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To Be Released on February 26, Coinciding With The Launch of the New, Kneebody Owned-and-Operated Label, Low Electrical Records

“an excellent new quartet that will have its first album out next month. The band played through irregular grooves beautifully. . . . strong and controlled . . .” – The New York Times (on The Music Band’s performance at The 2011 Winter Jazzfest)

Trumpet-Composer Shane Endsley

On February 26 two events will take place that will contribute mightily to the present and future shape of modern jazz/improvised music, the release of Shane Endsley’s new recording, Shane Endsley and The Music Band – Then The Other, and the launch of an exciting new venture, Low Electrical Records, owned and operated by the much-celebrated band, Kneebody (February 26 is also the date of the CD release show at The Jazz Gallery in NYC, more details below).

In addition to his work with the Grammy-nominated band Kneebody, and leading The Music Band, Endsley has been working with some of today’s most exemplary and hippest musicians, including Chris Speed, Charlie Hunter and Ben Allison. With the release of Then The Other, featuring Craig Taborn (piano), Matt Brewer (bass) and Ted Poor (drums), Endsley once again hits the ground running as a bandleader with an album of acoustic quartet music that switch-hits with tunes that are lively and euphonious, to music that posseses a hushed qui vive.

Then The Other opens majestically with “Big”, on which, “the band plays heftily and throws a lot of paint on the canvas”, explains Endsley. Living in the Endsley household means hearing a lot of old-time and finger picking guitar music; specifically, a bit of the Appalachians’ culture has seeped into Endsley’s writing, manifesting itself in the joyous original, “Kings County Ramble” (Endsley’s solo here is worth the price of admission alone). Then The Other continues with “Young Benjamin”, perhaps the most tender sounding piece in this collection, which gets its name from two of Endsley’s favorite musicians who were the first to play it, Adam Benjamin and Tim Young.

Other highlights on Then The Other include the medium bounce of “House”, that Endsley has a penchant for these days; “Pedals”, originally written for piano, and now a mercurial Kneebody-esque ensemble piece; the through-composed title track that Endsley calls, “a good bedtime piece”: and the upbeat and quintessential Endsley melody of “Gallery Piece”, that offers some of the most energetic and fun playing on the record.

Endsley comments on forming The Music Band and the new recording, Then The Other: “The Music Band is a long overdue step for me. This group has just recorded my second CD as a leader, the previous one being ten years old now. As the band name might suggest, this project will be an exercise in simplicity. It’s a new group and the plan is to bring in some material that doesn’t require too much head scratching from the players but rather, sets us comfortably off into some lyrical improvising. I want us to get the tunes going and then be able to come off the page, to not be laden with intense structure. Having said that, I should probably say that the music will not be banal or mundane. It will just be designed to be easily digestible so that we can all enjoy the unrestricted artistry of young masters like Craig Taborn (piano), Matt Brewer (bass), and Ted Poor (drums).”

Shane Endsley and The Music Band – Then The Other will be available on Kneebody’s Low Electrical Records on February 26.

Shane Endsley & The Music Band CD Release Concerts:

CD Release Celebration & Launch of Low Electrical Records!
The Jazz Gallery – February 26 @ 9 & 10:30 PM
Featuring Shane Endsley, Matt Mitchell (piano), Todd Sickafoose (bass) & Nate Wood (drums)
The Jazz Gallery is located at 290 Hudson St, NYC, http://www.jazzgallery.org, TKTS-$20

FREE SHOW – Ars Nova Workshop Presents
Shane Endsley and The Music Band at The Rotunda – April 21 @ 8 PM
Featuring Shane Endsley, Matt Mitchell (piano), Matt Brewer (bass) & Ted Poor (drums)
The Rotunda is located at 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, http://www.arsnovaworkshop.org

Firehouse 12 – April 22
Featuring Shane Endsley, Matt Mitchell (piano), Matt Brewer (bass) & Ted Poor (drums)
Firehouse 12 is located at 45 Crown Street, New Haven, CT, http://www.firehouse12.com

More on Shane Endsley: Shane Endsley resides in Brooklyn, NY, where he is steadily building his reputation as one of the most unique voices on the trumpet today. DownBeat Magazine named him as one of the “Top 25” trumpeters of his generation in 2007, and he is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated band Kneebody (for their Twelve Songs By Charles Ives – on the Winter & Winter label,with Theo Bleckmann), also recently nominated for Best Jazz Group in the 2010 DownBeat Reader’s Poll. Over the past year Endsley has been working heavily with Chris Speed, Charlie Hunter and Ben Allison (Endsley is featured on Allison’s recording, Think Free, on Palmetto). A truly modern and dynamic musician, he can be found on recordings ranging from modern instrumentalists Steve Coleman, Dave Binney, and Donny McCaslin, to folk and rock icons like Ani DiFranco, Erin McKeown, and Pearl Jam. Shane is also an accomplished drummer and composer who is constantly expanding his musical vocabulary with the rich experiences offered by New York City. He dove into the intricate ornamental style of the Balkan brass bands with the powerhouse 10 piece group, Slavic Soul Party and has ventured into the lilting rhythms of Brazilian Forro and Maracatu with Scott Kettner of Nation Beat and Maracatu NY.

“Kneebody flies above the label zone, crafting instrumental, postmodern music that jukes convention and genre . . . maybe even reinventing music a little in the process” – The Onion

..:: SOURCE: Red Cat Publicity ::..