ComposersCollaborative, Inc. Presents 110 for 911

ComposersCollaborative, inc. will present 110 for 911, an extended solo composition for speaking pianist and electronics by pianist, composer and CCi Artistic Director Jed Distler. This distinctly unique work incorporates the entire text of the collective poem Word Tower Two initiated by City Lore and curated by poet Bob Holman. In the aftermath of the 911 attacks, one hundred and ten poets contributed one line apiece to quilt a rich, large-scale poetic work. This poem can be described as literal and abstract, tragic and funny, reality based and fantasy driven, questioning and philosophical. Its wealth of words suggested to the composer/pianist an equally far-ranging series of musical canvases. The composer not only triple-dares the pianist to integrate solo keyboard writing and spoken and sung text, but also to sustain a compelling theatrical, musical entity. Words, music, and performance command equal status throughout. Virtuosic passages of whirling complexity and angular abruptness assiduously intertwine with stark lyrical writing and achingly sparse, tuneful moments to sweeping, unified effect. A pre-recorded backdrop with spoken voices and computer-generated sonorities provides complementary textures as it discreetly weaves in and out of the live performance.

Jed premiered 110 for 911 in February 2003 at New York's landMark West-Park Presbyterian Church, and revisits the work to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 3pm at The Jazz Gallery.

The Jazz Gallery
290 Hudson Street
New York, NY
Tel. 212 242 1063
Tickets: $15

Jed Distler, Composer & Pianist

"Distler isn't sure whether a childhood spent in West Orange, NJ, has much to do with his having achieved a state of "Cool-dom" but if you were to ask (the reviewer, he'd say) definitely yes." (Michael Redmond, Star Ledger) Indeed, Jed grew up with Bugs Bunny cartoons, Art Tatum records, Wagner's Ring, William Carlos Williams, etc. under one roof, making for an exotic musical upbringing in the wilds of New Jersey. The son of a published poet, Jed studied with Clarence Major in college. His savvy with words colors his music making. The Death of Lottie Shapiro, an early work for four sopranos and piano, is an evening-length song cycle featuring text by his mother, Bette Feitelson Distler. JEd Penned original autobiographical texts for his Assault on Pepper (1997), a deconstruction of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album for speaking pianist. Distler's other noteworthy piano works with text include Anegada (1998) for pianist Kathleen Supove, a Duke Ellington centennial fantasy entitled Am I In Tune With The Piano? (1999), The Seduction of Commonplaces (2003) with texts by Hector Berlioz, and his magnum opus The Gold Standard (2007), a piano theater collaboration with playwright Ed Schmidt.

Called "an altogether extraordinary pianist" (Star-Ledger) and "the Downtown keyboard magus" (The New Yorker), Jed has premiered works by Frederic Rzewski, Lois V Vierk, Virko Baley, Wendy Mae Chambers, Andrew Thomas, Simeon Ten Holt, Virgil Thomson, David Maslanka, William Schimmel, Kitty Brazelton, Alvin Curran, and Eleanor Hovda, many of which were written especially for him.

In addition to commissions from Jenny Lin, Symphony Space, IonSound, the American Composers Forum and Song in Music, his works have been recorded by Margaret Leng Tan, Guy Livingston, and Quattro Mani, among other New Music luminaries. His String Quartet No. 1 (the Mister Softee Variations) is a summertime tradition on New York Public Radio.

Jed co-founded the presenting organization ComposersCollaborative, inc. with his late wife Célia Cooke, creating and curating such innovative festivals as Solo Flights, Non Sequitur, Mano-a-Mano Piano Festival and the long-running Serial Underground series at New York's landmark Cornelia Street Café. He has led highly acclaimed large-scale performances of Terry Riley's "In C" on Cornelia Street and, more recently, on Governors Island. Jed also has served as guest composer/pianist in residence hosting the keyboard show Hammered! for WQXR's internet radio stream Q2.

Highlights of his 2011/12 season include a new collaboration with noted French actor/singer Nathalie Schmidt and director Arnold Barkus, residencies at Denver University, Colorado College, the University of Nevada/Las Vegas, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, plus the four piano Bay Area premier of Ten Holt's Canto Ostinato at Piedmont Piano Co. with pianists Jerome Kuderna, Sarah Cahill and Feona Jones. A regularly featured CD reviewer and blogger for Gramophone and Classicstoday.com where he mostly writes about piano music, Jed helped uncover the notorious Joyce Hatto scandal in February 2007, and has authored numerous CD booklet annotations. He taught for more than 20 years at Sarah Lawrence College, and has received grants from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, and American Composers Forum, plus a coveted Macdowell Colony residency. His 2011 CD release Meditate with the Masters is available on the Musical Concepts label. For more details of Jed's rich musical life, visit www.composerscollab.org.