Cosmic Collisions, so named for the astronomical themes of the tracks, is a sparkling set of 13 hard- and post-bop tunes recorded in May with a superb sextet of local musicians (Balbed, pianist Bobby Jasinski, bassist Kris Funn, singer Lena Seikaly, and second drummer Alphonso Young). Being a drummer's record, it's preoccupied with rhythmic aggression and some unexpected shifts—plus at least one jaw-dropping, virtuosic drum feature on the title track. But there's an unquestionable reservoir of melody contained within as well, expressed in original tunes that each member of the band contributed; hence, it's not just a solid debut by a promising young talent, but an important showcase for several of the District's most gifted musicians.

All of which is a good reason to attend Lewis' CD release party for Cosmic Collisions this evening at Twins Jazz, where she will be leading the band from the album (minus Young). Twins is at 1344 U Street NW; admission is $10.

In preparing this week's Jazz Setlist, I dropped a line to guitarist Rodney Richardson, the co-leader and co-mastermind (with trumpeter Joe Herrera) behind Sunday Jazz Lounge at Twins Jazz. Since March, the weekly program presented Herrera and Richarson's quartet along with a solo opener, who usually later joined the quartet onstage. "Who's the soloist this week?" I asked.

"Well, no one," he replied. "The SJL is now defunct."

Richardson and Herrera have been out of town for a month, touring the west coast with The Funk Ark in support of their album From the Rooftops. For the first two weeks, tenor saxophonist Brian Settles filled the Sunday slot at Twins; however, scheduling conflicts for all involved ended the gig.

The Sunday Jazz Lounge was designed specifically for Twins; while it traveled around to substitute venues for a couple months this spring, Richardson says there's no feasible permanent substitute.

While nothing is yet set in stone, says Richardson, "Joe and I are working to continue putting on similar events in the near future." Meantime, Twins has not yet updated their listings to exclude the Sunday Jazz Lounge.

Photo by Allie Carroll

In The Country plays Sunday at House of Sweden and Monday at Twins Jazz.

Jazz from the chilly Nordic countries often sounds different not because of the temperature, but because of education: Nordic musicians are so well-versed in the mechanics of jazz, the history of classical music, modern pop music trends, and experimental sounds that many incorporate it all into a distinctive sound that is specifically Northern, but universally appealing.

The 6th annual Nordic Jazz Festival, which kicks off this week on the heels of the D.C Jazz Festival, will display the diversity of the Nordic sound. A partnership between the embassies of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—along with Twins Jazz—the festival is really made possible by two other events: the Rochester Jazz Festival and the Vancouver Jazz Festival, which bring over these great groups and leads to mini-tours that take advantage of the musicians' time in North America.

Tomorrow, Kuára drops Nordic Jazz’s down beat at the Embassy of Finland. The trio of drummer Markku Ounaskari, pianist Samuli Mikkonen, and trumpeter/vocalist Per Jørgensen (a Norwegian giant) mix Finnish folk songs and Russian Orthodox music for a sound that revels in silence, suggestion, and decay. Kuára’s 2010 ECM album, Psalms and Folk Songs, is so beautiful it will appeal to pagans, Christians and atheists alike. To attend, send your name, affiliation/organization, and e-mail address to wasevents@formin.fi.

Torontoan jazz drummer Harris Eisenstadt is a prolific leader and composer—but almost everything you hear from him is in a completely different musical context from what you heard last. Or at least that's the way it sounds at first. Whether he's doing free jazz, chamber music, or African folk, Eisenstadt says he consistently takes the same approach. Ahead of his performance tonight at Twins with his quintet Canada Day (so named for Eisenstadt's Canadian origins, and because the band's first gig was July 1), he spoke to Arts Desk about his constants and differences, working with his bassoonist wife, and touring a new album.

Washington City Paper: Does the band have a specific concept behind it?

Harris Eisenstadt: Yeah. We just finished our second record [Canada Day II (Songlines)], and we’re working on music for our third record; each book of music is made up of songs. I always conceive of them as songs rather than long-form compositions. There might be several sections, but rather than writing 15 minutes of music with several sections, it’s more like eight pieces that end up making up a record.

WCP: It’s rather an avant-garde sounding group, but you’re saying it’s not a free group, per se.

HE: Yeah, totally. The musicians in the group—particularly saxophonist Matt Bauder, who I’ve been playing with for years now—have interests and backgrounds in music without preconceived structures, in texture-based music rather than based in terms of melody or harmony. But they also have really strong backgrounds in jazz melody and harmony. So the way that they weave those things together is what I love about having them in this context.

Now that’s true for my work, too: I come from playing rock 'n' roll. But I love to play grooves, and I love trying to combine my more adventurous texture-based kind of things with metrics.

WCP: It's interesting to hear that you have this rock background and interest in textures, considering that last year you did an incredible chamber-classical-based album, Woodblock Prints. Do you have backgrounds in all of these types of music?

HE: Well, I think Woodblock Prints is definitely chamber music-inspired, but I don’t know that the music is so different in terms of the music and the writing, just in terms of the instrumental choices. My background in classical music is not deep at all. I played in concert band and stage band, winds ensemble in middle school and the beginning of high school, but I never was really serious about it. But as a composer, I’m increasingly inspired by it. I got into jazz by starting in fusion and going backward; by the same token, I was more inspired at first by 20th century music than by anything before the 20th century. But I have come to really find great inspiration in Renaissance counterpoint, and in Brahms and Ravel. Somehow I found my way to assimilate all these things.

WCP: Do the other members Canada Day play in those other contexts with you?

HE: There’s some overlap for all of us. My bassist, Garth Stevenson, I met him playing in some informal sessions in New York, and he played bass on Woodblock Prints, and that’s how I fell in love with his playing. I have a longer association with everybody else. The vibraphonist, Chris Dingman, and I started playing together in Los Angeles, when he was a student at the Monk Institute and I was living in L.A. about five years ago. We played together in Adam Rudolph’s band, Organic Orchestra.

Nate [Wooley, the trumpeter] and I started playing together when I moved to New York five years ago; I hope I’ll be playing with Nate for a very long time. We have a very nice relationship: I play in his quintet, he plays in Canada Day. He plays in another project of mine, a horns and drums group that’s had different names. The last record we did was called Guewel, an album based on music of traditional African cultures, in 2008. And Matt, I think I started playing with Matt about five years ago, also when I first moved to New York. He’s played with Canada Day the whole time, and also I’ve played in a couple of his things here and there.

WCP: Your wife, Sara Schoenbeck, is a classical bassoonist who’s worked with you on your projects before. How does that shape your approach?

HE: Sara’s got a super, super heavy background in classical music, and got into improvising toward the end of her undergraduate career at the conservatory; she ended up at CalArts and improvising became really central to her life. But she kept her classical and contemporary classical interests; in particular, she’s a champion of contemporary classical bassoon. Where most of us grew up listening to rock music, she grew up in the orchestra.

I think part of what attracted me to her from the beginning is what a badass musician she was. In fact, I know it. So we’ve been together about 10 years, and her musicianship is a constant source of inspiration. It spurred my interest in writing for a chamber music situation. A lot of music I’ve written over the years—I think my second record, Fight or Flight, from 2002, had some chamber music instrumentation along with some creative orchestra stuff. I did a record, The All Seeing Eye, with an octet, with bassoon, clarinet, and bass clarinet instead alto, tenor, and trumpet. Sara’s someone I’ve written for probably more than anybody. We play a lot together.

WCP: Would you ever organize with a single ensemble that can handle the instrumentation and arrangements of all of these contexts? The avant-garde stuff, long form and songs, plus chamber music, and rock, and African traditional?

HE: Yeah. I did something called Ahimsa Orchestra in 2005; I had done earlier incarnations of it in New York, L.A., and the Bay Area for a couple of years. A gig every year or so—it’s hard to get a lot of people together, of course. But I would like to reconvene a large ensemble at some point.

We are doing an octet version of Canada Day at the end of our tour. The last gig we do is in New York and it’s actually an octet featuring trombone, alto saxophone and tuba added to Canada Day. I guess I just can’t resist trying to reconfigure things.

WCP:Will we be hearing the new Canada Day material you’ve been working on in D.C.?

HE: Yes. This is always something that feels weird from a business standpoint: When you’re on a release tour, you’re supposed to get on the mike and say “OK! This next song is from our new record! It’s over there in the corner!” But in fact, we’re going to be playing a whole new book of tunes. Reason being, we’ve played that music for a year and a half; we got it to the point where it was ready to record, and we recorded it. We might play a couple off the record just because they’re great, and we should, and because this is a CD release tour, and the street date is April 12. So there’ll be a sprinkling for sure; I’m sure we’ll play some songs from the record, but mixed in with primarily a bunch of new stuff.

Photo by Peter Gannushkin.

With that in mind, Bormet began talking around Christmastime with Kelly Tesfaye, owner and director of Twins Jazz, about a showcase of the District's female jazz performers. "The D.C. jazz scene can be kind of segregated," Bormet says. "And there are all these great women on the scene, and I wanted to get them together, have them perform together, and see what happened."

The result, scheduled to coincide with Women's History Month in March, is the First Annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival. On Wednesdays in March, Twins will host two sets at 8 and 10 p.m. featuring two women as leaders. "Each woman is in charge of one set," says Bormet, "but each one's set will include the other. Since there are two women on the bill each night their sets are designed to include one another." Scheduling is as follows:

March 2: Melissa Gardiner (trombone); Lena Seikaly (vocals)

March 9: Amy K. Bormet (piano); Karine Chapdelaine (bass)

March 23: Jessica Boykin-Settles (vocals); Leigh Pilzer (baritone and soprano saxophones)

March 30: Christie Dashiell (vocals); Sarah Hughes (alto saxophone)

Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door; however, full-series passes are available for $40, a ludicrously good deal.

This last, it seems, has finally been booked through the month. The schedule:

Mar. 6: Harry Appleman (piano)
Mar. 13: Donvonte McCoy (trumpet)
Mar. 20: Brian Settles (tenor saxophone)
Mar. 27: Lena Seikaly (vocal)

Each Sunday is $5, which essentially means two acts for less than the price of one.

Original Post:
Trumpeter Joe Herrera and guitarist Rodney Richardson are two of DC's most ridiculously busy jazz musicians, each playing more gigs in more bands than can be reasonably listed here. (Among the many, they're both members of Funk Ark, and form two-thirds of the Kevin Pace Trio.) Not for them, though, Sunday's "day of rest" tradition. Instead, Herrera and Richardson have established a unusual new weekly event at U Street's Twins Jazz that they are calling the Sunday Jazz Lounge.

Sunday nights, for two sets at 8 and 10 PM, Herrera and Richarson will lead a quartet at Twins featuring bassist Eric Harper and drummer Dave McDonald, performing an evening Herrera and Richardson's own compositions as well as, in their words, "not-too-often-played selections from the jazz songbook." This much is a fairly conventional evening at the jazz club. They supplement it, however, with something rarely seen at the clubs, or even in larger jazz venues: an opening act.

And a solo one, at that. "Special guest soloists are featured at the beginning of each Sunday evening performance," says Herrera. "One of a rotating cast of talented local musicians will be invited each week to share their music through their instrument with no backing ensemble. This type of intimate presentation allows the listener to engage the musicians on a more personal level." An interesting proposition, indeed — even in the small world and small venues of the DC jazz scene, true solo performances are hard to come by.

The best part? All of this comes with a price tag of $5. Cheap!

Check back here for updated information on the details and forthcoming schedule for the Sunday Jazz Lounge.

Washington City Paper: You started your vocal training as a teenager. Were you trained as a classical singer?

Le Zhang: No. I did sing in a children's choir for almost seven years, and that included a lot of classical music, but I was trained as just a normal pop singer. At that time I really didn't know jazz, but training as I did helped me hear a lot of the masters and practice my voice.

WCP: How did you come to learn jazz?

LZ: I was offered a gig in 2000, when I was 22, at the Hilton Shanghai with a group of jazz musicians. At the beginning I just learned two jazz standards: "(I Love You for) Sentimental Reasons" and "Autumn Leaves." (laughs) I sang it just as I would a pop song, but the general manager of the hotel heard me, and said, "You know, I think you should really learn jazz. I think you would like it." And I said, "OK, then I will try it." Then I started to really learn all these songs, and I was very lucky to work with a lot of great international jazz musicians who taught me a lot about the music, including the repertoire.

WCP: What is the jazz scene like in Shanghai?

LZ: The jazz scene there is one of the best in Asia, except maybe for Japan, and definitely the best in China. We have a lot of national jazz musicians in town, and you can definitely collaborate with a lot of people. A lot of them came from the States—they went to all the really good schools here, or they lived in New York for a while, and they just wanted a change so they went to Asia and to Shanghai. As a musician you get a chances to perform.

WCP: What about your current work, fusing Chinese music with jazz. Is that a substantial movement in Shanghai, or in China in general?

LZ: There are a few different artists that are rearranging Chinese folk songs; in 2004, a producer named John Huie produced an album for EMI Asia called Shanghai Jazz, and it was a very big success in all the Asian countries, because he arranged all the famous 1920s and '30s movie songs in a jazz large ensemble setting. A lot of people really enjoy that; it's just another way to reinterpret all these songs that everybody is familiar with.

WCP: What's unique about your approach?

LZ: Well, first of all, I did my undergrad at the New England Conservatory, which allowed me to study with a lot of really great musicians including Dominique Eade, John McNeil, and Ran Blake. Especially Ran — I was his teaching assistant for two years. NEC gives you a lot of chance to learn not only a lot of jazz, but a lot of contemporary music; and they are not trying so hard to teach you to be a so-called "jazz musician," but to find your own voice as a musician. I think my approach to the folk songs is a little bit different than what you'd hear in China, because I am going a little more avant-garde. Ran Blake is one of my biggest influences there; also I studied with Theo Bleckmann, who has been a real mentor and inspiration.

I also compose my own music, and collaborate with people I met in Boston and New York. Some of the lyrics are old poetry, and some are Buddhist sutras. A lot of different combinations that become something very personal relating to my life and how I feel about music. I just try to hear all the possibilities of being yourself.

WCP: Do you still return regularly to Shanghai?

LZ: Yeah, I go back there at least once a year. I perform a lot — people are curious; they want to hear me. They actually offer me gigs. Although it's funny; when I am in a bar or a club in Shanghai, they usually want me to do jazz standards. But when I'm in a concert, in a hall, then I can choose my favorite musicians to collaborate with and do what I've been doing here.

WCP: If a Chinese person came to your performance at Twins, would he/she hear things that were immediately recognizable as part of China's musical traditions?

LZ: Yes, of course. There are a couple of songs on my CD — "3 Years," "Wandering Singer" — these songs are so famous in Mandarin-speaking countries, in Taiwan and Malaysia as well as China. If a Chinese person came to my gig, they could sing a long with me. (laughs.) And I've experienced that! I don't want to make music that makes people say, "She's only making music for herself."

Once I produce a piece, the first thing I do is ask my parents to listen. If they enjoy it, then I know that it's good. (laughs.) I hate to hear my parents say, "I don't understand! This is too avant-garde for us!" Because I do believe that no matter how academic we can be, at the end of the day it's just sharing feelings. I want to write complicated arrangements, but I never want it to sound so difficult that it distances people.

WCP: Is it more difficult for American audiences to gain a foothold?

LZ: Actually, I find American audiences in general to be very open-minded, and I appreciate that very much. They never try to judge things too quickly. They are very interested in other cultures, and always want to know "OK, what is the meaning? Where does this come from? What is the relationship between this song and that song?" So a little bit of introduction about the piece we are going to play is really appreciated, and they really enjoy it.

Atomic plays what I like to think of as free jazz for prog fans—relatively accessible avant-jazz that revels in stop/start dynamics, abrupt thematic shifts, bizarre time signatures, blazingly intense solos, and the juxtaposition of beautiful melody with raucous dissonance. Despite the near-destruction (twice!) of a borrowed upright bass, the quintet successfully ran through a set of mostly brand-new material last night at Twins Jazz to a good-sized, enthusiastic audience.

More photos after the jump:

D.C. has seen no shortage of interesting fringe music lately, but this week is a particular highlight reel of slightly out-there stuff (especially if you count Andrea Centazzo's solo performance in Baltimore last night). Here are four shows worth checking out to stimulate your ears and brain:

Tonight: Atomic at Twins Jazz. This Swedish/Norwegian five-piece group somehow sold out Twins Jazz in 2007 and proceeded to bring the house down with a uniquely catchy brand of high-energy free jazz. The quintet's music is accessible and melodic enough to appeal to a audience that's broader than just free-improv freaks, and it plays with a heart-pumping intensity that anyone can understand. Worthy of particular note is drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, a prolific avant-jazz drummer who is as fun to watch as he is to hear. Twins Jazz, 1344 U St. NW. Call (202) 234-0072 for set times and ticket price.

Tonight: Alexis Descharmes at La Maison Française. Your other option for tonight is a solo performance by this French cellist, playing a number of contemporary pieces by the likes of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály. Descharmes recorded Saariaho's complete cello works for a definitive 2006 recording, and this is a rare chance to see a live rendition of one of those pieces, "Spins and Spells." La Maison Française, 4101 Reservoir Rd. NW. 7:30 p.m. $20.

Saturday, March 6: Jason Kao Hwang/Edge at Joe's Movement Emporium. Violinist Jason Kao Hwang made a name for himself as one of the few performers bringing distinctly Asian influences into a jazz context. His quartet Edge is unique (its current formation consists of violin, trombone, bass, and percussion) and appealingly melodic, pushing the boundaries of jazz while still remaining solidly within the genre. The group's recordings have showcased Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, but Saturday's show will instead feature Steve Swell, a tremendous talent on trombone. Joe's Movement Emporium, 3309 Bunker Hill Rd., Mt. Rainier, Md. 8 p.m. $15.

Sunday, March 7: National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble at the National Gallery East Wing. This is perhaps the most exciting of this week's events: the debut performance by a brand-new NGA New Music Ensemble. The performers come from a veritable who's-who of modern music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, red fish blue fish, and more. They'll be performing electro-acoustic pieces by Iannis Xenakis, Edgard Varèse, and more, with the performers scattered around the cavernous East Wing atrium. The confluence of avant-garde music and architecture that should make for a memorable experience indeed. National Gallery East Wing, 401 Constitution Ave NW. 6:30 p.m. Free.

Photo of Atomic above by Shiho Yabe, courtesy Atomic's website.