BURNT SUGAR THE ARKESTRA CHAMBER

Making Love To The Dark Ages
LWM-1002

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Free Sampler 2009
LWM-S1

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jared@burntsugarindex.com

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Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber turns music inside out. Bandleader Greg Tate “plays the band” using a technique called conduction, which gets its name from the field of physics, and which was developed by jazz conductor Butch Morris. In Tate’s hands, Burnt Sugar combines sounds together with a funky twist, snagging idiomatic metaphors from film editing techniques and hip-hop culture. When the band plays live, they often do so with little more than a concept or melody in mind, drawing upon the moods and energy in the room, ending in a one-time composition that could not have been predicted nor repeated. 

Conduction is a series of gestures, baton twirls, eye contact, and facial expressions that are used to communicate directions to the band. With these, the bandleader can change the melodic and harmonic structure, repeat a juicy riff by a soloist (and then have the rest of the band repeat the riff as well), or flip the rhythmic undercurrent from hard-hitting funk to a Latin swing, all at the drop of a baton. The sound is so tight, audiences often don’t believe that the piece wasn’t already composed that way. 

“The thing about conduction is a zeitgeist element,” says Tate. “It’s the most democratic music around, because it’s the one format where you can take people who play in any musical tradition, any style, any era, any instrument, any approach, whether acoustic, analog, or digital. People from different backgrounds, or different ethnicities, and you can put them onstage; never met before, never played together before. But as soon as they learn the cues from conduction, they sound fully united.”

Founded by Tate in 1999, Burnt Sugar is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious chops cover a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip-hop spectrum. Anchored by Jason DiMatteo (acoustic bass) and Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bass), the live version of the group can feature as many as 22 players at any one time. The stalwarts tend to include singers Lisala, Karma Mayet Johnson, Chelsea Adewunmi and Jeremiah, with Justice Dilla-X (vocals & effected vocals), Mikel Banks (vocals & freak-a-phone), Derrin Maxwell (mc), Mazz Swift (violin & vocals), Will Martina (cello), André Lassalle (guitar), Ben Tyree (guitar), Asim Barnes (guitar), Thom Loubet (guitar), Lewis “Flip” Barnes Jr. (trumpet), Michael Veal (soprano sax), Micah Gaugh (alto sax), Avram Fefer (tenor sax), “Moist” Paula Henderson (baritone sax), Dave Smith (trombone), Josh Sinton (bass clarinet), Bruce Mack (synthesizer), Myles Reilly (piano), Trevor Holder (drums), Swiss Chris (drums) and Chris Eddleton (drums), as well as occasional special guests like Vernon Reid (guitar), Maya Azucena (vocals) and noted installation artist Satch Hoyt (flute & percussion). The Arkestra Chamber is global like that!

PRESS

Burnt Sugar Reviewed In All About Jazz

By Glen Astarita With structured song forms and hefty doses of improvisation amid translucent harmonic evolvements, [Burnt Sugar] captures some of bandleader Sun Ra's off-kilter large digressions and spacey breakouts.

Burnt Sugar channels David Bowie at the Atrium at Lincoln Center
March 10, 2011 Bar_720_1px

  Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Thursday, March 10, 8:30pm 
David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
Broadway at 62nd Street
FREE

More info on the Lincoln Center website

For this premiere performance they trip on some inner glam and Germanic starchild roots and resurrect the moment in musical history when space oddity David Bowie came under the cybernetic sway of Tony Visconti, Brain Eno, Kraftwerk, and Robert Fripp.

Burnt Sugar and Melvin van Peebles in Paris.
February 5, 2011 Bar_720_1px

  Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber
Saturday, February 5, 8:30pm 
Theatre Romain Rolland
18 rue Eugene Varlin
Villejuif Cedex
18E/11E

More info on the Theatre Romain Rolland website

The Arkestra brings  Burnt Sugar flavored James Brown and Bitches Brew to France as part of the Sons d'hiver festival.  Melvin van Peebles wid Laxative shares the night.

Burnt Sugar late night at the Blue Note
December 5, 2010 Bar_720_1px

  Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber 
Sunday, December 5, 12:30am (early morning)
The Blue Note
131 W. 3rd St
New York, NY
$15

More info on the Blue Note website

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NEWS

"Sounds Like a Revolution" premier at Woodstock Film Festival 2010
October 5, 2010 Bar_720_1px

  Sounds Like a Revolution

Directed by: Summer Love & Jane Michener
Produced by: Summer Love & Jane Michener
Try to catch it if you can!
upcoming screening schedule

Sounds Like a Revolution is a pro-active and energizing documentary about a new generation of activist musicians who are living proof that music is an important and powerful tool in the ongoing struggle for social change. From the Dixie Chicks to Michael Franti to the punk band Anti-Flag, artists across the musical spectrum recount their motivations and struggles in a post-9/11 environment where dissent was silenced and censorship was commonplace. With themes that explore the role of artists in society, freedom of expression and democratic participation Sounds Like a Revolution presents a unique historical perspective behind the new wave of protest music sweeping America and offers new hope for the future.

Featuring artists Michael Franti, Henry Rollins, Natalie Pa'apa'a, Paris, Rage Against The Machine and more...

More info at the Sounds Like a Revolution website

Burnt Sugar-Apollo Theater's 75th Anniversary
October 4, 2010 Bar_720_1px

  Burnt Sugar creates new work for Apollo Theater's 75th anniversary
The Apollo Theater is widely recognized for its prominent role in previewing American culture to the public and has served as a valuable performance venue for quality theatrical productions such as George C. Wolfe’s Harlem Song and Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam. The Salon Series is an innovative series featuring new works by emerging and established artists and is the landmark theater’s on-going venture into alternative programming. The artists and new works to be presented are selected by the Apollo’s Vice President of Programming, Laura Greer.  
More info at Apollo Theater

As part of their 75th Anniversary's events Burnt Sugar has been commissioned to create a new piece of music and re-orchestration of several medley's taken from James Brown's 3 'Live At The Apollo' albums.

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Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber 10th Anniversary
August 8, 2009 Bar_720_1px