News & Events West Coast Jazz Group Cosmologic to Perform and Give Lecture as Part of Amherst College Faultlines Festival Feb. 18 and 19

January 30, 2009
Contact: Sara R. Leonard
Concert and Production Manager
413/542-2195

AMHERST, Mass.—The yearlong Amherst College Music festival Faultlines: Mapping Jazz in the 21st Century continues its spring 2009 program with a concert and lecture/demonstration by the critically acclaimed Southern California-based jazz quartet Cosmologic. The group will perform in Buckley Recital Hall at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18 and then host a lecture/demonstration from 8:30 until 9:30 a.m. in Room 7 on Thursday Feb. 19. Both events are in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College and are free of charge and open to the public.

Described as “more than impressive” (The Wire) with “thoughtful writing and bold instincts” (JazzTimes), Cosmologic is a dynamic avant-jazz quartet with a distinguished lineup of well-known West Coast improvisers: saxophonist Jason Robinson, trombonist Michael Dessen, bassist Scott Walton and percussionist Nathan Hubbard. In their 10th year together as a group, Cosmologic has “a unique style few stable or working groups have attained” (All Music Guide).  As individuals, the members of Cosmologic have performed and recorded with numerous master composer-improvisers, including Wadada Leo Smith, Yusef Lateef, George Lewis, Vinny Golia, Anthony Davis, Peter Kowald, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Mark Dresser, Susie Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, Marty Ehrlich and John Carter. The group is on tour throughout the East Coast in February 2009 in support of the recent release of their fourth album, Eyes in the Back of My Head (Cuneiform Records).

The Faultlines festival includes concerts, performance workshops, talks and roundtable discussions, all free and open to the public and all guaranteed to generate passionate debate about the nature of jazz and its relationship to American cultural identity. The festival is made possible through the generous support of the Amherst College Arts Series Fund; Amherst College Departments of Music, English and American Studies; the Amherst College Mead Art Museum; the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center’s Solos and Duos Concert Series and Magic Triangle Concert Series; and the Northampton Center for the Arts’ A World of Piano Concert Series.

For more information about Cosmologic’s performance and lecture/demonstration, or any events associated with Faultlines: Mapping Jazz in the 21st Century, visit the festival Web site at www.amherst.edu/faultlines or call 413/542-2195.