Round the creep of the wave line
A sound installation at Lincoln Park Conservatory, Chicago, created in collaboration with Boris Hauf. The composers considered the materials and elements in the Fern Room – soil, metal, glass, sunlight, humidity – in parallel to the materials and elements of the saxophones and clarinets they play – wood, metal, plastic and breath. Combining these with synthesized and sampled sounds, they developed a compositional process that allowed the piece to grow organically and unpredictably, much like the plants in the Fern Room. An attempt was made to bring the decisions (recording, editing, processing, assembling) forth by working together not through a traditional artistic collaborative effort or the type of teamwork espoused by workplace efficiency experts, but by following the trajectories of the creative and reductive impulses and organizing things with the least amount of 'intervention' possible, to imitate the process of the plants' growth. February 1st through May 31st, 2015. Curated by Lou Mallozzi at Experimental Sound Studio.
Urge Trio Europe Tour Fall 2014
The URGE Trio (Christoph Erb, Tomeka Reid, Keefe Jackson) will be hitting the road again in October 2014. There are stops in Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, and Norway. We'll be celebrating the release of our new CD Live in Toledo (Veto Records - Exchange). Hope to see you at one of the concerts.
Interview for Point of Departure
Keefe Jackson email interview with Troy Collins, March 2014 issue of Point of Departure.
Keefe Jackson, saxophonist/clarinetist/improvisor/composer, arrived in Chicago in 2001 from his native Fayettevile, Arkansas. He performs regularly in the U.S. and in Europe with many musicians including Pandelis Karayorgis, Tomeka Reid, Tim Daisy, Dave Rempis, Jeb Bishop, Jason Roebke, Guillermo Gregorio, Jason Adasiewicz, Mike Reed, Jason Stein, Josh Berman, Aram Shelton, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Frank Rosaly, Jason Roebke, Anton Hatwich, and Marc Unternaehrer in groups such as the Fast Citizens, Chicago Luzern Exchange, Keefe Jackson's Project Project (big band) and Likely So (reed septet). He has also appeared with Michael Moore, Ab Baars, Michiel Braam, Satoko Fujii, and Anthony Coleman. Bill Meyer, writing in the Chicago Reader, commended: "...the impeccable logic of his lines and the richness of his tone leave you wanting more... Jackson's high-register squiggles and coarsely voiced, rippling runs push the limits of the tenor's tonal envelope." Frank van Herk, writing in de Volkskrant (Amsterdam), asserted that "...[Jackson] has an old-fashioned, warm-woolly sound, and a feeling for melodic lines that take their time in unfolding." He has been mentioned in the DownBeat Critics Poll in the Rising Star Tenor Saxophone category. Recordings are available on Delmark and Clean Feed Records.