RENT ROMUS' LIFE'S BLOOD ENSEMBLE pays tribute as well as brings to light, reinvents, deconstructs, and delves into the deep realms of their collective vision. Their repertoire features original composition and contemporary local and international composers while exploring the influences and inspirations of jazz and improvisation.
M U S I C I A N S
Heikki 'Mike' Koskinen, e-trumpet
Joshua Marshall, tenor saxophone
Timothy Orr, drums
Safa Shokrai, double bass
Mark Clifford, vibraphone
Rent Romus, saxophones
ANDREW BARNES JAMIESON performs an avant-gospel solo piano set, at the intersection or arrangement, composition, and improvisation, with the intention to explore and honor radical and transformative visions for liberation and justice. He strives to be musically and personally accountable to traditions of African American music and faith, while directly challenging and deconstructing white supremacy and other forms of oppression in dominant American cultural strains.
CALEB ROSE (clarinet) and SCOTT THOMPSON (cello) perform Kinan Azmeh's The Fence, The Rooftop And The Distant Sea, written for the composer and Yo-Yo Ma. The dialogue between cello and clarinet in this piece evokes a sense of possibility for the communication that we most desperately need during these troubled times. Of the work, Azmeh writes:
A fence, a rooftop and the distant sea were all present there facing my desk while I finished the piece in Beirut in December 2016. These elements were a reminder of how near my home town of Damascus was yet how far it seemed after being away for five years. The piece is about random memories of individuals, more precisely it is about two characters searching for memories from home, and how they jump from one random memory to another while allowing themselves to drift away with their own thoughts, until they realize that the most powerful memories were the simplest, and they hold on to that endlessly.