Darcy James Argue's Secret Society Plays NYC Show at (Le) Poisson Rouge Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Jun. 20, 2013
Brooklyn-based composer-bandleader Darcy James Argue and his innovative 18-piece big band Secret Society will celebrate the release of their widely praised sophomore album Brooklyn Babylon (out now on New Amsterdam Records) with a NYC-area performance at (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight, June 20th. Acclaimed for defying "genre, aesthetic, and musical era by pushing all of them into an inspired, multicolored mashup" (Michael J. West,Washington City Paper), the Grammy-nominated ensemble will also deliver a full multimedia performance of the project at the Holland Festival on June 24th.
Argue is currently on the road with Australia's Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra for their 10th Anniversary tour throughout Australia, and will also join the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos in Portugal next month. (All tour dates below.)
Called "vital and absorbing" (Nate Chinen,The New York Times) and "gorgeous and spellbinding" (Jon Garelick, The Boston Globe), Brooklyn Babylon was conceived in collaboration with Croatian-born visual artist Danijel Zezelj, whose artwork evokes a larger-than-life, mythic Brooklyn, where past, present, and future coexist.
This narrative inspired Argue's mash-up of musical styles for the project: progressive jazz, early-American popular styles, Balkan folk musics, and the sounds of Brooklyn's diverse contemporary music scene (including LCD Soundsystem, Dirty Projectors and more). Listen to Argue discuss the project with Studio 360's Kurt Anderson HERE.
A limited-edition hardcover graphic novel by Zezelj, entitled Babilon, will be available soon.
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society live:
June 20 (Le) Poisson Rouge - New York, NY (LINK)
June 24 Holland Festival - Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ - Amsterdam, NL *full Brooklyn Babylonmultimedia performance* (LINK)
Darcy James Argue with Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra live in Australia (LINK):
June 6 Melbourne International Jazz Festival - Melbourne, VIC *with Maria Schneider*
June 7 The Tank Arts Centre - Cairns, QLD
June 8 Caloundra Arts Festival - Caloundra, QLD
June 9 The Studio at the Sydney Opera House - Sydney, NSW
Darcy James Argue with Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos live:
Vancouver native Darcy James Argue is one of today's most talked-about jazz musicians thanks to the phenomenal critical response to Infernal Machines, his Grammy-nominated debut recording featuring his 18-piece bigband, Secret Society. The record was included on more than 100 best-of-the year lists and won Best Debut honors in the prestigious Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll. Argue and Secret Society have topped the Rising Star category in the DownBeat Critics Poll for the past three years, and have won Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards for Large Ensemble of the Year and Up & Coming Artist of the Year. The group has played high-profile concerts in New York and other North American cities, as well as in Europe.
Darcy James Argue is one of today's most talked-about jazz musicians, credited by critics for developing "a nearly perfect creative synthesis between tradition and innovation" (John Eyles, BBC.com), calling his compositions "ambitious, sprawling, mesmerizing" (Juan Rodriguez, Montreal Gazette) and noting his "big, broad musical vocabulary" (Ben Ratliff, New York Times). Time Out New York's Hank Shteamer adds, "Argue draws on the full spectrum of modern rock, jazz and classical music" in a way that "handily transcends pastiche."
LINKS:
Darcy James Argue's New Amsterdam Artist Page: http://www.newamsterdampresents.com/?page_id=2634
Brookyn Babylon New Amsterdam Page: http://www.newamsterdamrecords.com/?portfolio=brooklyn-babylonSecret Society website: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org
Brooklyn Babylon website: http://brooklynbabylon.com
Danijel Zezelj's website: http://www.dzezelj.com
Photo Credit: James Matthew Daniel
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