Heritage/ Evolution: PRISM Quartet with Joe Lovano at the Painted Bride (Philadelphia)

Hailed by Chamber Music Magazine for “pioneering achievements of the highest order,” the PRISM Quartet and the Painted Bride Art Center present the next installment of Heritage/Evolution, a groundbreaking project featuring world premieres of new works composed and performed by today’s most inventive jazz saxophonists. This time around, Heritage/Evolution spotlights saxophone luminary Joe Lovano with PRISM. The program follows the PRISM Quartet’s prior Heritage/Evolution collaborations with Ravi Coltrane, Steve Lehman, Dave Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Greg Osby, Chris Potter, Tim Ries, and Miguel Zenón, and the release of the Quartet’s critically acclaimed recording, Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1 (Innova). The program also includes the premieres of new works by PRISM’s resident composer and 2016 Pew Fellow, Matthew Levy, and the winner of the PRISM/Walden School Commissioning Award, Reiny Rolock. Plus music by Emma O’Halloran.

Since the saxophone’s invention by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1840, it has captured the imaginations of artists and audiences worldwide. The Heritage/Evolution project charts fresh musical territory, drawing on the saxophone’s cross-cultural heritage to blend jazz with everything from South Indian and Western classical music to Romani and Latin American folkloric music. Join us for an unprecedented saxophone summit as PRISM, a “bold ensemble that set the standard for contemporary-classical saxophone quartets” (The New York Times) partners with the incomparable Joe Lovano.

Joe Lovano on his new piece: “My commission, ‘Super Sonix,’ is inspired by and dedicated to the genius and Third Stream pioneer Gunther Schuller, as well as modern jazz master Ornette Coleman, both of whom I’ve been associated with. I will also be drawing from my personal experiences playing within some great saxophone sections: The Woody Herman Band, Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, Carla Bley Band, and The Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra. ‘Super Sonix’ is a piece which will explore the natural beauty found in the harmolodic rhythmic tapestry of improvised music. I will be joining the PRISM Quartet on tenor, alto. G mezzo & baritone saxophones, as well as drums, oriental gongs and percussion.”