David Ambrosio & Civil Disobedience with UW Blue Note Ensemble

media release: Mead Witter School of Music Guest Artist Series: Anita Sorenson Jazz Guest Residency

April 16: Contemporary Jazz Ensemble & UW Jazz Orchestra with the David Ambrosio Quintet

April 17: UW Blue Note Ensemble and David Ambrosio & Civil Disobedience

Featured Artists

David Ambrosio, bass

Donny McCaslin, tenor/soprano saxophones

Jason Palmer, trumpet

Bruce Barth, piano

Rudy Royston, drums

Civil Disobedience is a project initiated by New York bassist David Ambrosio, showcasing the works of progressive jazz composers from the late 1960s Blue Note Era. The featured composers include Bobby Hutcherson, Jackie McLean, Stanley Cowell, Harold Land, Joe Chambers, Duke Pearson, and James Spaulding. Remarkably, much of this music, created during a period of significant social change and civil unrest, remained unreleased for decades, preventing these compositions from being heard when they were originally written.

Over 50 years later, in contemporary America, there are notable parallels with the social movements of that era. This context lends a new and heightened sense of relevancy and urgency to the important music featured in Civil Disobedience. The project was conceptualized and convened as an artistic response to current socio-economic and social justice events, both on a domestic and global scale. By performing the politically conscious jazz compositions of the late 1960s Blue Note Era, Civil Disobedience seeks to bring forth the timeless messages embedded in this music and connect them with the pressing issues of today.