CARNIVAL SKIN

Acclaimed Performers at the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival

Producing a cutting edge, high energy art form, CARNIVAL SKIN explores original melodic themes and rhythms found not only in the traditions of free jazz and contemporary improvisation but also in the new complexity of modern composition. The band’s philosophy is based on paradoxes and extremes being a necessity in order to achieve balance. The variety of their work discovers contrasts in the weight of sound. CARNIVAL SKIN digs into a place where people live not out of necessity but because they want to be part of a future that invites surprise and welcomes spontaneity.

 Carnival Skin CD $15.00 CARNIVAL SKIN (NEMU 003)
(April 2006)
Bruce Eisenbeil (guitar)
Perry Robinson (clarinet)
Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet)
Hilliard Greene (double bass)
Klaus Kugel (drums)
 Tracks:

  1. Journey to Strange
  2. Monster
  3. Iono
  4. Bobosong
  5. Diagonal People
  6. Carnival Skin






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Critical Acclaim for Carnival Skin

Top 10 new releases in 2007 ~ Time Out NY, Hank Shteamer

2006 WNUR Top 50 Records DJ Picks and

2006 WNUR Top 50 Albums – Based on Airplay

“Acclaimed Performers at the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival”, “Sculpted sounds combine and collide in unique ways.” ~ Montreal Gazzette

“The members of Carnival Skin have created more than an impression of contemporary modernism but an indelible imprint that marks our conscious and subliminal minds.” ~ Margot Elizabeth Meyers, Jazz Improv Magazine, Winter 2006

“Carnival Skin is an excellent date, a canvas of subtly rare palette among many adept monochromes. It’s well worth seeking out.” ~ Bagatellen

“The musicians are all completely taken by their roles of disintegrators of nostalgia.” ~ Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes

“That such disparate backgrounds should interlock so completely is a tribute both to the players and the material.” ~ Ken Waxman, MusicWorks Issue #96

“Boundless energy and imagination” ~ Ed Hazell, Signal To Noise

“Scrupulously brokered group democracy” ~ The Wire

“Freedom of thought segueing into structure, and craftsmanship . . . a refreshing perspective on the current state of modern jazz” ~ Glenn Astarita, EJAZZNEWS.com

“Sharp-toothed collective improvisation” ~ All About Jazz.com

“The most creative music that I have recently heard.” ~ Dr. Ana Isabel Ordonez, JazzReview.com

“Extraordinary downtown all-star quintet” ~ Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

“Carnival Skin blurs the lines between free jazz, improvisation, and modern composition.” ~ Baltimore City paper

“Huge sounds in close quarters.”~ NY Press

“Music of rare quality . . .The feeling of doing something fresh creates a special atmosphere in this session.” ~ Music Boom

PERRY ROBINSON – clarinet

World renowned clarinetist, Perry Robinson, son of folk composer Earl Robinson, has made many records over the years. His debut, Funk Dumpling, has been recently reissued on Savoy records. Originally recorded in 1962, it features Kenny Barron, Paul Motian and Perry’s legendary mentor, bassist and composer, Henry Grimes. Also recently reissued on CD is Perry’s classic collaboration with Nana Vasconcelos and Badal Roy entitled Kundalini. Charlie Haden’s debut recording of his Liberation Music Ensemble , originally released in 1973 for MCA/Impulse, also finds Perry in the mix. Most recently, Perry can be heard on CD’s with his own quartet on West Wind Records (Nightmare Island) and Call To The Stars and with Burton Greene’s Klezmokum, a Klezmer/jazz group based in Amsterdam. Perry Robinson was continually a top contender in the annual Down Beat International Critics Poll throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, placing first in the Talent Deserving Wider Recognition category a total of six times. A small list of musicians Perry Robinson has collaborated with includes: Annette Peacock, Archie Shepp, Barry Altschul , Bill Dixon, Carla Bley, Charlie Haden , David Baker, Dewey Redman, Don Cherry , ‘Gato’ Barbieri , Grachan Moncur III, Gunther Schuller, Henry Grimes, Howard Johnson, Jimmy Lyons, Kenny Barron, Kent Carter, Makanda Ken McIntyre, Michael Mantler, Paul Bley, Paul Motian , Robin Kenyatta, Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy, Steve Swallow, Tommy Turrentine, William Parker and far too many more to list.

PETER EVANS – trumpet, piccolo trumpet, slide trumpet

Peter Evans is an American trumpet player based in New York,who specializes in improvisation and avant-garde music. Evans has been a member of the New York City musical community since 2003, when he moved to the city after graduating from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music. “Carnval Skin” is his debut recording. Peter currently works in a wide variety of areas, including solo performance, chamber orchestras, performance art, free improvised settings, electro acoustic music and composition. In addition, he performs regularly as part of the Festival of New Trumpet Music, which is held annually in New York City. Evans has toured throughout the United States, Canada, Italy, and England. His solo trumpet album, More Is More was released on Evan Parker’s psi label in 2006, and his debut album as a leader, titled simply The Peter Evans Quartet, was released in 2007. He performs often with his quartet, Moppa Elliot’s quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing, the Histrionics, the free-jazz quintet Carnival Skin (with Bruce Eisenbeil, Klaus Kugel, Perry Robinson and Hilliard Greene), the Language Of with Charles Evans, the “Christmas Duo” with trombonist Sam Kulik, as well as a sustained interest in solo performance. In New York, Peter also performs contemporary notated music with groups such as the International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Continuum, and Ensemble 21. He has continued to perform on piccolo trumpet in Baroque settings, performing Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 at the Bargemusic series, and in Bach’s Mass in B Minor at St. Peter’s Church. Other recent collaborators include: Mary Halvorson, Tim Dahl, Dave Taylor, Mark Gould, Perry Robinson, Fred Frith, Brian Chase (drummer for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Nate Wooley, Zach Hill (drummer for Hella), Stefan Tcherepnin, Chris McCintyre, Dave Reminick, Ned Rothenberg, Okkyung Lee, Briggan Krauss, Chris Speed, Weasel Walter, and Andrew Drury.

HILLIARD GREENE – double bass

Hilliard Greene has been studying music for more than 30 years and has been playing professionally over twenty. His emphasis is in classical, jazz, rock, blues, R&B as well as the music of other continents and US regions. Currently he is concentrating on solo performance.
Greene studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Northern Iowa. He continues to train privately in workshops for both children and adults. Greene performs widely in the New York City area in recitals, nightclubs, and recordings, and on television and radio programs. He has appeared in major cities throughout the United and South America. Greene has performed and/or recorded with Jimmy Scott, serving as his Musical Director and with Cecil Taylor where he was Concert Master for his group “Phtongos”. He has also worked with Gloria Lynne, Jacky Terrasson, The Inkspots, Rashied Ali, Leroy Jenkins, Jimmy Ponder, Eddie Gladden, Vanessa Rubin, Yoron Israel, Cindy Blackman, Electric Symphony, Charles Gayle, Jack Walrath, Don Pullen, Dave Douglas, Bobby Watson, Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen and The Jazz Expressions.