Ars Nova Workshop
presents
Steve Lehman Trio
Record Release Celebration
Steve Lehman, saxophones
Chris Tordini, bass
Damion Reed, drums

Ars Nova Workshop presents the first Philadelphia concert by the Steve Lehman Trio since 2009, and Lehman's first local appearance since ANW's three-night Composer Portrait: Fieldwork series in March, 2011. Tonight is a Record Release Celebration for the trio's Pi Recordings CD, Dialect Fluorescent.
“A breathtaking accomplishment, a blast of urban futurism at once hypnotic, kinetic and kaleidoscopic,” The New York Times writes about saxophonist-composer Steven Lehman's 2009 Octet LP, Travail, Transformation and Flow. The extraordinary album, which ranked high on many year-end-lists, explores Lehman's interests in both jazz and spectralism—a composing practice that emerged in the 1970s with composers such as Tristan Murail, with whom Lehman is currently studying at a Columbia University doctoral program.
“Unlike many jazz-identified artists who have pursued formal composition as a distinguished sideline,” writes The New York Times about the Fieldwork saxophonist's singular merging of jazz and modern composition, “Mr. Lehman proposes a risky but intriguing syncretism.” Whether working with artists like Anthony Braxton and Vijay Iyer, or with the Janacek Philharmonic, JACK Quartet or the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Lehman blurs the lines between worlds and consistently offers a unique musical vision, making him one of the most forward-thinking young composers today.
Tonight, his trio with bassist Chris Tordini—who's worked with Ari Hoenig and Tyshawn Sorey—and drummer Damion Reid—who's worked with Reggie Workman and Rudresh Mahanthappa—perform Lehman's highly original, demanding, diverse and intricate compositions. They are celebrating the release of their new Pi Recordings album, Dialect Fluorescent.

Admission is FREE