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Ken Thomson

Ken Thomson is a staple of New York City’s contemporary music and jazz communities, and is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. Embracing the combination of complexity in harmony, rhythm, and form while adding a punk-rock aesthetic, Thomson has carved out a unique corner in today’s multifaceted musical world.

As a performer-composer bridging jazz and contemporary music, Thomson has released two albums with his group Slow/Fast. The most recent of these, Settle, was praised by the New York Times for its “intricate long-form compositions,” and garnered a five-star review in All About Jazz. The Chicago Reader wrote, “Few musicians travel as assuredly and meaningfully between jazz and new music.... Thomson’s pieces breathe and emanate an infectious energy, with every wend and wind hurtling the music forward rather than showing off the band’s chops.” He released an album of his compositions for the heralded JACK Quartet, entitled Thaw, on Cantaloupe Music. The record was called the #1 Classical CD of 2013 by Rhapsody, and was among NPR’s “10 Songs Public Radio Can’t Stop Playing.” His 2016 release, Restless, features two major works for cello and piano performed by Ashley Bathgate and Karl Larson. It garnered a 7.9 Pitchfork review and received “Top of 2016” accolades from writers Seth Colter Walls, Steve Smith (Log Journal) and AnEarful, which wrote, “No album in 2016 in any genre did more with less than Restless, featuring two huge-sounding chamber works composed by Thomson.”

Thomson plays clarinet for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, one of the world’s preeminent new music ensembles. He is the musical director for the Asphalt Orchestra – a 12-piece next- generation avant-garde marching band, called “cooly brilliant, infectious” and “top notch players” by the New York Times. He plays saxophone and is one of the four composers in the punk/jazz band Gutbucket, with whom he has toured internationally to 20 countries and 32 states over 17 years, and released six albums and a DVD for Knitting Factory, Enja, NRW, Cantaloupe and Cuneiform Records. He is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival.

As a composer, Thomson has been commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can, the True/False Film Festival, Doug Perkins, Mariel Roberts, and others; and has received awards from New Music USA, ASCAP and Meet the Composer. The New York Times reviewed the world premiere of his Wait Your Turn at Carnegie Hall, saying: “The concert ended on a high note ... the music offered a density worthy of the closing bars of a Led Zeppelin epic.” The Times also called his work seasonal.disorder for the Bang on a Can All- Stars, “a virtuoso piece.”

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2
Album Review

Joel Harrison: America at War

Read "America at War" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


"È tutta la vita che il mio paese conduce tragiche e futili invasioni straniere. Ho sentito che dovevo scrivere su questo fatto, infondere nella mia nuova musica la sua dolorosa eredità." Queste riflessioni aprono il nuovo disco di Joel Harrison, ritornato a sette anni di distanza da Infinite Possibility a guidare un ensemble orchestrale. La storia bellica degli Stati Uniti è piuttosto lunga: in 245 anni ha combattuto 123 conflitti militari vivendo solo 18 anni in completa pace. ...

9
Album Review

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast: Settle

Read "Settle" reviewed by Dave Wayne


There are ways to get to know people really well, really quickly. Many of these fall under the general category: “challenge them, somehow." For a certain time of my life this meant: “go camping with them." Really. If you go camping with a group of people, you will find out a lot about them in a very brief time. Over the past decade or so, I've found that if you play really intense music with other musicians, you will also ...

160
Album Review

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast: It Would Be Easier If

Read "It Would Be Easier If" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Ken Thomson, New York based saxophonist and composer, describes the music of Slow/Fast as “21st Century Third Stream." It's an apposite description, for it certainly brings together elements of jazz and classical music, but it underplays the third element of Slow/Fast's sound--the influence of rock. All four members of Slow/Fast, heard on the band's debut, It Would Be Easier If, have roots in rock music, and it's these roots that most clearly inform the excitement and aggression to be found ...

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Music Industry

Bang on a Can All-Stars Announce Ken Thomson as New Clarinetist

Bang on a Can All-Stars Announce Ken Thomson as New Clarinetist

Source: Jensen Artists

Bang on a Can, New York’s innovative and energetic champion of new music, officially announced the new clarinetist for its “All-Star” lineup. The Bang on a Can All-Stars have become a singular vehicle for visionary composition over the course of the last 20 years, and with the addition of Ken Thomson will continue to set the standard for exciting and virtuosic performances. Bang on a Can co-founder Julia Wolfe welcomed Ken Thomson with this statement: “We are thrilled to welcome ...

51

Interview

Ken Thomson Turns His Reed Work to Chamber Jazz

Ken Thomson Turns His Reed Work to Chamber Jazz

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner

Improvisation is a big, if not the biggest, pillar of jazz music. For many, it's what gives the music its unique identity, separating it from pop and the rest. Musicians wax poetic about the experience of playing that way, and I've written extensively about it through the years, particularly applauding those groups that practice free playing in which little if anything is written out or composed ahead of time. But in recent years I've become more ...

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Event

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast at Issue Project Room, February 25

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast at Issue Project Room, February 25

Source: All About Jazz

KEN THOMSON - SAXOPHONIST/CLARINETIST/COMPOSER WITH GUTBUCKET, BANG ON A CAN, SIGNAL, AND MORE UNVEILS NEW GROUP “KEN THOMSON and SLOW/FAST” ISSUE PROJECT ROOM WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2009, 8PM 232 3rd St, Brooklyn, NY 100% new music written throughout 2008 -- New project blends heavily composed long-form elements with improvisation, presenting a dynamic “All-Star” outer-borough band: Ken Thomson - alto saxophone, bass clarinet Russ Johnson - trumpet Nir Felder - guitar ...

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Recording

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Debut at the Stone

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Debut at the Stone

Source: All About Jazz

Ken Thomson, co-leader of Gutbucket, performer in Signal, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Fire In July, and acclaimed emerging composer commissioned by Bang On A Can and the American Composers Orchestra, unveils a new project called Slow/Fast. The Music: Slow/Fast aims to connect the heavily-composed work Thomson has written for new music ensembles Bang on a Can All-Stars, American Composers Orchestra, Ethel, Anti-Social Music, and more, and connect it with small ensemble jazz. The music is long-form and through-composed, yet requires the ...

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Event

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Debut at the Stone Noveber 1

Ken Thomson and Slow/Fast Debut at the Stone Noveber 1

Source: All About Jazz

Ken Thompson - Saxophonist/composer with Gutbucket, Bang On A Can, Signal, and more --- Unviels new group: Ken Thompson and Slow/Fast

Debut at The Stone Saturday, November 1st, 10pm Avenue C & 2nd Street, NYC

100% new music written throughout 2008 -- New project blends heavily composed long-form elements with improvisation, presenting a dynamic All-Star outer-borough band: Ken Thomson - ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

America at War

Sunnyside Records
2021

buy

Sextet

New Focus Recordings
2018

buy

Restless

Cantaloupe Music
2016

buy

Settle

NCM East
2014

buy

Thaw

Cantaloupe Music
2013

buy

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