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Saturday, April 14, 2012 - 8:00pm
Endangered Blood
Chris Speed, saxophone
Oscar Noriega, saxophone
Trevor Dunn, bassist
Jim Black, drums
Join Ars Nova Workshop for the Philadelphia debut of Endangered Blood!
“They play fast, looping, dynamically even and entwining lines, laying bebop over clanky grooves,” The New York Times writes about Endangered Blood, a new quartet featuring saxophonists Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega, bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Jim Black. The band's hard-hitting self-titled debut was released last year on Speed's Skirl label and features original pieces by Speed as well as reworkings of classic tunes, like Thelonious Monk's “Epistrophy.”
These four players have been on the scene for many years, working with artists like John Zorn, Tim Berne, John Hollenbeck, Satoko Fuji, Susie Ibarra, Nels Cline, Mike Patton, Dave Douglas and Tom Rainey, and in celebrated ensembles such as The Claudia Quintet, Mr. Bungle, Alas No Axis, and Berne's Los Totopos and Bloodcount groups. With their many years of diverse musical experiences, when they unite, Endangered Blood forms a sharp jazz-unit with the ferocity of a heavy-metal band.
“The crowd let out occasional whoops and yelps,” writes the L.A. Times about a recent Endangered Blood concert at The Blue Whale. Forming in 2008 to perform at a benefit concert for saxophonist Andrew D'Angelo, that's what Endangered Blood's all about: getting audiences hyped with their precise, sometimes reckless, and always exhilarating jazz acrobatics.
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.