Bram McCullough & Chad Weijters

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Bart Steenhaut

Bram Weijters and Chad McCullough.

Presented by BlueStem Jazz.

press release: Chad Mccullough www.chadmccullough.com) heralded for his “solos of mercurial poetry and high craft.” (Chicago Tribune) Chicago-based trumpeter/composer Chad McCullough has received wide critical-acclaim. His stable of collaborators is a diverse collection of unique musicians and speaks to the depth of his musical palette. Dan McClenaghan writes, “He is a rare instrumentalist who makes each note sound as if it were imbued with a deeper meaning. Certainly a player with great chops, his approach is one that is measured and deliberate, often introspective, sometimes gorgeously melancholic, and one that employs a continuity of mood and atmosphere …”

As a leader, he has performed with his bands at festivals throughout the globe, including the Festival of New Trumpet Music (New York), the GG Jazz Festival (Krasnodar, Russia), Chicago Jazz Festival, The Earshot Jazz Festival, Halifax Jazz Festival (Nova Scotia) and The Appeltuin Jazz Festival (Belgium). His albums have been released internationally on Origin Records, ears&eyes, Monks and Thieves, and Shifting Paradigm.

He’s a member or frequent collaborator with many musicians/ensembles, including ensembles with; Bram Weijters, Tim Hagans, Matt Ulery, Roger Ingram, Dana Hall, Ryan Shultz, Luke Malewicz, James Davis, and has performed with Maria Schneider, Miguel Zenon, Stafford James, Chad Lefkowicz-Brown, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, and many more.

Chad holds a M.M. from the University of Washington, and a B.M. from the University of Idaho, where he was a Lionel Hampton Scholar, and was the first student to graduate with a jazz emphasis on his degree. He toured extensively playing both piano and trumpet in the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and in 2009 participated in the jazz & creative music workshop at the Banff Centre in Canada. He is currently on the jazz studies faculty at DePaul University and University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Bram Weijters www.bramweijters.com)

"Weijters' music is just a joy to listen to.” (All about Jazz).

“A special mention goes to Bram Weijters’ extraordinary piano playing” (De Morgen)

“marvelous interactions from pianist Bram Weijters’”(JazzMozaiek)

Antwerp-based pianist and composer Bram Weijters, has made an international name for his work in jazz, improvisational and alternative music over the last decade. He has produced dozens of albums and collaborates with an array of touring acts throughout Europe and the US.

In 2017 he started the Monks & Thieves Record Label to broaden the reach of the Belgian jazz scene. Weijters frequently works with Chicago trumpeter Chad Mccullough, his own Trio and Quartet, the Belgian super-band Bram Weijters' Crazy Men, Mazzle, Hamster Axis of the One-Click Panther, Piet Verbist, Zygomatik, Jelle Van Giel Group, and has studied with Kenny Werner, Anthony Braxton, Gary Peacock, Mark Turner, Dave Liebman, Bill Carrothers and many others.

Weijters attended the Antwerp Conservatory, and holds two Master's degrees from the Brussels Conservatory in composition and jazz piano. He has attended the Banff Centre's Jazz & Creative Music workshop in Canada twice, and his projects are frequently funded by Belgian arts organizations.

About PENDULUM:

Humanity will always be fascinated with the passage of time- that which can never be possessed... only viewed in retrospect. During history people also developed highly complex clockworks to be able to measure time. Belgian pianist and composer Bram Weijters has drawn inspiration from this to compose the music for Pendulum.

Pendulum is a 25-movement suite, based on a common musical cell that evolves through 24 pieces, progressing with a structured order through all twelve key-centers twice, with a final reprise at the end, just as a clock circles twice a day through twelve hours, before the next day.

Inspired by the musical genius of Bach and his ordering of musical works like the Well Tempered Klavier and the Goldberg Variations, Pendulumorganizes the musical moods and atmospheres Weijters and McCullough have developed over time into one overarching form, where they can combine composition and their own musical voice as improvisers.

Just as the highly structured music of J.S Bach, just as a highly complex clockwork can still have a poetic strength, Pendulum aims to provide the listener with different moods, subtle variations and atmospheres moving through shifting tonalities where the complexity of the music below the surface - the cogwheels and entrapments of the clockwork- melts away.

For ten years, Chad McCullough and Bram Weijters have collaborated around the world, with a musical bond that transcends geographic restraints. After three albums with the quartet (featuring John Bishop and Piet Verbist) the two leaders also started playing as a duo, resulting in their album Feather a year and a half ago and now their newest album Pendulum. On both albums as a duo, Weijters uses an arsenal of keyboards like Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer electric piano’s and Moog synths besides the acoustic grand piano. McCullough blends in with a very soft -almost flute-like trumpet sound, sometimes embellished with some electronic effects.

Besides their collaboration both Weijters and McCullough, based respectively in Antwerp and Chicago also have their own projects. Bram was recently also on tour with Bram Weijters’ Crazy Men with their new interpretation of early Belgian jazz fusion (with which they’ll release an album beginning of 2019), he has been playing with his own Bram Weijters Quartet and you could also here him on recent releases from Piet Verbist Quartet, Mazzle and Jelle Van Giel Group, …Chad is a very busy musician in the Chicago jazz scene performing with ensembles with Matt Ulery, Roger Ingram, Dana Hall, Ryan Shultz, Luke Malewicz, James Davis,… He also has performed with Maria Schneider, Miguel Zenon, Stafford James, Chad Lefkowicz-Brown, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, and many more.

Pendulum is released in Europe by Belgian label Monks and Thieves, and by Shifting Paradigm Records in the USA.