LOS: Brass, Skins, & Strings Collective + Doug Hirlinger’s Waveform Razorback

FRIDAY, JUNE 11, Doors 8:30pm, Show 9pm – Jazz – BYOB
$10 Door / $8 in advance
Lucky Old Souls Presents
DOUG HIRLINGER’S WAVEFORM RAZORBACK
BRASS, SKINS, & STRINGS COLLECTIVE

DOUG HIRLINGER’S WAVEFORM RAZORBACK: Doug Hirlinger, drums; Ben Gerstein, trombone; Matt Mitchell, keys.

BRASS, SKINS, & STRINGS COLLECTIVE featuring Jafar Barron, cornet; Elliott Levin, saxophones, flute, & poetry; Anthony Mohamed, congas.

WAVEFORM RAZORBACK: Good friends Doug Hirlinger, Ben Gerstein, and Matt Mitchell make up this exciting and dynamic trio of drums, trombone, and keyboard. These three busy musicians are entrenched in the New York and Philadelphia creative music scenes and on their own have performed extensively throughout the world. The trio approaches improvisation and composition with openness and honesty, the goals being to create with patience, fearlessness, and precision, and to explore the full spectrum of sonic texture, pattern, and color. Hirlinger and Gerstein have been playing music together since they met in New York City in 1995 while attending Manhattan School of Music. Hirlinger and Mitchell met in Philadelphia after both had relocated there. The three played together for the first time in 2009, at the now renowned Philadelphia experimental music series SciFiPhilly.

DOUG HIRLINGER plays drums, cymbals, and at times other instruments in many settings and contexts. He also composes music using various techniques, producing various results, using any and all tools available. Doug enjoys a steady schedule of performing, composing, and teaching, and has enjoyed doing so throughout the US and Europe. Originally from Missouri, Doug moved to New York City in 1995 and later relocated to Philadelphia where has been based since 2001. Current projects include a collective trio with Matt Mitchell and Tarus Mateen and an avant-rock trio with Tim Motzer and Barry Meehan known as Base3. Doug has performed with a long list of well-known artists including Peter Berstein, Seamus Blake, Jason Moran, Luis Perdomo, and Gerald Veasley. He is also creator and director of the monthly online composers collective at musiccreative.org.

Born in 1977 and raised in Santa Barbara, California, BEN GERSTEIN began playing the trombone at age 11, inspired by his family. The early ’90s offered him much experience as a jazz soloist on both west and east coasts through numerous teachers, schools, awards, ensembles and festivals. He attended the Manhattan School of Music on full scholarship from 1995-99 as a jazz major and has remained in New York City ever since, committed to improvisation and the arts, collaborating regularly with many different groups and individuals. Ben has performed with a lengthy list of prominent New York City based musicians including Tyshawn Sorey, Matt Maneri, Tony Malaby, Craig Taborn, Dan Weiss, and Mike Pride.

Pianist and composer MATT MITCHELL has lived in Philadelphia since 1999 and performs regularly in New York City and throughout the United States and Europe. He is a member of Tim Berne’s ensembles Los Totopos and Adobe Probe. He also performs with Brad Shepik’s Human Activity Quintet, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, Tom Rainey, Ingrid Laubrock, Ralph Alessi, and Andrew D’Angelo. He is a former member of the long-standing Philadelphia improvising groups Kaktus and Feigner and of the Denver-based avant rock group Thinking Plague. He has released several albums on Scrapple Records and is a faculty member with the Brooklyn-based School for Improvisational Music [SIM].

BRASS, SKINS, & STRINGS COLLECTIVE: The intermittent gathering of some of Philadelphia’s finest musicians who, in between numerous projects, including the cable-bound documentary, Brass, Skins & Strings, find time to add to Philly’s vibrant art reputation by playing the streets of Philly’s art and tourist districts. The collective includes four musicians who also wear the hats of poets–Elliott Levin, sax and flute; Monica McIntyre, cello; Anthony Mohamed, congas; and Cassandra Xavier, guitar–as well as soloists including Byard Lancaster, sax and flute; Jafar Barron, cornet; Greg Morrison, sax; Eligio Concepcion, sax and flute; Jamika Gordon, flute; Charles Townson, violin; Felix Wilkins, flute; Connie Reeves, guitar and flute; and Leon Boykins, bass. Tonight’s performance features the trio incarnation of the collective: JAFAR BARRON, Philadelphia-born composer and ultimate soloist, studied under the tutelage of Wynton Marsalis and has recorded with Jill Scott and Erykah Badu and cut his own Atlantic Records debut, The Free Bop Movement. ELLIOTT LEVIN is the Philadelphia-based sax man, flutist, and poet whose signature single dread emits musical spores over sidewalks, music halls, and coffee houses. He has studied extensively under Michael Guera, former saxophonist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and flutist/composer Claire Polin. He has performed with such groups as Cecil Taylor’s Ensemble, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir. ANTHONY MOHAMED is a Brooklyn-born percussionist who has studied under numerous Philadelphia musicians. An educator who divides his time between music and literary performances, he can be found on a regular basis in tri-state area schools doing workshops with the belief that artists make a difference. He recently made an appearance with Mandrill at the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival. Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone is a monthly event, showcasing some of Philadelphia’s most creative musicians in a laid-back, BYOB venue that combines the intimacy of a club with a concert hall’s respect for the music. A Lucky Old Souls production, Lucky Old Souls