Magic Triangle tribute to Leroy Jenkins 3/26

Hello Music Lovers,

Contact: Glenn Siegel, Ken Irwin, (413) 545-2876
www.fineartscenter.com/magictriangle

THE 2009 MAGIC TRIANGLE JAZZ SERIES PRESENTS:

Three Things to Say: Terry Jenoure, Billy Bang, Charles Burnham pay
tribute to Leroy Jenkins

The Magic Triangle Jazz Series, produced by WMUA, 91.1FM and the Fine
Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, continues
its 20th season on Thursday, March 26, 2009 with an 8:00pm performance
by violinists Terry Jenoure, Billy Bang and Charles Burnham, three
master improvising violinists paying homage to the most important
violinist to emerge in the post-Coltrane era: the late Leroy Jenkins.

A veteran of the bands of John Carter, Archie Shepp, Henry Threadgill,
Butch Morris, Reggie Workman and others, Terry Jenoure is a
wide-ranging visual and performing artist. Her sound – on violin and
vocals - blends the risk of improvisation, rhythmic influences from
her Puerto Rican and Jamaican heritage, the drive and excitement of
urban references, and ideas influenced by her world travels. Born and
raised in the Bronx, she began studying music at the age of eight,
attended New York’s High School of Music & Art, received a bachelor's
degree in Philosophy, and masters and doctoral degrees in Education. A
faculty member at the University of Massachusetts and Lesley
University, Jenoure has devoted almost 15 years forging the
development of a multicultural and multi-arts program as the director
for the Augusta Savage Gallery at UMass, Amherst. “When I perform,”
Jenoure says, "it feels as though I'm untangling knots or threads or
webs in some dense place so we can see some light.”

Over the past 30 years, Billy Bang’s hard-edged tone, soulful sense of
traditional swing and evocatively expressive style has enhanced dozens
of albums by top names in a variety of genres, from the blistering
funk of Bootsy Collins and the harmolodic groove of Ronald Shannon
Jackson's Decoding Society to the intergalactic uproar of Sun Ra. With
more than 15 albums under his own leadership, nearly a dozen more in
co-led endeavors, and five more with the String Trio of New York
(which he co-founded in 1977 with guitarist James Emery and bassist
John Lindberg), Billy Bang is one of the more prolific and original
members of the progressive music scene. "From Bang's violin comes
everything we know about black music and a lot we have yet to learn
about rhythm, subtlety and swing," writes Ntozake Shange.

Charles Burnham is best known as one-third of Odyssey, guitarist James
‘Blood’ Ulmer’s finest band (with drummer Warren Benbow.) Odyssey
performed as part of the 2006 Magic Triangle Jazz Series.  “…unlike
any other front line in music,” writes Richard Cook about Burnham and
Ulmer. “Playful, joyous, agitated and melodic, they become ten strings
in unison yet independent of one and other. Burnham's step into the
spotlight has long been coming.”  The passion and fire of Burnham's
violin has graced the work of Cassandra Wilson, Steven Bernstein,
Susie Ibarra, Henry Threadgrill, String Trio of New York, and Medeski,
Martin & Wood, among many others. The violinist’s new band includes
Clark Gayton and Curtis Fowlkes, trombones, Mark Peterson, bass and
Pheeroan akLaff, drums.

The Magic Triangle Jazz Series continues with the Ganelin Trio
Priority (April 28). Tickets are $12/general public and $7/students
and are available through the Fine Arts Center Box Office,
1-800-999-UMAS.

The Magic Triangle Jazz Concert Series is produced by WMUA-FM and the
Fine Arts Center, and funded by the: UMass Arts Council, Student
Affairs Cultural Enrichment Fund and Alumni Association.  Additional
support from: Campus Center Hotel, Amherst College and Faultlines:
Mapping Jazz in the 21st Century and 88.5 WFCR, NPR News and Music for
Western New England.