Album Notes

Jupiter Circle presents their debut release, Shade Songs---new music for chamber ensemble,soundstories woven from classical, jazz and all the world. Composer and pianist Elizabeth Woodbury sets the listener under a lush canopy that translates images from the natural world into a diversity of musical arrangements. Alternately vivid and joyful, (Tango of the Startled Fish) or sparse and contemplative, (A Forehead) the cd also includes a version of Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal's rollicking "Zurich."

Jupiter Circle's all-original repertoire is the work of musician Elizabeth Woodbury, who brings a wide array of styles into a captivating soundscape. She received her formal musical training at University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she studied ethnomusicology, piano performance and composition with Jovino Santos Neto, (Hermeto Pascoal Group) trombonist Julian Priester (Sun Ra Arkestra)and Nigerian juju musician I.K. Dairo. She received her B.A. from Brown University in African Studies.

Violinist and violist John Calkins has played extensively with chamber groups in California and New York and is accomplished in the classical realm as well as with Celtic and American fiddle styles. He has studied with James Dunham of the Cleveland Quartet.

Talented young cellist Christian Goble is a student of Laurie Anderson Bishop and a senior member of the Empire State Youth Orchestra. He has played at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Tanglewood, and Carnegie Hall.

On woodwinds (tenor & soprano sax, flute) is Mike Flanagan, a recent Skidmore College graduate who studied with Mark Vinci and John Nazarenko and is currently active as a band leader, composer and arranger in his own right.

Louis Hotchkiss studied drums and percussion at Berklee College of Music and Rutgers University, and later traveled to India, where he lived and studied tabla for 2 years. He continued his studies in Japan, further honing his expertise in Eastern musical styles.

Special guests Sean Snapp on flute, Christopher Currie on guitar and Sam Zucchini on percussion also frequently contribute their talents to Jupiter Circle.

Jupiter Circle's sound has been described as expansive and definitively American, with comparisons to Steve Reich, Aaron Copland and Kronos Quartet. Together they aspire to create a distinct and feeling contribution to the wide-open territory of New Music.


They are based in Saratoga Springs, NY.