Oran Etkin Trio

13 Front Street,Frenchtown NJ 08825

11 June, 2022

Description

High-spirited Israeli jazz/world clarinetist Oran Etkin and his Trio, featuring master kora player Yacouba Sissiko, will heat up Frenchtown ArtYard and the Frenchtown Bookshop are excited to announce that internationally acclaimed jazz/world artist Oran Etkin returns to Frenchtown with his Trio, featuring master kora player Yacouba Sissiko, as part of the Concerts at ArtYard series. The Oran Etkin Trio featuring Yacouba Sissoko will play the 162-seat McDonnell Theater at 8 PM on Saturday, June 11. The following day, Etkin will return with Timbalooloo, a music education program, for an outdoor children’s performance. Oran Etkin’s intense musical passions on the clarinet, bass-clarinet, and saxophone cross cultural and generational boundaries. As an example, his album “Gathering Light” includes Louis Armstrong’s “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” a Japanese lullaby, an Israeli ballad Etkin learned from his father, West African grooves, and a funky original. It’s no wonder the New York Times (Nate Chinen) said that he “makes mobility seem as natural as breathing.” Etkin has been described as "ebullient" by the New York Times and "composer of eminent individuality" by jazz saxophone great Yusef Lateef. Etkin's duo concert with Sullivan Fortner in Paris was chosen as one of the top six musical highlights of the year by Libération, which described it as "a concert of weightlessness, class, spark, inspiration and sharing. Magic uninterrupted for two hours. The crowd... went wild. For such is the music of Etkin: sensitive to the exchange with the audience.” Etkin performed last fall in Frenchtown at ArtYard’s inaugural Aqualumina Festival alongside Brian Sanders’ JUNK in a site-specific outdoor dance performance illuminating refugee narratives and kindling light in a time of darkness and displacement. Etkin’s expressive clarinet led festival-goers on a journey along the Frenchtown Rail Trail as he played in the woods and banks of a creek. The concert will feature Malian kora player Yacouba Sissoko. The kora is a harp-like 21-stringed instrument often featured in West African music. Sissoko has performed with Harry Belafonte, Paul Simon, and Leni Stern, as well as a host of well-known African musicians. With his own band, He has performed in venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center to the Monterey Jazz Festival. Proof of vaccination from Covid-19, valid identification, and masks are required for this performance. About Oran EtkinOran Etkin has been described as "ebullient" by the New York Times and "composer of eminent individuality" by Yusef Lateef. He was voted No. 1 Rising Star Clarinetist in DownBeat Magazine's 2016 Critics Poll and has been invited several times to Harvard University as a guest lecturer. Etkin's music can be heard on concert stages worldwide and numerous recordings including a Grammy Award Winning anti-bullying compilation album. Etkin's duo concert with Sullivan Fortner in Paris was chosen as one of the top six musical highlights of the year by Libération, which described it as "a concert of weightlessness, class, spark, inspiration and sharing. Magic uninterrupted for two hours. The crowd... went wild. For such is the music of Etkin: sensitive to the exchange with the audience.” Etkin's unique sound on the clarinet, bass-clarinet, and saxophone emanates from an openness to deep musical connections that often transcend cultural and generational boundaries. Etkin began reimagining how touring can become part of the creative process with his Gathering Light project. Flipping the traditional record-then-tour model, he first toured in Indonesia, China, Japan, Israel, and West Africa and then let the rhythms and melodies he encountered influence the music he created with his New York based band of Nasheet Waits, Ben Allison, Lionel Loueke and Curtis Folks. Since then, he has only deepened his concept of gathering light as he tours -- taking time off between shows to live with traditional mbira masters in Zimbabwe and building collaborative projects with Roma (Gypsy) musicians in Czech Republic. In April 2020 Etkin launched the Open Arms project -- a monthly release of singles and music videos recorded and filmed around the world with master musicians in Rio de Janeiro, Harrare Zimbabwe, Prague, São Paulo, Paris, and more. Last fall he released a similar project for children, called Finding Friends Far From Home, also filmed and recorded on location around the world. Etkin's deep passion for music was nurtured from an early age by both formal training and informal mentorship by his elders. By the age of 9, Etkin was playing piano, guitar, violin, and saxophone. After falling in love with the music of Louis Armstrong, Etkin's parents took him to visit New Orleans where the legendary Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen briefly took the young Etkin under his wing. He continued his studies with jazz saxophone greats such as George Garzone, Dave Liebman and Yusef Lateef, symphonic clarinetists such as Charles Neidich and Tom Martin and traditional griot musicians from West Africa. He received his Masters in music from Manhattan School of Music. Now as a touring musician Etkin continues to collaborate with great musicians from many cultures, experiencing firsthand how in every society, the true power of music lies not just in the individual's pursuit of technical mastery but in the joyful and soulful creation of community. Concerts at ArtYardThe concerts are part of the opening season of programming at the McDonnell Theater, the heart of ArtYard’s new building at 13 Front St., a welcoming communal resource and vessel channeling the power of art to unsettle, engage, bridge divides, and spark unexpected moments of arresting beauty. The 162-seat theater has state-of-the-art projection, lighting, and surround sound and will be the site of music, film screenings, dance, theatre, artist talks, and more. Music at ArtYard is curated by Scott Sheldon, co-owner of the Frenchtown Bookshop and the former presenter of The Sanctuary Concerts in Chatham. Over 15 years, Scott presented more than 300 concerts, including Judy Collins, Suzanne Vega, Marc Cohn, Rosanne Cash, Jimmy Webb, the Roches, Janis Ian, Josh Ritter, and Nick Lowe. For more information and tickets, please visit www.artyard.org.