Chasing Paint
The Jane Ira Bloom Quartet performs Jackson Pollock
ENSEMBLE INFORMATION
I’ve composed a suite in six parts mirroring six action paintings by artist Jackson Pollock where the performers create an effect as if they were "painting the sound." The piece is scored for my quartet with myself on soprano saxophone and live electronics, Fred Hersch on piano, Mark Dresser on bass, and Bobby Previte on drums. Try to imagine a jazz quartet that physically moves sound around the band like paint and you have an idea of what I’m after.
HISTORY
The unusual melodic lines and doppleresque horn effects that I use are part of a musical vocabulary that I have shared and developed with my ensemble over many years. I began writing and performing motion-inspired melodic lines for improvisation with bassist Mark Dresser in New Haven, CT in the late 70’s. My duet and quartet work with pianist Fred Hersch since the early 80’s has also explored this direction. I met Bobby Previte in the 90’s and his kinetic energy and mutual passion for modern art has made our collaboration very special. Each member of the ensemble is a mature composer/ player in their own right and the combination of their shared musical strengths and the accumulated years that we had played together made it seem as if anything were possible.
- Jane Ira Bloom
Soprano saxophonist/ composer Jane Ira Bloom’s quartet featuring Fred Hersch (piano), Mark Dresser (bass), and Bobby Previte (drums) first performed together at Sweet Basil jazzclub in spring 1996. Since that time the group has performed regularly at Sweet Basil & Tonic in NYC along with performances at the Willisau Festival (Switzerland), the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), the FreeJazz Festival (Brazil), the Brooklyn Conservatory (NYC), the Long Island Jazz Festival (NY), and the Tri-Beca Performing Arts Center (NYC).
