivers eight numinous originals that speak to conviction and faith in moving form(s). “A Power Deferred," opening the proceedings, artfully deals in the divine, exhibiting strength through patience. Providence--encircling this entire affair, and making its initial presence felt in this ...

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Sara Caswell: The Way To You

Read "The Way To You" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Formalmente il precedente album da leader di Sara Caswell risale al 2005 (But Beautiful, Arbors) ma questa nuova incisione a suo nome non è il ritorno dopo una lunga pausa. Ci sono infatti le quattro incisioni --dal 2013 al 202-col trio cooperativo 9 Horses e la leadership condivisa con la sorella Rachel del 2014 (Alive in the Singing Air, Turtle Ridge) nel un gruppo comprendente Fred Hersch. Aggiungiamo poi la ventina di collaborazioni, anche discografiche, con Brad Mehldau, Miho Hazama, ...

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Sara Caswell: The Way To You

Read "The Way To You" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Although The Way to You is heralded as Grammy-nominated violinist Sara Caswell's first album as a leader in more than seventeen years, it was actually recorded in 2019, roughly four years before its release date. Still, it is Caswell's first new album in quite a long time, and those who relish her tasteful and melodic violin should be grateful for that. Caswell leads her longtime working quartet here, with vibraphonist Chris Dingman sitting in on four of ...

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Miriam Elhajli: The Uncertainty of Signs

Read "The Uncertainty of Signs" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Miriam Elhajli è una giovane cantautrice e musicologa attiva a New York, influenzata dal folklore venezuelano e marocchino. Una tradizione assimilata in famiglia, che lei fonde con la sensibilità del jazz moderno e i modelli di Joni Mitchell e altre vocalist degli anni sessanta/settanta. Il suo debutto discografico Observations, inciso nel 2018 e pubblicato due anni dopo, ha colpito critica e pubblico per la bellezza delle sue composizioni, interpretate con un'intima colloquialità romantica che ricordava la Mitchell ...

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Nadje Noordhuis: Gullfoss

Read "Gullfoss" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


There's a beyond-category beauty emanating from trumpeter Nadje Noordhuis' Gullfoss. Recorded live at Musig im Pflegidach in Switzerland, inspired by the splendors of nature in their many forms, and showcasing the breathtaking work of an incomparable ensemble, it plays like a warm and inviting refuge for the ears and soul. Painting aural pictures befitting natural wonders is no easy feat, but Noordhuis and her well-chosen bandmates are more than up to the challenge here. Sympathetic to one ...

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Ike Sturm - Jesse Lewis: Alive in the Wilderness

Read "Alive in the Wilderness" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Sono trascorsi più di 50 anni da quando Paul Horn pubblicò Inside the Taj Mahal registrando sotto la cupola del famoso tempio indiano. All'alba degli anni settanta nacquero di Oregon e nella metà di quel decennio William Ackerman fondò a Palo Alto l'etichetta Windham Hill, dando vita a un filone che avrà molte diramazioni e un'infinità di esecutori, fino a legarsi—nel bene e nel male—a etichette onnicomprensive e generiche come new age e ambient. Da allora non ...

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Album Review

Endless Field: Alive in the Wilderness

Read "Alive in the Wilderness" reviewed by Geno Thackara


It would have been simple enough just to evoke the feel and mood of various nature spots, but Endless Field--Ike Sturm and Jesse Lewis--would rather show us that there's nothing like being there. Alive in the Wilderness was recorded in precisely that way, in a series of places through the desert of southwestern Utah, with all the natural meandering and quiet majesty that implies. The nature- conscious angle makes this session a perfect fit, Fabian Almazan's brainchild Biophilia Records (released ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #285: Ike Sturm

The Jazz Session #285: Ike Sturm

Source: AAJ Staff


Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

BEATitude

Tiger Turn
2024

buy

The Way To You

Anzic Records
2023

buy

The Uncertainty of...

Self Produced
2022

buy

Gullfoss

Little Mystery Records
2021

buy

Alive in the...

Biophilia Records
2020

buy

Compass

Self Produced
2017

buy

South Shore

From: The Way To You
By Ike Sturm

London Blues

From: Compass
By Ike Sturm

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