Kneebody program

Tuesday

MAR 28

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7:30 pm

KU Jazz Ensemble I with special guest

Kneebody Jazz Ensemble I directed by Dan Gailey, director of Jazz Studies

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MAR 28 | KU Jazz Ensemble I with guest Kneebody

Program will be announced from the stage.

There will be a 20-minute intermission.

Kneebody Kneebody’s sound is… explosive rock energy paralleled with high-level nuanced chamber ensemble playing, with highly wrought compositions that are balanced with adventurous no-holds-barred improvising. All “sounds-like” references can be set aside; this band has created a genre and style all its own.

Kneebody bassist Kaveh Rastegar thinks of their sound this way, “Personally, I think calling Kneebody ‘jazz’ or ‘electric jazz’ is fantastic because then we can move on from that hang up and play our music – and alter expectations of what ‘jazz’ is.”

Kneebody is keyboardist Adam Benjamin, trumpeter Shane Endsley, electric bassist Kaveh Rastegar, saxophonist Ben Wendel and drummer Nate Wood. The band has no leader or rather, each member is the leader; they’ve developed their own musical language, inventing a unique cueing system that allows them each to change the tempo, key, style, and more in an instant.

Kneebody draws upon influences spanning D’Angelo’s Voodoo to music by Elliot Smith, Bill Frisell, and Miles Davis. Their live shows are known for intense sonic landscapes of the Radiohead ilk, for the rhythmic bombast of a Squarepusher or Queens of the Stone Age show, and the harmonic depth and improvisational freedom experienced at a Brad Mehldau concert.

In 2005, Kneebody released their debut self-titled album Kneebody on Dave Douglas’ Greenleaf Music Label. Low Electrical Worker followed in 2007 on the Colortone Label.

A collection of 13 original songs, Low Electrical Worker was hailed by saxophonist Joshua Redman as one of his “favorite albums of 2007.” In the spring of 2009, Kneebody and vocalist Theo Bleckmann released 12 Songs of Charles Ives on the Winter & Winter label and received a Grammy Award nomination in the “classical crossover” category. 2013 saw the release of The Line for Concord Records. In 2015, Kneebody’s groundbreaking collaboration with electronic musician Daedelus on Kneedelus was released on Flying Lotus’ imprint Brainfeeder records to praise from critics and audiences alike. Kneebody looks forward to their debut release Anti-Hero on Motéma Music on March 3, 2017.

Dan Gailey Dan Gailey is in his 27th year as the director of jazz studies and professor of music at the University of Kansas, where he directs Jazz Ensemble I, teaches courses in jazz composition and arranging, produces the annual KU Jazz Festival, and is director of the KU Jazz Workshop. He is the recipient of the 1996 IAJE Gil Evans Fellowship, presented to an emerging jazz composer from an international field of candidates.

Under his direction, the KU Jazz Studies Program has been the recipient of 23 DownBeat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I’s 2015 award for Best College Jazz Ensemble in the Graduate Division.

The Dan Gailey Jazz Orchestra debut CD What Did You Dream? was released in July 2010 on Origin/OA2 Records and features all original compositions. The CD spent

MAR 28 | KU Jazz Ensemble Page 8 I with guest Kneebody

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almost two years on the JazzWeek Radio Airplay charts, and received very favorable reviews from JAZZIZ, JazzTimes and Cadence magazines, among others.

Gailey has directed all-state high school jazz ensembles in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington, along with the 2015 NAfME All-Northwest Jazz Ensemble and the 1996 National Band Association National High School Ensemble. He holds degrees from the University of Northern Colorado and Pacific Lutheran University.

The University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble I The University of Kansas Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dan Gailey, is the flagship ensemble within the KU Jazz Studies Program. The program has received 23 DownBeat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I’s 2015 award in the Graduate Division for Best Large Jazz Ensemble.

In July 2014, Jazz Ensemble I played eight shows in 11 days as part of a European tour, with dates in France, Germany and Switzerland. The tour included invited appearances at two of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals — the Montreux Jazz Festival, where the band performed twice, and the Jazz À Vienne Festival. The ensemble has also been featured at International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences in New York City, Boston and Atlanta with guest soloists including Dave Liebman, Jim McNeely and Rick Margitza, and guest composer/conductor Maria Schneider. Other major appearances include two recent concerts at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, and an acclaimed performance in the Appel Room of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City with guest vocalist Deborah Brown in April 2016.

Jazz Ensemble I has had the distinction of performing with such noted guest artists as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Clark Terry, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Sean Jones, Steve Wilson, Dave Douglas, Marshall Gilkes, Rich Perry, Alex Sipiagin, Louie Bellson, Tim Ries, Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza, Conrad Herwig, Bob Sheppard, Gary Foster, Steve Houghton, Bob Mintzer, Bobby Shew, Carl Fontana, Dick Oatts, Frank Mantooth, Ingrid Jensen, Dave Pietro, Scott Wendholt, John Fedchock, Bill Watrous, Mavis Rivers and Matt Catingub, Jon Hendricks, Pete Christlieb and many others.

KU Jazz Ensemble 1, Dan Gailey, director SAXOPHONES Nick May Lincoln, NE Luis Matos Kansas City, KS Michael Dannov Kansas City, KS Sam Boyd Leawood, KS David Berrios Lakewood, NJ TRUMPETS Michael Raehpour Andover, KS Robert Vandiver Orlando, FL Daniel Gerona McKinney, TX Chuck MacKinnon San Francisco, CA Trent Warbis Boise, ID

TROMBONES Mark Sweeney Bangor, ME Ian Warshaw Overland Park, KS Ben Cooper Overland Park, KS Grant Morgan Shawnee, KS RHYTHM SECTION Alex Frank, guitar Topeka, KS Kai Ono, piano Irvine, KS Murphy Smith, bass Westwood, KS Donovan Miller, drums Woodbury, MN Vaughan Craddock, percussion Wichita, KS