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Click on a track to listen Shorter Suit | ||||||
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Tim Ray - piano Greg Hopkins - trumpet Eugene Friesen - cello
Tre Corda is a trio of some of New England's finest and most diverse musicians, brought together to perform new compositions and arrangements by all three members of the trio. Their works blend composition and improvisation in new and unexpected ways, using the musical vocabulary of classical composers like Bartok and Stravinsky, as well as songs and ideas from the worlds of jazz and popular music's. Their selections are inventive, spirited and often humorous, and early favorites from their repertoire include a theme and variations based on Miles Davis' "Nefertiti", and Tim's outrageous setting of the standard "Blue Moon". The name of the group comes from classical piano notation, as an instruction to the pianist to release the soft pedal and let all three strings vibrate freely (literally "three strings" or "three sounds"), and suggests that the trio?s members, individually and collectively, are free to explore their own creative path - independent of boundaries and categories that limit musical expression. Tim Ray (piano, leader) is perhaps best known as Lyle Lovett's pianist for the past 11 years (including summer-long tours in 1999 and 2001), but he has been an active and in-demand jazz artist since 1978. He also tours and records with the internationally acclaimed singer-songwriters Victoria Williams and Jane Siberry, and often performs with the leading jazz musicians in the New York and New England areas, including Gary Burton, Scott Hamilton, Dave McKenna, Harvie Swartz, John Abercrombie, Nick Brignola, Duke Robillard, George Garzone, and Tiger Okoshi. Tim regularly performs, records and tours with vocalists Donna Byrne, Mili Bermejo, Lisa Thorson and with Cercie Miller's quartet from the Boston area as well. His busy performance schedule has included numerous tours throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, and has included performances at virtually all the major jazz festivals in the U.S., Canada and Central America. Mr. Ray is recently a recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was honored as one of seven finalists in the 1988 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition. Tim released his first CD as a leader in 1997 - Ideas & Opinions - on Gunther Schuller?s prestigious GM record label, which featured drummer Lewis Nash and bassist Rufus Reid. Eugene Friesen (cello) is at the forefront of a new generation of musicians versed in classical, popular and world music. Friesen's gift for the responsive flow of improvisatory music has been featured in concerts all over the world with the Paul Winter Consort and with poets Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Coleman Barks. His compositional credits include three albums of original music: New Friend, Arms Around You and The Song of Rivers; Eugene's music can also be heard on the recordings of Trio Globo, which he founded in 1992 with Howard Levy and Glen Velez. Friesen was awarded a Grammy as a member of the Paul Winter Consort for the 1994 album Spanish Angel, and has worked with such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck, Toots Thielemans, Betty Buckley, Anthony Davis and Will Ackerman. Eugene currently teaches at the Berklee College of Music. | ||
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