Sunday
April 13
7:30 PM

JAZZ COMPOSERS' ALLIANCE ORCHESTRA IN CONCERT

with

Saxophonist/Composer Oliver Lake

Arsenal Center for the Arts
Watertown, MA

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For Immediate Release
3/10/07
Jazz Composers' Alliance Orchestra in Concert With Oliver Lake at Watertown's Arsenal Center For The Arts, Sunday, April 13, 7:30PM.

On Sunday, April 13, at 7:30 pm, at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, the Jazz Composers Alliance will feature composer/saxophonist Oliver Lake in a program of creative music for the 18-piece JCA Orchestra. Also on the bill will be music by Jim Hobbs, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington and Norm Zocher. The Arsenal Center for the Arts is located at 321 Arsenal Street in Watertown; full directions and advance tickets are available at www.arsenalarts.org.  Admission is $20/$10 for seniors & students. In addition to the performance there were will be an exhibit of Lake’s artwork at the Arsenal center, from April 6-13.

“It's all about choices," states modern Renaissance man Oliver Lake to explain his expansive artistic vision. Lake is an accomplished poet, painter and performance artist.   But it's his extraordinary talents as composer, saxophonist, flautist and bandleader that have brought him world-renown.

Over 35 years ago, he helped found, with poets Ajule and Malinke, and musicians Julius Hemphill and Floyd La Flore, the Black Artists Group (BAG), the legendary multi-disciplined and innovative St. Louis collective.  In 1977, with Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett and David Murray, he co-founded the internationally acclaimed World Saxophone Quartet, one of the world’s premier improvisational groups. Lake continues with WSQ, leads several of his own groups, collaborates with others, and is in much demand as a composer, working with a range of performers from the Brooklyn Philharmonic to Bjork.

The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra has been a fixture on Boston's creative music scene since it’s first performance in December of 1985. Combining dedicated musicianship, innovative programming and fresh compositional ideas, their concerts are musically diverse and exciting events.  After several years of intensive recording, the Orchestra has released four new CDs since 2003, including the critically acclaimed In, Thru and Out, (Cadence), The Death of Simone Weil, (Innova) and Celebration of the Spirit. (C.I.M.P.), all of which feature the widely varied writing of the JCA resident composers. The Same Thing will be released this spring on Cadence Jazz Records.

Drawing on influences that span the history of jazz and encompass the world's musical traditions, Hobbs, Katz, Pilkington and Zocher bring together a huge palette of sounds, structures and conceptions to make the JCA Orchestra's concerts unique experiences.  Many of the band's featured soloists are bandleaders and composers in their own right, and are some of New England's most creative musicians, including Hiro Honshuku (flute), Jim Hobbs (alto sax), Phil Scarff (tenor sax), Mike Peipman (tpt), David Harris (tbn), Pablo Bencid (drums) and Rebecca Shrimpton (voice). 

For tickets, call Arsenal Arts at (617) 923-8487 or visit their website at http://www.arsenalarts.org
The Arsenal Center for the arts has plenty of free parking, and is on the #70 and 70a bus routes, which run from Central Square, Cambridge.
For more information about Oliver Lake, visit http://oliverlake.net/
For further information on the Jazz Composers Alliance, call the JCA at (781) 899-3130, email or visit www.jazzcomposersalliance.org
This project is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and by the Aaron Copland Foundation.

This project is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, and is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, administrated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts, Tourism, and Special Events, with additional funding by the Aaron Copland Foundation.