Tribecastan

Artist Information

Biography

PLEASE NOTE: The band can easily travel nationally and internationally by performing with a core unit of players.
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Radically multicultural and poly-stylistic to the marrow, TriBeCaStan are one of contemporary music’s most musically diverse bands.

The Washington Post hails them as “an international jazz and folk festival unto themselves, fusing Balkan, Middle Eastern, Indian, Latin American, and African musical elements to bold and dazzling effect.”

According to Rootsworld “Tribecastan are the most hellishly-heavenly world music band you’re ever going to hear.”

Nestled in the heart of New York’s bustling urban sprawl lies a sonic oasis in which the sounds of the Indian sarod meet surf rock, West African kora merges with Appalachian mountain tunes, and traditional Afghan melodies mingle with East Coast loft jazz. Here Swedish nykelharpas and Pakistani taxi horns coexist in harmony (and mayhem) alongside thoroughbred jazz horns, bluegrassy banjos, driving grooves, exotic strings, and buzzing reeds.

While nailing down the multifarious culture of TriBeCaStan might be challenging (especially since the band purposefully aims to tear down the boundaries between world, folk, and jazz), the final package is the result of a virtuosic and exuberant collaboration between some of New York’s finest jazz and world musicians—many of whom have played and collaborated with legendary innovators, such as Ornette Coleman, Patti Smith, John Corigliano, James Brown, and Taj Mahal.

Long-time fixtures of the band include co-founders John Kruth and Jeff Greene, Claire Daly (New York’s baritone sax goddess), Matt Darriau (multi-reedist and a Klezmatics staple), Todd Isler (global hand drum guru), and recording guest stars, such as Steve Turre (legendary trombonist and sacred shell master) and Scott Metzger (guitar wunderkind who plays with Ween and Gov’t Mule).

Some have asked why TriBeCaStan play “peasant music in an affluent zip code” and their music has responded with the idea that radical diversity—not purity or homogeneity—is truly representative of our contemporary life and a progressive future. “Our music,” says Jeff Greene, “is ultimately about the cross-fertilization of musical idioms. Between our travels and life in New York City, we get to witness, first-hand, all the wonderful ways in which the world’s cultures combine to create new musical forms and expressions. To us, there couldn’t be anything more inspiring.”

With East Coast and European tours scheduled for summer & fall 2013 and their 4th album releasing this OCtober, TriBeCaStan continue to look outward and inward for inspiration. “Whether it’s the far-away folk and roots traditions of the world, or the blues and jazz music of our home country,” says John Kruth, “at the end of day, our sound and ethos derives from one simple construct: just play music you haven’t heard yet.”

Instrumentation

(Touring member) John Kruth - Banjo, flutes, mandocello
(Touring member) Jeff Greene - Hurdy-Gurdy, Jew’s harp, yayli tambur, Double Flutes
(Touring member) Kenny Margolis - Accordion
(Touring Member) Claire Daly - Baritone Sax
Chris Morrow - Trombone
John Turner - Trumpet
Boris Kinberg - Percussion
(Touring member) Ray Peterson - Bass
(Touring Member) Matt Darriau - Saxophone, Clarinet, Kaval, Gaida

Discography

New Album due out September, 2013
New Deli (2012)
5 Star Cave (2010)
Strange Cousin (2009)

Official Website

http://www.evergreenemusic.com/tribecastan

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter

Audio

• Bwiti (Radio Edit)
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• Louies Luau
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• Cornbeef and Saki
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• Jovanka
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• A Crack in the Clouds
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• Bed Bugs
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• One Day His Axe Fell into Honey
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• Mopti
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Video

TriBeCaStan - Daddy Barracuda.mov

Photo Gallery

Press

• New York Times
  

  Zappa-esque… genre-bending jazz and world-music

• Washington Post [+ Show ]
  

  TriBeCaStan’s members have played with everyone from James Brown to the Meat Puppets and Ornette Col...TriBeCaStan’s members have played with everyone from James Brown to the Meat Puppets and Ornette Coleman, and it shows. The New York-based ensemble sounds like an international jazz and folk festival unto itself, fusing Balkan, Middle Eastern, Indian, Latin American and African musical elements to bold and dazzling effect.

• Huffington Post [+ Show ]
  

  The beauty of this music is that, at the same time that it might seem chaotic, it is also accessible...The beauty of this music is that, at the same time that it might seem chaotic, it is also accessible. It comes out of the kind of jazz that employed folk melodies. It encourages you to hum along. And at the same time that it unsettles your notions of place, it invites you to partake in a more human modernity.

• TimeOut New York [+ Show ]
  

  There's no easy way to describe the distinctive sound of TriBeCaStan. Downtown-loft improv with the ...There's no easy way to describe the distinctive sound of TriBeCaStan. Downtown-loft improv with the odd trace of Appalachian blues? Yep. Cinematic fusion jazz filtered through a North African lens? Ditto. Multiculti urban folk music steeped in Balkan, Cajun, klezmer, Gypsy and classical Indian flavors? Absolutely.
  
  Whatever you call it, the final package is the result of an exuberant, and sometimes irreverent, collaborative effort. Cofounded by veteran ethno-enthusiast Jeff Greene and multi-instrumentalist John Kruth, TriBeCaStan has built its own mythology around a deceptively simple construct: just play music that you haven't heard yet. The group finds the futuristic in the ancient, borrowing from far-flung traditions to create sleek new hybrids and, in the restless spirit of Yusef Lateef, Don Cherry and Rahsaan Roland Kirk (the subject of a definitive biography by Kruth), flip the tables on your expectations.

• All Music Guide [+ Show ]
  

  It’s probably fair to call TriBeCaStan strange. They’ve developed their own cosmology and music styl...It’s probably fair to call TriBeCaStan strange. They’ve developed their own cosmology and music style that’s sort of Balkanish (or points further East), not unlike 3 Mustaphas 3. They’re clever, slyly humorous and technically very good indeed. They’re as comfortable with the neo-surf of “Back When Tito Had Two Legs” as on the sort of funky jam “(I Drove My Cara Down To) Baja,” featuring guest Al Kooper on the organ. They’re extremely eclectic, twisting “Wildwood Flower” around, perverting be-bop on “Dizzy In The Dunes” and journeying around the globe on “From Bamako to Malibu.” It works because they understand the groove and because they feel the music and respect the cultures they explore. Even when they get down and dirty, as on “Varaha’s Boogie,” it’s with a delicious twist. Smart, often funny, always highly accomplished, this is a disc to satisfy the head and the feet. /// 4 out of 5 stars

• The Village Voice [+ Show ]
  

  New York cultural mash-up experiment TriBeCaStan is part of a growing number of local groups like Na...New York cultural mash-up experiment TriBeCaStan is part of a growing number of local groups like Nation Beat who dive so deep into the melting pot that borders become burned away—even the name "TriBeCaStan" is meant to evoke an imaginary republic defined by New York cool, explorer energy and outer space vibes.

• Rootsworld [+ Show ]
  

  Not surprisingly, the anything-goes approach never lets up, and whatever sense of the silly might oc...Not surprisingly, the anything-goes approach never lets up, and whatever sense of the silly might occasionally intrude, the fact remains that Tribecastan are damn fine musicians and they put it all together like the most hellishly heavenly world music band you’re ever going to hear.

• All About Jazz [+ Show ]
  

  You can pick out of this unique pan-cultural tapestry jazz threads from rewoven tunes by Don Cherry,...You can pick out of this unique pan-cultural tapestry jazz threads from rewoven tunes by Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, but there's almost no way for mere words to justly address the breadth and depth of this journey through TriBeCaStan.

• Exclaim [+ Show ]
  

  The ensemble leave no country (and its sounds) untouched. The beauty of New Deli is that as a result...The ensemble leave no country (and its sounds) untouched. The beauty of New Deli is that as a result of musical risks and stylistic mash-ups, the listener is left with a sound that's unique. It's a sound that's distinctively TriBeCaStan.

• SoundRoots [+ Show ]
  

  [TriBeCaStan] is untethered as their UK counterparts, [3 Mustaphas 3]. And I mean that in a good way...[TriBeCaStan] is untethered as their UK counterparts, [3 Mustaphas 3]. And I mean that in a good way. Their music is crisper and better arranged than ever, with musical influences from around the world blended in a way that will guarantee head-scratching answers from anyone you pressed into guessing its origins.
  
  On the world map TriBeCaStan may be hard to find, but musically they're finding their home, and it's a wondrous land populated by sounds of all nations, living mostly in harmony.

• RELIX
  

  Blends free jazz, Afghani rhythms, boogie-woogie and Balkan wedding music with an effortless grace

Setlist

Tribecastan's set list can encompass any number of songs from their four albums and can be tailored to fit jazz and world music audiences alike. Typical sets are 60-90 minutes.

Basic Requirements

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