CRAIG PEDERSEN

Siach Hasadeh! Support their project

Hi All —

Two very wonderful musician friends of mine, Joel Kerr and Yoni Kaston, have a duo named Siach Hasadeh, and are raising money and taking pre-orders for their new album.  The duo, Yoni on clarinet and Joel on double bass, explores old chassidic songs in an improvisatorial and minimalist way, all while trying to remain respectful to the intention of the music, and drawing on their diverse backgrounds.

Click below to check out their indiegogo campaign, read more about the project, and donate.  As a bonus, I’ll donate a digital copy of my quartet album Days Like Today to anyone who donates at the $20 level after seeing this post.  Lemmeknow and I’ll send it your way!

Link: http://www.indiegogo.com/inthefield

Not convinced? Keep reading.

 I can’t say enough good things about these two.  Joel is a close friend, and a wonderful musician, who seems to be at home in every style — improvised music, free jazz, standards, funk, soul, klezmer, you-name-it, and he brings his extremely high level of musicianship, sensitivity and attention to detail.  He also loves espresso.

I have always been blown away Yoni’s musicianship, despite only knowing him for a short time.  He plays clarinet, double bass, and accordion, and is an avid transcriber of traditional musics, and a composer to boot! Not sure if he loves espresso.

Although their recording project featuring many special guests was partially funded by the Canada Council for the Arts (hooray!), they’re looking for a little bit of community support to aid in the cost of manufacturing their discs.

Click below to check out their indiegogo campaign, read more about the project, and donate. Remember, as a bonus, I’ll donate a digital copy of my quartet album Days Like Today to anyone who donates at the $20 level after seeing this post.  Lemmeknow and I’ll send it your way!

Link: http://www.indiegogo.com/inthefield

And check out their video:

Solo trumpet and electronics tour!

Hello everyone!

I’m doing a short tour of Stuart Lake, a 45 min piece for improvising trumpeter and electronics, composed by Taylor Brook.

Listen and read about the piece here: http://craigpedersenquartet.bandcamp.com/album/stuart-lake

Tuesday, Feb 28th – TORONTO – Somewhere There – 8pm

Thursday, March 1st – KINGSTON – Artel – 8pm

Friday, March 2nd – MONTREAL – L’envers – 9pm (http://www.facebook.com/events/351858888169895/)

More details to come!

News news news!!!

Hi everyone!

August and early September have been super busy, and I neglected to update any news here. I’d like to share some of the highlights.

FIRST of all, I’ve been honoured to recieve a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study trumpet and jazz harmony in New York with Laurie Frink and John McNeil. I’ll be heading down once a month for the next 6 months, and am EXTREMELY excited.

On August 17th, my film-making friend Pixie Cram and I took a trip to Kingston to view the first public screening of the film we did together, entitled “Bones”. This was the first public screening of a film for which I had provided the soundtrack, and it was a great learning experience.

The week of August 22nd to 26th, my good friend Nicholas Dyson and I ran the 2nd annual “Nicholas Dyson Trumpet Bootcamp” at Alcorn Music studios. It was a treat to work with 12 aspiring young trumpet players. The week culminated on the Friday with a masterclass by none other than the great Dr. John Ellis
, and a concert by the participants. I’m looking forward to the 3rd Annual, 2012 Session next summer.

Immediately after the bootcamp on Saturday, Nick and I drove to Peterborough to join Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers for a headlining show at their folk festival, where we were joined by our good friends Sheeshum and Lotus.

Of course, this whole time, I was practicing my face off trying to get ready for the NEW CRAIG PEDERSEN QUARTET RECORD. It’s due out the 2nd week in December, just in time for Christmas. We took the week of September 5th-9th to make the record. Between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we probably put in close to 15 hours of rehearsal. Starting Wednesday evening we began recording with Matt Ouimet at Resonator Studios in Ottawa. It was a short session, and we got 2 tunes in the can. Thursday and Friday, we probably spent 4-5 hours each day recording, and altogether ended up with 11 tracks, 7 or 8 of which will make the record, with the remaining being saved for future use. Thanks so much to Joel Kerr on Bass, Linsey Wellman on Saxophone, Mike Essoudry on Drums, and of course Matt Ouimet.

PLUS! We made video. Here’s a special album trailer, made from the recording sessions. The audio is NOT studio quality, FYI!

After recording, Mike, Linsey, the rest of the Potato Mashers and I headed out to Guelph to play all night at there Nuit Blanche festival. IT WAS INSANE!

FINALLY, I’ve also been working hard with Linsey Wellman and Renée Yoxon to get the Improvising Musicians of Ottawa/Outaouais 1 year anniversary/CD release concert together. It’s been a ton of fun and work, and you can read more about it at www.improvisedmoo.com. It’s this coming Sunday the 18th of September at 7pm at Umi Café in Ottawa.

Thanks for Reading!

Craig

Upcoming Events:

Sept 17th – Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers – A Taste of Wellington – Ottawa
Sept 18th – IMOO 1 year Anniversary/CD release BASH – Umi Café – Ottawa
Sept 22nd/24th – Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers – Pop Montreal – Montreal
Sept 28th – MASTERING THE NEW RECORD WITH PHIL BOVA
Oct 5-7th – Heading to New York for lessons with John McNeil/Laurie Frink THANKS to the CANADA COUNCIL.
Oct 12 – Craig Pedersen Quartet opening for JERRY GRANELLI – 4th Stage – Ottawa
Oct 14 – Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers CD RELEASE – Black Sheep – Wakefield

Spring Trumpet Recital

Hi all! I’d like to announce a trumpet recital that’s coming up next week.

Friday, May 27th at 7:30pm
Craig Pedersen, trumpet and Victoria Scott, piano
Trinity Anglican Church – 1230 Bank Street
$15/$10
(613) 733 7536

We’ll be performing works by Handel, Hummel, Hubeau, Levy and more!

See you there.

What’s going on?

Hey! I’ve been neglecting my website updates for a while because, I’ve been busy. I’ve beat the Winter blues with a dose of Spring sunshine and gigs! Winter was a long haul. I knew that there would be little work, but somehow I wasn’t mentally prepared for it. I did my best keep busy and organize some shows, but there’s nothing like a few cold-calls for gigs to herald in the new work season.

For anyone who’s interested, here’s how I’ve been keeping busy in the last couple of months:

Reading:
Primacy of the Ear – Ran Blake
After the Quake – Murakami
The new issues Believer magazine
I Never Liked You – Chester Brown
Black Hole – Charles Burns
Mother, Come Home – Paul Hornschemeier

Listening:
Hands Together – Nate Wooley
Moanin’ – Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
Din of Inequity – Sex Mob
Miles Smiles – Miles Smiles

Trumpet technique:
Lots of quiet first attacks (15-30 minutes a day)
The first 5 pages of the Getchell Book, and the first 20 pages of Arban’s Method.
About an 1 to 1.5 hours of the Flexus book a day.

Jazz harmony/ear training:
Lots of interval training/connecting it to the horn/playing piano.
Listening deeply to chords.
Jerry Bergonzi’s Melodic Structures book.

Music:
Jazz -
There Will Never Be Another You – Chet Baker lift
Falling in Love With Love – Kenny Dorham lift
Lady Bird

Classical (mostly for Easter gigs)
Rondeau from Te Deum – Charpentier
Aria – Flor Peeters

Other music:
The new batch of Mash Potato Mashers tunes
Writing and learning my quartet music.

Plus gigs! And organizing IMOO, releasing 2 CDs, and other things.

Oh, and I just finished my taxes