corrected final jp

FLORICULTURE
John Hebert
Dan Weiss
Carl Maguire
Stephanie Griffin
Oscar Noriega
realizing Carl Maguire's exploratory and rhythmically sensuous music since 2001
"Carl Maguire is one of the best pianists and composers to emerge from the downtown network over the past few years...
Carl's strong writing and playing make the most from this entire quartet, who sound spirited and
consistently creative throughout.
Excellent work from some of my favorite local heroes." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
The Penguin Guide to Jazz - **** "it's clear from the opening 'Egocentric' that these men know each other and work together well.
Maguire's writing is too complex to allow anything else.
His exchanges with bassist Dunn
on that track are breathtaking...
"the complexity of this music is entirely free of self-consciousness,
As exciting a debut release as any in the last few years."
and experience suggests that this is an achievement in itself;
it makes demands at the same time as it rewards close attention...
this is music that possesses an overwhelming percentage of the attributes that
make for stimulating listening." - Nic Jones, All About Jazz
The New Yorker "Floriculture pulls off its new-jazz improvisation and lyrical abstraction with panache."
Maguire's compositions are complicated and dense, but not inaccessible.
Reflecting grooves, minimalism and a strong sense of melody, this music demands repeated listenings...
These are exceptional players, but each man's
every note is at the service of
"...one helluva impressive performance. Carl Maguire's compositions...
making brilliant, involving music."
sounded
highly original and were all viscerally involving...
- Donald Elfman, All About Jazz
pieces that interspersed written and improvised passages in unexpected sequences,
the themes bubbling to the surface at surprising intervals.
Underneath it all, the writing had a
strong melodic sense even at its most abstract...
Time Out New York, Critics Pick Each
of
the
group's
members
was
outstanding...
"We'd heard plenty talk about how
One of the most enjoyable jazz performances I've seen in quite a while."
Carl Maguire was a name worth following
- Brian Olewnick, JazzCorner.com
among rising young jazzers;
still, that didn't quite prepare us
for the way he basically recontextualized a Fender Rhodes... digging under its hood to pluck out shimmering, spacey chords and the like.
Floriculture is where his pen comes into play as well."
www.carlmaguire.com
[email protected]
Carl Maguire, piano and compositions: grew up in Madison, Wisconsin where his early piano teachers included
Jacquelyn Patricia, Ellsworth Snyder, and Joan Wildman. At the University of Wisconsin he studied improvisation with
Roscoe Mitchell. Moving to New York in 1995, Carl engaged in a curriculum of liberal arts at Hunter College, Schenkerian analysis at Mannes, and post-tonal theory at CUNY Graduate Center. He studied piano with Fred Hersch, Marilyn
Crispell, and Ursula Oppens, and of particular importance, composition with Mark Dresser. He has performed or
recorded with the Brett Sroka's Ergo, Tyshawn Sorey Quartet, The Wau Wau Sisters, Laura Andel Orchestra, Barbez,
Momenta Quartet, and was a featured soloist in Butch Morris' New York Skyscraper. Since 2001, Carl has led Floriculture. The band plays exclusively Maguire's compositions, which call on the musicians to integrate extended sections
of exact notation with improvisational passages to create a vivid aural landscape. Floriculture's release on Between
The Lines (Germany) was short-listed by several reviewers and hailed by Glenn Astarita as "one of the true modern
jazz surprises of 2006.”
Stephanie Griffin, viola: holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Samuel Rhodes. Of
Canadian origin, Stephanie has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, and as a champion of
Indonesian composer Tony Prabowo. She has worked closely with numerous other composers both as a soloist and
with some of New York’s premiere new music ensembles, including Continuum, Parnassus and the Argento Chamber
Ensemble. With Argento she played Tristan Murail’s seminal chamber work “Ethers” and Michael Lévinas’ “Les lettres
enlacées” for solo viola under the auspices of the International Festival of Spectral Music. Argento also featured her as
a soloist in their performance of the first half of Gérard Grisey’s monumental cycle “Les espaces acoustiques.” An active
improviser, she has worked with a wide range of musicians, from traditional Indonesian musicians to Butch Morris. Her
string quartet, Momenta, is in residency at Temple University. Stephanie has recorded for Siam Records, Aeon, Koch
International, Arte Nova and Harmolodic.
Oscar Noriega, clarinets and saxophone: an Arizona native of Mexican origin, Oscar began his career in a ranchera
group, Hermanos Jovel, with his four brothers. After studies at the University of Arizona and Arizona State, Oscar
moved to Boston in 1990 where he was welcomed into the local big band scene and the fertile improvising communities around Berklee and the New England Conservatory. Oscar arrived in Brooklyn in 1992 where he has been active in
New York's downtown music world, including work with jazz, pop and world music artists. His recent work has
included projects with Satoko Fujii, Gerry Hemmingway, Lee Konitz, La Mar Enfortuna (Oren Bloedow & Jennifer
Charles), One Ring Zero, Ted Reichman and Slavic Soul Party. He is a member of the Clarinets, an improvising trio with
Anthony Burr and Chris Speed, and the Benefit Band, a quartet with Jim Black, Trevor Dunn and Chris Speed. Oscar's
own bands include a trio with Tom Rainey and Trevor Dunn and a quartet with singers performing rancheras written
by his grandmother.
John Hebert, bass: was born in New Orleans, Louisiana where he studied bass with Bill Huntington. Receiving a full
scholarship to attended Loyola University of New Orleans, John performed with many of New Orleans greatest
musicians at various venues including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He moved to the New York area to
attend William Paterson University where he continued his studies under bassist Rufus Reid and received a Bachelor
of Music in Jazz Performance. Since that time John has lived in New York City and has become a highly in-demand
bassist. He has worked along side such world famous artists such as Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, John Abercrombie, Greg Osby, Kenny Wheeler, David Liebman, Fred Hersch, and Paul Motian. John worked extensively with the
late Andrew Hill, and can be heard on Andrew Hill’s Blue Note release, “Time Lines” which was awarded “Record of the
Year” by Downbeat’s Jazz Critics Poll in 2006. John leads his own group, Byzantine Monkey, and has been included in
2006 and 2007 Downbeat’s Critics Poll as “Rising Star Acoustic Bassist”.
Dan Weiss, drums: started playing at age six, studying with Jeff Krause, and soon augmented his musical studies to
include classical piano. Attending the Manhattan School of Music, he pursued drums and composition. Dan has
performed or recorded with Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Wayne Krantz, Kenny
Werner, Uri Caine, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Ravi Coltrane and many others. Dan has been studying tabla for the last
nine years under the guidance of his guru Pandit Samir Chatterjee. He has performed classical Indian music in India
and America with Ramesh Mishra, Mandira Lahiri, Subra Guha, Anoushka Shankar, Joyas Biswas, and K.V. Mahabala.
Dan has released two recordings under his name. Tintal Drumset Solo adopts traditional tabla repertoire to the
drumset in a classical manner. Dan Weiss Trio, with Jacob Sacks and Thomas Morgan, features Dan's original compositions. Dan has self published a book entitled "Tintal Drumset Trancriptions" and has given clinics throughout the
United States as well as Canada and Europe.