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Myra Melford
"From her first album in 1991, it was clear that this pianist and composer would stay around," the New York Times said of Myra Melford. Melford has not only stuck around, but she has flourished. She has appeared on more than 20 recordings, including nine as a leader , performed in more than 30 countries, won major awards for composition and piano performance, and worked with some of the world's most innovative musicians. Melford's staying power is the product of ceaseless musical travels; she's always going somewhere. As Francis Davis noted , "Myra Melford is the genuine article, the most gifted pianist/composer to emerge from jazz since Anthony Davis."
At the keyboard, Melford recasts the blues and boogie- woogie of her Chicago hometown, folds in elements of the music of Eastern Europe and India, and blends them with the rangy, percussive avant-garde stylings she cultivated in studies with Don Pullen and Henry Threadgill. This personal musical vocabulary is further enriched by a lush lyricism and organized by an architectural sense of composition that she derived from classical training.
Melford's remarkable breadth is ordered by a thoughtful, expressive sensibility, evocatively described by Coda Magazine: "Myra Melford is at once a dancer, a romantic and a savage suckerpuncher at the bench . . . beating all hell out of the piano and making it beautiful."
In the early '90s Melford toured and recorded extensively with her acclaimed trio featuring Lindsey Horner on bass and Reggie Nicholson on drums. Their 1993 recording Alive in the House of Saints was reissued by hat Art in 2001. In the late '90s, she led a quintet, The Same River, Twice, which featured trumpeters Dave Douglas or Cuong Vu, reedist Chris Speed, cellist Erik Friedlander, and drummer Michael Sarin. They recorded two albums, their self-titled debut on Gramavision (1996) and Above Blue (Arabesque, 1999).
Melford currently leads or co-leads four groups, all of which have recorded in the past several years.
Melford's ongoing search for new sounds and new directions in her music led her to the harmonium, a small hand-pump organ traditionally used in Indian and Pakistani classical and devotional music. Melford was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study North Indian music on the instrument with Sohanlal Sharma in Calcutta, where she was in residency from September 2000 through May 2001. The fruits of her studies are heard in some of her compositions for her groups The Tent and Be Bread.
In addition to leading her own ensembles for more than 15 years, Melford appears as a special guest on Jenny Scheinman's Shaligaster (Tzadik), Joseph Jarman's Lifetime Visions and Jarman's and Leroy Jenkins' Out of the Mist (Ocean Records); Butch Morris' a Move (Sony) and Songs Out of My Trees (Soul Note); and Leroy Jenkins' Themes and Improvisations on the Blues (CRI).
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Lux Quartet: Tomorrowland
by Jerome Wilson
Lux Quartet is a new combination of four musicians who are all part of the more progressive branch of the jazz world, pianist Myra Melford: drummer Allison Miller, saxophonist Dayna Stephens and bassist Scott Colley. All four members contribute compositions to the band on this album which show off different facets of what the band is capable of. Melford brings in three pieces. “Intricate Drift" has the sax and piano navigate a swirling, angular melody while the bass ...
Continue ReadingLux Quartet, Warren Wolf, and Archie Shepp
by Jerome Wilson
This show features recent music from Warren Wolf and the Lux Quartet led by Myra Melford and Allison Miller as well as older work from Jamie Baum and Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Alchemy Sound Project “Dark Blue Residue" from Afrika Love (Self Produced) 00:53 Altus “The Last Gift" from Mythos (Biophilia) 8:39 ...
Continue ReadingJoëlle Léandre: Lifetime Rebel
by Mark Corroto
Joëlle Léandre is the definition of a force of nature. She is unstoppable, unforgettable, and full of boundless energy. It is the nature of her force that recordings like Lifetime Rebel attempt to capture. These four CDs--plus an interview and solo performance DVD--capture a moment, but just a moment of her inexhaustible spirit, before she moves on. Recorded in 2023, Léandre was honored with a lifetime achievement award during New York's Vision Festival. The performances captured are by diverse and ...
Continue ReadingHyeseon Hong, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Lux Quartet led by Myra Melford & Allison Miller Plus A Birthday Tribute To Lyricist Dorothy Parker
by Mary Foster Conklin
This broadcast includes new releases from Hyeseon Hong, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Lux Quartet led by Myra Melford & Allison Miller, with birthday shoutouts to lyricist Dorothy Parker ("I Wished On the Moon," “How Am I To Know"), Hilary Gardner, Nora Germain, Linda May Han Oh, Mimi Fox, Anita Wardell, Jacqui Naylor, Rachel Eckroth and Nicky Schrire, among others. Happy listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so they can continue ...
Continue ReadingIt's (Never) the Final Countdown, Part Deux
by Patrick Burnette
Join our intrepid but grumpy explorers Mike and Pat and they continue their journey through the New York Times Top Ten list of Best Jazz Albums from 2023. The boys look at three more albums off the list and once again have questions about the selections. Then they discuss an album from 2023 not on the list, and, naturally, emit rainbows. We don't recommend you make a game of drinking whenever one of them calls “category error" unless you have ...
Continue ReadingMyra Melford's Fire And Water Quintet: Hear The Light Singing
by John Sharpe
Pianist Myra Melford's blue chip Fire And Water quintet assuredly sidesteps second album syndrome. Hear The Light Singing stands very much the equal of the band's superlative eponymous debut. The only change is that Lesley Mok takes Susie Ibarra's place behind the trapset, otherwise the triumvirate completing the starry squad remains Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones, Tomeka Reid on cello and Mary Halvorson on guitar. In the liners Melford explains that the five pieces titled “Insertions" here were ...
Continue ReadingNew Music From Myra Melford, Jérôme Descamps, Mayra Dómine & Rodrigo González, And More
by Bob Osborne
On this show we present new music from Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet , Jérôme Descamps, Mayra Dómine & Rodrigo González, George Colligan , Gordon Lee, Dan Balmer, Mark Solborg and Sunny Kim with Vardan Ovsepian & Ben Monder. In addition, a look at Australian based label 4000 Records who release live recordings from venues in Brisbane/Meanjin. Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet “Insertion One" from Hear The Light Singing (RogueArt) 00:59 Jérôme ...
Continue ReadingNew Frequencies Fest: Jazz@YBCA San Francisco February 4-7, 2015
Source:
Marshall Lamm Promotions & Public Relations
Yerba Buena Center for The Arts announced programming for New Frequencies Fest: Jazz@YBCA running February 4-7, 2015 New Frequencies Fest: Jazz@YBCA is a radical exploration of jazz's future through the lense of its pioneering spirit. The entire program is dedicated to jazz in the present tense while paying homage to the legacy of visionary artists of the 1960s and 70s through their impact on contemporary jazz and improvisational music. The past, current, and future San Francisco jazz scene and New ...
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Myra Melford Presents Two Benefit Events for U.C. Berkeley Jazz and Improvised Music Fund
Source:
Marshall Lamm Promotions & Public Relations
The Department of Music at The University of California, Berkeley, today announced two special fundraiser events for the Jazz and Improvised Music Fund (JIM). The first event on Friday, April 23 at UC Berkeley's Hertz Hall will feature The Contemporary Improvisation Ensemble (CIE) comprised of UC Berkeley students, alumni and guests directed by Myra Melford followed by a performance by Trio M with Mark Dresser, Myra Melford and Matt Wilson. The second event on Saturday, April 24, “Cooking it Up-Connections ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Myra Melford
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Myra Melford's birthday today!
JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Myra Melford
“From her first album in 1991, it was clear that this pianist and composer would stay around," the New York Times said of Myra Melford. Melford has not only stuck around, but she has flourished. She has appeared on more than 20 recordings... more
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Marty Ehrlich/Myra Melford Duo Coming to Firehouse 12 October 26th
Source:
Improvised Communications
On Friday, October 26th, the long-standing duo of reed player/composer Marty Ehrlich and pianist/composer Myra Melford will perform at New Haven's Firehouse 12 in support of its new CD, Spark! (Palmetto Records). This is the second release by this pairing of acclaimed veteran talents, who have been performed together as a duo since 2000. Critics called their 2001 debut, Yet Can Spring (Arabesque Recordings), “revelatory" (David R. Adler, All Music Guide) and “the ultimate duet recording...another triumph for two outstanding ...
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Mike Schwartz/KSJS December Guest List Includes Aaron Goldberg, Myra Melford and Reuben Rogers
Source:
All About Jazz
The weekly “Straight No Chaser" Broadcast each Sunday on 90.5FM KSJS San Jose, CA and www.ksjs.org 6-10AM Pacific/9AM-1PM Eastern times Hosted by Mike Schwartz. The Artist Feature utilizes the final hour of the program devoted to the guest 9-10AM Pacific/12-1PM Eastern. 12/03 Pianist/Composer: Aaron Goldberg new “World" CD [Sunnyside] 12/10 Pianist/Composer/Bandleader: Myra Melford new “Be Bread" CD [Cryptogramaphone] 12/17 Bassist/Composer/Bandleader/sideman extarordinaire: Reuben Rogers latest CD “The Things I ...
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Cryptogramophone Records to Release New CDs From Guitarist Nels Cline and Pianist Myra Melford September 12
Source:
All About Jazz
Los Angeles-based creative jazz label Cryptogramophone Records announces exciting new autumn releases from guitarist Nels Cline and pianist Myra Melford. Nels Cline's New Monastery is Cline's interpretation of the music of Andrew Hill; Myra Melford's The Image of Your Body features trumpeter Cuong Vu and guitarist Brandon Ross.
Nels Cline is one of the most versatile, imaginative and original guitarists active today. Combining breath-taking technique with an informed musical intelligence, Cline displays a mastery of guitar expression that ...
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Vandermark 5 + Leroy Jenkins/Myra Melford/Kahil El'Zabar at The Cinema in Philadelphia
Source:
All About Jazz
Ars Nova Workshop presents: Tonight. Thursday, February 2 | 8pm VANDERMARK 5 with Ken Vandermark, reeds; Dave Rempis, saxophone; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello; Kent Kessler, bass; and Tim Daisy, drums
The Cinema (formerly CineMagic) | 3925 Walnut Street $12 General Admission MacArthur fellow Ken Vandermark formed the Vandermark 5 nearly 10 years ago as an outlet for the concepts he developed over the years working with NRG Ensemble, the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, and ALLY. During the ...
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Myra Melford and "be bread' at VJC on 2/14/03
Source:
All About Jazz
Myra Melford and “be bread" to perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on Friday, February 14th at 4:00 PM
Pianist Myra Melford has a voice all her own, she is a an anachronism, a musician whose compositional and playing styles embrace free music, tight arrangements and strong melodies all within the context of a single musical composition. Myra's music is deep yet playful, she creates koans of sound. Her music leaves plenty of space to encourage her fellow musicians to ...
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From: KaleidoscopeBy Myra Melford
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Myra Melford
Instrument: Piano
Born: January 5, 1957
Publicist: Fully Altered Media
