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Tyshawn Sorey

ewark-born multi-instrumentalist and composer Tyshawn Sorey (b. 1980) is celebrated for his incomparable virtuosity, effortless mastery and memorization of highly complex scores, and an extraordinary ability to blend composition and improvisation in his work. He has performed nationally and internationally with his own ensembles, as well as artists such as John Zorn, Vijay Iyer, Roscoe Mitchell, Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith, Marilyn Crispell, George Lewis, Claire Chase, Steve Coleman, Steve Lehman, Robyn Schulkowsky, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, and Myra Melford, among many others.

The New York Times has praised Sorey for his instrumental facility and aplomb, “he plays not only with gale-force physicality, but also a sense of scale and equipoise”; The Wall Street Journal notes Sorey is, “a composer of radical and seemingly boundless ideas.” The New Yorker recently noted that Sorey is “among the most formidable denizens of the in-between zone…An extraordinary talent who can see across the entire musical landscape.”

Sorey has received support for his creative projects from The Jerome Foundation, The Shifting Foundation, Van Lier Fellowship, and was recently named a 2017 MacArthur fellow. The Spektral Quartet, Ojai Music Festival, and International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) have commissioned his works, which exemplify a penchant for a thorough exploration of the intersection between improvisation and composition. Sorey also collaborates regularly with ICE as a percussionist and resident composer. Future commissions include a residency at the Berlin Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall’s 125 Commissions Project in partnership with Opera Philadelphia supporting a new work for tenor Lawrence Brownlee addressing themes associated with Black Lives Matter.​

As a leader, Sorey has released seven critically acclaimed recordings that feature his work as a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and conceptualist. His latest, Pillars (Firehouse 12 Records, 2018), has been praised by Rolling Stone as “an immersive soundworld… sprawling, mysterious… thrilling” and has been named as one of BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction 2018 albums of the year.

In 2012, he was selected as one of nine composers for the Other Minds Festival, where he exchanged ideas with such like-minded peers as Ikue Mori, Ken Ueno, and Harold Budd. In 2013, Jazz Danmark invited him to serve as the Danish International Visiting Artist. He was a 2015 recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Award. Sorey has taught and lectured on composition and improvisation at Columbia University, The New School, The Banff Centre, Wesleyan University, International Realtime Music Symposium, Hochschule für Musik Köln, Berklee College of Music, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Danish Rhythmic Conservatory. His work has been premiered at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Ojai Music Festival, The Kitchen, Walt Disney Hall, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and the Stone, among many other established venues and festivals.

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Radio & Podcasts

Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Mary Halvorson and Jason Robinson

Read "Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Mary Halvorson and Jason Robinson" reviewed by Hobart Taylor


Music from Tyshawn Sorey Trio, Mary Halvorson and Jason Robinson. Playlist Bill Frisell Kit Downes Andrew Cyrille “Este a Székelyeknél" from Breaking The Shell (Red Hook) 0:00 María Grand “Canto Manta “ from Reciprocity (Biophilia) 3:55 SML “Feed The Birds" from Small Medium Large (International Anthem) 7:44 Terry Gibbs “ Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" from Vol. 7: The Lost Tapes, 1959 (Whaling City) 13:50 Host Speaks 19:40 Altus “The Last Gift" from Mythos (Biophilia) 21:26 Jocelyn ...

Album Review

Vijay Iyer: Compassion

Read "Compassion" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


L'ottavo album da titolare del pianista Vijay Iyer per la ECM è anche il primo a riprendere una formazione già utilizzata, per la precisione nel precedente Uneasy pubblicato nel 2021, non considerando un altro disco in trio ma con differenti interpreti (Break Stuff, del 2015). Negli altri lavori Iyer ha spaziato dalla suite cameristica con un quartetto d'archi (Mutations) al sestetto (Far from Home), dai duetti con Wadada Leo Smith e Craig Taborn (a cosmic rhythm with each stroke e ...

Album Review

Kim Cass: Levs

Read "Levs" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Cosa c'entrano Karlheinz Stockhausen, Arnold Schoenberg e Pierre Boulez con l'arte visiva e con l'inchiostro delle partiture? Ce lo spiega nelle sintetiche e un po' enigmatiche note di copertina lo stesso Kim Cass, bassista dalle frequentazioni eccellenti e dalla mente aperta. Poi, si sa, quello che conta è il risultato finale, dove la miscela degli ingredienti utilizzati deve risultare perfettamente amalgamata e cotta a puntino. Ed è quello che succede in Levs. A proposito di menti aperte, Kass ...

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Album Review

Travis Reuter: Quintet Music

Read "Quintet Music" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Released as the long-anticipated encore to his avant-garde debut, Rotational Templates (New Focus, 2011), Travis Reuter's Quintet Music is a masterpiece of musical sorcery, brimming with bold invention and innovative creativity. Reuter, a maverick guitarist who is unafraid to color outside the lines, leads his band of equally audacious virtuosos through a sonic wonderland that most musicians only dare to visit in dreams. The quintet, with Peter Schlamb swapping the traditional piano for the vibraphone, tosses the jazz ...

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Album Review

Caroline Davis’ Alula: Captivity

Read "Captivity" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Quote rosa in perfetto equilibrio in questo nuovo lavoro della quarantaduenne altosassofonista Caroline Davis, al secolo Caroline Rebecca Anson, alla testa di Alula, in edizione riveduta e corretta (con Chris Tordini e Tyshawn Sorey al posto di Matt Mitchell e Greg Saunier, oltre a Val Jeanty, giradischi ed elettronica), e in equilibrio anche il comparto acustico rispetto a quello--chiamiamolo--extra-acustico (con periodici inserti vocali), per un'opera decisamente fuori dagli schemi e da una mai auspicabile prevedibilità. Fisiologicamente marcata ...

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Album Review

Vijay Iyer: Compassion

Read "Compassion" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


As the title track of Compassion gets conjured up on a rubato tumble of Tyshawn Sorey's cymbals, bassist Linda May Han Oh begins her work which--on all of Compassion--is herculean. Vijay Iyer ushers in, and a quiet thing of beauty gets underway. It is one of the album's monster tracks. And eleven more tracks follow. Much like the trio's 2021 ECM effort Uneasy, Compassion makes for a most intense and most satisfying listen. “Arch" is a vivid display ...

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Album Review

Vijay Iyer: Compassion

Read "Compassion" reviewed by Neil Duggan


The term “Supergroup" is often over-used. It usually refers to a group whose members are already successful as solo artists. In rock music, it often referred to members of a successful rock group who got together for a recording, frequently disbanding later. Fortunately, Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey are going from strength to strength, showing no sign of disbanding and wholly justifying the term Supergroup. Compassion is their second album as a trio, following 2021's Uneasy ...

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Performance / Tour

Announcing Preliminary Jazz 2024-25 Season At New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ

Announcing Preliminary Jazz 2024-25 Season At New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ

Source: AMT Public Relations

Tickets Go on Sale Friday, May 10, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. New Jersey Performing Arts Center 1 Center Street Newark, NJ 07102 (888) 466-5722 Free-$149. To purchase, contact NJPAC at 1.888.466.5722 or visit NJPAC.org. SUN 9.29 @ 7:00 p.m. Herbie Hancock Herbie Hancock – piano 14x GRAMMY winner Herbie Hancock returns to NJPAC in a highly anticipated one-night only concert. The last time he graced the NJPAC stage was in 2017 as a special guest with ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey & Cory Smythe; Jazz at Lincoln Center Group; The Sextet; Marcus Lewis; and more

Jazz this week: Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey & Cory Smythe; Jazz at Lincoln Center Group; The Sextet; Marcus Lewis; and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's lineup of jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a couple of Kansas City acts making their first trips here, a couple of small groups comprised of musicians drawn from larger, well-known ensembles, and more. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, January 10 This week's “Grand Center Jazz Crawl" features cornetist and banjo player T.J Müller at The Stage at KDHX, the jam session led by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center, and trumpeter Kasimu ...

Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

There's lots of jazz and creative music happening in St. Louis over the next week, including the return of a hometown hero, the local debut of a much-talked-about drummer and composer, and the first chance for audiences here to check out a critically acclaimed collaboration between two well-known jazz headliners. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, April 13 Saxophonist David Sanborn—who, as longtime StLJN readers no doubt know, grew up right here in Kirkwood—returns to St. Louis to begin a ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Percussionist and composer Tyshawn Sorey

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Percussionist and composer Tyshawn Sorey

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week, let's check out some videos of percussionist and composer Tyshawn Sorey, who's coming to St. Louis with his trio to perform in a concert presented by New Music Circle at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at The Stage at KDHX. Sorey, a New Jersey native who also plays trombone and piano, earned a master's degree in composition from Wesleyan University and now is pursuing a doctorate at Columbia University in NYC, studying primarily under trombonist, electronic musician and ...

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Performance / Tour

Composer/Bassist Alexis Cuadrado Presents Poetica, Featuring Rowan Ricardo Philips, Melcion Mateu, Miles Okazaki, Andy Milne & Tyshawn Sorey

Composer/Bassist Alexis Cuadrado Presents Poetica, Featuring Rowan Ricardo Philips, Melcion Mateu, Miles Okazaki, Andy Milne & Tyshawn Sorey

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Composer/Bassist ALEXIS CUADRADO Presents POETICA: A multi-disciplinary new work by Alexis Cuadrado crossing languages and poetry in collaboration with authors/poets Rowan Ricardo Philips and Melcion Mateu In Residency at jny: Seeds Brooklyn April 30 & May 1, 2, 3, 2014 Located at 617 Vanderbilt Ave Brooklyn, NY 11238 Featuring: Alexis Cuadrado - Composer & double bass, Rowan Ricardo Philips - Poetry, Melcion Mateu - Poetry, Miles Okazaki - Guitar, Andy Milne - Keyboards, Tyshawn ...

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Recording

Tyshawn Sorey's "Oblique-I" Coming out on Pi Recordings September 27th

Tyshawn Sorey's "Oblique-I" Coming out on Pi Recordings September 27th

Source: Pi Recordings

Oblique—I, the highly anticipated new release from drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey, delivers what his fans have long been seeking: an album that combines his virtuosic playing with his compositional mastery. Named one of “Five Drummers Whose Time is Now" by The New York Times, Sorey recently received his MA in Composition from Wesleyan University where he studied with Anthony Braxton. He is currently a Doctoral Fellow in Composition at Columbia University studying with George Lewis, where he is one of a ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #299: Tyshawn Sorey

The Jazz Session #299: Tyshawn Sorey

Source: AAJ Staff


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Interview

Interview | Tyshawn Sorey

Interview | Tyshawn Sorey

Source: Ars Nova Workshop

This Friday night, March 11, Ars Nova Workshop begins its three-day Composer Portrait: Fieldwork series with a performance of Fieldwork drummer Tyshawn Sorey’s composition, “For Kathy Change.” Inspired by Kathy Change, an American performance artist and political activist who killed herself in an act of self-immolation on the University of Pennsylvania campus in 1996, Sorey’s ensemble includes trombonist Ben Gerstein, pianist Kris Davis, cellist Okkyung Lee, and guitarist Terrence McManus. One of the newest stars of New York's creative music ...

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Performance / Tour

Michele Rosewoman, Liberty Ellman, and Tyshawn Sorey Perform at Roulette, April 10

Michele Rosewoman, Liberty Ellman, and Tyshawn Sorey Perform at Roulette, April 10

Source: All About Jazz

On Saturday, April 10, 2010 at Roulette in New York City, pianist, composer, and bandleader Michele Rosewoman and two of the most creative and multi-dimensional young artists of our time, Liberty Ellman and Tyshawn Sorey, collaboratively explore sound textures and nuances of time and space through their combined musical vision.

For more information on Michele, visit her website at www.michelerosewoman.com

Concert Information

Saturday, April 10 at 8:30 p.m. Michele Rosewoman - Time in Textures: A Collaborative Experiment with ...

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Performance / Tour

Improvised Silence Amid the Sounds

Improvised Silence Amid the Sounds

Source: Michael Ricci

The drummer Tyshawn Sorey confounds easy assumptions, including the assumption that because he is a drummer, his own music should favor the drums, or the assumption that because he plays jazz, all of his music should sound like jazz. His new band is a trio with guitar and bass, but it’s pretty far from any standard model with that setup. The group played its first gig ever on Wednesday at the Stone; Mr. Sorey is the guest programmer at that ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Compassion

ECM Records
2024

buy

Quintet Music

Self Produced
2024

buy

Levs

Pi Recordings
2024

buy

Live at Smalls

Cellar Music Group
2023

buy

Continuing

Pi Recordings
2023

buy

Captivity

Ropeadope
2023

buy

Videos

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