Fall 2009 Events

September 30, 2009 - 9:00 PM
Bar Torino
Piero Bittolo Bon, sax/bass
Achille Succi, alto sax, bass clarinet
Neil Leonard, alto and soprano saxes

San Marco 4591 Campo San Luca
Venezia, Italy
041 520 7634
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October 1, 2009 - 8:45
Conservatorio C.Pollini

Giuliano Perin-Neil Leonard Sextet
Giuliano Perin - vibes
Neil Leonard - sax
Maurizio Scomparin - trumpet
Marcello Tonolo - piano
Luciano Milanese - bass
Massimo Chiarella - drums

Conservatorio C.Pollini
Auditorium Cesare Pollini
Padova, Italy
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October 3, 2009 - 9:30

Computer Art Festival, 2009
Auditorium Centro Culturale
Altinate - San Gaetano, Padova, Italy

Musiche per Galileo
Dinu Ghezzo, pianoforte
Neil Leonard, saxofoni
Carlo Meneghini, recitante
Interensemble E-Quartet
Gianpaolo Capuzzo, flauti diritti
Francesco Socal, clarinetti
Marco Pavin, chitarra elettrica
Bernardino Beggio, pianoforte

Programma
Bruno Maderna - Serenata per un Satellite (1969)
Dinu Ghezzo - Last letters (*)
Salvatore Macchia - In silenzio di notte (*)
John Yannelli - When Parallels Rays of Light Converge (*)
Michele Biasutti - Sidereus Nuncius (*)
Neil Leonard - Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix (*)
(*) prima esecuzione assoluta

Free and open to the public
Auditorium Centro Culturale
Altinate - San Gaetano
Padova, Italy
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October 24, 2009 - 1:30 to 2:45 PM
New England Conservatory Jazz 40th Panel Discussion

A Musician's Toolbox:
Marketing, promotion & technology
Alan Ett ‘78MM, (Pres. Alan Ett Music Group – LA)
Paul Lipson ’96 ‘99MM (VP of Business Development at Pyramid, an interactive entertainment industry – SF)
Michael Ricci – founder of All About Jazz.com (internet resource)
Moderator: Bob Blumenthal BOV (Former Boston Globe Jazz Critic)

Pierce Hall., St. Botolph Building
New England Conservatory
Boston, MA 02115
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October 26, 2009 - 8:00 PM
Bryant / Leonard / Song / Newton @ Outpost
Dave Bryant - keyboards
Neil Leonard - saxophones and electronics
Jeff Song - cello and kayagum
Curt Newton - drums

Outpost 186 1/2 Hampshire Street
Inman Square, Cambridge, MA
http://www.zeitgeist-outpost.org
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October 29-November 12, 2009

Instytut im. Jerzego Grotowskiego
(Jerzy Grotowski Institute)
International Theater Festival

Me/Dea
An adaptation of Euripides' Medea conceived and performed by
I Pedoni dell' Aria
Music by Cristian Sommaiuolo and Neil Leonard

Rynek-Ratusz 27, 50–101 Wroclaw, Poland
http://www.myspace.com/ipedonidellaria
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November 15, 2009, 7:00 PM
Neil Leonard/David Clark Duo

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics
David Clark - acoustic bass/electronics

Free and open to the public

Berklee College of Music
Fenway Recital Hall
22 Fenway Road, Boston
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November 21, 2009
Autumn Moscow Festival of New Music, Russia

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics

Concert of works by composers from Berklee College of Music and IRCAM
Venue and time: TBA
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November 22, 2009
DOM Cultural Center, Russia

Neil Leonard - solo saxophone/electronics

Also appearing, Sergey Letov/Maral Yakshieva Duo
http://www.dom.com.ru/
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December 5th, 2009 - 8:00 PM
Dave Bryant Band
Longy School of Music

Dave Bryant - keyboards
Neil Leonard - saxophones and live electronics
Tom Hall - saxophones
Jeremy Van Buskirk - live electronics
Jeff Song - cello and kayagum
John Voit - bass
Curt Newton - drums
Eric Rosenthal - drums

Longy School of Music
1 Follen St, Cambridge, MA‎
(617) 876-0956‎
www.longy.edu

Tra Ealileo e il Futurismo

Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix (2009)
for saxophone and live electronics
Composed by Neil Leonard
World Premiere

Galilei-Leonard, Double Remix revisits material from two pieces that I composed using the computer as a key resource. The first composition is entitled Partita Tripla con Galilei (2009). While working on this piece I created a library of sounds based on a recording of Vincenzo Galilei's madrigal In Exitu Israel. Individual processed notes from In Exitu Israel are used in the first part of Double Remix to invoke celestial/angelic voices.

The second source is a composition named M87 (1995) from my debut solo CD Timaeus. M87 is named after a giant elliptical galaxy photographed by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope. M87 is believed by some to be a supermassive black hole. The Hubble photos shows a 5000 light-year long jet stream made up of electrons being ejected outward at near light-speed.

Partita Tripla con Galilei was composed in collaboration with Padova based composers Maura Capuzzo, Marco Braggion and coordinated by Nicola Bernardini for the Giornata dell' Ascolto, Padova, 2009. In Exitu Israel was sung by Alessandro Carmignani and used with his kind permission. Parts of the remix of M87 were created with Gadi Sassoon (aka Memory 9) in London, 2008.

Mimi Rabson Is Living in a Post-Bach World

Berklee instructor commissions new works for solo violin, By James Reel

Neil Leonard says of his contribution, “Mimi’s Metamorphology,” “The piece is a tribute to Mimi’s ability to find links between classical, folk, and jazz traditions. I also wanted to showcase her work in combining interpretation, improvisation, and live electronics. I've followed Mimi's performances for years and I marvel at her ability to learn and adapt in order to play with the unique groups of musicians that she has encountered.

“About 60 percent of the violin part is very precisely notated. The remaining 40 percent is an improvisational recapitulation of those materials. When Mimi performs the work, the audience is unable to determine which parts are notated and which are improvised—where my pen leaves off and her bow continues the musical idea.” —J.R.

These acts are hard to beat

These acts are hard to beat

These acts are hard to beat

By Bob Young / Jazz/World Preview
Friday, September 4, 2009

World music and jazz presenters are clearly counting on an improved economy to loosen wallets this fall. Look no further for proof than this fall’s ambitious lineup.

Always surprising guitarist Charlie Hunter rolls out his new CD, “Baboon Strength,” on Sept. 11 at the Regattabar in Cambridge. That same night, the quintet Agachiko, with Ken Field and Gabrielle Agachiko, digs into the Nina Simone songbook at Inman Square’s Lily Pad in Cambridge.

Among the hot young voices with club showcases are alto-sax man Benny Reid at the Regattabar on Sept. 29, and clarinetist and composer Darryl Harper’s C3 Project features poetry and dance at Scullers on the same day. Look for back-to-back nights of exploratory sounds at Outpost 186 in Inman Square on Sept. 25 with Strange Guitar, which features groups led by Jeff Platz, Kevin Frenette and Chris Welcome. And on Oct. 26 it’s the foursome of Neil Leonard, Jeff Song, Curt Newton and former Ornette Coleman keyboardist Dave Bryant.

The Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival takes place over nine days in various clubs and venues starting Sept. 18, with Berklee Performance Center shows with Branford Marsalis on Sept. 23, and Kickin’ the Blues with David Sanborn, Kevin Mahogany and Amina Claudine Myers on Sept. 25. The free outdoor, six-block-long party on Columbus Avenue on Sept. 26 is always big fun. Jane Bunnett, Donald Harrison and Melvin Sparks are among this year’s acts.

The annual John Coltrane Memorial Concert is a two-parter (Sept. 26-27), with Saturday’s show at Northeastern’s Blackman Theatre featuring the John Coltrane Memorial Ensemble, and Sunday’s show at Hibernian Hall a smaller group of Syd Smart, Stan Strickland, Laszlo Gardony and others.

New England Conservatory is blowing out the candles on the 40th anniversary of its jazz studies program with major shows, including the Wayne Shorter Quartet with NEC’s Philharmonia on Oct. 24 at Jordan Hall, and the NEC Jazz Summit on Oct. 23 with Fred Hersch, Gunther Sculler, Don Byron, Rachael Price and others.

The Caribbean is represented at Cambridge Carnival on Sept. 13, which kicks off in Kendall Square. Brazil gets fresh takes on the bossa nova Sept. 10 at the Beehive with Joao Marcos and Teresa Ines, and psychedelia Oct. 4 at the Somerville Theatre with Os Mutantes. Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento returns to town at Berklee Performance Center Nov. 15.

Cuban drum sensation Dafnis Prieto gets to showcase his pioneering rhythms as bandleader on Oct. 16 at the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, which will be followed on Nov. 6 by another Rock en Espanol multiband extravaganza.

Other hot shows: the Chicago Afrobeat Project (Johnny D’s, Sept. 30); electro-tango outfit Bajofondo (Paradise, Oct. 1); South African prog rockers BLK JKS (pronounced Black Jacks, T.T. the Bear’s Place, Oct. 4); the Warsaw Village Band (Somerville Theatre, Nov. 6); and Bollywood singer Kailash Kher (Somerville Theatre, Nov. 13).