Avi Granite's Verse - Snow Umbrellas

[GA Russell]

This looks like it might be interesting. Any of you New Yorkers familiar with the musicians? Cover + CD for $15 sounds like a great deal.

AVI GRANITE PRESENTS HIS LATEST RELEASE AS A LEADER

SNOW UMBRELLAS

BY

AVI GRANITEʼS VERSE

featuring

Avi Granite

Ralph Alessi

Jerry DeVore

Owen Howard

AVAILABLE NOW ON ITUNES AND CD BABY

RECORD RELEASE SHOW

MAY 17, 2012; 8 PM at 5C, New York City

New York, May 10, 2012 - Canadian-born Avi Granite is a young guitarist, composer, improviser and educator who has already performed extensively across North America and Europe. He was a grant recipient from the Canada Council for the Arts and awarded with a composition residency at Banff Centre for the Arts. Granite was invited to be part of the Rising Stars series at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and has written various compositions for feature films. He possesses a prestigious New York University master's degree in music performance, and held an adjunct position on the faculty. Granite has released two CDs to critical acclaim. The multi-talented Brooklyn resident continues to explore new horizons.

Avi Granite, who counts among his influences John Scofield and Joe Lovano, established Avi Granite's Verse. It's a New York quartet performing new compositions, and features Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Jerry DeVore on bass and Owen Howard on drums. Its debut CD, and Granite's third as a leader, is Snow Umbrellas.

Snow Umbrellas is a modern audio-film referencing many scenes from Granite's life over the past few years. He describes his music as a conscious effort to communicate with the audience, while engaging his musicians in a challenging way. "To me it's the continuation of the evolving quality of the jazz tradition," says Granite. "We are improvising on written material, sometimes in more traditional ways, sometimes in very modern ways. The variety and spur of the moment element in the project is what allows the audience in. They can hear us communicating and reacting to each other. I believe the audience has a pallet for this music - as free as some of it may be, if you listen, you'll get it."

Snow Umbrellas evidences Granite's substantial growth as an artist and his ongoing determination to fine-tune his artistic ideas. He also runs a record label called Pet Mantis Records.

www.avigranite.com

TRACK TITLES

1. O Blues

2. Y Not

3. Mortetia

4. Like John

5. Charlie's Shorts

6. Wayne Winks at the Radio

7. Four for 4

8. Trycicle Dreams

9. Barnacles

HOW TO GET THERE

Take the F or V to 2nd Ave / Lower East Side, exit at 1st Ave / Houston Street,

walk east to Ave C and up 5 blocks to 5th Street and Avenue C.

http://5cculturalcenter.org/index.html

[GA Russell]

This arrived in the mail yesterday. It's a very peaceful avante garde album! Although free jazz is not my cup of tea, I enjoy this, and I expect I will play it often over the next couple of weeks.

I can definitely recommend to those of you in New York to go to the show Thursday and pick up a copy. Cover + cd for 15 bucks is a real bargain.