February 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 8:00pm
Solos | Jamie Saft & Erik Friedlander
Radical Jewish Music Festival 2010
Please join us for night one in Ars Nova Workshop's Radical Jewish Music Festival 2010.
In the final months of 2004, John Zorn wrote over 300 new tunes for his popular Masada project, initiating a series of recordings and performances featuring the best players out of the burgeoning Masada family. For this special solo performance double-header, Erik Friedlander and Jamie Saft return to Philadelphia to perform compositions from Zorn's Masada Book Two: The Book of Angels, among other works.
Erik Friedlander performs the music of John Zorn
Erik Friedlander, cello
Prepare yourselves for an intimate and breathtaking recital by one of the world’s most accomplished cellists. A vital voice in the bands of Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Marty Ehrlich and John Zorn, and a key member of the Masada family from the very beginning, Friedlander has hypnotized audiences both here and in Europe with his own bands Topaz, Broken Arm Trio and Grains of Paradise. Stepping out in this special solo performance, Friedlander shows off his remarkable technique in an all-Zorn program featuring Masada's lyrical Book of Angels compositions. This will be Friendlander at his best: rich, romantic, gripping music to both challenge and soothe the savage beast.
Jamie Saft performs the music of Zorn, Dylan and more
Jamie Saft, piano
After releasing two stunning jazz piano trio recordings featuring the music of Bob Dylan and John Zorn, multi-instrumentalist Jamie Saft returns for a special solo piano recital. Playing with the fire and passion one has come to expect from the Masada family, Saft will perform his own solo piano works in addition to the music of John Zorn, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath and Charles Ives.
A native of Queens, Saft is a mainstay of the Downtown scene and a member of bands such as The Beta Popes (with Bobby Previte and Skerik), Whoopie Pie, Swami LatePlate, Kalashnikov, and John Zorn's Electric Masada. Saft's stylistic versatility, multi-instrumentalist capabilities, and production skills have been featured with the Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, the B-52's, Laurie Anderson, Marc Ribot's Los Cubanos Postisos, Antony and the Johnsons, Chocolate Genius, Cuong Vu, Chris Speed Trio Iffy, and many others. In addition, Saft was the pianist for the New York and Paris premiers of John Adams' opera "I Was Looking at the Ceiling and then I Saw the Sky."
Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) is a Philadelphia nonprofit jazz and experimental music presenting organization. ANW acts as a facilitator between artists and their audiences, while working to inform, inspire and challenge listeners in order to elevate the role of jazz, improvisation and experimental music.