Sirone (Norris Jones) will perform a Memorial Concert at Saint Peter's Church on Thursday, February 25, 2010 from 7-10 PM.
The concert will be a celebration of the life and music of the late / great bassist and composer Sirone (Norris Jones). Many of Sirone's illustrious colleagues to perform in tribute to the legendary bassist at New York's "jazz church."
Music will be by Andrew Cyrille, Billy Bang, Dave Burrell, Henry Grimes, Muhammad Ali, Michael Wimberly, Ramsey Ameen, Ahmed Abdullah, Kali. Z. Fasteau, Ted Daniel, Sabir Mateen, Roy Campbell, Juma Sultan, Reggie Nicholson, Hilliard Greene, Veronika Nowag-Jones, Ras Moshe, Jason Kao Hwang, Bobby Kapp, Abdoulaye N'Diaye, Laurence Clark, Charles Waters, Andrew Barker, Adam Roberts, Vattel Cherry, and Matt Lavelle.
A renowned double bassist of exceptional talent Sirone, (Norris Sirone Jones), began his musical career in Atlanta, Georgia, performing and recording with the famous Soul Music group Sam and Dave.
Sirone was a founding member of the Revolutionary Ensemble and remained with it throughout its six-year life. His memory is principally cherished for his power, flexibility and musicality as an improviser. Back in 1971, three adventurous young US jazz musicians formed an uncompromising improvisational group called the Revolutionary Ensemble--a title that had resonances in the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the radical transformation of jazz that had been ignited by Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane.
He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and played the trombone at first, taking up the double bass at the age of 17. In his early playing years in his hometown, Sirone worked with a co-operative band simply called the Group, which also featured the saxophonist and occasional blues singer George Adams, later to make a significant jazz contribution in the bands of Mingus and Gil Evans. The directness of Sirone's musical conception was established in this environment, and he was a natural recruit to the burgeoning free-jazz scene in New York when he moved to the city in 1965. Joining the pianist Dave Burrell, Sirone participated in Burrell's Untraditional Jazz Improvisational Team.
Sirone played and recorded with European musicians in his last years. He told All About Jazz in 2005 that he "put a definite attention towards the composition merely as a path of reaching the point where we can find that magical moment ... to reach that point that freedom is discipline and discipline is a study."
With his wife Veronika Nowag-Jones, Sirone was very active in German theater. Sirone served as musical director and actor in a production with the great Hungarian writer/director Georg Tabori at the famous "Burgtheatre" in Vienna. Sirone also created a play with his wife Veronika about homeless people in New York City. Together they played a homeless couple, with Sirone acting and playing the bass. They presented this piece in Germany, Austria, Swizerland, Atlanta, and New York. Excerpts of this production were shown on German television. Sirone also played and acted in many German television films. At Berliner Brecht, Sirone was the musical director and soloist for the Charlie Chaplin film version of "Monsieur Verdoux.". German television has been producing a documentary film about the couple's extraordinary lives. In Berlin, Sirone led his own music ensemble called "Concord." They played many times in Berlin, and in Poland.
For more information call 212.935-2200 or visit online at www.saintpeters.org.
