JUNE 26: Joel Ross Parables (an Octet)
Joel Ross - vibes, Immanuel Wilkins - alto sax, Maria Grand - tenor sax, Marquis Hill - trumpet, Kalia Vandever - trombone, Sean Mason - piano, Rick Rosato - bass, Craig Weinrib – drums
Joel Ross is one of jazz’s brightest new stars, an immensely talented vibraphonist and composer who is totally prepared to bring jazz into its next stage around the world. Ross performed at Duck Creek last year with a quartet; this year he’s bringing a his rarely heard large ensemble, Parables, to our barn, where he’ll be performing new compositions as a warm-up to recording the octet in the fall. The band includes Kalia Vandever, who is joining us twice this summer, as a composer, a bandleader, and an educator, along with saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, another rising star in jazz; Craig Weinrib, on drums was at Duck Creek last summer. Ross has organized a two-part music series for us this summer including saxophonist, Maria Grand, who will play with his octet on the 26th, and her own trio on June 27. This program is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and administered by The Huntington Arts Council.

JUNE 27: Maria Grand, selected by Joel Ross
Maria Grand - tenor, Savannah Harris - drums, Rashaan Carter - bass
Maria Grand’s saxophone playing and composing have been one of the most exciting things to have happened in jazz over the last several years. She’s an intimate, quiet improvisor, and is bringing some of the best musicians in jazz with her, including the brilliant Rashaan Carter on bass, who played here last year, and Savannah Harris, a young, exciting drummer. Grand has won the Best New Artist award from Jazz Times, and was recently Roulette’s Artist in Residence. This is the first of two concerts curated for Duck Creek by vibraphonist Joel Ross, who’s octet Parables, will perform on June 26th, 2021.

JULY 3: The Bill Frisell Trio featuring Rudy Royston - drums, Thomas Morgan - bass
Few musicians in jazz have had as wide a range of influence as has the guitarist Bill Frisell. His conception, part jazz, part rock, part country and part free improvisation, has changed the way music sounds. From his early work with the avant guardist John Zorn, through his own beautiful early works on ECM, and into his deeply felt explorations into Americana, it’s been clear that Frisell is a special, gestural player. His work with the jazz drummer Paul Motian and the saxophonist Joe Lovano, is a milestone in jazz guitar. And the trio he’s bringing, with Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums, is special, with Mr. Morgan an improvising musician with no real peers.

JULY 10: Benjamin Louis Brody and Alex Weston
The New Classical Series, sponsored by the Joel Foundation
Composers Benjamin Louis Brody and Alex Weston present an evening of music exploring the intersection of acoustic elements and processed sounds. Through looping, sonic manipulation, and other processes they reconstruct their instruments recognizable sounds into new experiences.
Alex Weston is a composer of music for concert works and film scores. His film scores have premiered at festivals around the world including Sundance, the Berlinale, the Venice Biennale, Slamdance. His recent effort for Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, which premiered at Sundance 2019 and distributed by A24, was described as “gorgeously scored” by Vanity Fair. The score was included on the shortlist for “Best Original Score” for the 2020 Oscars. He also recently scored a film entitled Wander Darkly by director Tara Miele, released by Lionsgate. Weston's music has also been featured on The Affair (Showtime), Jane Fonda in Five Acts (HBO), the Ken Burns-produced documentary The Emperor of All Maladies (PBS), and various projects for NBC, Netflix and others. Alex’s concert works include commissions from the Lyrica Chamber Music Ensemble (a concerto for pianist David Kaplan), ABCIrque, the Utah Wind Symphony, MADArt Creative, Ballet in the City, and others. Alex’s music encapsulates his wide-ranging influences, combining classical structures and orchestration along with more modern harmonic language, electronics, and textures
Benjamin Louis Brody is a New York-based musician and sound artist who creates sublime walls of sound through ambient textures generating a dynamic resonance for his listeners. Most recently, in 2021 he released the music from his 2017 ballet, Floating Into Infinity, on New Amsterdam Records with virtuoso drummer Ian Chang (Son Lux). AnEarful described the album as "...consistently gorgeous and full of invention and adventure." His work, Oscillations for solo trombone and synthesizer, was most recently performed (2020) by the bass trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, George Curran. Brody has also premiered numerous orchestral works with the Chelsea Symphony including the 2019 premiere of his Double Bass Concerto, Forever Melodies. In addition to live performances his work has also been featured on media outlets such as BBC Radio, WNYC's New Sounds and VICE News.
This three-part New Classical Music series was sponsored by The Joel Foundation.

JULY 25: Samara Joy feat Pasquale Grasso Trio
Samara Joy - voice, Pasquale Grasso - guitar, Ari Roland - bass, Keith Balla - drums
Samara Joy is one of the more imposing young singers working in jazz. She’s from a gospel family; her first exposure to jazz was at Fordham High School for the Arts, and a short time later she became the Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and in 2019 she won the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition. Samara will be joined by a trio led 30 year old Pasquale Grasso, a budding star from the world of solo guitar. “It’s great working with him because I know he brings his best, which pushes me to bring my A-game – nothing less.” Don’t miss these two rising stars perform at Duck Creek.

AUGUST 7, 6pm: Brian Petuch: Portrait and a Dream Opera Workshop
Click above to watch the fully realized Opera at Irondale Center in Brooklyn, NY
Additional Funding provided by the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, in conjunction with their Picasso in Pollock exhibit
Soprano: Kendra Berentsen, Tenor: Brian Giebler, Baritone: Ricardo Rivera, Violin: Finn Shanahan, Viola: Chelsea Wimmer, Cello: Amanda Gookin, Piano: Paul Kerekes, Conductor: David Bloom, Director: Ashley Tata, Production: Zachary Ritter
The Arts Center at Duck Creek presents an eight-piece workshop performance of Portrait and a Dream, a new opera about the life work of Jackson Pollock, performed by the new music ensemble Contemporaneous. Using interviews and conversations with Pollock and weaving in images of his iconic work, composer Brian Petuch builds a musical imagination of the creative life of this compelling artist. Electronic music blends with vocals and acoustic instruments to present an evocative sense of Pollock’s place in both the present and the past. Described as “narratively limitless... peaceful, violent, and transcendent.” (American Composers Forum), Brian Petuch's music inhabits extreme contrasts of reflection, celebration, and irreverence. His works have premiered at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 911 Memorial at Liberty Park, EMPAC, Constellation, MASS MoCA, and Joyce Theatre. Contemporaneous is a NY based non-profit ensemble who provide composers like Petuch with the opportunity to take risks and to challenge themselves and their audiences. This program will coincide with the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center exhibition Picasso in Pollock, on view from July 29 - October 31, 2021.

AUGUST 28: Kalia Vandever Quartet
The New Classical Series, sponsored by the Joel Foundation
Kalia Vandever - trombone, Lee Meadvin - guitar, Eva Lawitts - bass, Connor Parks - drums 
Kalia Vandever is an accomplished trombonist and composer, writing regularly for her own projects, as well as settings ranging from brass quartet to solo violin. Her album, “In Bloom,” which features all of her original work for quartet, was written up in the NYTimes, WBGO, Hot House Jazz Magazine, and more. Kalia’s quartet will present music from her album In Bloom, as well as newer compositions that will be recorded in September and released in early 2022. 

AUGUST 28: The Westerlies, presented by Kalia Vandever
The New Classical Series, sponsored by the Joel Foundation,
Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands - trumpet, Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch - trombone
The Westerlies are one of the preeminent brass ensembles working at the nexus of classical music, jazz and pop; they’ve been celebrated over a series of albums and collaborations with everyone from the Fleet Foxes and Common to the jazz trumpeter Dave Douglas. Kalia met the group during her time at The Juilliard School, and in 2020 she was commissioned to write a piece for the group, which was premiered at Westerlies Fest in February, 2021. Her piece, Calling Me Back Home, written in memory of her maternal grandfather, along with two new Duck Creek commissioned pieces will be presented during this performance.

SEPTEMBER 4: Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days
Adam O'Farrill- trumpet, Xavier Del Castillo- tenor sax, Walter Stinson- bass, Victor Pablo- drums
Trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill comes from one of America’s more musical families. His grandfather, Chico O’Farrill, was the brilliant Cuban arranger and composer and bandleader who helped introduce Afro-Cuban music to the United States, collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Machito and Stan Kenton, among others. The elder O’Farrill moved to the United States, and his son, Adam’s father, Arturo, is a gifted pianist and bandleader, the director of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. In 2019 Adam won the Rising Star Trumpet award in Downbeat Magazine, and the recordings he and his band, Stranger Days have made, are regularly featured on top 10 jazz lists. He has a broad reach, drawing on all sorts of musics, and playing with Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mary Halvorson and other members of the avant guard; Adam was here last year as part of the saxophonist Kevin Sun’s band.

SEPTEMBER 11: Family Plan, 5pm
The Arts Center at Duck Creek is thrilled to welcome the Brooklyn-based music collective Family Plan on Saturday, September 11th at 5pm. This trio of young composer-musicians—Andrew Boudreau on piano, Vicente Hansen on drums, and Simón Willson on bass—are as studied as they are fresh. The CD release show will feature original compositions from their self-titled, debut album, available September 24th on Endectomorph Music. "Andrew, Simón and Vicente speak as one organism. They are intertwined in their musical explorations, complementing each other, interacting with great cohesiveness. Yet they can also speak with diversity, provocation, and instigation, creating a counterpoint of perspectives and intentions. They often challenge any preconceived ideas about where the music will or should go next. This is music with a sense of danger and discovery that, on one hand, immaculately balances following through on expectations, while on the other hand creating surprise and unpredictability." —Frank Carlberg, 2021

SEPTEMBER 25 Patricia Brennan, selected by Joel Ross
Patricia Brennan - Vibraphone, Noel Brennan - Drums, Mauricio Herrera - Percussion, Kim Cass - Bass
The second part of Joel Ross’ curatorial series at Duck Creek will feature Mexican vibraphonist and composer Patricia Brennan, who is coming off the release of a highly regarded solo album, Maquishti. Brennan moves easily between the classical and the jazz worlds, having spent time playing in some of Mexico’s best orchestras; she’s performed and recorded around the world. And she’s a member of bands led by Matt Mitchell, Michael Formanek and John Hollenbeck, three of New York’s most respected band leaders.