In addition to his sextet, Bynum leads the chamber ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings and the little big band Positive Catastrophe, works with such collective ensembles as the Tomas Fujiwara/Taylor Ho Bynum Duo, The Thirteenth Assembly, Book of Three, and The Convergence Quartet, and performs with such artists as Jason Kao Hwang, Myra Melford, Joe Morris, and Tyshawn Sorey. Bynum’s ongoing association with Anthony Braxton is recognized as one of the most fruitful partnerships of that iconic composer’s long career, and his work with Bill Dixon produced some of the departed trumpet innovator’s late masterpieces. In addition, he is the vice president of Dave Douglas’s Festival of New Trumpet Music (FONT Music), a founding partner of Firehouse 12 Records, and the president of Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation.
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Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet to release “Apparent Distance” on November 8
Firehouse 12 Records will release on Nov. 8, 2011, Apparent Distance, the third recording from the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet. The group’s current personnel features the leader/composer on cornet, Jim Hobbs on alto saxophone, Bill Lowe on bass trombone and tuba, Mary Halvorson on guitar, Ken Filiano on bass, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums.
The album is made up of a four-part suite, commissioned through a 2010 New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Via a news release, Bynum says: “In Apparent Distance, my goal is not just to blur the lines between composition and improvisation (a long-time pursuit), but to try to upend the listeners’ expectations in other ways: circular melodies without beginnings or ends, disguised unisons and non-repetitive vamps, transitions that are simultaneously jarring and organic. Most importantly, I want to spotlight the striking individuality and virtuosity of all the players, albeit in a context where the needs of the ensemble reign supreme – a concerto for sextet, if you will.”
Since the composition’s premiere in August 2010, the sextet has performed the work on tour and at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), the Banlieues Bleues Festival (France), and the Crosscurrents Festival (New York).
The Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet has been Bynum’s primary working ensemble for the past five years, releasing two previous albums and performing throughout the world.