Bram Weijters & Chad McCullough
Bart Steenhaut
Bram Weijters and Chad McCullough.
Tickets $12 online in advance at https://bramchad.bpt.me or $15 at the door. Online sales end 1 hour before the show. Doors open at 7:30.
The ALL Jazz Series is sponsored in part by Dobhan Restaurant, Alchemy, and Heid Music.
press release: Belgian pianist Bram Weijters and American trumpeter Chad McCullough release their fifth album, Pendulum, on Shifting Paradigm Records in collaboration with Belgian label Monks and Thieves on November 2, 2018.
This remarkable 25-movement suite inspired by the hours of the day further establishes the duo's sonic explorations, and Weijter's compositional prowess. The duo will support the album with a ten date US tour this Fall followed by a European tour in spring 2019.
Humanity will always be fascinated with the passage of time…that which can never be possessed... only viewed in retrospect. Twelve hours on a clock, and the hour hand circles twice. Twelve tonal centers in music give us twenty-four harmonic centers (major and minor), and masterful Belgian composer Bram Weijters has worked this into a suite which draws inspiration from complex clockwork, and the organizational concepts of J.S. Bach - both the Well-tempered Klavier, and by the structure of the Goldberg Variations, Pendulum is a suite built out of subtle variations, beginning and quickly departing from one common theme and moving through shifting tonalities and atmospheres, combining classically-influenced composition with modern improvisation.
The beauty intrinsic to these pieces allows the listener to forget the complexity just below the surface - the cogwheels and entrapments melt away into a serene and simplistic beauty. The visible becomes the invisible. The listener becomes another moving part in the discovery of the music.
For ten years, Chad McCullough and Bram Weijters have collaborated around the world, with a musical bond that transcends geographic restraints. Their three albums with the quartet (featuring John Bishop and Piet Verbist) were lauded by critics, and the foray into duo territory has been equally successful. The sonic textures and colors readily available on their first duo album, Feather, preclude the depth and development of the two-as-one conception evident from the first notes of Pendulum.
A sonic journey through time and harmony, the arsenal of keyboards that Weijters commands matches deftly with the surreal trumpet tone and control used by McCullough. The combination of atmospheric trumpet, with warm melancholic vintage keyboards and piano blend seamlessly into a stunning work of pensive and lyrical art. For the past decade, the duo has built an international reputation, including their work with their quartet, and this album further solidifies what's to come.
The album will be co-released by the Belgian label Monks and Thieves, and the suite has been written with sponsorship from the Flemish community.
Heralded for his “solos of mercurial poetry and high craft.” (Chicago Tribune), Chad McCullough has matured into an integral part of the international jazz scene with his playing, composing, and vast knowledge of the music business. His albums regularly receive wide critical-acclaim, and he collaborates with a diverse collection of musicians, each addition speaking to the depth of his musical palette.
“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 that the best recordings have.” –Dan McClenaghan
Chad has performed with several of his own groups across the globe, including the Festival of New Trumpet Music (New York), the GG Jazz Festival (Krasnodar, Russia), Earshot Jazz Festival (Seattle), Appeltuin Jazz Festival (Belgium), and the Chicago Jazz Festival. Many of his albums have been released internationally, and several have reached the top 100 for jazz airplay in the US.
As a composer, McCullough has scored for film, written for various large ensembles, dancers, string and chamber groups - in both classical and jazz idioms. Many of his pieces have been featured music spots on NPR. As an educator, he has been involved with mentoring projects run by the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra, the radio station KPLU, and has done educational outreach in several internationally-recognized high school and college music programs. He is currently a member of the Jazz Studies faculty at DePaul University in Chicago.
Bram Weijters is an Antwerp, Belgium based pianist and composer who's music had deep roots in jazz, improvisational and alternative genres. At eight years old, Bram began classical training and by eighteen, he was admitted to the Antwerp Conservatory. After graduating for jazz piano in Antwerp he went to the Brussels Conservatory and graduated in 2005 with Masters Degrees in jazz composition and arranging.
Besides the faculty at those conservatories Bram took lessons and attended masterclasses from Kenny Werner, Anthony Braxton, Gary Peacock, Mark Turner, Dave Liebman, Bill Carrothers and many others.
Weijters has established himself as one of the most in-demand pianists on Belguim's internationally renowned jazz scene performing regularly in clubs, festivals, and concert halls in Belgium and abroad.