Live From Blue Lake: The Respect Sextet

[Lazaro Vega]

The Respect Sextet presents powerful solo improvisations amid a unique blend of improvised and composed ensemble styles live on Blue Lake Public Radio this Wednesday, August 30th at 10 p.m. edt. The jazz performance streams live from www.bluelake.org and broadcasts regionally over WBLV FM 90.3 / WBLU FM 88.9, Grand Rapids. For information please write radio@bluelake.org.

Exciting, one of a kind music and interviews on the electric medium it was meant for: radio.

The Rochester based Respect Sextet’s trip to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in the Manistee National Forest is to promote their public concert Saturday, September 2nd at Space vs. Time, 470 Market Ave SW (Between Wealthy and Godfrey) Grand Rapids at 8:30 p.m. $8. Contact Space vs Time by phone: 616-901-9717, or e-mail: yoroc111@aol.com.

These Michigan performances are part of a larger tour, details of which are found at www.respectsextet.com.

From their web site:

Formed in 2001, the Respect Sextet is a powerhouse ensemble dedicated to performing a variety of improvisational musics, including free improvisations, original compositions, free jazz classics, Bulgarian tunes, text pieces, jazz standards, and game pieces. Seemingly disparate strands are held together by Respect's explosive energy, outstanding musicianship, and rare telepathy, honed by two years of weekly performances at a Rochester coffeehouse. The feeling that at any moment anything can happen and an overarching joie de vivre pervade Respect performances.

The group comprises Josh Rutner (reeds, radio), Eli Asher (trumpet), James Hirschfeld (trombone), Malcolm Kirby (bass), Ted Poor (drums) and Red Wierenga (piano, accordion). After releasing two limited-edition (now-sold-out) CD-Rs, (respect.) and (respectacle.), and a mini-CD-R, (respookt.), Respect made its official studio debut with “The Full Respect,” released to rave reviews in August, 2003. Cadence Magazine called it "an impressive debut" and about it NewMusicBox.org said:

Throwing this disc into your CD player feels like walking into a really great party, a room full of beautiful, laughing people. And like a good party, by the end of the record, you are left pleasantly dizzy and exhausted.

The Full Respect was also named #3 Jazz CD of the Year by WGMC, and music from the CD was featured in the short film Who's Your Daddy?, an official selection at Sundance 2004.

Coming on the heels of this success, in January, 2005, Respect released “Respect In You,” a free-wheeling live recording featuring guest bassist Matt Clohesy. Nate Dorward wrote in Cadence Magazine,

“Respect In You is one of this year’s outstanding new discs, providing more food for thought and pure enjoyment than just about anything I’ve heard lately.”

The Respect Sextet, through its eclecticism, its devotion to improvisation, its predilection towards swing, and its use of toys and "little instruments," has drawn comparisons both to New Dutch Swing and to the AACM. Indeed, many dialectics are at work (or play) in Respect's music, in which the serious, heady, and intellectual mingles with the light, comic, and absurd, where compositions alternate with improvisations, and where tight ensemble work coexists with loose, empathic interplay.

Please join the Respect Sextet with host Lazaro Vega and engineer Steve Albert, Wednesday, August 30th at 10 p.m. edt over www.bluelake.org .

[Lazaro Vega]

Up for tonight.