ROCKY
OUNTAIN
OUND
Concert Sound Services
S p ecializing In

Festivals

Cor p orate Presentations
S p ecial Events

Congratulations to New Ochestra Workshop
... 20 years of making music happen!

wishes
New Orchestra Workshop
a happy 20th birthday!
Congratulations!

I

nspiration and direction, that's
whatNew Orchestra Workshop
has been to me. I have been
lucky enough to be associated with
New Orchestra Workshop since
1978, when the loft on West 2nd
was home to my first explorations
in this music. There I got to first be
inspired by great musicians like Joe
McPhee, Oliver Lake, Sam Rivers,
and Dave Holland. These events
helped shape the choices I have
made in my artistic life.
I must especially thank Lisle
Ellis, one of the founders of
N.O.W., as it was his dedication
to placing importance on the
improvisation workshops that
really allowed exploration of basic
music practice, ensemble improvi­
sation ideas, compositional frame­
works for improvisation, and the
establishing of a community of
players. I must also thank Paul
Cram, Paul Plimley, Gregg
Simpson, Don Druick, Ralph Eppel,
and Linda Barrett; they all con­
tributed different gifts that, in look­
ing back, were essential in making
the vision ofN.O.W. happen.
Through the early 1980s
N.O.W.'s spiritual light was kept
burning in groups like Motion and
the Paul Plimley Octet. In the mid

'8os a secondary phase happened.
Ron Samworth and Bruce
Freedman joined Gregg Simpson,
Clyde Reed, Paul Plimley and me
(in '88 Kate Hammett-Vaughan,
Graham Ord and Roger Baird came
on board), spearheading a new
wave of intense activity. Out of this
came ensembles like Lunar
Adventures, Chief Feature, Garbo's
Hat, theNOW Orchestra, the
Stellar Saxophone Quartet and
Talking Pictures. For years we have
produced CD's documenting the
scene, presented collaborations
with great artists like Marilyn
Crispell, Barry Guy and Rene
Lussier, made impact touring
Canada, the USA and Europe, and
have continued presenting vital
music and passing on the tradition
of this music in our workshops.
1997 brings us to a celebration of
twenty years of activity. It seems fit­
ting to be presenting this series
with the Coastal Jazz and Blues
Society; we have enjoyed a great
relationship with them over the last
decade. I would like to thank CJBS
and especially their artistic director
Ken Pickering for his support and
commitment to the west-coast
cultural community.
For our shows here at the
Roundhouse we're excited -to bring
backN.O.W. founding-member
Paul Cram, as well as one of our
earliest collaborators, Vinny Golia
(many thanks to Vinny for giving
many of us our first break by
releasing our CDs on his Nine
Winds label). We are also thrilled at
having the opportunity to work
again with George Lewis. I am
tremendously grateful to have his

support.
I would especially like to take this
opportunity to �ank my co-artistic
director Ron Samworth. His
unstinting hard work, along with
the vision we share for NOW, has
made events like this great experi­
ences for me.
Please join us in this musical
celebration.
Coat Cooke
Co-Artistic Director
New Orchestra Workshop Society
n 1977, I was a fifteen year old
] junior high school student
living with my family in
Richmond. I played two things with
a passion-basketball and the elec­
tric guitar. Jimmy Page and Dr. J.
co-existed in a cloistered suburban
fantasy world. Little did I know that
just over the bridge the seeds of
something very special and endur­
ing were being sown, something
that would greatly focus my life in
the years to come. That something
was the genesis of the N.O.W. quin­
tet (Lisle Ellis, Paul Cram, Paul
Plimley, Ralph Eppel and Gregg
Simpson) which in turn led to the
founding of an organization dedi­
cated to "providing the focus for the
creation of
an original West Coast creative
music idiom"-the New Orchestra
Workshop Society-and it hap•
pened without making a microscop­
ic blip in my
consciousness.
A few years later my scene had
significantly changed. My world
now included the music of Miles,

Coltrane, and Mahavishnu.
Extended listening sessions
accompanied the rituals of mind
expansion and one of the
sacraments was an album by Sam
Rivers called Contrasts. This intro•
duced me to the playing of George
Lewis, who instantly acquired the
status of world's greatest trombone
player in my opinion. (My opinion
hasn't changed almost 20 years
later). Through the\early '8os I was
a diligently practicing music
student, checking out as many con­
certs and recordings as possible­
including the Art Ensemble of
Chicago at the Queen Elizabeth
Playhouse (produced by N.O.W. ...
first contact!) I was teaching at a
music store in Richmond and one
of my colleagues was a saxophonist
named Coat Cooke. Through
conversation we realized that we
shared many musical interests. and
he invited me to a playing session
with some friends of his-Clyde
Reed and Gregg Simpson. This
group became Lunar Adventures,
and represented a whole musical
universe opening up for me. I
didn't just join a band or an
organization, I became part of a
community of dedicated and
inspired improvisors (in fact the
society had been dormant for a
couple of years, to be reactivated in
1986). These musicians, who also
included Paul Plimley and Bruce
Freedman, were and are my teach­
ers and mentors as well as some of
my closest friends. They represent

Artistic Directors' Notes

continued on page ro

George E. Lewis, one of our
esteemed guests, is a brilliant
trombonist, composer, improvisor,
computer installation artist,
and programmer of interactive
computer music systems.
During this festival, his music
will be featured over two nights in
two different programs with the
NOW Orchestra. He will also be
featured in several small group
settings, and will host a forum
discussing improvisation. He has
played on over eighty recordings of
improvisations and compositions,
and has performed with Anthony
Braxton, Count Basie, John Zorn,
Anthony Davis, Derek Bailey,
Richard Teitelbaum, and Steve
Lacy, as well as many others.

Vinny Golia, the internationally
noted multi-instrumentalist,
composer and bandleader, has
become an important contributor to
the vanguard of creative music.
At the forefront of improvised
music, he plays twenty different
woodwinds plus various ethnic
aerophones. Vinny has been a
featured performer with Anthony
Braxton, John Carter, Bobby
Bradford, Horace Tapscott, Bertram
Turetzky, George Lewis, Barre
Phillips, The Rova Saxophone
Quartet, Patti Smith, and George
Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, toname just a few.
Vinny is the founder of the
internationally known Nine Winds
recording label, and he has been
instrumental in the recorded
dissemination of original creative
music for almost two decades.

0

--------,

this foundation, NOW has become
a stronger and more effective voice
for contemporary music.

GEORGE LEWIS

Paul Cram, multi-reed player, is
one of the original NOW founders,
as well as a founder of the
acclaimed Toronto-based
Hemispheres ensemble. Paul has
been commissioned to write a piece
for the NOW Orchestra for this
event. He is a prolific composer for
theatre, dance, television, and film.
He also has a Juno nominated
recording called Blue Tales in Time.
Paul is currently based in Halifax,
and he joins us in celebrating our
twentieth anniversary.

Co-artistic director Coat Cooke has
been involved with NOW since its
inception in 1977. His connection
to the beginning period of this
organization, and his commitment
and excellence as an improvisor
and composer, have helped to keep
a continuity of vision. Building on

SHADOWGRAPH, 4 ( 1977)
THE CHICKEN SKIN ( 1995)

M

Ron Samworth is the current co­
artistic director of New Orchestra
Workshop and a member of NOW
since 1986. He currently records
and tours with his group Talking
Pictures and co-leads the NOW
Orchestra with Coat Cooke. He has
performed with many of the
leading voices in contemporary
improvised music, and appears on
recordings on the Nine Winds,
Victo, Maya, and Red Toucan
labels. His multi-disciplinary work
includes composition, performance
and sound design for theatre,
spoken word, film, and dance. He
is committed to community­
building activities, ie: local
workshops and performances, as
well as dissemination of his music
in an international arena.

y experience with the
creative improvisors'
orchestra is rather var­
ied. Beginning as a student of
Muhal Richard Abrams, one of
the founding members of the
Association for the Advancement
of Creative Musicians, I was
allowed in 1971 to perform on
trombone with the AACM's
Experimental Band.
My first opportunities to hear my
music performed were at the suffer­
ance of the great artists who played
in this orchestra, including Joseph
Jarman, Kalaparusha Ahra Difda,
Lester Lashley, Frank Gordon,
Edward Wilkerson, Famoudou Don
Moye, Malachi Favors Maghostus,
Bernard Mixon, Ajaramu, Ari
Brown, Wallace McMillan, and
others. Later, I performed with the
creative orchestras of Anthony
Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Leo
Smith, Randy Weston, Lawrence
"Butch" Morris, David Murray, the
Globe Unity Orchestra and the
Instant Composers' Pool, as well as
with a more traditional creative
ensemble, the Count Basie
Orchestra.
Throughout all of these experi­
ences, I was always afforded the

space to try out fledgling composi­
tional and improvisative ideas in a
warmly supportive environment.
I feel that the process of rehearsal
and development that we have under­
gone this week in Vancouver draws
from similar wellsprings of support
and nurturance. Musicians of widely
differing backgrounds and conceptual
viewpoints have come together this
week, not only in order to perform
our compositions, but to interact with
each other, framed by environments
that we have moved to create for
ourselves.
In the late 20th Century, current
musical practice includes not only
explorations of free improvisation,
but interactions with processes that
combine elements of improvised and
composed ways of musical creation.
This kind of experimental music has
as its focus not
... not only
only concepts of
concepts of timbre,
timbre, extended
extended
techniques, pitch
techniques, pitch
organization and
organization and
formal devices,
formal devices, but the
but the interculintercultural encounter
tural encounter
itself ...
itself, as a locus
of communication between individu­
als and across traditions. Personal
and cultural narratives are exchanged
and blended, and the possible inter­
nalization of alternative value systems
is implicit in the process.
It is safe to say that for each of the
performances we will hear this week,
the compositions we are playing
endeavor to take into account person­
al narratives as well as formal proce­
dures, allowing discovery through
musical interactivity.

COMPOSERS NOTES

music since 1982, and have sought to
find balances between composed
(notated) musi.c and improvisation.
My heartfelt gratitude goes to all of
My influences, not unlike N.O.W.'s,
the musicians, whose intelligence,
range from 20th (soon to be 21st 1 )
patience, sacrifice and insight were
Century music composers, ethnic
so essential to making this project a
music from around the world (espe­
reality; and to the musicians of the
cially Asian and Middle Eastern
NOW Orchestra, for affording me the
cultures), improvisation in all its
opportunity to work with this great
forms, and the jazz tradition.
ensemble one more "once."
The music I have chosen for this
event comes from my own Large
VINNY GOLIA
Ensemble's repertoire, from both
TED WILLIAMS CALLS THE MICK
newly composed and previously exist­
AND RENDERS TOUCH SENSITIVITY
USELESS
ing compositions. The main
G.C.G.
challenge in selecting or composing
REASONS FOR LIVING
work for the NOW Orchestra is that it
first came to Vancouver in 1978
differs from my Large Ensemble in
when Lisle Ellis, Paul Plimley and both size and instrumentation.
Ken Pickering brought me up
I think that by using Kate Hammett­
from Los Angeles. I got to play with
Vaughan's vocal versatility and substi­
many of the Canadian musicians I
tuting the guitar of Ron Sam worth
had read about in CODA Magazine,
for various orchestral and percussive
the unofficial
densities that we
champion of
will overcome
I have sought to find balances
Canadian music.
these
differences
between composed (notated)
I had met Clyde
and
create
music
music and improvisation.
Reed, the bassist,
that will be excityears before in Los
ing and vibrant.
Angeles, and we had vowed to play
One of the things that has
together more. Clyde has remained
impressed me the most about all of
my good friend, as have many of the
the players in the New Orchestra
fine Vancouver musicians I have met.
Workshop is their love of the music
I have been involved with the New
we play. It is a great pleasure to be
Orchestra Workshop Society almost
involved with this project. I thank
as long as trombonist Ralph Eppel (a
New Orchestra Workshop Society for
founding member). I have functioned
inviting me, and wish them another
as a performer, composer and record
20 years of great fortune.
executive on many NOW projects and
PAUL CR AM
have witnessed the various influ­
THE TYRANNY OF INTEREST
ences, personal and emotional
changes, losses and gains that have
even years ago I was sitting
occurred throughout New Orchestra
with another NOW cohort,
Workshop's lifetime.
Lisle Ellis, and some other
I have been involved in large group
people on the porch of the Ottawa

I

S

COMPOSERS NOTES

uncanny parallel in the world of the
contemporary creative musician.
COAT COOKE

House, in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
with the Bay of Fundy stretching
out beneath our feet. Someone said,
"That's interesting" about some­
thing or other, and I remember
Lisle saying, "I guess I'm not so
interested in interesting anymore".
There began for me a long medita­
tion on the nature of interest and
all the various multifarious ways we
are manipulated and distracted
from investigating ourselves. The
piece is an installment from that
train of thought.

wowow

T

his is a five section piece that
reflects my influences, from
the earliest jazz in the 20th
Century right up to our present
time on the eve of the 21st century.
WOWOW Section One has taken
an early Ellingtonian mood-you
know, Freddie Green chunk chunk a
la Tron FortWorth white noise, and
features one of our guests, George
Lewis, and trumpeters Bill Clark and
John Korsrud.
WQWOW Section Two is an inter­
galactic ballad with enough space to
RON SAMWORTH
drive Voyager through, and features a
THE YELLOW SOUND
duet with Peggy Lee and Paul
his seven-section piece writ­
Plimley.
ten for the NOW Orchestra is
WOWOW Section Three is a
a loose
careening bop
interpretation of a
... the aesthetics of art, the
vehicle with
text by visionary
problems of form, and the
enough pop and
Russian artist
integration of universal elements
polytonality to get
Wassily
ie; the correlation of colour
your engines
Kandinsky,
and sound ...
started.
In this
whose writings
movement we get
on the aesthetics
to hear soloing
of art, the problems of form, and
from Dylan van der Schyff, Ralph
the integration of universal ele­
Eppel, Brad Muirhead, and guests
ments ie; the correlation of colour
Vinny Golia and Paul Cram.
and sound, have been a recent
WOWQW Section Four is a
inspiration to me. The Yellow
plaintive sound poem featu:ing Kate
Sound: A Stage Composition is part
Hammett-Vaughan and Saul Berson.
of the Blaue Reiter Almanac (r9r2),
Hearts break and mend.
edited by Kandinsky and Franz
WOWOW Section Five closes out
Marc. The almanac, which includes
the journey in high harmolodic
essays by Kandinsky, Marc, and
fashion featuring Ron Samworth,
Arnold Schoenberg, is a virtual text­
myself,
Mark Nodwell and the whole
book of the early 20th century
ensemble.
avant-garde, and its "secession­

T

from-the-academy" spirit and
pan-cultural references find an

----THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER I 5

Improvisation Workshop with
guest artist Paul Cram

Improvisation Workshop with
guest artist Vinny Golia

Jazz Forum on improvisation with
guest host George Lewis

7:30P M

Brass Roots

The NOW Orchestra
plays the music of George Lewis,
Paul Cram and Coat Cooke

The NOW Orchestra
plays the music of George Lewis,
Vinny Golia, and Ron Samworth

I O:JOPM

Three sets featuring George
Lewis, Ron Samworth, Kate
Hammett-Vaughan, Peggy Lee,
Paul Cram, Paul Plimley, Dylan
van der Schyff, Saul Berson,
Vinny Golia, Coat Cooke, Gregg
Simpson, Tony Wilson, Paul
Blaney

Three sets featuring
George Lewis, Brad Muirhead,
Ralph Eppel, Frarn;:ois Houle,
Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Bill Clark,
Clyde Reed, Vinny Golia, Paul
Blaney, Clyde Reed, Peggy Lee,
Ron Samworth, Tony Wilson

NOON-2P M

r

Three sets featuring Paul Plimley,
Graham Ord, Ralph Eppel, Roger
Baird, Paul Cram, Vinny Golia,
Frarn;:ois Houle, Peggy Lee, John
Korsrud, George Lewis, Coat
Cooke, Paul Blaney, Dylan
van der Schyff, Bruce Freedman

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER I5
1PM - 5PM

THE WILD CARD SESSION

Improvisations featuring these
artists in small groups: George
Lewis, Paul Cram, Vinny Golia,
Ron Samworth, Coat Cooke,
Gregg Simpson, Paul Plimley,
Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Frarn;:ois
Houle, Peggy Lee, Dylan van der
Schyff, Brad Muirhead, John
Korsrud, Clyde Reed, Paul Blaney,
Roger Baird, Ralph Eppel, Bill
Clark, Saul Berson,Tony Wilson,
Graham Ord, Bruce Freedman

RON SAMWORTH ANO Al NEIL AT AL'S 70TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

AND O P E N TO A L L MU S IC IANS AND T H E PUBL IC

WO RKSHOPS FROM NO ON - 2:00 PM
ALL HEAR IT NOW EVENTS ARE HELD
AT THE ROUNDHOUSE COMMUNITY CENTRE

EARLY DAYS ... PAUL CRAM, GREGG SIMPSON ANO LISLE ELLIS IN 1982

ARTISTIC DIRECTORS'
NOTES FROM PAGE 2

and enthusiasm that Lisle Ellis
brought not only to the music, but
to organizing the community.
the continuum from the beginSoon after, Lisle moved to
nings in '77 right "up 'ti! now" and
Montreal and then San Francisco;
into the future. Eleven years after
Paul Cram moved to Toronto and
my initiation, after numerous
finally to Halifax. Their absence left
concerts, tours and recordings,
a void which lasted through the the
I am excited at the prospect of
mid-'8os when Coastal Jazz and
inspiring and encouraging another
Blues Society founded the jazz fesgeneration of musicians and lovers
tival, bringing much-needed fresh
of creative music. You get out of it
new energy to the scene. Coat
what you put into it, and the beauty
Cooke and Ron Samworth then
of it is you didn't have to be there
ushered NOW into a fertile period
then, you only need to be here
of co-production and special
now- with open minds and open
projects; working with CJBS on
hearts.
projects that included an
Special thanks to Lisle Ellis for
unforgettable series of showcases at
his vision and
New York's
dedication to the
Knitting Factory
music. To Ken
in 1990 and
Pickering, Bob
Vancouver
Kerr, John Orysik,
collaborations
and Coastal Jazz
with Marilyn
and Blues for their
Crispell, Barry
HAN< BULL • AL Nm
Guy, Rene
ongoing support.
To Vinny Golia, George Lewis,
Lussier, Koch, Schiltz, and Studer,
and Phil Haynes with Paul Smoker.
Barry Guy, Maya Hamburger, and
I'd like to thank Tron, Coat and
Paul Cram-cherished lifetime
Paul Plimley for their friendship
members of the extended NOW
over the years and Lisle Ellis for
family. Here's to the next twenty
years!
getting it all started. It's a pleasure
to welcome Paul Cram, Vinny Golia
Ron Samworth,
(Mr. Nine Winds) and George
Co-Artistic Director
Lewis back to Vancouver to
New Orchestra Workshop Society
celebrate what is a very special and
significant occasion.
ontrary to popular belief,
Congratulations on "calling it the
the 1970s were a time of
20th!"
inspiration and enormous
potential for bringing new sounds
Ken Pickering
Artistic Director, Coastal Jazz and
to a wider public. Those days repre­
sent the origins ofN.O.W., and I
Blues Society
clearly remember the great energy

C

0
l­
o
I

T

he NOW Orchestra is a
15-piece improvising ensem­
ble that falls under the
banner of the New Orchestra
Workshop Society, an artist-run
society since 1977 that is dedicated
to producing concerts and
workshops of West Coast Canadian
creative music.
The ensemble has its roots in the
14-piece CORD Orchestra (197880), which was comprised of the
original N.O.W. members (three of
whom are in the currentNOW
Orchestra line-up) and included
well known Canadian artists such
as Lisle Ellis and Paul Cram.
Re-formed as theNOW Orchestra
in 1987, this ensemble has worked

since then on a project basis. In
November 1988, they performed at
the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society­
produced Time Flies music series
with the internationally acclaimed
pianist Marilyn Crispell as guest
soloist.
Since mid-1992, the orchestra
has been developing repertoire and
performing regularly. The current
ensemble features some of today's
most important voices in Canadian
improvised music, and is represen­
tative of the much-heralded West
Coast improvised music scene.
COLLABORATIONS
AND PROJECTS

In February of 1994, the orchestra
developed a new extended
work, Witchgon.g Game II/10, with
celebrated British bassist/composer
Barry Guy in residence. This new
work was performed and recorded
during the Hear it Now Festival,
and subsequently released on
Britain's Maya Records. The work

GJ

was reprised and featured at
Vancouver's 1994 du Maurier
International Jazz Festival. The
NOW Orchestra's collaborations
continued in October 1994 with a
concert featuring the acclaimed
Swiss musicians Hans Koch,
Martin Schutz, and Fredy Studer.
In February 1995, a week-long
residency with Canada's own Rene
Lussier and Pierre Tanguay result­
ed in a studio recording. The band
performed at the Victoriaville
Festival de Musique Actuelle in
May, and in the Vancouver du
Maurier International Jazz Festival
in June. And in June 1995, the
ensemble rehearsed and performed
with American trombonist, com­
poser and interactive computer
music innovator George Lewis to
glowing reviews. The CD le Tour du
Bloc: Rene Lussier and the NOW
Orchestra was released in December

1995 on les Disques VICTO. In
June 1995, at the Vancouver du
Maurier International Jazz Festival
the NOW Orchestra played with the
New York tandem of trumpeter
Paul Smoker and drummer Phil
Haynes.
In January of 1996, the NOW
Orchestra was fortunate enough to
spend a fruitful day of develop­
ment, playing and workshopping
with legendary composer/pianist
Muhal Richard Abrams . In the fall
of 1996, the NOW OKhestra col­
laborated with established British
Columbia dancer/choreographer
Peter Bingham and his company
EDAM (Experimental Dance and
Music) in the creation of a new
work, Born Naked, Died Blonde.

Which brings us to this festival, a
celebration of 20 years of making
music and art. The NOW Orchestra
is joined by special guests and long­
time musical friends and collabora­
tors Paul Cram, Vinny Golia and
George Lewis.
NOW
ORCHESTRA
THE MUSICIANS

COAT COOKE

A N.O.W. member since 1978, and
NOW Orchestra founder and
co-artistic director, reed player Coat
Cooke has played with Lunar
Adventures, EDAM Dance
Company, and Barry Guy. He leads
his own groups and is active as a
composer for film and dance
projects as well.
RON SAMWORTH

A N.O.W. member since 1986 and
current co-artistic director, guitarist
Samworth has performed with
Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris,
Bobby Previte, George Lewis,
EDAM Dance Company, and
Claude Ranger. He leads Talking
Pictures and the FortWorth
Travelogue and recently toured
Canada as a part of the
GuitarEvolution festival.
PAUL PLIMLEY

A founding member ofN.O.W.,
Paul Plirnley has distinguished
himself as one of Canada's fore­
most improvising pianists, per-

forming and recording solo or in
ensemble with artists like Lisle
Ellis, Andrew Cyrille, Joe McPhee,
and Greg Bendian.
KATE HAMMETT-VAUGHAN

A member ofNOW since 1988,
Hammett-Vaughan is recognized
across the country for her vocal
work with the contemporary trio
Garbo's Hat and as a strong inter­
preter of the jazz standard reper­
toire. She has also worked on film
scores, with dance projects and
performance artists, and has per­
formed and recorded contemporary
sound works.
DYLAN VAN D ER SCHYFF

A much sought-after drummer
whose rhythmic drive and composi­
tional sense have excited musicians
and critics alike. He has played with
Vinny Golia, Myra Melford, Paul
Plimley, Talking Pictures, and
Franc;:ois Houle.
PAUL BLANEY

Known for his work in Garbo's Hat,
with Stephen Fearing, Don
Thompson, Bob Brough, Bob
Fenton and Hagood Hardy, Blaney
is a fearless and inventive bassist
who is dedicated to the art of
creative music.
CLYDE REED

An original N.O.W, member, Clyde
Reed is a sensitive and interactive
bassist who has worked with
Claude Ranger, Vinny Golia, and
Peter Brotzmann.

RALPH EPPEL

A strong trombonist and a found­
ing member ofN.O.W., Ralph also
leads his own quintet. Eppel has
played and recorded with ESB, and
was active in the creation and
running of the Glass Slipper perfor­
mance space.

SAUL BERSON

Alto saxophonist Saul Berson leads
his own band, Above Ground, and
lists Steve Grossman and Jaki
Byard among his playing credits.

JOHN KORSRUD

A graduate of the U.B.C. composi­
tion program, Korsrud is the leader
of the Hard Rubber Orchestra. He
has recently studied and worked in
Amsterdam with Louis Andriessen
and plays a strong lead trumpet
with a broad knowledge of contem­
porary art music.

PEGGY LEE

Classically trained cellist Peggy Lee
has established herself as a force on
the contemporary music scene with
Talking Pictures, Spirit of the West,
Franc;:ois Houle Et Cetera, and Bugs
Inside.
BILL CLARK

Trumpet player Bill Clark is known
to Vancouver audiences as an origi­
nal member ofVEJI and for his
work in Chief Feature, Brass Roots
and Talking Pictures. His own
sextet was runner-up in the Akan
Jazz competition. He is a recent
graduate of the SFU composition
program and has written for
various film projects and the

13

ensembles Standing Wave and
Hard Rubber Orchestra.
BRAD MUIRHEAD

See Brass Roots personnel.

DENNIS BURKE

Vancouver, Nodwell has been active
on our city's contemporary jazz
scene, playing with his own groups
and with the Vancouver
International Jazz Orchestra.

MARK NODWELL

Soprano saxophonist Mark Nodwell
graduated in 1995 with a B.A. in
Music from the innovative Naropa
Institute. Since his return to

BRAD MUIRHEAD

Trombonist/composer Brad
Muirhead is an original member of
VEJI and the Hard Rubber
Orchestra, and he leads his own
group Brass Roots. He has played
with Kenny Wheeler, Don
Thompson, Slide Hampton and
Anthony Braxton.
GRAHAM ORD

G

B

rass Roots, formed in 1987 by bass trombonist/sousaphonist
Brad Muirhead, is an exuberant, versatile horn ensemble which
creates a modern World Beat/Funky Jazz sound based on the
tradition of New Orleans Carnival Bands.
Brass Roots has developed a distinctive sound of its own by combin­
ing a wide range of individual musical influences, from the Mardi
Gras party sound of The Dirty Dozen to the tight funk of The Tower
of Power, including the music of Charles Mingus, Ghanian master
drummer Abraham Adzinyah and even a taste of avant garde groups
like Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy. The musicians, representing the
best of Vancouver's jazz community, stage a highly entertaining show
of creative grooving music.
Aside from being accomplished performers, all members of Brass
Roots are also composers. The group's repertoire consists of mostly
original music and a few funky cover tunes that incorporate infectious
rhythms and riveting solos to create an atmosphere of celebration. A
perennial favourite, Brass Roots promises to start the festival off in
fine fashion.

Multi-reed player and leader of
Bongo Bob, Graham Ord also plays
with Garbo's Hat, Lonesome
Monsters, Lori Freedman, and
Sumalao. A talented composer and
improviser, Ord is a long-time
member of New Orchestra
Workshop and has played on all of
the NOW Orchestra's recordings.
DENNIS ESSON

Currently performing with the Bill
Clark Sextet, VEJI, and the Hard
Rubber Orchestra, Dennis Esson
has played with jazz greats like
Claude Ranger, Maynard Ferguson,
Muhal Richard Abrams, Slide
Hampton, Harry Connick Jr.,
Kenny Wheeler, and many others.
An active freelance musician, Esson
is a vital component of the
Vancouver scene.

Drummer/percussionist Dennis
Burke had played with Richie Cole,
Ernestine Anderson, Mose Allison,
Jack Sheldon, Jay Clayton, Bud
Shank, and many others. He is
active as a composer for stage
productions, dance and numerous
films, and teaches in the film/video
department at Emily Carr College
of Art and Design.
JIM MCGILLVERAY

Percussionist Jim McGillveray was
one of the original members of
Skywalk and of the popular
party-band Wildroot Orchestra. A
veteran West-Coast session man,
he's played with almost everyone
you can imagine.
ROSS TAGGART

A double threat on saxophone and
piano, Ross Taggart is a featured
soloist with the acclaimed Hugh
Fraser Quintet and with VEJI. He
has studied with Don Thompson,
George Coleman and Clifford
Jordan, and has performed with
Kenny Wheeler and P.J. Perry.
MIKE BRAVERMAN

A graduate of the UBC Music
Program in 1993, saxophonist Mike
Braverman leads Macedonian Mazl­
tov, a world music group with a
great new CD set for release in
February of 1998. He will be study­
ing this year in New York and
Israel on a grant from the Canada
Council.
BILL CLARK

See NOW Orchestra personnel.

15

NEW ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND A. SPECIAL

GRAHAM ORD
See Brass Roots personnel.
BRUCE FREEDMAN
Saxophonist/composer Bruce
Freedman has been associated with
New Orchestra Workshop Society
almost since its inception. he is per­
haps best known to Vancouver
audiences as leader of Chief
Feature and the Bruce Freedman
Quartet. Freedman has an intense
and lyrical voice on the horn.
GREGG SIMPSON
Born in 1947, drummer and
visual artist Gregg Simpson has
been playing jazz and exhibiting his
visual art internationally since the
mid-196os. Simpson's first major
collaboration was with the Al Neil
Trio, a central part of the
Vancouver multi-media scene in
the '6os and early '70s, followed by
groups such as Sunship Ensemble,
Rio Bumba, Vancouver Sound
Ensemble, Lunar Adventures and
several groups since the 1970s with
Paul Plimley, Paul Cram, Ralph
Eppel and Bruce Freedman.

ROGER BAIRD
Active on the Vancouver scene
since the late 1980s, drummer/
percussionist Roger Baird came to
improvised music through the New
York loft scene of the '70s. Baird
was instrumental in the creation
and running of Vancouver's
important Glass Slipper perfor­
mance space.

TH.l\NK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE GIVEN US SO MUCH
INVALUABLE SUPPORT THROUGH THE YEARS. IN NO PARTICUL.l\R ORDER,
THE CAST OF THOUSANDS INCLUDES ...

George Lewis, Vinny Golia, Paul Cram, Lisle Ellis, Gregg Simpson, Paul Plimley, Ralph
Eppel, Don Druick, Barry Guy, Maya Homburger, Clyde Reed, Paul Blaney, Bruce
Freedman, Graham Ord, Sarah Ballantyne, Regis Painchaud, Steve Vickery, Keith
Jacobsen, Harry Hertscheg, Julie Smith, Bill Smith, Hank Bull, Eric Metcalf, Jane Ellison,
Kate Craig, Marilyn Crispell, Ken Pickering, Robert Kerr, John Orysik, Jeff Turner,
Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, Jim McGillveray. Anne Harland, Hanif Jan Mohamed,
Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Gerry Gilbert, Dennis Burke, Mike Braverman, Dennis Esson,
Ross Taggart, Scott Lewis, Al Neil, Rob Blakeslee, Jane Philips, Marke Andrews, Beth

FRAN<;:OIS HOULE
Clarinetist Frarn;:ois Houle has
collaborated with many musicians
over the last few years. Current
projects include a duo with French
pianist Benoit Delbecq and an Octet
with double bass virtuoso Joelle
Leandre. He has recorded with
Marilyn Crispell, Joelle Leandre,
Georg Graewe, Carlos Zingaro,
Paul Lovens, The Recyclers, and
Veryan Weston. He performs
regularly with poet Catriona Strang.

White, Karen Oliver, Peter Bingham, Peter Courtmanche, Rob Kozniuk, Martin Guderna,
Jim Coverdale, Kedrick James, Alain Dubreuil, Judy Fraser, Mark Miller, Mona Hamil,
Chris Randle, Rod Roodenburg, Dave Coates, JON Design, Emma Lancaster, Lawrence
Anthony, Laurence Svirchev, DB Boyko, Bill Runge, Glenn Alteen, Ed Oleksiuk, Fred
Michael, Ray DeJulius, Roger Baird, MuseArt Cultural Society, Meaghan Munro, Motoko
Reed, Patric Caird, Thomas Anfield, Blaine Dunaway, Karen Oliver, Karl Hans Berger,
Marian Penner-Bancroft, Don Ogilvie, Jeff Ridley, Muha! Richard Abrams, Dave Holland,
Sam Rivers, Thurman Barker, Canada Council, Gillian Brydon, Gary Cristall, Jay Clayton,
Joe Daly. Joe McPhee, Julian Priester, Jerry Granelli, Claude Ranger, Rob Frayne, George
Mcfetridge, Coat Cooke, Ron Samworth, Brad Muirhead, Peggy Lee, Dylan van der
Schyff, Saul Berson, John Korsrud, Bill Clark, Rene Lavoie, Sue Harvey, Shannon Peet,
Daniel Miles Kane, Fran,ois Houle, Rod Murray, Dolya Koneval, Kris Fedina, Gavin
Walker, Liz Parker, Amanda Kenny, Michel Levasseur, Rene Lussier, Pierre Tanguay,
Janet McNulty, Katherine Lubinsky, Carol Cram, Cheryl King, Diane Purvey, Alexander

GREGG SIMPSON

Varty. Les Szabo, Andreas Nothiger, Dave Branter, Larry Kennis, Tony Wilson, Linda
Barrett, Dave Todd, Dave Foley, Kathy Kidd, Dido Morris, Themba Tana, Sal Ferreras, Al
Wiertz, Bob Murphy, Hugh Fraser, Torben Oxbol, Carol Downs, Freya Rosemarian, Joe
Bjornson, Brian Harding, Bob Bell, Takeo Yamashiro, Mark Plimley, Rod Heinz, Brian
Nation, Nou Dadoun, Don Chessa, Don Betts, Doug Lang, Jerry Prussin, Leslie Fiddler,
Kim Roberts, Mark Harris, Paul De Barros, Renee Deruyter, Paul Clarke, Carl "Carlbabe"
Chinn, Chris Cameron, John Sobol, Alex Ferguson, Uncle Big Fat Buddy, Frank "The
Face" Toppo, Stephen Anthony, Graham B. Graham, David Roundell, Neil "The Geat"
Taylor, Scott White, Laurie Long, grunt Gallery, The Western Front, Jaap Blonk, Jay
Hirabayashi, Jaci Metivier, Mary Craig, Mark Lavelle, Group Six, Robert Meister, Mark
Boivin, Andrew Harwood, Roscoe Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Joseph Jarman,
Famoudou Don Moye, Hans Koch, Martin Schiltz, Fredy Studer, Paul Smoker, Phil
Haynes, Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, Bobby Previte, Reggie Workman, Marlene

TONY WILSON

Madison Plimley, Ray Ayotte, Dominique Soutif, Andre Rheaume, Tom Lavin, Perry

Guitarist/composer/bandleader
Tony Wilson has been active on the
Vancouver music scene since 1991.
He leads the Tony Wilson Septet.

Barrett, Peter Reade, Terry Crane, Jack Duncan, Karen Graves, Bob Walker, Tom Foster,
Hot Jazz Society, Brent Gubbels, Lawrence Mollerup, Daniel Lapp, Campbell Ryga,
Gerald King, Noelle Bird, Ann McDonell, Derek Simons, wee Fiona, Stuart Derdyn, Amir
Ali Alib Hai, Oliver Lake, Cafe Deux Soleils, Centre Culture! de francophone de
Vancouver, Peter Marter, Andy Anderson, Jake.

SPECIAL GUESTS / COMPOSERS

trombone
reeds, flutes
tenor sax, clarinet

George Lewis
Vinny Golia
Paul Cram

<-; "'

Cong�,aJulations,�OW
on 2i�ears, of b)azing trails.

NOW ORCHESTRA

piano
Paul Plimley
bass
Paul Blaney
bass
Clyde Reed
Dylan van der Schyff
drums
guitar
Ron Samworth
Kate Hammett-Vaughan voice
cello
Peggy Lee
reeds, flute,
Coat Cooke

Mark Nodwell
Saul Berson
Ralph Eppel
Brad Muirhead
John Korsmd
Bill Clark

electric guitar
soprano sax
alto sax, flute
trombone
trombone
trumpet
trumpet

And wishing Tim:� Fli�s

l O more noteworthy years.

e
check out our
CD COVERS

POSTERS
EVENT GRAPHICS

BRASS ROOTS

Brad Muirhead
Dennis Esson
Bill Clark
Graham Ord
Ross Taggart
Mike Braverman
Dennis Burke

MEDIA KITS

trombone
trombone
trumpet
reeds
reeds
reeds
percussion

PROMOTIONS
BROCHU RES
LOGOS
IDENTITY PROGRAMMES
ANNUAL REPORTS

WEBSITES
ANO MUCH MORE

ION DESIGN INC.

AT WWW.ION·DESIGN.COM

52 WATER STREET

GUEST IMPROVISERS

Bruce Freedman
Graham Ord
Tony Wilson
Roger Baird
Frarn;:ois Houle

VANCOUVER, BC

soprano sax
reeds
guitar
percussion
clarinet

CANADA V6B 1A4

TEL+ 604 682 6787

FAX+ 604 682 6769

WITH THE GENEROUS ASSISTANCE OF

British Columbia
Arts Council
British Columbia Public Gaming Branch
City of Vancouver

The Roundhouse Community Centre

"ion design has almost single-handedly
institutionalized hip design."
RHONDA RUBUNSTEIN
PRINT MAGAZINE