Jason Ajemian & The HighLife October 15, 2010

Jason Ajemian & The HighLife

RVAJazz and Balliceaux are pleased to present Jason Ajemian & The HighLife on October 15 at Balliceaux. The group performed last in Richmond in April to an enthusiastic crowd, so we are delighted to have them back.

Jason Ajemian has acquired a high profile in the improvised music scene over the years, performing with Rob Mazurek’s Mandarin Movie, Exploding Star Orchestra, and Chicago Underground Trio, Ken Vandermark’s Crisis Ensemble, and with Marc Ribot’s new group Sun Ship. Ajemian’s curiosity has ranged far and wide -- he’s just as comfortable in the hushed, folksy setting of Born Heller, his duo with Josephine Foster, as he is in the breath-processed arrangements of his large ensemble Who Cares How Long You Sink. Given such a variety of musical interests, a detour like “From Beyond,” Ajemian’s backwards version of Black Sabbath’s ‘Into the Void’ for chamber ensemble, begins to seem like an obvious stop on this bassist’s journey from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to Chicago and his current home in New York City.

Jason Ajemian & The HighLife is a home where the concepts behind all of his previous music can comfortably reside. Formed at the Harold Arts Residency in rural Ohio, Jason Ajemian & The HighLife features a carefully structured approach to improvisation that nevertheless leads to music that sounds immediate and effortless. Ajemian’s poems serve as signposts; the scores, created in the architectural drafting program AutoCAD, guide the musicians through musical hallways to unexpected locales. His blueprints dictate the flow and direction of the set, opening the performers up to visual and descriptive influences, leading them through a unique musical landscape of American folk forms, Native American chants, Canadian sea shanties, jazz expressive motion and balladry.

Jason Ajemian & The HighLife is: Jason Ajemian (bass, vocals), Jacob Wick (trumpet, vocals), Peter Hanson (alto saxophone, vocals), Owen Stewart-Robertson (guitar), Marc Riordan (drums, vocals).

Ages 21+