Elliott Hughes and Brad Linde’s BIG OL’ Ensemble celebrates the CD release of their live album recorded at the Atlas Performing Arts Center during the DC Jazz Festival. The band features stellar musicians from New York, Washington DC, and Toronto, bringing to life the compositions of Australian composer Hughes.
About Elliot Hughes
Whilst stepping into the contemporary classical world, Elliott continued to maintain his passion for big band music through two tours to the USA as a guest composer/conductor. Having met saxophonist and bandleader Brad Linde at the Banff Centre Workshop for Jazz and Creative Music, they together presented Elliott’s music in New York City, Washington DC, and Baltimore. Highlights of the tours included performing at the 2015 Washington DC Jazz Festival, and multiple performances at the prestigious Jazz Gallery in New York City. Ensembles for these tours included elite musicians Jon Irabagon, Ryan Keberle & Seneca Black, all of whom feature on records that inspired Elliott to start writing for the big band genre. The ensemble, co-led by Linde, has recorded a double album of Elliott’s compositions, which is due for release mid-2019. He will again tour to the USA to launch the recording, including a performance at the Washington DC Jazz Festival.
Elliott Hughes is a composer and trumpet player with a passion for creating innovative new music across contemporary classical, jazz and electro-acoustic music styles. Based in Melbourne, he has composed more than fifty works for a remarkably diverse range of ensembles; from orchestras and chamber groups, to big bands and jazz trios, through to soloists with live electronics.
As a trumpet player, Elliott specializes in improvisation and performing with electronics, which led to his invention of the ‘Augmented Trumpet’; an instrument that uses the normal movement of the valves to control and synchronize the electronics with the acoustic sound. Described as “mesmerizing – something out of the future”, these performances conjure diverse soundscapes that, sometimes inexplicably, all originate from the trumpet.
About Brad Linde
Brad Linde is a saxophonist, bandleader, and presenter in the Washington DC metro area. He is the Director of Jazz and Creative Instrumental Music at Georgetown Day School and is on faculty at Levine Music. He has worked with legendary musicians including Lee Konitz, Teddy Charles, Barry Harris, Grachan Moncur III, Andrew Cyrille, Joe Chambers, and Dan Tepfer, Matt Wilson, Ethan Iverson, and many others. As an improviser, he currently works in the duo ditch panther with pianist Erika Dohi and with cellist Janel Leppin and guitarist Anthony Pirog in THIRD WHEEL. He composes for his group UNDERWATER GHOST featuring Pirog, Dohi, bassist Nathan Kawaller and drummer Allison Miller, and the quartet collective TEAM PLAYERS (w/ Billy Wolfe, Aaron Quinn and Deric Dickens). In 2010, he founded and began co-directing the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra – a 17-piece big band in residence at the historic club, and he is the director of the 10-piece chamber group the Brad Linde Ensemble (BLE),the 5 saxophone/rhythm section band “Sax Of A Kind”, the big band BLEE (Brad Linde Expanded Ensemble) and the 14-piece BIG OL’. Brad maintained a long performance relationship with the legendary hardbop pianist/composer Freddie Redd, performing at Smalls Jazz Club, Birdland, JALC and other venues in New York, DC, and Baltimore from 2009 through 2013. He was also the musical director for the Freddie Redd/Butch Warren Quintet. He has co-led a New York-based group with one of the original Tristano School members, tenor saxophonist Ted Brown, since 2010. From 2011-2014, he was curator of the cutting-edge jazz series at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast Washington DC, presenting artists including Mark Turner, Steve Coleman, Ambrose Akinmusire, Darcy James Argue and more. He was a participant in the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop 2013 and he studied with Barry Harris and Lee Konitz, among others.
This presentation is a part of the 2019 DC JazzFest Jazz in the ‘Hoods Program. The 2019 DC JazzFest presented by Events DC will celebrate 15 monumental years with renowned artists in settings throughout the capital city. The Festival is (June 14-16), featuring four main stages, a unforgettable art show pop up experience featuring the renowned Harlem Fine Arts Show, and a interactive vendor marketplace with tons off unique finds for purchase. The District Wharf, is the capitals newest neighborhood festival site with stunning restaurants breathtaking vistas, and a vibrant-marketplace. Artists will include: Snarky Puppy, Lean on Me: Jose James Celebrates Bill Withers, Jon Batiste & Stay Human, Brass-A-Holics, Michael Franks, Joshua Redman Quartet with Aaron Goldberg, Reuben Rogers & Gregory Hutchinson, Joey Alexander Trio, Stefon Harris & Blackout, Terri Lyne Carrington, Sean Jones Dizzy Spellz, Ralph Peterson & GenNext Big Band (honoring the Art Blakey Centennial), Sean Jones Dizzy Spellz, 2018 DCJazzPrix winning band Cornerstore, Tarus Mateen, and an International Jazz Stage featuring saxophonist Evan Harris (Australia), El Violin Latino (Luxembourg), Witness Matlou Trio (South Africa), with more talent to be announced! Expect a festival experience unlike no other with a diverse marketplace and beautiful views of the Anacostia River.
