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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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Caroline Davis’ Alula: Captivity
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 ...
read moreVijay Iyer: Compassion
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 ...
read moreVijay Iyer: Compassion
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 ...
read moreVijay Iyer: Compassion
by Doug Collette
Vijay Iyer's Compassion should ratify his position alongside Brad Mehldau and Fred Hersch in the pantheon of contemporary jazz pianists/composers. That is, if previous, comparably stellar titles such as Historicity (Act Music, 2009) haven't already elevated his position accordingly. Once again in the company of bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, the visionary musician leads an ensemble that formulates an exquisite redefinition of jazz's well-established instrumental concept of the piano trio. Having released twenty albums ...
read moreDave Liebman: Live at Smalls
by Alberto Bazzurro
Tre ampi brani per un totale che supera di un po' i settanta minuti di musica tirata e vibrante, colta dal vivo nel gennaio 2022 al celebre jazz club newyorchese, compongono questo notevole nuovo lavoro di Dave Liebman, una delle presenze più significative (e incidenti) della scena jazzistica ormai da oltre quarant'anni. Il gruppo protagonista dell'incisione, del resto, è di prima grandezza, a partire dal pirotecnico (ma mai per miracol mostrare, come si suol dire) trombettista Peter Evans, che si ...
read moreTyshawn Sorey Trio: Continuing
by Karl Ackermann
Tyshawn Sorey listeners who were weaned on his Pi Recordings, The Inner Spectrum of Variables (2016), Verisimilitude (2017), and Pillars (2018), were probably unprepared for the swinging trio outing Mesmerism (Pi, 2022). With the multi-instrumentalist Sorey on drums, Aaron Diehl on piano and Matt Brewer on bass, the group delivered one of the best piano trio albums of the year. Later in 2022, they issued a live recording, The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism (also on Pi), adding saxophonist Greg ...
read moreGauci Leibson Parker Sorey: Live at Scholes Street Studio
by John Sharpe
Tenor saxophonist Stephen Gauci certainly knows how to pick a band. On another of his regular bulletins which go under the title Live At Scholes Street Studio, he has assembled a line-up to die for, notable for the appearance of Tyshawn Sorey on drums and William Parker on bass. Although Argentinian pianist Santiago Leibson may be less feted, he is a trusted collaborator who combined effectively with Gauci on Pandemic Duets (Gaucimusic, 2021), and he plays a full role on ...
read moreJazz this week: Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey & Cory Smythe; Jazz at Lincoln Center Group; The Sextet; Marcus Lewis; and more
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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 ...
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Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Nicole Johänntgen, Tyshawn Sorey, The Bad Plus Joshua Redman, and more
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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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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Percussionist and composer Tyshawn Sorey
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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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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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Tyshawn Sorey's "Oblique-I" Coming out on Pi Recordings September 27th
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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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Interview | Tyshawn Sorey
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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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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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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 ...
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New CDs by Peter Evans and Tyshawn Sorey on Firehouse 12 Records
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Improvised Communications
Firehouse 12 Records is proud to announce the November 20th release of The Peter Evans Quartet's self-titled debut and Tyshawn Sorey's two-disc set, That/Not. These releases, recorded and produced by the label in its state-of-the-art recording studio in New Haven, Connecticut, are the first to document these acclaimed young artists at the helm of their own bands.
The Peter Evans Quartet The Peter Evans Quartet Firehouse 12 FH12-04-01-004
New York-based trumpeter/composer Peter Evans' first recording as ...
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Tyshawn Sorey
Location: New Haven
Instrument: Drums
Born: July 8, 1980
Publicist: Fully Altered Media
