Solo Electric Organ Music at Halyards Monday March 20th

I'll be performing some new music written for the Yamaha YC-30 Electric Organ + electronics and drum machine this Sunday at Halyards, a cozy bar in Gowanus with a music room. I'm excited to be joined by Jason Nazary who will be presenting new music for solo drums and synthesizers at 8pm, and extra excited for the live visual art projections by Jacob McCoy which will accompany the music.

Monday March 20th at 8pm

Halyards (406 3rd Ave, Brooklyn)

8pm Jason Nazary - Drums and Synthesizer

9pm JP Schlegelmilch - YC-30 Electric Organ and Electronics

Live visual art projections by Jacob McCoy

Solo show at the Lily Pad tomorrow

I'll be heading to Cambridge, MA tomorrow to play a solo set at the Lily Pad. I'll be sharing the bill with two great singer-songwriters, Abby Payne and Erik White. I'll be playing some new music for piano and electronics. I've been exploring playing piano along with loops of electronic sounds and pre-recorded samples, getting into some real mad scientist territory. The show info is here.

Throughout CD Release Show at Cornelia St Cafe!

I sincerely hope you can join me tomorrow night to celebrate the release of my first solo piano CD, Throughout: The Music of Bill Frisell. I recorded the music over a year ago and it's finally out this month on the SteepleChase LookOut label. It's been interesting to revisit this material after such a long time away. I'm playing things a lot differently now, and hopefully better, too.

Thursday, March 28th at 10pm
Cornelia St Cafe
$20 cover (includes a drink)

Time Out NY says:

"Progressive-jazz pianist JP Schlegelmilch celebrates Throughout, a warm and elegant new solo effort devoted to the works of guitarist Bill Frisell."

You can hear some clips of the music and read about the concept of the recording here.

If you can't make the show, Throughout is now available on Amazon and ITunes!

Triple Bill at I Beam

Last Friday was a really fun night of music at I Beam. First up was Vavatican, performing as a trio with Owen Stewart-Robinson, Nathaniel Morgan, and Weston Minisalli. I see this group as part of a continuum of composers/improvisors in Brooklyn that is starting to coalesce into a movement of sorts. The compositions incorporate free improvisation often using extended instrumental techniques, but in a very calculated, compositional way that reminds me of early AACM music. The thing that really makes this music a different kind of experience is the use of spoken texts in the pieces. The other bands who are working in this kind of area are Buckminster, and This Sporting Life, whose performances are part avant-chamber-improv and part surrealist theatre.



Next up was pianist/accordionist/composer Mariel Berger leading a new group playing all new compositions, featuring Martin Urbach, Will McEvoy, and Nathaniel Morgan. The music had a very ambitious scope, and all the pieces made a journey through diverse and complex musical material. But there was also a very organic development to the music, and Mariel told me after the performance that she had composed the music without writing anything down until she could hold the entire piece in her memory. Everyone in the band played great and showed a real commitment to realizing the music.




Then I played a set of solo piano, focusing on the music of guitarist and composer Bill Frisell. I've been exploring this repertoire for a few months now and I've really been enjoying the process of re-imagining this music for piano. Bill Frisell is one of my favorite musicians, and has been a big influence on my composing. I find playing solo to be a formidable challenge, but I feel like I've learned a lot in the few gigs that I've done. My head got cut off in this video, oops...

Bolivia Tour Photo Essay

We are fortunate that the violinist in our band, Erika Kapin, is also a skilled photographer and took many wonderful photos on our tour. I also just got some pictures of some of the shows we played, taken by people from the Bolivian embassy.



This was a concert we played at the Portales Palace in Cochabamba. It was built by a "tin baron" in the early 1900's and is now a cultural center. It was pretty amazing playing in such a luxurious atmosphere.



These are from a concert we did at the Grand Hotel in Cochabamba. This was the biggest show we did, there were about 400 people there! The audiences at all these concerts were awesome. So attentive and appreciative.



Our fearless leader and Bolivian star-child Martin Urbach on drums.



Javier Moreno Sanchez, playing all manner of basses on this trip. He was also Kenny's Spanish tutor...



Erika Kapin on violin, who made it out of Bolivia with her vegetarianism intact!



Kenny Warren on trumpet, who was becoming impressively fluent in Spanish!



Me.



This is us playing at an orphanage in Santa Cruz. Definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of the trip.