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James Carney
Pianist, keyboardist and composer James Carney is an improviser who draws inspiration from many different sources of music, and he has been fortunate to work with a wide variety of great musicians and artists throughout his career. [Ravi Coltrane, Christian McBride, Michael Cain, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Tim Berne, Nels Cline, Todd Sickafoose among many others.]
Carney was born and raised in Syracuse, New York, and in late 2004, he moved from Los Angeles, his home of eighteen years, to New York City.
James Carney has cultivated a reputation for developing an original, polystylistic approach to making music - a philosophy that respects and explores both tradition and the avant-garde. He has recorded five albums as a leader - his last two for the Songlines label. "Green-Wood" (Songlines 1566) was released in 2007 to wide acclaim, and "Ways & Means" (Songlines 1580) will be released in July 2009. The septet he leads on both recordings, also known as the James Carney Group, features some of New York’s most creative and in-demand musicians: trumpeter Ralph Alessi, tenor saxophonist Tony Malaby, trombonist Josh Roseman, saxophonist Peter Epstein, bassist Chris Lightcap, and drummer Mark Ferber.
"Ways and Means", a long-form composition and virtual film score, was commissioned by Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Carney is also working on a new commission for the Puffin Cultural Foundation, which will be premiered in October 2009.
His previous recordings include: Thread (2002); Offset Rhapsody (1997); Fables from the Aqueduct (1994) all on the Jacaranda label. Other commissions have come from the California Arts Council, The Extension Ensemble brass quintet, and the Syracuse International Film Festival.
The James Carney Group is the 2009 recipient of the ASCAP / Chamber Music America “Adventurous Programming” Award. James Carney also won the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Composers Award, a California Arts Council fellowship in composition (2000), and two American Composers Forum Subito Grants (2001 & 2004). He received “Best Jazz Artist” honors at the 2002 LA Weekly Music Awards, and he was on the roster of the California Arts Council Touring Program from 1998-2004.
He has been a visiting artist at The Eastman School of Music, New York University, Cal State Los Angeles, the University of Nevada at Reno, Ithaca College, Williams College, Saddleback College, California Institute of the Arts and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. He is also on the faculty of the School for Improvisational Music in Brooklyn.
James Carney began to focus on the piano at fifteen, and spent years playing many types of rock and pop music as a keyboardist around upstate New York and New England. He graduated with a B.F.A. degree in jazz piano performance from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he studied with Charlie Haden, James Newton, David Roitstein, Nyomen Wenten, Alfred and Kobla Ladzekpo, and the late John Carter.
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James Carney Sextet: Pure Heart
by Maurizio Zerbo
Parallelamente al più noto mercato discografico delle major, esiste un mondo sotterraneo di significative proposte parimente degne di grande attenzione da parte di critica e pubblico. Emblematico è in tal senso il CD in esame, nel rispecchiare sin dal titolo la musica di James Carney, notevole pianista newyorchese, che vanta esperienze multiformi tra il jazz di avanguardia e il pop, oltre ad essere da oltre un decennio un mobilizzatore della scena di Brooklyn. Senza ricorrere ad alchimie ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney: Pure Heart
by Peter J. Hoetjes
When a large ensemble like the one heard on Pure Heart contains such dynamic personalities as Ravi Coltrane, Oscar Noreiga and Dezron Douglas, it's a sure bet that a bandleader is going to have their hands full directing them through his compositions. However, with just five songs to the album, pianist James Carney is able to allow these musicians room to maneuver. What's more, he does so without falling prey to the corrosive lethargy of routine formula. Coltrane ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney: Ways & Means
by Terrell Kent Holmes
Pianist James Carney takes the parameters involved in scoring films and applies them with the discipline of a jazz composer on the ambitious Ways & Means, the kind of challenging and cohesive work that listeners have come to expect from this exemplary musician. Carney's band is as great a gathering of talent as one can find and they don't waste a note in his intricate arrangements. The excellence of Tony Malaby's tenor and Josh Roseman's trombone drive ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney Group: Ways & Means
by Jerry D'Souza
Keyboardist James Carney framed the compositions on this recording from a cinematic perspective. Three of the tunes are improvisations and Carney succeeds with both his stances. He and his artful band bring in plenty of drama, a sense of adventure and pure emotional force.
Carney is an accomplished pianist who finds his groove in several styles. As a composer, he is a perspicacious designer of sound fathoming in it his harmonic concepts and the abundant field for his ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney Group: Ways & Means
by Matt Marshall
It's good to see the jazz community is not shying away from pressing political and social issues of the day. Guitarist Brad Shepik, with his Human Activity Suite (Songlines, 2009), and drummer Alex Cline, with Continuation (Cryptogramophone, 2009), have both made musical pleas for the environment in 2009, following in the socially conscious footsteps of Max Roach, Charles Mingus and Charlie Haden, among others.
With Ways & Means, keyboardist James Carney aggressively confronts this century's first major economic crisis. Conceived ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney Group: Ways & Means
by Troy Collins
Inspired by his work scoring Edward Sloman's 1925 silent film, His People, for the Syracuse International Film Festival in 2006, New York-based keyboardist James Carney continued to explore the narrative potential of cinematic structures. Funded in part by commissions from Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Carney produced Ways & Means, a “virtual film score" recorded with his regular touring group.
Steadily winding their way through this episodic suite, Carney's ensemble evinces an array of ...
Continue ReadingJames Carney Group: Green-Wood
by Jerry D'Souza
James Carney cites a long and varied line of influences on his music that includes Henry Threadgill, Keith Emerson, Steve Reich and Bill Monroe. That's an eclectic mix, and all have a certain bearing on his compositions.
Carney, who won the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Award, composes music in his head and then writes it down. That gives him a clearer picture of the direction he wants and also makes it easier to change.
The compositions on Green-Wood ...
Continue ReadingFirehouse 12 to Present the James Carney Group May 15th
Source:
Improvised Communications
On Friday, May 15th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present a two-set performance by Brooklyn-based pianist/composer James Carney and his longstanding working ensemble, the James Carney Group. Carney and the band, which features trumpeter Ralph Alessi, trombonist Josh Roseman, bassist Chris Lightcap and drummer Mark Ferber, will preview segments of his new virtual film score, Ways & Means, commissioned by Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and perform music from his most recent release, 2007's Green- Wood ...
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"This Our Music" with Knucklebean, James Carney, and the Inbetweens!
Source:
All About Jazz
Friends of SOUND! Please join us this Wednesday, July 9 in New York City for an evening of joyful noise! RUCMA presents... “This Is Our Music" Wednesday, July 9 @ Clemente Soto Velez 107 Suffolk Street between Delancey and Rivington Doors at 7:30PM, Show at 8PM, $10/$7 for students and seniors 8PM - James Carney Group: James Carney (electric piano, compositions), John Hebert (bass), Ches Smith (drums) 9PM - Knucklebean: Ben Syversen (trumpet), Kevin Moehringer (trombone), Matt Thomas (saxophones), Matt ...
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James Carney Group Saturday At Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York212-989-9319 http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St.
Sat Nov 25 9:00PM & 10:30PM JAMES CARNEY GROUP Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Chris Lightcap, bass; Ted Poor, drums; James Carney, Rhodes, compositions
“An intriguing pianist whose compositional sense almost overshadows his instrumental ...
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Allison Miller's Agrazing Maze (Tonight) James Carney (Sat) Jessica Jones Qt (Sun) & More at the Cornelia Street Cafe
Source:
All About Jazz
October 28, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1,9 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F to West 4th St. “a culinary as well as a cultural landmark" Mayoral Proclamation, City of New York 1987 This Weekend at Cornelia Street Cafe Oct. 28 thg Oct. 30 Fri ...
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James Carney Group at Cornelia St. Cafe Sat., Oct. 29th 9:00PM & 10:30PM
Source:
All About Jazz
October 20, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014 Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1,9 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F to West 4th St. “a culinary as well as a cultural landmark" Mayoral Proclamation, City of New York 1987 Sat Oct 29, 9:00PM & 10:30PM JAMES CARNEY GROUP (Jerome Sabbagh, tenor ...
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"Green-wood is the best new jazz of 2007." - Will Layman, Popmatters.com
"Keyboardist and composer James Carney might be described as a friendly iconoclast, an artist who enthusiastically explores new concepts at the cutting edge of jazz...His excellent composing transcends the established musical borders and stares down current definitions of what jazz should be." - Terrell Holmes, All About Jazz / New York, August 2007
AMG Rating for Green-Wood: (4 stars) "Each of the horn players has his moments in the spotlight but the complex ensembles, the impressionistic themes, and Carney's versatile work on piano and electric keyboards make Green-Wood particularly special
Primary Instrument
Piano
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Teaching music and piano to others is important to me, and I work regularly with a number of keyboard students at my studio in the south Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The studio is equipped with a German grand piano, a fender rhodes, and other keyboards for playing duets. Lessons may be archived via audio/video for future reference. Although creative jazz improvisation and composition are my focus, I also teach beginning and intermediate levels of classical piano. Students may also study blues, rock, and New Orleans style piano playing, music theory, jazz keyboard theory, ear training, transcription and orchestration. Areas of study for more advanced players may include sound and tone production, rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic development, voice leading, compositional forms, arranging, development of velocity, harmonizing standards and original music, developing a fearless musical aesthetic, open improvisation, expanding the timbral palette, and the art of creative practicing. Since 1991 I have taught as a visiting artist at many fine colleges and universities, including the Eastman School of Music, New York University, Cal State Los Angeles, the University of Nevada at Reno, Ithaca College, Williams College, Saddleback College, California Institute of the Arts and the University of Missouri at St. Louis. I have also taught privately throughout the years, working with students from the ages of 8 to 80. Friends & families may study with me in a group lesson format, and parents are always welcome to attend lessons with their children. Please e-mail me for further information, including rates and available lesson times. My studio is located within easy walking distance to the R, M, F & G subway lines.
Clinic/Workshop Information
Photos
Music
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James Carney
Instrument: Piano
Born: October 14, 1963
Publicist: GoMedia PR
