Thursday, November 16, 2006 - 8:00pm
Lay All Over It
Jason Ajemian, double bass + vocals
Noritaka Tanaka, drums
"Bassist Jason Ajemian and drummer Nori Tanaka have been regular thursday-night fixtures at Rodan, sometimes in a trio with guitarist Jeff Parker but just as often in an idiosyncratic improv duo. Starting with precomposed melodic fragments, the music moves organically from Tanaka's fierce swirling grooves to Ajemian's meditative, standalone arco passages. Ajemian adds spontaneous vocals that range from howled chants to original poems sung as the kind of raw, plaintive folk music that the native of Virginia's mountain country seems to have in his blood." -Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Jason Ajemian is a double bassist and composer living in Chicago. He studied with bassist Rufus Reid and composer Kevin Norton and has performed throughout Europe, Canada and the US. Active ensembles include Born Heller (with Josephine Foster), A Cushicle (with Jeff Parker), Day Dream Full Lifestyles (with Tony Malaby, Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), Dragons 1976, Mandarin Movie, Ken Vandermark's Crisis Ensemble, and Triage. The end of 2006 and early 2007 holds new recordings featuring Ajemian including Day Dream Full Lifestyles, Who Cares How Long You Sink, Dragons 1976, Cushicle, Lay All Over It, The Exploding Star Orchestra and The Chicago Underground Trio.
Noritaka Tanaka was born in Fukuoka, Japan and has been based in Chicago as a drummer/percussionist since 1997. He is currently involved with projects including the Cushicle (Jason Ajemian, Jeff Parker, and Selina Trepp), the Electronicians (Jason Ajemian, Matt Lux, Aram Shelton), and Teizaiha (Joshua Abrams, Tim Daisy).
Todd Margasak's Double Duo
Todd Margasak, cornet
Dan Blacksberg, trombone
Toshi Makihara, drums
Michael Szekely, drums
Hailing from Philadelphia, cornetist Todd Margasak spent the formative years of his musical life in Chicago, as a student of the late AACM, with trumpeter Ameen Muhammad and as a part of the then-burgeoning north side scene championed by Ken Vandermark. He currently resides in Philadelphia, where he is a member of Sonic Liberation Front, a frequent collaborator with percussionist Toshi Makihara, and a member of San Francisco-based reedist Scott Rosenberg's Red. Todd appears on recordings on the New World, Cadence, CIMP, Truck Stop and 482 Music labels.
69b
Jon Barrios, double-bass
Philip Horwitz, drums
David Laganella, el. guitar
Matthew Lee, alto saxophone
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Ars Nova Workshop is a Philadelphia nonprofit jazz and experimental music presenting organization. As a facilitator between artists and their audiences, Ars Nova Workshop works to inform, inspire and challenge listeners in order to elevate the role of jazz, improvisation and experimental music in contemporary culture.