New Beginnings by Ed Sarath and the London Jazz Orchestra

Sarath's previous CD release, Last Day in May, (Konnex Records- Berlin), features himself on flugelhorn, along with internationally-acclaimed artists Dave Liebman, Mick Goodrick, Harvie Swartz and Marvin "Smitty" Smith; the disc was called by Cadence magazine "a prime example of the best the genre has to offer". Jazz Times called Sarath's prior recording, Voice of the Wind (Owl Records- Paris) " a strong, varied program, brimming with intriguing formal propositions. . . Ed Sarath is a find". Fifth Fall, by the Iowa City Jazz Orchestra, which Sarath formerly directed, features five of his compositions for large jazz ensemble.

He has performed at the Montreux, London, North Sea, Antibes, Orleans, Le Mans, Jyvaskyla (Finland) and Montreux-Detroit jazz festivals. He performs regularly with the French-based ensemble, Cache Cache, winners of the 1992 Radio France Jazz Competition and has performed and presented master classes throughout the U.S., Europe, and in Brazil. Schools at which he has appeared include the Eastman School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Paris Conservatory, the Tatui Conservatory in Brazil, University of Colorado, University of North Carolina. He performs with the Brazilian ensemble, Interchanges, featuring Rui Carvalho, and Celio Barros; British composer Graham Collier and his London-based Jazz Ensemble; Dutch saxophonist Willem Helbreker, sound-painter Walter Thompson's multi-media orchestra in New York City, and John Wubbenhorst's Facing East, which features South Indian kanjira player, Ganesh Komar.

Recent compositions include Rites of Passage, commissioned by the WDR jazz orchestra and premiered in Cologne, Germany. Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, for choir, string orchestra and improvisers, was premiered in the U.S. and is scheduled to be performed in Brazil in the coming year. Aquarium, for 8 piece ensemble, to accompany 22 dancers, commissioned by choreographer Evelyn Velez-Aguayo.

Ed Sarath is currently working on two books: A Philosophy of Jazz Education: Creativity, Consciousness and the Contemporary Musical Landscape; and Creative Musicianship: An Improvisation-based, Multistylistic Approach to Music Theory and Aural Skills. He serves on the Board of Directors and also serves as U.S. coordinator of the International Association of Schools of Jazz, for whose journal, Jazz Changes, he writes a regular column called "Countermeasures".

Recent projects at Michigan include the ground-breaking BFA in Jazz and Contemplative Studies curriculum, which includes meditation and related studies in addition to jazz training, and the Faculty Network for Creativity and Consciousness Studies, which brings faculty together from all fields to probe the transpersonal core of the creative process. He has also designed an improvisation-based alternative to basic musicianship training (music theory, aural skills, rhythmic training, keyboard, diverse musical influences, etc.) which has been in place at Michigan since 1994, and he leads the Creative Arts Orchestra, a 20-plus member improvising ensemble which is one of the few ensembles of its size in the world which performs entirely improvised concerts.

His writings on the cognitive and aesthetic aspects of improvised music appear appear in the Journal of Music Theory, Handbook for Research on Music Education Oxford University Press), International Journal for Music Education, Music Educators Journal, Jazz Research Papers, Jazz Educators Journal and Jazz Changes. He has received fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in both jazz composition and performance, (including one of seven jazz composition grants issued nationally in 1987), and from the American Council of Learned Societies to design a course entitled "Creativity and Consciousness".

For more information on Ed Sarath, go to www.edsarath.com

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