Fri, 29 July 2005

Nu South Subterraneans
plus special guest
Jeff Arnal

9pm, Fri, July 29
$5 at the door
Eyedrum
290 MLK Jr. Drive, Suite 8
404-522-0655
www.eyedrum.org

Nu South Subterraneans, established in 2000 by Roger Ruzow is a collective of Atlanta musicians performing improvised and Nu compositional music. The ensemble has evolved several times over the past five years as Nu South Subs move forward into trying to emit the greatest (best) form of communication between entities in the universe. N.S.S. features the original compositions of Ruzow, Crompton, and Leslie, creating jazz influenced bop, swing, folk, orchestral music with free improvisation.

Teacher/performer/composer Roger Ruzow lives in Atlanta, Georgia. A founding member of the free jazz ensemble, Gold Sparkle Band he first began playing the trumpet at age 8. In addition to his (now quite infrequent) tenure in Gold Sparkle Band, he composes music and performs trumpet in Atlanta and the continental U.S.. Born in Miami, Fla., Ruzow left the bent sunshine state when he was 18 to pursue a degree in music production at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.. After completion of his degree, Ruzow moved to Atlanta in 1993 where he Charles Waters, Andrew Barker, Andrew Burnes and Rob Mallard founded Gold Sparkle Band. In Atlanta Ruzow concentrated on re-discovering the trumpet, trying to make a living teaching trumpet, performing trumpet, and heating and/or serving foodstuffs in many different fine southern dining establishments. In 2000 A.D. R.R. began teaching elementary school general music in Metro Atlanta, a fantastic career which after the acquisition of full Georgia music teacher certification in 2004 (earned at Georgia State Univ.) he does with a bit more security.

Keith Leslie is a multi-instrumentalist, dividing time between drums and piano. Interest in music led him to academic pursuits at Florida State University, there instilling a love for melody and harmony in jazz music while at the same time spawning contempt toward those very same aesthetics, a conflict of interest that still presides. Moving to Atlanta, GA in 1998, he found himself dividing time between straight-a-head gigs and performing with artists exploring improvised music and original works; currently he is still dividing time.

Jeff Crompton is an Atlanta native. He teaches music in the Fulton County school system and has been playing music in the city since the 1980s. Jeff was a member of the semi-legendary free jazz trio the Bazooka Ants, has led his own band, and has played and recorded with pianist/composer Michael J. Smith. In addition to his work with the Nu South Subterraneans, he plays with the straight-ahead jazz band Standard Deviation, the Chilly Willy Blues Band, and the unclassifiable duo Robocromp.

Born in Dallas, TX in 1948, Ben Gettys started playing electric bass during high school in St. Louis, MO. He played in several R&B bands until moving to Atlanta, GA in 1967. During the late 60s and early 70s, Ben played everything from power trio rock and roll to country and western. Taking up the upright bass in the early 80s and moving to the jazz realm, he played with the big band, The Modernairs, for 10 years and the avant-garde trio, the Bazooka Ants, with Jeff Crompton. In the mid-90s, Ben started playing in blues bands, most notably with Sean Costello, Bill Sheffield, Delta Moon, Eddie Tigner, and The Chilly Willy Band. Ben met Scott and Janna in the mid 80s and has been in Standard Deviation almost 20 years.

"….though,it is the playing of trumpeter Ruzow, potentially the most interesting brass stylist to come from Georgia since trombonist J.C. Higginbotham in the 1930s."
- Ken Waxman, JazzWeekly.com

"….Ruzow growls and whinnies, but has a fat broad sound when he wants, and the musicianship is high all around."
- Gary Giddins. Village Voice

"Roger Ruzow has a wonderfully dirty tone on trumpet that alternately brings to mind Cootie Williams and Lester Bowie."
- Rob Cambre, Where Y’at

"Throughout the disc, (Gold Sparkle Band’s Fugues and Flowers) the contrast of horns makes Waters' sax sound elegant, and Ruzow's trumpet sound crass. It's the kind of crass that draws out the human essence. It makes you realize that there's a whole spectrum here. That it's not all about sounding pretty or interesting, or having fancy names. It's about culling up what lies within."
- Celeste Sunderland, All about Jazz

"All you have to hear is one of Mr. Crompton's free-floating alto solos to recognize a distinct talent, one whose piercing lyricism takes its cues from the bumblebee-flight patterns piloted by Ornette Coleman".
- Steve Dollar, Atlanta Journal Constitution

If "This Jazz Century" had a star, it was Jeff Crompton, an Atlanta native who played two saxophones and a smattering of clarinet. Though Crompton had the unenviable task of, for example, playing a Miles Davis tune on the sax, he managed to honor the past masters while communicating in a voice of his own.
- Nick Marino, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Jeff Arnal frequently performs and collaborates with a wide range of musicians and choreographers in the U.S. and Europe. He studied music at Bennington College with Milford Graves receiving an MFA in 2000. A native of Georgia, Arnal moved to Baltimore, MD in 1991 to attend the Peabody Conservatory, and later study composition with Stuart Saunders Smith. He has received grants and fellowships from Meet the Composer and Art Omi International. Recent performances include deSingel, German Nordwestradio, Music at the Anthology, Roulette and Vision Collaboration Festival. He can be heard on a number of independent record labels including Generate, Cadence Jazz, Leo, and Oaksmus. He is a co-artistic director of the Improvised and Otherwise Festival and curates On the way Out, a monthly new music series in Brooklyn, NY.

Current projects include ongoing work with choreographers Estelle Woodward and Alison Robinson; Rara Avis with Gordon Beeferman and Seth Misterka; duet with Dietrich Eichmann; duet with Michael Evans; Tranist with Seth Misterka, Reuben Radding and Nate Wooley; and Tripwire with John Hughes and Lars Scherzberg.

"Percussionist Jeff Arnal's balletic sense of time and imaginative deployment of colour have combined into a highly original concept."
- Philip Clark, The Wire.

www.generaterecords.net/JeffArnal.html

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