On March 9, 2012, my co-conspirators and I will be returning to Galapagos Art Space for a double-bill with the estimable Anti-Social Music . In addition to selections from Brooklyn Babylon , Secret Society will be playing music written especially for the band by Vijay Iyer and David T. Little . This is a rare opportunity to hear the band play compositions by someone else for a change. Also, Vijay and David have both written fantastic works that cut against the grain of what's expected from a large ("j-word") ensemble. For [...]
[cross-posted to the new Jazz Gallery blog, Jazz Speaks ] My co-conspirators and I have, as they say, "a history" with The Jazz Gallery . They were the first legitimate jazz venue to host Secret Society -- by "legitmate jazz venue," I mean a venue with the word "jazz" in its name. (That was April 5, 2007, for those keeping track.) Two selections from Infernal Machines , "Jacobin Club" and "Obsidian Flow," were commissioned by and premiered at The Jazz Gallery immediately prior to us going into the studio. Those who have [...]
Another great gone... Obviously Rivers leaves behind a vast and varied body of work, but don't sleep on his' '90s and '00s bigband recordings, now collected on a 3CD Mosaic Select box .
My tribute to Bob Brookmeyer is up at NewMusicBox. As important as Bob is to me, I knew my own words would be inaquate to convey the full sweep of his career and the enormous influence he had on generations of musicians — so the piece also includes excerpts from interviews I conducted with Jim Hall, Bill Holman, Jim McNeely, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, and others.
Bob Brookmeyer was the most extraordinary teacher -- more than a mentor, he was and is the most important shaping force in my musical life. He saw the spark of something in me and invited me to study with him at New England Conservatory, and any succes I've had since is directly attributable to his influence. I'm going to miss him something fierce. A more extensive tribute is in the works, but in the menanwhile, here's my post in honor of Bob's 80th birthday celebration -- he would have turned 82 this Monday. Elsewhere... [...]
Photo: James Matthew Daniel I'm still recovering from Brooklyn Babylon but I wanted to extend my deepest thanks to everyone who came to see the show, and everyone who's written me to express your thoughts on the piece. The response has been truly amazing -- it's so invigorating to discover that this thing that we all wokred incredibly hard to create ended up being meaningful to others. Here are two additional reviews: David Krasnow, Studio 360 : "This weekend, the Brooklyn Academy of Music [...]
Tonight is the final performance of Brooklyn Babylon at BAM Next Wave . It's been an incredible run and we are looking forward to an exciting closing night. Here are some of the reviews the show's been getting (though the spoiler-averse may want to proceed with caution): Fred Kaplan, Stereophile blog : "[Argue's] world premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music this week—an hour-long suite, accompanying a mix of animation and live painting by graphic-novel artist Danijel Zezelj, called Brooklyn Babylon—puts the composer and his 18-piece big [...]
Brooklyn Babylon premieres this Wednesday, Nov. 9 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 12. Tickets are selling briskly, so if you don't have yours yet, I'd counsel haste. Some nice previews: New York Times (Ben Ratliff): Animation Joins Jazz At the Next Wave Festival Salon (Martin Johnson): Could jazz provide the Occupy Wall Street Soundtrack? Time Out New York (Steve Smith): Composer Darcy James [...]
So over a year ago I essentially turned my entire life over to a project called Brooklyn Babylon . It's an urban fable about a master carpenter named Lev Bezdomni, who is comissioned by the supreme local authority, the Mayor of Brooklyn, to build the carousel that will crown the tallest building in the world, which is being constructed in the heart of Brooklyn. My co-creator is the amazing visual artist Danijel Zezelj , who has hand-painted the thousands and thousands of indiviudal images that go into the projected animation. He will also be painting [...]
This Friday, September 30, Secret Society will be returning to Boston (my old stomping grounds, circa 2000-2003) for a show at the Museum of Fine Arts -- 8 PM hit. We will be performing, for the first time, a sizeable portion of the music from Brooklyn Babylon , which needless to say we are very very excited about. Tickets are available here -- and for you collegians out there, student tickets are slightly less than half-price. We hope to see you there. Espeically considering you could probably really [...]
Today, we launched the website for Brooklyn Babylon , Secret Society's upcoming collaboration with visual artist Danijel Zezelj , produced by Beth Morrison Projects . The world premiere is at BAM Next Wave Festival this November. Lots to check out at the new site , including drop-dead gorgeous production sketches and animation stills, music samples, and a two-minute animated trailer. The social media-inclined can also follow Brooklyn Babylon on Facebook and Twitter , or subscribe to the production's RSS feed . This is by [...]
We made it through the entire tour without breaking Ingrid and Jon's baby. Success! Secret Society's first-ever Canadian incursion was well-documented by local pamphleteers and ink-stained wretches: Paul De Barros, Seattle Times With a chewy, innovative band that featured several players who also hail from this area — trumpeter Ingrid Jensen (Vancouver Island), drummer Jon Wikan (Seattle) and Ryan Keberle (Spokane) — Argue delivered a 100-minute set that heaved with great tectonic shifts and a sci-fi vibe, perching intense jazz solos over driving, [...]
2011 DownBeat Critics Poll — Rising Star: Composer
Secret Society's first-ever Canadian tour began early Sunday morning in a less-than-auspicious manner. The band had gathered on the corner of 42nd and 5th at 4:30 AM, waiting for a 4:50 AM pickup from the Newark Liberty Express bus. For you non-New Yorkers out there, Newark Airport is basically the Eighth Circle , except it's also incredibly difficult to get to, especially when you're trying to make a 7:30 AM international flight. Taxis from Manhattan can run you upwards of $100 (and even more from Brooklyn), so this bus was our only viable option. So you [...]
In a few scant hours, Secret Society's 2011 Canadian Incursion officially begins. Our schedule is, as they say up North, jam-packed , but I will do my best to post updates and incriminating evidence here. You can also follow our progress on Twitter -- on my own feed as well as those of my co-conspirators Rob Wilkerson (oops -- originally linked to the wrong Rob Wilkerson, fixed now), Josh Sinton , and James Hirschfeld . Here is where we are playing: Sunday, [...]
(Photo: Lindsay Beyerstein) Audio courtesy of the good folks at Search and Restore -- video coming soon. Meanwhile, additional photos , for your persusal. LITTLEFIELD 26 MAY 2011 click to listen; right-click or ctrl-click to download Phobos Solos: Jon Wikan, cajon; Jon Irabagon, tenor sax Dymaxion Solo: Josh Sinton, baritone sax Flux in a Box Solos: Rob Wilkerson, alto [...]
Tonight, Secret Society is thrilled to present a double-bill at Littlefield ( 622 Degraw in Brooklyn) with the great bassist-composer Ben Allison . Showtime is 8 PM, tickets available here or at the door. You have all heard Ben's awesome new release, Action-Refraction , I hope? Wherein the prolific composer (and Jazz Composer's Collective founder) turns his attention to other people's music -- in this case, songs by PJ Harvey, Donny Hathaway, the Carpenters, et al? It's a tremendous album, my favorite new jazz release this year, [...]
Brooklyn Babylon , a project which has been in the works for quite some time, was officially announced today. It will premiere this fall at BAM's Next Wave Festival . Soon, I will have much more to say about this epic undertaking (now that I'm allowed to actually tell people about it!). But for now, just check out the awesome trailer , which will give you a taste of the stunning animation my collaborator Danijel Zezelj's is creating for the show.
My homeland has recently been behaving in a most extraordinary manner. The Canadian dollar is currently worth more than the Gringo greenback, the NDP are outpolling the Liberals in the upcoming Federal election, and last night, to everyone's shock , the Vancouver Canucks somehow managed to not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Game 7. Further investigation is clearly warranted. Therefore, I am authorizing Secret Society for a strategic insertion into Canadian territories. Our incursion will proceed as follows: 26 June 2011 [...]
So as a follow-up to our previous Jim McNeely listening session , Ethan Iverson and I got together again last week to listen to Jim's epic recording, East Coast Blow Out , in its entirety. To begin, let me lay my cards on the table: this is one of the most mindblowingly great bigband albums ever recorded. Jim is very prolific, and has written a ton of outstanding music before and since -- some of which we talked about last time -- but East Coast Blow Out will [...]
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
My Funny Valentines
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
