Demolition Duo "Academic" Tour Begins

Demolition Duo Rehearsal

Administering my RACC project grant for the Demolition Duo is a lot like booking a tour: there's a lot of coordinating times and dates with multiple professors at the various schools. What I've generally found is that it is often difficult to fit us into a school’s regular curriculum, especially as we try to combine different classes together in one place and time! However, since this undertaking is funded by a RACC project grant, there’s no need to negotiate fees or wait for the cover-charge tally at the end of the night!  Actually, this arrangement works well for everyone, the schools, their faculty and students, and we creative-class-types. Without some of the monetary struggles often associated with playing free improvised music, Ken and I can focus more on the artistic aspects of our duo. Here are two audio clips of our last rehearsal on February 23rd (demo duo reh 2-23a and demo duo reh 2-23b):

https://soundcloud.com/demolition-duo 

Though not included in the grant (RACC only funds for Portland's tri-county area) Ken and I are starting our 2013 college tour with a performance at Western Oregon University on Thursday, February 28th, at 7:30pm. Our future engagements include Reed College on March 29th, Lewis and Clark College on April 5th, Clackamas Community College sometime in May, and our final workshop-performance will be at Portland State University's summer jazz clinic in July.

I look forward to seeing how each visit develops through the collaboration of  jazz, ethnomusicology, composition, and classical performance programs. Improvisation is an element of all of these disciplines in one way or another, so it makes sense that the Demolition Duo’s visit could break down artificial barriers between academic studies (jazz students here, classical performers here, musicologists over here). So in some sense, I feel that my main objective in this project is to get students and faculty from these different areas together in one room to experience how improvisation can enrich their musicianship and scholarship. I hope our visit inspires a classically trained pianist to jam with a straight ahead jazz trombonist, new musical ground is discovered between a virtuosic bebop saxophonist and a “noise” guitarist, or that a musicologist may consider the potential role of improvisation in composition in his or her next paper. 

As March begins tomorrow, it seems timely to mention that Ken and I will be performing for Portland's March Music Moderne festival http://www.marchmusicmoderne.org/wp/

We'll actually be performing separately on a concert of solos also including Danielle Ross (dance) and Madelyn Villano (violin). Here's the info:

The Creative Music Guild presents: A Series of Solos (March Music Moderne)
March 12th
The Gallery at Port City

2156 N Williams, Portland, Oregon 97227

8pm, $7-$20, sliding scale

Demolition Duo 2013

Happy New Year to all! I received a holiday gift from the Regional Arts and Cultural Council (RACC) at the end of 2012 in the form of a grant award for the Demolition Duo. The "Demolition Duo is the improvised fire music of John Savage and Ken Ollis...the duo engages in an ecstatic dialogue...a mercurial, improvised conversation between the two musicians" [Creative Music Guild, Portland, OR]. The grant will fund four performance-workshops at Portland area colleges and universities between February and May of 2013. The lucky schools are: Portland State University, Reed College, Clackamas Community College, and Lewis and Clark College (specific dates to be announced). Though not directly under the auspices of the grant, we will also give a clinic and perform at Western Oregon University on February 28th. (the concert is at 7:30pm, free admission, in the Smith auditorium, room 121).

I’ve decided to use this blog to chronicle Demolition Duo activities, including links to audio and video from our engagements at the various schools. I might include a few rehearsals, too. The Demolition Duo was busy this year and had a number of performances including the Creative Music Guild’s Outset Series and the 32nd annual Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. We also recorded an album, and hope to have it released in the near future. Please allow me to (re)introduce ourselves:

photo by Sue Zalokar

Flutist, saxophonist, and composer John C. Savage has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, and Ian Anderson. Known equally as “a thoughtful and rigorous improviser,” and “a badass, knock-down-drag-out force to be reckoned with” (The Willamette Week), Savage lived in New York City for many years performing with, among others, The Savage 3, Billy Fox, (The Uncle Wiggly Suite) the electroacoustic duo Cartridge, The Brooklyn Qawwali Party (eponymous release), and the Andrew Hill Big Band (A Beautiful Day). Savage continues to be a sought-after soloist and collaborator on both coasts working with a wide variety of artists, including the NYC-based Kitsune Ensemble (The Kaidan Suite and Amanogawa) and Portland’s Demolition Duo. Savage holds a Ph.D. from New York University in music performance and teaches flute at Western Oregon University. www.johncsavage.com

Ken Ollis is a drummer and composer from Portland, OR. He has performed extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, and has played with a variety of musicians including: Kenny Werner, Ingrid Jensen, Julian Priester, The Drifters, Bud Shank, John Stowell, Darrell Grant, John Gross, Dan Balmer, Chata Addy, Rob Blakeslee, Rich Halley, Glen Moore, and many others.  Most recently, his projects have included work with Dominique Eade, Heather Masse (from The Wailin’ Jennys), Aoife O'Donovan (from Crooked Still), Pepe and The Bottle Blondes, Paxselin Quartet, Demolition Duo, and several other groups. Ken also regularly performs in collaboration with painters, poets, dancers, and cinematographers. His compositions are featured in the repertoire of the Paxselin Quartet, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, PDX Ensemble, The Chamber of Commerce, and in his own groups.  His debut CD, Confluence, features Ollis’s original compositions performed skillfully by a fantastic ensemble.  Ken currently teaches at Portland State University and George Fox University, and has taught a multitude of clinics throughout the country. He holds an M.M. in jazz performance. 

www.kenollis.com