• Date: Friday, May 9, 2008
• Time: 8pm
• Location: Toy Eaters Studio - 143 Christopher Columbus Dr, Jersey City
• Cost: $12; $10 students/seniors at door

“Home Field Advantage - Experimental Jazz in Jersey City” will present Jersey City-based musicians performing cutting-edge improvised music in their hometown every Friday in May. The festival is organized by Jersey City resident and musician James Keepnews.

People’s Revolutionary Party — debut of an avant-garde big band organized by JC resident James Keepnews, with Daniel Carter on saxophones, clarinet, flute and trumpet; Ras Moshe on saxophones and flute; Matt Lavelle on trumpet and bass clarinet; Tom Chess on saxophones, flute and Turkish ney; Nick Gianni on saxophones; Welf Dorr on saxophones; James Keepnews on guitar, laptop and electronics; Todd Nicholson on upright bass; and Michael Golub on drums

Described by band organizer James Keepnews as performing “late-post-ambient dub Ascension funk”, this evening’s concert as part of “Home Field Advantage” will present the debut of People’s Revolutionary Party. An avant-garde big band featuring many of New York’s most accomplished cutting-edge jazz musicians, PRP improvises entire sets of dynamic variety and towering intensity. This promises to be an unforgettable evening of music.

James Keepnews is a musician, writer and multimedia artist, often blurring each of these roles in his work. He has performed with dozens of bands and performing artists over the course of two decades, including Daniel Carter, George Lewis, Holland Hopson, Joe Giardullo, Linda Montano, Damian Catera and many others, with whom he has performed in multiple venues and broadcasters throughout the world. Keepnews received his B.A. in English at Hamilton College in 1988 and attended the Interactive Electronic Arts program (iEAR) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, receiving his MFA from there in 1998. He served as both public relations and jazz/experimental music director at WRPI-FM, in addition to hosting several programs for the station. Also while a student, he collaborated as an actor, writer and video artist with fellow iEAR student, Johnny DeKam, in an early streaming media performance/virtual installation, Ethereal/Corporeal, in 1996. With fellow iEAR student Hopson, he also collaborated with pioneering interactive improviser — and Macarthur Foundation “genius grant” awardee — George Lewis on a software-based computer video sampler for Lewis’ performance, Following the Northstar Bugaloo. In 1998, he performed ADM Sonata at New York City’s The Kitchen with a computer video sampler system he controlled in real-time with his guitar. With Hopson, Keepnews recorded the duo album “hunting and gathering,” for Keepnews’ label Metaharmonic Records which received wide acclaim. His writing has appeared in the New Haven Advocate, the Fairfield Weekly, The Squid’s Ear, Reign of Toads and Metroland Magazine.

Daniel Carter: One of the legendary masters of creative music. Born in Wilkinsburg , Pennsylvania in 1945. He has performed or recorded over the past three decades with such artists as: Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Billy Bang, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, Sonic Youth, Simone Forti, Joan Miller, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Nayo Takasaki, Earl Freeman, Dewey Johnson, Nami Yamamoto, Matthew Shipp, Billy Martin, John Medeski, Wilber Morris, Denis Charles, MMW (Medeski, Martin, & Wood), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Options, Spring Heel Jack, Yo La Tengo, Federico Ughi, Raphe Malik, Sam Rivers, Sunny Murray, Hamiet Bluiett, Bob Moses, Jaco Pastorius, Enrico Rava, David S. Ware, Steve Swell, Matt Lavelle, Karl Berger, Don Pate, Gunter Hampel, David Grubbs, the No Kneck Blues Band, Alan Silva, Susie Ibarra, Steve Dalachinsky, D.J. Logic, Margaret Beals, Douglas Elliot, Butch Morris, TEST, Other Dimensions In Music, One World Ensemble, Saturnalia String Trio, Levitation Unit, Wet Paint.

Tomchess is a Multi-instrumentalist/Improviser/Composer. He plays Reeds, Western Flute, Arabic/Turkish Ney flute, Oud, Morsing, Husuli and Guitar. He also has a history of using electronics /sampling/live-sampling/loops/fx. He has performed with Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society, Butch Morris’s Sheng Skyscraper, recorded with Tenor players Dewey Redman, Pharoah Sanders, Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun and Butch Morris. He has also led a guitar trio with Drummer Phil Haynes and bassist Drew Gress called Seven Times a Year. He has studied Middle/Near Eastern and West African musics, spending time in West Africa playing and performing. He has studied with Bassam Saba, Tidiani Bangoura, Abdul Aziz Toure and Mohammad Camarra. He currently lives in NYC where he performs with his different ensembles and works as a freelance musician. He has performed at the Turkish Embassy, the Pakastani Embassy and the Asian Society among countless other venues in NYC and the United States . He has also performed in Africa, Canada, Holland , and Italy. His latest cd releases are: 2007-Tomchess & The Lovedogs-In The Beautiful Future (Footjumbo records), 2008-Continuance (Footjumbo records), The World Is Dust The World Is Gold (Footjumbo records), The Celebrant (Ruby Red Editora) www.myspace.com/tomchess www.cdbaby.com/cd/tomchess

On his steady search for the right balance between “free” and “groove” Welf Dorr’s composing and (alto) playing are mixing influences from the jazz of the 60’s (from free jazz in general to Miles’ band with Wayne Shorter in particular) with contemporary elements from hip hop, drum&bass and world music. Originally from Munich ( Germany ) he studied at Berklee before he moved 1995 to New York . Here he played and recorded a.o. with Frank Lacy, Sonny Simmons, Sabir Mateen, Jeffrey Shurdut, Lukas Ligeti, Vernon Ried and participated in many conductions by Butch Morris as a member of the Nublu Orchestra. In 2005 he recorded a concert with a quintet including Kenny Wollesen on drums (no unfamiliar name in the NYC downtown jazz and avantgarde scene, who has played with all kinds of musicians from John Zorn to John Scofield) and Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet (long time member of Steve Coleman’s Five Elements). Besides playing in different jazz clubs in the US , Europe and Mexico he performed at festivals such as Willisau (Switzerland ) or Celebrate Brooklyn as well as places as City Hall of New York .
Bassist and composer Todd Nicholson is a mainstay of the downtown New York hardjazz scene. He has performed with Billy Bang, Roy Campbell, Eddie Gale, Frank Lowe, William Parker, James Spaulding, and Steve Swell, among others. His work with the legendary violinist, Mr. Bang, is especially notable for its longevity: Nicholson has been a core member of Bang’s ensembles for the past seven years. He has appeared in a variety of settings throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, including the Vision Festival (NYC), the Rochester Jazz Festival, the Other Minds Festival (San Francisco), Tampere Jazz Happening (Tampere, Finland), Sons d’Hiver (Paris), the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and the Full Moon Festival (Mangetsu sai) in Miyajima, Japan (the island off the coast of Hiroshima). He has collaborated with numerous dancers, most recently Carmen deLavallade and Gus Solomons jr. at Symphony Space. He also leads his own group, the Otic Band/Ensemble. Recent recorded appearances include “Long Hidden: The Olmec Series” by William Parker (AUM Fidelity), “First, Keep Quiet” by the Gauci Trio (CIMP Records), and a live recording by the Billy Bang Quintet entitled “Above and Beyond” (Justin Time).

Michael Golub is a drummer, guitarist, socialist, devoted husband and father of two very musical girls. He has composed music for the classic upstate ny ensemble, Kuru, who were briefly signed to Knitting Factory records, and for his current band, The Red Hook Project.