Watch music videos and talk shop with the great Steve Lehman, part of CapitalBop’s Riffin’ series

There’s an overflowing handful — you might say a full, high-contrast musical suite — of reasons to go check out the Steve Lehman Octet this Wednesday evening at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The first one is Lehman’s compositions, shivery and spinning and hard-nosed, but weirdly fascinating. Then there’s his group: a “little big band” of sorts, featuring eight of the most rigorous young experimenters in jazz, from Tyshawn Sorey on drums to Chris Dingman on vibraphone to Mark Shim on tenor saxophone. Another is this band’s love of texture; Lehman’s alto saxophone sound is thicker and more sawtoothed than almost anyone’s, and when he writes music for an eight-piece band (check out his Travail, Transformation and Flow record) he turns the liquid movement of each element into a perfectly fitting, almost solid structure. Plus, Sorey can spend minutes on end just drawing ringing and washing tones out of his cymbals and toms–a fascinating display.

To the list of reasons to show up Wednesday, add this: CapitalBop is holding a free and open-to-the-public, interactive listening session with Lehman before the show. It’s part of our monthly series, Riffin’: CapitalBop Listening Sessions at the Atlas, in which we watch some of the featured performer’s favorite musical videos, and then let the audience have a direct conversation with the musician. We’ve found that flipping through old YouTube videos can be a great way to start a comfortable, open and enlightening conversation.

 
We don’t want to spoil anything, but the videos that Lehman has chosen to watch range far and wide (no big surprise there) from straight-ahead jazz to experimental classical. The questions you could ask this New York-born and -bred musician are endless. So get there at 7, bring some curiosity and a question or two (or just come to listen), and then stay until the performance at 8 p.m. and hear a band that the New York Times‘ Nate Chinen praises as “sleek but audacious.”


 
Schedule of the remaining Riffin’ sessions:

Wednesday’s Riffin’ session with Steve Lehman at the Atlas Performing Arts Center begins at 7 p.m., and entry is free. The Steve Lehman Octet performs at 8 p.m. Tickets to the concert cost $28.50 in advance, or $33.50 at the door, and can be purchased here. More information is available here.

Comments

comments


About Giovanni Russonello

view all posts

A co-founder of CapitalBop, Giovanni Russonello is also a music writer and critic for the New York Times. He also teaches writing as a lecturer at New York University's School of Professional Studies. He previously served as a contributor to the Washington Post, the FADER, JazzTimes, NPR Music and others, and hosted “On the Margin,” a books show on WPFW-FM. He graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in history, with a focus on African-American history. Reach Giovanni at [email protected]. Read him at giovannirussonello.com or nytimes.com/by/giovanni-russonello. Follow him on Twitter at @giorussonello.

You May Like This


  1. […] us some reactions to what you’ve just seen, and ask Matt a question or two. Each of the first two sessions in the series have been fascinating and exciting. This one is sure to be no different. So […]

Comments are closed.


CapitalBop