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Friday Night Concert: The New Forest Ensemble

Icons and Unknowns with New Forest

Jazz may be defined by its soloists, but it is shaped by its icons.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Bridgewater Library.

Limited space available - first come, first served. Doors will open at 6:45 pm.

Jazz may be defined by its soloists, but it is shaped by its icons. The history of jazz can be told in fourteen words: Louis Armstrong Duke Ellington Charlie Parker Thelonious Monk Miles Davis John Coltrane Ornette Coleman. These icons, while themselves outstanding soloists, were not wholly content using tin pan alley and Broadway show tunes as sole vehicles for their improvisations, and so, desiring a broader and more personal springboard, started to compose original music. In this concert, New Forest will direct their focus on the significance of the composed material, featuring selected iconic jazz compositions, as well as a number of original compositions by lesser, and even unknown, composers.
Related topics ranging from "influence" to "program music" will be considered, and an open Q&A will round out your evening.

Performers: 

Adrian Valosin has training in modern classical composition which makes him unique among jazz drummers. He has studied with composer and conductor Joel Thome, Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck Quartet), and South Indian classical musician Padma Srinivasan. Adrian was Artist-In-Residence at Carnegie-Mellon University from 1987-88 where he taught drum set and open improvisation. He has performed with Bern Nix, Bill Zola, Oliver Lake, Leroy Jenkins, Roy Campbell, Matt Mitchell, Sonny Simmons, Jack Six, Sid Simmons, Harry Leahy, Dill Jones, Toshi Makahari, and Herb Robertson.
Born in Gengenbach, in the Black Forest region of Germany, Bernhard Geiger has taken more than fifty years to arrive where he is today. Starting with piano and organ lessons from age ten, he switched to bass because he could not find a bass player. At present, piano players find him.

Bernhard has studied with Arthur Münzer (piano and organ), Johannes Schädlich (Jazz) and Laura McCreery (Classical). Bernhard has played with the Thilo Wagner Trio and Three bop (Germany), Swing Line (France), and the Eric Haltmeier Trio, Tom Hyland Trio, The Ponds Big Band, and the Westminster Community Orchestra.

Douglas Miller is a pianist and electronic keyboardist. Raised in a traditional Latin-American family, he was born in Aguirre, Puerto Rico and was trained in classical piano techniques and exposed to the sounds of nature from the age of six. He has studied with Elsa Rahlpach, Theran Mills, Dorothy Sandlin, Dr. Frederick Ming Chang, Dr. Louis Angelini, Charles Norman Schnell, Lillette Jenkins Wisner, and Laurie Altman. He currently is studying classical art techniques with Tatiana Sougakova. Douglas is a strong proponent of the “free-art model.” He composes sound designs and music arrangements for numerous independent film and video projects.

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