Fieldwork
GO TO OFFICIAL FIELDWORK SITE
Expect cascades of polyrhythms that splinter
hither and yon and exceptionally long and
dazzling melodic lines that seem limitless in
invention.
- Greg Tate,
Village Voice
FIELDWORK is a collective trio that"s unlike anything you"ve ever heard, comprising three of the creative jazz world"s admired young players -- Vijay Iyer on piano, Steve Lehman on alto saxophone, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. They have each collaborated with some of the pioneers of creative music: Sorey with Butch Morris, Steve Coleman and Henry Threadgill; Iyer with Coleman, Morris, Roscoe Mitchell and Wadada Leo Smith; Lehman with Andrew Hill and Anthony Braxton. Within Fieldwork they impel each other into new avenues of ensemble playing, using composed rhythmic material as seeds for extended collaborative exploration. Fieldwork is a band, using the organizational model of the rock band as a basis to explore 21st-century creative music. The result resembles urban folk music from an imaginary civilization.
Your Life Flashes, the trio"s intense, complex, spontaneous, and dark debut album (with previous Fieldwork saxophonist Aaron Stewart and drummer Elliot Kavee), was released in 2002 on
Pi Recordings to rave reviews. Their electrifying follow-up,
Simulated Progress, featuring Iyer, Lehman, and Kavee and mixed by noted hip-hop & rock producer Scotty Hard, comes out on Pi in 2005.
...an exuberant new trio... funnels influences from every continent into an organic and sophisticated blast of jazz expressionism. - Simon Rentner,
Digital City
They make intense, twisting music, precise here and free-floating
there; it"s an interesting balancing act.
- Ben Ratliff,
The New York Times
...they believe real answers can"t be found while sitting behind a desk following protocol... [they] look in while heading out, and the fractured freedom swing that"s their stock-in-trade becomes all the more compelling due to such two-way vision. Their forthcoming debut disc was recorded to stress earthiness and warmth. It makes all their hyperactive hubbub that much more compelling.
- Jim Macnie,
Village Voice
Composer-improvisor
VIJAY IYER "has quickly established himself as one of the most accomplished and original pianists to come along in years" (Gary Giddins, The Village Voice). The son of Indian immigrants, Iyer draws from African, Asian, and European musical lineages to create works that are both emotionally expressive and structurally sophisticated. His five universally acclaimed discs as a leader include "Panoptic Modes", "Blood Sutra", and most recently his widely praised collaboration with poet/hip-hop artist Mike Ladd, entitled "In What Language?". Iyer has performed extensively around the world, with his projects andcollaborations (Vijay Iyer Quartet, Fieldwork, Raw Materials) and as a featured performer with artists such as Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Amiri Baraka, Butch Morris, kotoist Miya Masaoka, trombonist George Lewis, theater artist Will Power, and improvising army Burnt Sugar. Iyer received the prestigious 2003 CalArts Alpert Award in the Arts and was voted 2004 Up & Coming Musician of the Year in the 8th Annual Jazz Awards.
STEVE LEHMAN is one of the fastest rising saxophonists in New York City"s creative music scene. A former student of Jackie McLean and Anthony Braxton, Steve has collaborated with such seminal artists as Eddie Henderson, William Parker, Roy Campbell, Andrew Hill, Nasheet Waits, Anthony Braxton, The Oliver Lake Big Band, Jay Hoggard, Steve Davis (Chick Corea), Mark Dresser, Drew Gress, Mark Helias, Jimmy Greene, Mark Shim, Pheeroan akLaff and Michele Rosewoman. His latest ensembles include the Interface Trio w/Mark Dresser and Pheeroan akLaff, and a quintet with rotating members that include Drew Gress, Mark Shim, Eric McPherson, Chris Dingman and Tyshawn Sorey. As a composer Lehman has written pieces for large orchestra and chamber ensembles which have been performed by the Furious Ensemble, the Janacek Philharmonic, Marilyn Nonken, and members of Ensemble Sospeso, among others. He has received grants from the World Music Institute, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, the Ostrava New Music Days Festival and the prestigious Fulbright Grant. Beginning in the Fall of 2002, Lehman joined the faculty at the Paris Conservatory where he taught an undergraduate course on current trends in improvised music.This year, two new recordings of Lehman"s original music have been released: Interface (Clean Feed) with Mark Dresser and Pheeroan akLaff, and Artificial Light (Fresh Sound New Talent) with Mark Shim, Eric McPherson, Drew Gress and Chris Dingman.
Composer/multi-instrumentalist
TYSHAWN SOREY (b. 1980) has led a career that continues to flourish in the jazz/creative music scene of New York and Europe. He is on three recordings as a sideman, and he has prepared works for solo piano and various ensembles of his own which premiered in October 2004. He is also a member of Dave Douglas" Ensemble, NOMAD as well as Steve Coleman & Five Elements. Tyshawn has collaborated/performed with several of the leading lights in the jazz/contemporary music scene, including the New Jersey New Music Ensemble, Vijay Iyer (quartet 2002-2003), Michele Rosewoman, Max Roach, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman, Christophe Schweizer, Sirone, Henry Threadgill, Mark Shim, George Colligan, Anthony Braxton, Werner Klausnitzer, Steve Coleman, Robin Kenyatta, Steve Lehman, James Moody, Billy Bang, Oscar Noriega, Steve Wilson, George Garzone, Russ Lossing, and Charles Gayle, among many others.