(le) poisson rouge

John Medeski's mother taught him to read before he even started school, and his father taught him to play blues and jazz standards on the piano before he learned to walk. So it is only fitting that today John is completely dedicated to the piano, cross-pollinating diverse musical disciplines, and immersed in inventive musical conversation.

John may be best known as one-third of Medeski Martin & Wood, but his full body of work goes far beyond that ground-breaking trio.

As of late, John can be found performing solo piano recitals, where he explores classical music, lounge songs, and jazz standards in intimate concert venues such as the Chicago Symphony Center and New York City's Merkin Hall, in addition to select dates in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Skerik:
Skerik on Myspace

Skerik (born Eric Walton) is an American saxophonist from Seattle, Washington. Performing on the tenor and baritone saxophone, often with electronics and loops, Skerik is a pioneer in a playing style that has been dubbed saxophonics. He is a founding member of Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois and Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet. He is also an original member of both Les Claypool's Fancy Band and Frog Brigade and has toured with and played with numerous others in a variety of genres.

Adam Deitch:
While other kids were more interested in "Being Like Mike," Adam Deitch was more interested in "Being Like Quincy." Producer drummer Adam Deitch recalls, "It was around the age of 10, after I had been playing drums for 8 years, my mother told me my drumming skills along with my knowledge of melody and harmony would lead me to producing records for people". Having guitars, pianos, basses, recording equipment, synthesizers, and two parents who wrote music and sang all the time didn't hurt either.

Adam began composing around the age of 11 with his Dad's Ensoniq ESQ1 keyboard--one of the 1st keyboard/sequencers making beats that ranged from hip hop, pop, R&B, gospel, jazz and fusion. Pretty soon artists in the neighborhood came knocking. "The tapes I was making at home were passed around at school, and the best artists from the area started coming by the studio." It was this early experience as a songwriter and a producer that have given Adam the wide spectrum of experience and influences that he brings to his work.

Being a drummer in so many different kinds of bands gave me an insight to how different kinds of music worked -- from the instrumentation to the type of amps, strings, heads, mics, to lyrics. Adam Deitch’s career has crossed genres and he plays the role of both producer and drummer. Adam was inspired by hip-hop at an early age, inspired by Public Enemy and Eric B and Rakim. Adam has produced records for such luminaries as 50-Cent, Redman, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Chali 2na and MF Doom. He has also done major session work on drums for artists including Justin Timberlake, Daniel Bedingfield, Anthony Hamilton, DJ Quik and Wyclef Jean and the Fugees. Adam has toured the world and recorded as a member of the Grammy Nominated John Scofield Band, Pretty Lights, the Average White Band, The Fugees, Wyclef Jean, Meshell Ndegeocello and his own Break Science and Lettuce.

Recent highlights include a Grammy nomination for Ledisi's Turn Me Loose for which Adam produced and co-wrote two songs, co-writing and production for Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi's Sony debut, production of two tracks on Matisyahu's latest and a platinum single for Italian rap sensation Fabri Fibra.

In just over two short years, the pioneering Brooklyn dhol 'n' brass party juggernaut RED BARAAT have made a name for themselves as one of the best live bands playing anywhere in the world. Led by dhol drummer Sunny Jain, the nine piece (comprised of dhol ((double-sided barrel shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder)) drumset, percussion, a sousaphone, and 5 horns) melds the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with a host of sounds, namely funk, go-go, latin, and jazz. Simply put, Sunny Jain and Red Baraat have created and defined a sound entirely their own.

It’s a sound so powerful it has left the band in its own utterly unique and enviable class. These days you are as likely to find Red Baraat throwing down at an overheated and unannounced warehouse party in their Brooklyn neighborhood as you are at Lincoln Center. Or the Montreal Jazz Festival. Or the Barbican. It’s a band unquestionably on the ascent playing some of the most prestigious festivals and theatres worldwide, and keeping their chops razor sharp in basements and sweaty sold out clubs across New York City. Leading an audience as diverse and joyful as the band itself, Red Baraat has subsumed a plateful of global influence, fused it, and is now exporting it Brooklyn-style to the world.

The group's most recent release, BOOTLEG BHANGRA, is the band’s incredibly powerful live show captured at Brooklyn’s Southpaw on the band’s second anniversary. With songs pulled primarily from their debut album, CHAAL BABY, the group was mindful of the challenge to capture a rapturous live sound on record. Well, it happened on this night, and the resulting document places you squarely in that small Brooklyn club jammed from front to back with hip shaking beauties - hands raised to a ceiling dripping with condensation. The band is currently at work on their 2nd studio date, SHRUGGY JI, which should see release in early 2012.

Most recently, the title track, Chaal Baby, is being used as the background music for the promo ads for the hit FX TV show, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. After the group’s performance at the 2011 globalFEST, Red Baraat was a top pick favorite and featured on PRI’s The World, NPR’s All Songs Considered, New York Times, The Village Voice and Mother Jones magazine. The group's debut CD, CHAAL BABY (Sinj Records) was voted by several music critics as a top world and jazz release of 2010. Since their inception in October 2008, Red Baraat has delivered blistering performances at globalFEST, Montreal Jazz Festival, Sunfest, Festival De Louisiane, Quebec City Summer Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Madison World Music Festival, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz Festival (Finland), Molde Jazz Festival (Norway) and Chicago Folks & Roots Festival, among many others. Red Baraat appeared on John Schaefer's Soundcheck WNYC-FM 93.9, an NPR affiliate, in which they were picked as a top live radio performance of 2009. They also recorded the credit roll theme song for the movie, The Yes Men Fix the World and performed for the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (NYC) for Ports 1961 runway models. Red Baraat has been featured in National Geographic, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Relix and Songlines, among many others.

where deco meets disco meets decon

Jamaladeen Tacuma, G. Calvin Weston, Bern Nix, Anthony Coleman, Marc Ribot: 5 professional, harmolodic noise improvisers with an uncommon love of Philly soul and hard groove. Forever young, forever Philadelphian, forever fixated on the moment before dance went digital. Stuck in the groove like a scratch in your favorite record. Ladies and Gentlemen…the hardest working men in punk/funk/soul/noise: The Young Philadelphians!!!

The Young Philadelphians pays tribute to twin legacies: The mind-blowing harmolodic punk-funk of Ornette Coleman's first Prime Time band and the sweet, optimistic pulse of 1970s Philly Soul. Ribot enlists bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drummer G. Calvin Weston, both Prime Time alumni and Philadelphia natives, adding guitarist Bern Nix also of Prime Time and keyboardist Anthony Coleman to do the job. And the name? "Ever see that movie with Paul Newman?" Ribot asks. "It's about these rich young lawyers from Philly. We had a good laugh about that. You should hear our version of 'Fly Robin Fly.'"

Jessica Lurie Ensemble:
Jessica Lurie - sax/flute/voice,
Will Bernard - guitar,
Erik Deutsch - piano,
Chris Lightcap -bass,
Allison Miller - drums

NYC-based instrumentalist Jessica Lurie performs on saxophones, flute and voice. Moving to the east coast from Seattle, and touring around the globe, she is well known for her creative mixing of funk, jazz, balkan and klezmer music with an avant-garde approach. "Her ensemble shifts among funk, jazz, folk and ethnic melodies reminiscent of klezmer-jazz and Balkan-jazz hybrids by artists like Steve Bernstein (and) the winding, angular grooves of Tim Berne." (JAZZIZ) Jessica is a founding member and lead composer for the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet, Living Daylights trio and La Buya.

Jessica has performed and recorded with artists such as Bill Frisell, The Indigo Girls, Mark Ribot, Karl Denson, Frank London, Vinicio Caposella, Skerik, Nels Cline, Kenny Wolleson, Bernie Worrell and Ivan Neville, and created twelve multi-media works for live music, painting and video with visual artist Danijel Zezelj. The JLE has been featured at festival worldwide such as: Vienna Klezmore Festival, SXSW, Zagreb Animateka, Pisa Instabile, Motovun Film Festival, Babel Arts, Earwing No Jazz, JVC Jazz Festival, CMJ, Bumbershoot International Music Festival, Earshot Jazz, and Jazzmiele and jazz documentary Icons Among Us.

She will be having a NYC pre-release show with the Jessica Lurie Ensemble celebrating her 5th release as a leader with her new CD MEGAPHONE HEART at 92Y Tribeca on Feb. 18, 2012. The 10 song recording is co-produced by bassist Todd Sickafoose, and features Brandon Seabrook on guitar and banjo, Erik Deutsch on all things piano-like, Allison Miller on drums, and Todd also on acoustic bass, with special guest cellist Marika Hughes. www.jessicalurie.com

Photo by Petra Cvelbar