Magic Triangle Jazz Series: 3 Things to Say
The Magic Triangle Jazz Series, produced by WMUA, 91.1FM and the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, continues its 20th season with a performance by violinists Terry Jenoure, Billy Bang and Charles Burnham, three master improvising violinists paying homage to the most important violinist to emerge in the post-Coltrane era: the late Leroy Jenkins.
A veteran of the bands of John Carter, Archie Shepp, Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman and others, Terry Jenoure is a wide-ranging visual and performing artist. Her sound – on violin and vocals - blends the risk of improvisation, rhythmic influences from her Puerto Rican and Jamaican heritage, the drive and excitement of urban references, and ideas influenced by her world travels. Born and raised in the Bronx, she began studying music at the age of eight, attended New York's High School of Music & Art, and received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and master's and doctoral degrees in education. A faculty member at the University of Massachusetts and Lesley University, Jenoure has devoted almost 15 years to forging the development of a multicultural and multi-arts program as the director for the Augusta Savage Gallery at UMass Amherst. "When I perform," Jenoure says, "it feels as though I'm untangling knots or threads or webs in some dense place so we can see some light."
Over the past 30 years, Billy Bang's hard-edged tone, soulful sense of traditional swing and evocatively expressive style has enhanced dozens of albums by top names in a variety of genres, from the blistering funk of Bootsy Collins and the harmolodic groove of Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society to the intergalactic uproar of Sun Ra. With more than 15 albums under his own leadership, nearly a dozen more in co-led endeavors, and five more with the String Trio of New York (which he co-founded in 1977 with guitarist James Emery and bassist John Lindberg), Billy Bang is one of the more prolific and original members of the progressive music scene. "From Bang's violin comes everything we know about black music and a lot we have yet to learn about rhythm, subtlety and swing," writes Ntozake Shange.
Charles Burnham is best known as one-third of Odyssey, guitarist James "Blood" Ulmer's finest band (with drummer Warren Benbow.) Odyssey performed as part of the 2006 Magic Triangle Jazz Series. "...unlike any other front line in music," writes Richard Cook about Burnham and Ulmer. "Playful, joyous, agitated and melodic, they become ten strings in unison yet independent of one and other. Burnham's step into the spotlight has long been coming." The passion and fire of Burnham's violin has graced the work of Cassandra Wilson, Steven Bernstein, Susie Ibarra, Henry Threadgrill, String Trio of New York, and Medeski, Martin & Wood, among many others. The violinist's new band includes Clark Gayton and Curtis Fowlkes, trombones, Mark Peterson, bass and Pheeroan akLaff, drums.
Tickets are $12 for the general public and $7 for students and are available through the Fine Arts Center Box Office. Call 1-800-999-UMAS.
The Magic Triangle Jazz Series continues with the Ganelin Trio Priority on April 28.
The Magic Triangle Jazz Concert Series is produced by WMUA-FM and the Fine Arts Center, and is funded by the UMass Arts Council, the Student Affairs Cultural Enrichment Fund, and the Alumni Association. Additional support comes from the Campus Center Hotel, Amherst College, and Faultlines: Mapping Jazz in the 21st Century.