Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday October 20th, 2010 with Bernard Stepien
Myra Melford Extended Ensemble, the impressionists

Myra Melford is a classically trained pianist who switched to improvised music to become a fixture on the New York City alternative Jazz scene in the early '90s. Her preferences are for larger ensemble that are carefully not called big bands mostly because even in a larger band context, the music still revolves around small combos concepts leaving ample space for individual performers. Another central component of her art is the incorporation of non-western musical elements in her music, mostly following studies of Indian classical music in North India in the year 2000. Tonight, we will sample one of her early recordings on the Swiss Hatology label, Even The Sounds Shine that reveals her impressionistic approach to Jazz especially in her composition La Mezquita Suite that has been inspired by Andalusian culture both on the musical side with Flamenco and on the architecture side with the Moorish mosque of Cordoba called La Mezquita in Spain that is considered as a jewel of architecture mostly due to its forest of columns and colored arches that produce a sense of peace and healing according to Myra's own words.