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Shot x Shot

Shot x Shot is an improvisational acoustic quartet performing original compositions as well as highly interpretive covers steeped in the jazz tradition with experimental sensibilities. They met as students at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA in the spring of 2003. With each musician lending a unique texture, Shot x Shot brings a tasteful and multi-dimensional sound to the Philadelphia music scene. They perform regularly in Philadelphia at the Tritone and St. Mary's Church and in New York City at the C-Note, ABC No Rio, and Cornelia St. Cafe. Shot x Shot released their debut album on HighTwo records in 2006.

Dan Capecchi, drums and percussion, is a native of Minneapolis, MN., and has played drums professionally for eight years. In Minneapolis, he was a member of the rock-folk group, Jackaro, with whom he toured the Midwest and California, and the experimental-computer-pop group, Triangle. He moved to Philadelphia in the Fall of 2003 and has since earned a Master of Music degree from The University of the Arts. He is currently playing, teaching, and writing about music in the Philadelphia area.

Matt Engle, bass, grew up ten minutes outside of Philadelphia in South Jersey. He now resides in Philadelphia where he is a working member of the music scene. Matt studied with Kevin McConnell and Tony Marino while attending The University of the Arts. He has an integral role in Shot by Shot as both a performer and composer. In addition to Shot x Shot, Matt plays with Seth Meicht and Sonic Liberation Front.

Bryan Rogers, tenor saxophone, was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. He began playing the tenor saxophone at age 16 which led him to attend the University of the Arts in 1999. He completed his undergraduate work in 2003 and received a Bachelor in Music Performance. While a student there, he met fellow saxophonist Dan Scofield whose aesthetic sensibilities were similar to his own. In an attempt to place their ideas into practice, several groups were formed. It was not until Rogers and Scofield met Matt Engle and Dan Capecchi, however, that they found their rhythm section counterparts. He currently performs with Shot x Shot and Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound.

Dan Scofield, alto saxophone, is originally from Vermont, and has lived in Philadelphia for five years. He graduated from The University of the Arts in 2004. He plays the saxophone in various groups including Kuru Kuru Pa, Bobby Zankel's Warriors of the Wonderful Sound and Kevin Diehl's Sonic Liberation Front.

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196
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Let Nature Square

Read "Let Nature Square" reviewed by Budd Kopman


The cooperative quartet ShotXShot has most assuredly earned all of the acclaim for its first release, Shot x Shot (High Two Recordings, 2006), which seemingly came out nowhere, as well as this second remarkable recording, Let Nature Square. The former album was recorded live in a church and the music was designed to take advantage of the acoustics. While this album was recorded in a studio, it is closer to what the band really sounds like, since ...

208
Album Review

ShotXShot: Let Nature Square

Read "Let Nature Square" reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk


The ShotXShot formula is a simple one. It follows the Ornette Coleman model of group improvisation on set themes, although its music doesn't sound like Coleman's harmolodics. It has a rolling, mellifluous sound, without Coleman's sharp angles. And rather than the sax/trumpet front line of Coleman's classic quartet, it has the twin saxophones of Bryan Rogers and Dan Scofield. But group improvisation is important to the ShotXShot sound in a crucial way: simultaneous soloing gives it a full but casual ...

199
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Let Nature Square

Read "Let Nature Square" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The band Shot x Shot excels in the art of group improvisation. A term tossed about too often without consideration for the words, 'group' and 'improvisation.'

This, their second recording, follows the self titled 2006 live date from St. Mary's church at the University of Pennsylvania. It had a ghostlike sound, a sort of archeological remnant, with echoey vibrations bouncing throughout the church. The quartet, formed at Philadelphia's University of The Arts, is comprised of saxophonist Dan Scofield ...

217
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Let Nature Square

Read "Let Nature Square" reviewed by Troy Collins


Shot x Shot is an acoustic quartet comprised of twenty-something graduates of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Their sophomore effort, Let Nature Square, is their first studio recording, following their highly acclaimed 2006 live, self-titled debut on High Two.

Saxophonists Dan Scofield (alto) and Bryan Rogers (tenor) make up the effusive front line, with Matt Engle (bass) and Dan Capecchi (drums) forming a pliant rhythm section. All scene regulars, Scofield and Engle are members of ...

204
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Let Nature Square

Read "Let Nature Square" reviewed by Lyn Horton


A group of voices does not have to sound like a choir. In fact, a contemporary take on choral work might be one where each voice takes its own liberties, possibly in improvisation. Inherent in that process is joint collaboration and framing of an idea, in a perhaps unspoken agreement that permits a reasonable flow. Voices can also be instrumental. And it is the quality of their regulation within parameters of a straight-ahead freedom that delivers good music.

Let Nature ...

188
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Shot x Shot

Read "Shot x Shot" reviewed by Tom Greenland


Shot x Shot is a group of four young musicians from Philadelphia--Bryan Roger (tenor sax), Dan Capecchi (drums), Dan Scofield (alto sax) and Matt Engle (bass)--who play with a free-roaming, exploratory spirit coupled to a precociously mature sense of pacing and restraint.

Recorded in St. Mary's Church, this self-titled disc emits an ethereal ambiance, from the echoed finger-on-the-chalkboard effects of the first track to the reverberating silences of “Volzalisle," a freeform number with undulating phrases. “Bee Assassins," based on the ...

247
Album Review

Shot x Shot: Shot x Shot

Read "Shot x Shot" reviewed by Budd Kopman


From the very first notes of this debut album, it is abundantly clear that it's an important record, and these young men (the oldest is 26!) have that special something.

Jazz, or to use a term preferred by Bob Rusch of Cadence, “creative improvised music," is the epitome of existential artistic creation. The process yields coherent music that lives by its own rules and internal logic. Everyone understands the language of commonplace jazz that encompasses harmony, rhythm and structure, but ...

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132

Performance / Tour

Brooklyn Pianist Landon Knoblock and Philadelphia's Shot X Shot in Williamsburg Monday Jan 4

Brooklyn Pianist Landon Knoblock and Philadelphia's Shot X Shot in Williamsburg Monday Jan 4

Source: Michael Ricci

This Monday Jan. 4, Brooklyn based pianist Landon Knbolock and his band will share a bill with Philadelphia's premier avant jazz group Shot x Shot, at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 8pm: The Landon Knoblock Group features Ron Horton on trumpet, Noah Preminger on saxophone, Josh Paris on bass, Jeff Davis on drums, and Landon Knoblock on wurly. The group performs unique music combining jazz, avant-garde, rock, and ambient. The music blurs the lines between composition ...

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Performance / Tour

Shot X Shot + Chicago Luzerne Exchange May 26 at Zeitgeist, Cambridge MA

Shot X Shot + Chicago Luzerne Exchange May 26 at Zeitgeist, Cambridge MA

Source: All About Jazz

s u b c o n s c i o u s c a f e @ ZEITGEIST / SPACE 186 186 Hampshire St. Inman Sq. Cambridge, Mass. 02139 617.876.6060 ~ ALL AGES ~ www. zeitgeist-gallery.org

Friday, 26 May 2006 / 8:00 - 11:30 / $12 or b/o

rob chalfen & subconsciouscafe new chamber music presents

New Free Music from Philly & Chicago:

SHOT X SHOT + CHICAGO LUZERNE EXCHANGE http://www.hightwo.com/sxs.html, http://www.chicagoluzernexchange.com ...

96

Recording

Shot x Shot CD Release!

Shot x Shot CD Release!

Source: All About Jazz

Shot x Shot is an improvisational acoustic quartet performing original compositions steeped in jazz tradition, but with experimental sensibilities. Formed in 2003, while the members were students at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, it has quickly established itself as one of the most groundbreaking bands in one of jazz's most important cities. On its self-titled debut, the group showcases its compositional dynamism and transcendental vibrancy creating a unique balanced sound that is often missing in improvisational jazz.

Fellow ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Let Nature Square

High Two Recordings
2008

buy

Shot X Shot

High Two Recordings
2006

buy

Bee Assassins

From: Shot X Shot
By Shot x Shot

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