The name Hemispheres reflects the wide range of musical styles and disparate indigenous influences that shape our music. While the wide-ranging music on this recording can be conveniently classified as Jazz, due to the preponderance of improvisation and Jazz-based song forms, the listener will quickly note the infusions of African, South American, Middle Eastern and Asian flavors and instruments that permeate the proceedings.
The title Convergence dovetails with the group name Hemispheres to convey the myriad intersections that enable us to superimpose our Jazz sensibilities over traditional pieces from Turkey (Hijaz Oyun Havasi) and Brazil (Mistura e Manda), as well as to present the steel pan-hybrid instrument, the hang, as the cornerstone of a multi-episodic composition (Smiles for Billy) dedicated to the late, legendary drummer Billy Higgins.
Ian Dogole & Hemispheres - Biographical Information
· Ian Dogole
For over 25 years, Ian Dogole has articulated his vision of Global Fusion Music as a multipercussionist, bandleader, composer, recording artist, producer and educator. He has released five records and a DVD as a leader – Along the Route, Dangerous Ground, Ionospheres, Night Harvest, Convergence and Ian Dogole & Hemispheres In Concert (DVD). Dogole has recorded and performed with artists such as Hamza el Din, Paul McCandless, Alex DeGrassi and Ancient Future. Dogole’s compositions are available on the recordings, Dreamchaser and Asian Fusion by Ancient Future, and have been used by the San Francisco Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies, Brown University and the Indonesian Park Service. Dogole performs on a wide variety of percussion instruments, including udu, cajon, hang, talking drums, global drum set, mbiras and dumbek. He received a Jazz Performance Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991and Marin Arts Council grants in 1994, 1995 and 1998 for his educational program, Adventures in Global Fusion Music. Dogole has been a frequent participant in the San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music program, presenting assemblies to more than 20,000 elementary school students throughout the San Francisco Public School system. He is currently a faculty member of the Sierra Jazz Society's summer Jazz Camp and is a contributing writer for JazzTimes Magazine.
· Sheldon Brown
Composer and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Sheldon Brown formed the Sheldon Brown Group in 1993, and in 1996 he released the jazz/fusion CD Shifting Currents. Brown has performed internationally (most recently with pianist Omar Sosa) at world-renowned venues such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Moers Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Jazz d’Or, Toronto Jazz Festival and the Spoleto Festival. He is featured on Omar Sosa’s CDs Prietos, Bembon, Spirit of the Roots and Free Roots and on Ian Dogole’s CDs Ionospheres and Night Harvest. Brown is a member of San Francisco’s Club Foot Orchestra, for whom he has composed scores for Film Roman’s cartoon series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat and silent films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. and Cops, G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box and Robert Wiene’s Hands of Orlac. Club Foot has performed at New York’s Knitting Factory, Walter Reade Theater, at Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. Brown performed in Anthony Braxton’s Composition No. 132 at Grace Cathedral as part of the 1986 San Francisco Jazz Festival. Brown currently teaches composition at Jazzschool in Berkeley, California.
· Bill Douglass
Bassist/flutist Bill Douglass was influenced early in his career by Rafael (Don) Garrett, who inspired him along his lifelong path of pursuing both bass and bamboo flutes. In the 1970s, Douglass joined Rubisa Patrol, led by pianist Art Lande and later joined The Flowing Stream Ensemble, a Chinese music group in which he played bamboo flutes. Douglass is noted for his flute work both in concert performances throughout the world and in soundtracks for many highly acclaimed films, including 1000 Pieces of Gold, The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf. Over the last three decades, he has performed and recorded on double bass with world-renowned musicians such as Marian McPartland, Mose Allison, Mark Isham, Terry Riley and Art Lande and has performed at many of Europe's major Jazz festivals. Douglass has also performed Chinese folk and classical music for over 20 years and has served as a Jazz instructor at the Cazadero and Aptos Jazz camps. Currently, Douglass is the artistic director of the Sierra Jazz Society, which presents the annual summer Jazz Camp, along with year-round concert performances and educational programs to the community in Nevada County, California.
· Paul McCandless
During a distinguished career spanning three decades, Paul McCandless has brought a soaring lyricism to his playing and composing that has been integral to the ensemble sound of two seminal world music bands, the original Paul Winter Consort and the relentlessly innovative quartet, Oregon. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and composer, McCandless has specialized in an unusually broad palette of both single and double reed instruments that reflect his grounding in both classical and jazz disciplines. With the innovative quartet Oregon, McCandless has performed at major festivals throughout the world such as Kool Jazz, Telluride, Berlin, Montreux, Montreal and Pori. Oregon was also presented with the St. Paul Chamber and Philadelphia Orchestras and traveled to Asia for the U.S. State Department. McCandless’s career includes appearances on over 200 albums and scores or performance collaborations with artists such as Steve Lacy, Nguyen Le, Jaco Pastorius, Wynton Marsalis, Carla Bley, Pat Metheny, Elvin Jones, Mark Isham, Al Jarreau, Stephanie Mills, Bruce Hornsby and Bela Fleck. His solo recordings include All the Mornings Bring, Skylight, Navigator, Heresay and Premonition. He plays a vast array of instruments, including: soprano and sopranino saxophones, oboe, English horn, penny whistle, wood flutes and bass clarinet.
· Frank Martin
Keyboard virtuoso/arranger/musical director Frank Martin has amassed a very impressive track record working with world-class performers in a diverse array of musical styles. In the pop arena, Martin has performed and/or recorded with stars that include Sting, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Steve Winwood, Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Chris Isaak, Andrea Bocelli, Cheryl Crow, Philip Bailey, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Billy Joel, Madonna and Ricki Martin. In the jazz world, his performance credits include Flora Purim & Airto Moriera, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Dizzy Gilespie, Mel Torme, Bobby McFerrin, John Handy, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Farrell and the Slide Hampton Big Band. Orchestra performances have included concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the "Orchestra of St. Lukes" (New York Philharmonic Orchestra). As a producer, he has worked with high-profile artists such as Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin’s “Voicestra,” SoVoSo,” Joey DeFrancesco and Alex Acuña, Jazz guitarist Mimi Fox, vocalist Angela Bofill and the Turtle Island String Quartet. As musical director, he has toured with such artists as Patti Austin, Angela Bofill, Narada Michael Walden, Mickey Thomas, Roy Ayres, and Clarence Clemens. Currently, Martin is on staff at the University of California in Berkeley as well as the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California. He is in demand as a clinician both in the United States and in Europe.
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