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Steve Lindeman
Some composers suffer for their art. Steve Lindeman commuted for his — from Salt Lake City to New York and back, twice a month, for three years.
That's what it took for the Brigham Young University professor to become one of the furthest f lung member s of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. Jim McNeely, the workshop's musical director, had to have been more than a little skeptical when he first came across Lindeman's application: How could someone who lived in Utah possibly attend the required biweekly meetings in BMI's New York office, nine months out of twelve? He soon discovered how deep Lindeman's commitment — and talent — was.
With the release of Lindeman's stylistically far - reaching debut album, The Day After Yesterday , the listening public gets its turn to discover his distinctive approach to modern big band composing. Featuring BYU's highly regarded Synthesis ensemble, led by the school's director of jazz studies, Ray Smith, the album joins recent works by John Hollenbeck, Maria Schneider , and Gil Evans protégé Ryan Truesdell in putting a fresh gloss on familiar forms. Offbeat sonorities and unusual instrumental combinations, episodic shifts, extended silences, overdubbed vocal choruses — they're all part of Lindeman's approach, which loses no thing in the way of swinging urgency or harmonic sweetness in embracing what Oliver Nelson called "the abstract truth."
"I'm not a fan of traditional big band music — it doesn't speak to me," said Lindeman, a late bloomer at 58 whose music reflects an early love for rock artists such as the Beatles, the Doors , and Stevie Wonder, as well as jazz - rock pioneer Chick Corea, whose use of the Fender Rhodes electric piano "opened a door" for him as a keyboardist and composer.
In McNeely, distinguished pianist and composer - in - residence with the Vanguard Orchestra, Lindeman found a kindred spirit. "He was always encouraging experimentation, thinking outside the box, challenging the status quo, while respecting and tipping our hat to the lineage of Gil Evans, Manny A lbam , and Bob Brookmeyer," he said." The rich diversity of sounds at the BMI W orkshop, where it wasn't unusual to hear Shakuhachi flutes and flamenco guitars, " pushed me in a new direction."
Lindeman grew up 50 minutes south of Indianapolis in Columbus, Indiana, "an amazing place for a small Midwestern town" known for its modern architecture by the likes of Eero Saarinen and I.M. Pei . But he was no stranger to New York. After getting his undergraduate degree in jazz studies from Indiana University (where his teachers included David Baker), he acquired a master's in music theory from Queens College and a Ph.D in theory and history from Rutgers University.
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Steve Lindeman with BYU Synthesis: The Day After Yesterday
by Jack Bowers
There are times when making music requires sacrifice. Few people should be more aware of this than composer / arranger Steve Lindeman who studied from 2008-11 at the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in New York City--while he was living in Utah! The Workshop held meetings one to three times a month, and Lindeman simply commuted to them by air, rooming with a daughter who had an apartment in Brooklyn. [W]hile racking up enough frequent flier miles to own half of ...
read moreSteve Lindeman: Day After Yesterday
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The finest new orchestral jazz album I've heard this year is Steve Lindeman's The Day After Yesterday (Jazz Hang). The intelligence of the compositions and arrangements can only be described as breathtaking. The melodies and harmonies are tender and braided beautifully, and the one vocal track is splendidly executed, with overdubbing that rivals the Singers Unlimitedwithout the sticky commercial aftertaste. This album's genesis has quite a story. In 2008, Steve Lindeman applied to attend the prestigious BMI Jazz Composers Workshop ...
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Composer Steve Lindeman's Modern Big Band Debut, "the Day After Yesterday," Due June 11
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Terri Hinte Publicity
Steve Lindeman’s distinctive approach to modern big band composing is on ample display on his impressive debut CD, The Day After Yesterday, to be released by Jazz Hang Records on June 11. The Brigham Young University professor’s originals are performed by BYU’s Synthesis under the direction of Ray Smith, who also produced the album. Nearly all of the compositions on the stylistically far-reaching disc had their genesis in Lindeman’s participation, from 2008 through 2011, in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. ...
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Meet Me When the Stars Come Out
From: The Day After YesterdayBy Steve Lindeman