Join WRTI jazz host J. Michael Harrison on Friday, April 10 at 10:45 pm for music and conversation with Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Uri Caine and PRISM saxophone quartet's Matt Levy.
They're gearing up for a concert of adventurous new music at World Cafe Live next Thursday, April 16 at 7:30 pm. Building on the artists’ reputations as innovators,LiveConnections has commissioned Caine to write new music for the Quartet that fuses jazz, classical and contemporary styles.
"Although I have played with saxophone players for years," explains Caine, "this is my first opportunity to compose for a saxophone quartet. I jumped at the chance to compose for, and play with, such flexible virtuosos as the PRISM Quartet."
His piece is called The Book of Days and consists of seven pieces, one for each day of the week. Each piece has it’s own musical character - some of the music is loud and dissonant, and some of the music is quiet and still. Some pieces are jazzy and frantic and some are more contemplative. Each piece takes place at a specific time of the day. The music of Monday morning at 8 am is different from Saturday at 10 pm and reflects the different aspects and moods of the day.
Throughout the music, you can hear a conversation between the piano part - which is partly composed and partly improvised - and the saxophone quartet.
PRISM's Matt Levy arranged "Happy Birthday" as a recent birthday present for J. Michael Harrison: