Drew Gress' 7 Black Butterflies
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Drew Gress' 7 Black Butterflies

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Music

The best kept secret in music

Press


"Press Kit"

"Anyone losing sleep over whether jazz is going anywhere these days should listen to this superb American quartet, in which Berne and Gress were joined by rising young pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey, a virtuoso accompanist who maintains irresistible free-bop grooves without ever seeming to play the same pattern twice. Together the band provide dazzling reassurances, as they play characteristic jazz phrasing but twist the tradition into uniquely contemporary shapes."
- John Fordham, The Guardian, UK

"Spin & Drift furthers his investigations of new possibilities in meticulous, organic group form. As a leader, Gress employs a superbly articulate bassist (himself), but his primary interest is composition and arrangement and collective concept."
- Thomas Conrad, Downbeat Magazine

"Spin & Drift cannot be described as either hard-bop-derived or avant-garde experimentation... the session absorbs the listener because of its unpredictable changes and comfortable ease of transition."
- Jim Santella, AllAboutJazz.com

4 stars ****
"He assembles some of the hottest players in contemporary jazz to aid him in his quest... and sets about creating an impassioned argument for the future of the medium. Though not light on solo improvisation, Spin & Drift is that rare beast among jazz albums; a consolidated, composition-based, band effort."
- Jeff Miers, Blue Dog Press - Premonition Records


"Press Kit"

"Anyone losing sleep over whether jazz is going anywhere these days should listen to this superb American quartet, in which Berne and Gress were joined by rising young pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey, a virtuoso accompanist who maintains irresistible free-bop grooves without ever seeming to play the same pattern twice. Together the band provide dazzling reassurances, as they play characteristic jazz phrasing but twist the tradition into uniquely contemporary shapes."
- John Fordham, The Guardian, UK

"Spin & Drift furthers his investigations of new possibilities in meticulous, organic group form. As a leader, Gress employs a superbly articulate bassist (himself), but his primary interest is composition and arrangement and collective concept."
- Thomas Conrad, Downbeat Magazine

"Spin & Drift cannot be described as either hard-bop-derived or avant-garde experimentation... the session absorbs the listener because of its unpredictable changes and comfortable ease of transition."
- Jim Santella, AllAboutJazz.com

4 stars ****
"He assembles some of the hottest players in contemporary jazz to aid him in his quest... and sets about creating an impassioned argument for the future of the medium. Though not light on solo improvisation, Spin & Drift is that rare beast among jazz albums; a consolidated, composition-based, band effort."
- Jeff Miers, Blue Dog Press - Premonition Records


Discography

As a Leader:
7 Black Butterflies (Premonition) will be released MAY 24, 2005 featuring
Ralph Alessi, Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, and Tom Rainey

Spin & Drift (Premonition) w/Tim Berne, Uri Caine and Tom Rainey

Jagged Sky - Heyday (Soul Note) w/Dave Binney, Ben Monder and Kenny Wollesen

As co-leader:
Joint Venture Joint Venture (Enja)
Ways (Enja)
Mirrors (Enja)

As a sideman:
Ralph Alessi This Against That (RKM)
Ray Anderson Big Band Record (Gramavision)

Lynne Arriale When You Listen (DMP)
With Words Unspoken (DMP)

Jon Ballantyne The Loose (Just In Time)
Trio Live (NY Jam)
Known/Unknown (NY Jam)

Sam Bardfeld Cabale Fatale-Taxidermy (CIMP)

Jamie Baum Sight Unheard (GM)
Moving Forward, Standing Still (Omnitone)

Tim Berne Paraphrase-Visitation Rites (Screwgun)
Please Advise (Screwgun)

Don Byron Romance With The Unseen (BlueNote)
As Long As You Know You’re Living Yours-
The Music of Keith Jarrett (RCA)

Uri Caine Wagner E Venezia (Winter %26 Winter)
The Goldberg Variations (Winter %26 Winter)
Live At The Village Vanguard (Winter %26 Winter)

Bill Carrothers Armisitice 1918 (Sketch)

Steve Coleman Lucidarium (Label Bleu)

George Colligan Stomping Ground (SteepleChase)
Unresolved (Fresh Sound)
Ultimatum (Criss Cross)

Ravi Coltrane In Flux (Savoy Jazz)

Marc Copland At Night (MRI)
Second Look (Savoy Jazz)
Haunted Heart and Other Ballads (HatArt)
Marc Copland and...(HatArt)

Steve Davis Songs We Know (DMP)
The Quality of Silence (DMP)

Dave Douglas Five (Soul Note)
Convergence (Soul Note)
Witness (RCA)

Ehran Elisha The Lowdown (CIMP)

James Emery Luminous Cycles (Between The Lines)
Fourth World (Between The Lines)

Ellery Eskelin Setting The Standard (Cadence)
Forms (Open Minds)

Antonio Farao Thorn (Enja)

Allen Farnham Fifth House (Concord)
Play-cation (Concord)
The Common Thread (Concord)

Erik Friedlander Chimera (Avant )
The Watchman (Tzadik)
Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (Tzadik)

Jeff Gardner The Music Of Chance (AxolOtl)

Sunna Gunnlaugs Fagra Verold (Sunny Sky)
Mindful (Sunny Sky)

Phil Haynes Continuum: The Passing (Owl Time Line)
Free Country (Premonition)

Fred Hersch Dancing In The Dark (Chesky)
The Fred Hersch Trio Plays... (Chesky)
Last Night When We Were Young
(Classical Action)
Point In Time (Enja)
Passion Flower (Nonesuch)
Fred Hersch %26 Friends-The Duo Album
(Classical Action)
Songs Without Words (Nonesuch)
Live At The Village Vanguard (Palmetto)
Trio + 2 (Palmetto)
Leaves of Grass (Palmetto)

John Hollenbeck The alt.coffee Tapes (Katadin)
The Claudia Quintet (CRI)
I, Claudia (Cuneiform)

Owen Howard Pentagon (KochJazz)

Gary Keller Blues For An Old New Age (DoubleTime)

Franklin Kiermyer In The House Of My Fathers (Konnex)
Solomon’s Daughter (Evidence)
Kairos (Evidence)

Andy Laster Hippo Stomp (Sound Aspects)
Twirler (Sound Aspects)
Polyogue (Songlines)
Soft Shell (Knitting Factory Works)

Steve Lehman Artificial Light (Fresh Sound)

Tony Malaby Apparitions (Songlines)
Adobe (FreeLance)

Luigi Martinale Sweet Marta (Black Saint)

Tony Martucci Earth Tones (Sound Judgement)
Collage (Sound Judgement)

Ben Monder Flux (Songlines)

Randy McKean So Dig This Big Crux (Rastascan)

Simon Nabatov Three Stories, One End (ACT)

DJ Olive Bodega (The Agriculture)

Ben Perowsky Camp Songs (Tzadik)

Ken Schaphorst Purple (Naxos Jazz)

Mark Shim Turbulent Flow (Blue Note)

Janis Siegel The Tender Trap (Monarch)

Judi Silvano Vocalise (BlueNote)

Dick Sisto End Of Time (EarX-tacy)

Peggy Stern The Fuschia (Koch)

Paul Sundfor Nascency (Nine Winds)

Fernando Tarres The Outsider (Savant)

Gebhard Ullmann Basement Research (Soul Note)
Kreuzberg Park East (Soul Note)

Dawn Upshaw Sings Rodgers %26 Hart (Nonesuch)

Tom Varner Martian Heartache (Soul Note)

Walt Weiskopf Night Lights (Double Time)

Kenny Werner Beauty Secrets (BMG France)

Photos

Feeling a bit camera shy

Bio

Bassist/composer Drew Gress performs extensively with artists on the cutting edge of contemporary improvised music. His latest project as a leader, 7 BLACK BUTTERFLIES (Premonition Records), features 9 of Drew’s newest original compositions and will be released in MAY 2005. This is the follow up to 2001's SPIN & DRIFT, which received widespread critical acclaim and also featured Drew's pedal-steel guitar playing. He also leads the quartet Jagged Sky; their debut recording, HEYDAY(Soul Note) was released in 1998 and is now considered somewhat of an underground classic. Previously, he was a founding member of the cooperative quartet Joint Venture, producing three albums in the early 1990s for Enja: Joint Venture, Ways, and Mirrors.

When Drew is not leading his own ensembles, he can be heard within those of Ralph Alessi, Tim Berne, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Bill Carrothers, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Copland, Fred Hersch, John Hollenbeck, Andy Laster, Tony Malaby, Mat Maneri, Simon Nabatov, Ben Perowsky, and Tim Ziesmer.

(In a previous musical life, he grounded the performances of Buddy Hackett, Phyllis Diller, Zoot Sims, Cab Calloway, and yes...Pia Zadora).

Drew has toured North, South, and Central America, Europe, and Asia, and has served as Artist-in-Residence at St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia and at the University of Colorado-Boulder. The Gaurdian selected a concert given by his Spin & Drift quartet as London's Best Jazz Concert for 2002, and in the same year he received a SESAC Composer's Award; this in addition to previous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet the Composer. He currently resides in New York.

Drew is an Endorsing Artist for Thomastik strings.

Press: "Anyone losing sleep over whether jazz is going anywhere these days should listen to this superb American quartet, in which Berne and Gress were joined by rising young pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Tom Rainey, a virtuoso accompanist who maintains irresistible free-bop grooves without ever seeming to play the same pattern twice. Together the band provide dazzling reassurances, as they play characteristic jazz phrasing but twist the tradition into uniquely contemporary shapes."
- John Fordham, The Guardian, UK

"Spin & Drift furthers his investigations of new possibilities in meticulous, organic group form. As a leader, Gress employs a superbly articulate bassist (himself), but his primary interest is composition and arrangement and collective concept."
- Thomas Conrad, Downbeat Magazine

"Spin & Drift cannot be described as either hard-bop-derived or avant-garde experimentation... the session absorbs the listener because of its unpredictable changes and comfortable ease of transition."
- Jim Santella, AllAboutJazz.com

4 stars ****
"He assembles some of the hottest players in contemporary jazz to aid him in his quest... and sets about creating an impassioned argument for the future of the medium. Though not light on solo improvisation, Spin & Drift is that rare beast among jazz albums; a consolidated, composition-based, band effort."
- Jeff Miers, Blue Dog Press