Notes:

Euphonic Productions presents JEB BISHOP TRIO

9pm, Thursday, Oct 17
Eyedrum
290 MLK Jr. Drive, SE, Suite 8
Atlanta, GA 30312
404-522-0655
http://www.eyedrum.org
(jazz)

JEB BISHOP
Trombonist Jeb Bishop has been active in new and improvised music in Chicago since 1993. He currently performs and records with groups including the Vandermark Five, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Chicago-Scandinavia quintet School Days, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm's Terminal Four, and his own Jeb Bishop Trio.

Jeb Bishop has also performed with many leading improvisers, including Joe McPhee, Paul Lovens, Paul Lytton, Wadada Leo Smith, John Butcher, Jaap Blonk, Georg Graewe, Jim O'Rourke, Kevin Drumm, Zeena Parkins, Hamid Drake, Mats Gustafsson, Min Xiao-Fen, and Lisle Ellis. He has appeared on recordings by Jim O'Rourke, Gastr del sol, Tortoise, Stereolab, David Grubbs, and Loren Mazzacane Connors & Alan Licht.

KENT KESSLER
Jazz bassist Kent Kessler is best known for his part in numerous Chicago bands, usually in line-ups with reedsman Ken Vandermark. He first began appearing on recordings in the early '90s as a member of Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble. The band continued after Russell's death in 1992 with the addition of clarinetist and saxophonist Ken Vandermark.

Kessler and Vandermark went on to play together in a number of bands that have revitalized Chicago's jazz scene, putting it back on the map of current avant-garde and free jazz. The Vandermark 5, DKV Trio and Steelwool Trio are just some of the many groups that feature Kent Kessler's wide and gritty sound. He has performed and recorded with a number of leading European improvisers, such as German powerhouse Peter Brötzmann (in his Chicago Tentet), Swedish avant-garde saxophonist Mats Gustafsson (in FJF), acclaimed Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, and Dutch avant-garde saxophonist Luc Houtkamp. Kessler has also worked with legends that are closer to home, including Joe McPhee and Fred Anderson. Through his many projects, Kent Kessler has toured all over North America and Europe and has performed on an increasing number of albums per year.

TIM MULVENNA
Tim Mulvenna has been performing for the last decade in Chicago, as well as tours and festivals in the US, Canada and Europe. He has worked with many international artists including Ken Vandermark, Dave Rempis, Robert Barry, Robbie Fulks, Lin Halliday, Portastatic, Fareed Haque, Jeb Bishop, Smog, and Brokeback.

REVIEWS

"In Jeb Bishop you hear Bob Brookmeyer's pinched sound and slight vibrato by way way of Roswell Rudd. You also hear shades of J.J. Johnson and Jimmy Cleveland, and even Tricky Sam Nanton. Bishop compares favorably to any trombonist on the scene today, including Wycliff Gordon and Ray Anderson. My guess is that we will be hearing much more from this highly inventive performer who flirts with the avant-garde without forgetting his roots."  - Steven Loewy, Cadence (March 2002)

"Trombonist Jeb Bishop is arguably the most personable compose in the Chicago scene orbiting around Ken Vandermark. Brimming with solid tunes and spirited interplay, "Afternoons" finds Bishop refining his smart amalgamation of post-J.J. Johnson vocabularies, and reinforcing the savvy rapport he has established with bassis Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Mulvenna." -Bill Shoemaker, The Wire (Feb 2002)

"Not for the faint of heart, this unrepentantly experimental recording attests to the rising stature of Chicago trombonist Jeb Bishop, who, with like-minded players, creates astonishing sonic landscapes on every track. >From the eruption of sound, energy and noise that opens the disc to the coyly controlled swing passages that follow, "Afternoons" reminds listeners that Chicago's avant-garde continues to point out new directions in jazz, as it has throughout the entire 20th Century." -Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune (Dec 2001)

"Bishop's library of sounds builds on the technical innovations of Europeans like Luciano Berio and Paul Rutherford as well as jazz's long tradition of using mutes and plungers to obtain expressive and unusual sounds. Bishop also incorporates a margarine container and a metal bowl into his arsenal. He doesn't just put them into the horn's bell but varies the distance and taps them against his instrument.. He also uses his own voice to obtain a multi-phonic effect." -Bill Meyer, Magnet   

"Although Bishop's unit has been heard for some time as the pulsing heart of Chicago's Vandermark 5, Jeb Bishop Trio marks the trombonist's album debut as a leader. Eschewing avant-garde trickery, Bishop applies his robust tone to the business of no nonsense jazz improvisation. Strong melodies supply the impetus, but the group takes its time, delving and probing, working through the options. Kent Kessler on bass and drummer Tim Mulvenna respond appreciatively to Bishop's striking and authoritative voice, stretching out for an excursion that effectively tests the format's potential, with neither frills nor fuss." -The Wire (Summer 1999)

"The Brass City, as the name suggests, is a mostly reed-free burg. On the title suite that take up its first seven tracks Joe McPhee plays only pocket cornet and valve trombone, while Jeb Bishop plays trombone throughout. They open with whispers and tea-kettle whistles, then move on to explore the whole range of brass sonorities, including those obtained by tapping metal with metal or singing through the horn as well as by blowing on or through it. The Brass City is the fruit of a fresh pairing, and you can hear the two men seeking to establish a complimentary relationship as they progress through the record. They succeed, but you know they're working at it. Seek and listen, and listen again, and you will be rewarded." -Bill Meyer, Signal to Noise (Summer 1999)

"Jeb Bishop's trombone solos always have a destination: they may twist and turn over shifting and sometimes treacherous terrain, but they always end up precisely where he wanted them to go. In the last few years Bishop, has become an integral component of Chicago's rich jazz-and-improvised-music community, participating in key groups like the Vandermark 5 and making a slew of recordings that showcase his versatility as well as his skill. But the path to his mainstay status has been more circuitous than his most frenzied improvisations." -Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader (Jan 1999)

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