Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra Celebrates 25 Years At Carnegie Hall

Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra celebrates its 25th anniversary with a career retrospective at Carnegie Hall on Friday, March 14. Marking the legendary downtown NYC band's first ever headline appearance at the hallowed New York City venue, MTO's performance will span the entirety of its history, focusing on Bernstein's favorite arrangements from MTO's six studio albums, as well as his work with Butler, Bernstein & The Hot 9. The nine piece "little big band" will be joined over the course of the evening by special guests, Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Catherine Russell, guitar icon Vernon Reid and the inimitable pianist and organist John Medeski, who've all been fellow travelers alongside MTO over the last quarter century, each sprinkling their own magic dust on standout moments in MTO's discography.

"Arranging is a rarified and misunderstood art form. It requires equal parts imagination and mathematics, sitting at a desk for hours and putting notes down on a paper, oftentimes to be played once and never heard again," says Bernstein."Having the opportunity to revisit some of my favorite arrangements, a few that haven't been played in years, with some of my favorite musical compatriots is a special treat, and its extra special to do it at Zankel Hall, in the home of NYC's most storied venue, Carnegie Hall. Of course, there will also be a world premiere. One of the many things I learned from Hal Willner is never waste an opportunity to create something new and embrace the beautiful chaos."

Millennial Territory Orchestra was born when Bernstein was asked by the late, beloved record producer Hal Willner to serve as music director for the 1930s jazz “territory" band in Robert Altman's film Kansas City to reinvent the joyous sounds and jaunty style of the regional dance bands of the era. The music proved so revelatory that Bernstein, settling upon the line-up of Charlie Burnham, Doug Wieselman, Peter Apfelbaum, Erik Lawrence, Curtis Fowlkes, Matt Munisteri, Ben Allison and Ben Perowsky, would make MTO an ongoing priority, ultimately calling on them for many of his most inspired and inventive arrangements and expanding their repertoire from '20s and '30s swing gems to irreverent, genre-crossing material by The Beatles, Charles Mingus, Sly Stone and Prince. They'd take up residency at experimental music venue Tonic and later The Jazz Standard keeping the outlaw spirit of the downtown jazz scene alive in the face of NYC's soul-crushing corporatization. MTO would ultimately make its way to the stages of Bonnaroo and Newport Jazz Festival among others.

Raised in Berkeley, CA, Bernstein relocated to NYC in the late '70s, building a reputation as a first call arranger, tight rope improviser on the slide trumpet and one-of-a-kind jazz raconteur. He'd go onto collaborate with Lou Reed, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Allen Toussaint, Marianne Faithfull, Little Feat, Rufus Wainwright, Sam Rivers, Roswell Rudd, John Lurie & The Lounge Lizards and Bill Frisell to name but a few. Along with MTO, he'd front several of his own bands, most notably riveting, musical subversives Sexmob. In 2004, he'd join Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble Band who'd go onto win multiple Grammy Awards, marking the final glorious years for the legendary drummer of The Band. Most recently, he's become an honorary third member of Hot Tuna and a key component of Laurie Anderson's current touring presentation.