Rizzoli Music Aperitivo: Elsa Nilsson and Band of Pulses

Rizzoli Music Aperitivo presents flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson and her Band of Pulses, who will perform their Chamber Music America New Jazz Works piece "Pulses." Based on the rhythmic and melodic materials of Maya Angelou's voice and her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," it explores the intersection of jazz phrasing and spoken language.

Tickets include a glass of wine and a 15% store discount the day of the concert. PLEASE NOTE: This event is mixed seated/standing. Doors open at 4:45 pm.

For this concert at Rizzoli Elsa Nilsson and her Band of Pulses will present "Pulses," involving the voice of Dr. Maya Angelou reading her poem "On the Pulse of Morning." They received the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant for this project, which explores the intersectionality between spoken language and jazz phrasing using the rhythmic and melodic materials of her voice as the foundations of compositions and improvisations. Matty Bannon at New York Jazz Record says “Pulses interrogates freedom in America via free playing and free interpretation of Angelou’s seminal poem. Against a backdrop of political disorientation, Nilsson’s quartet attempts this ambitious project by combining hope with hard work. That spirit is a prerequisite for the change they seek. And this album offers a fresh comment on the path ahead.”

Nilsson and her band will also be premiering the work from her upcoming release, the second installment of "Atlas of Sound", an ongoing series that explores humanity's relationship to place by writing music in specific locations. The first one was lauded by Dave Sumner at Bandcamp as “It’s as close as you’ll get to being there without actually being there, and it’s yet another intriguing project from Nilsson that touches upon themes of experience, memory, and interconnectedness.” This second installment was written at an artist residency in the Argentinian Patagonia region, in a small village called Quila Quina. Nilsson is thrilled to be presenting this work at Rizzoli as the album, and all albums in this series, is released as a book. This book is a field atlas with detailed descriptions of the ecosystems Nilsson encountered in her research as well as art by Maia Heidel and poetry by Mapuche poet Pukem Inayao. This concert will double as album and book release for this project.

The band, led by Elsa Nilsson on flutes and effects, consists of Rodrigo Recabarren (drums), Santiago Leibson (piano) and Marty Kenney (bass). Leibson is one of the most sought after pianists in the New York contemporary jazz scene and has played multiple solo recitals at Carnegie Hall as part of the “Sophia Rossoff Presents'' series. Recabarren has worked with artists such as Guillermo Klein, Brad Shepik, Melissa Aldana, Camila Meza, Claudia Acuña and many more. He and Nilsson developed "Pulses" together. Kenney is an equally creative and sought after bass player and together this band weaves intricate invitations to view Jazz in a fresh light.

ELSA NILSSON

Brooklyn-based flutist and composer Elsa Nilsson’s work engages high-level improvising and layered, cinematic orchestration; her artistry, an earnest and actionable desire to collaborate with multimodal artists and the changing world around her. The Gothenburg native’s solo leader releases include Pulses (2023), Atlas Of Sound - Coast Redwoods (2022), Dark Is Light Is (2021), Hindsight (2020), After Us (2018) and Salt Wind (2017). She’s the 2018 winner of the National Flute Association’s Jazz Flute Competition, and the recipient of multiple Chamber Music America grants, including a 2022 New Jazz Works grant for Band of Pulses. Elsa graduated from Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet in Gothenburg; she received her bachelor of music from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and her master of music from NYU. She has served as a professor of Rhythmic Analysis and Socially Engaged Artistry at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music since 2020, and led master classes across the U.S.

RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE

Established in New York in 1964, Rizzoli Bookstore moved in 1985 to its historic 57th Street location, where it resided for 29 years before relocating in 2015 to its current NoMad location on Broadway. It has been widely considered one of the foremost independent booksellers in America specializing in illustrated books on architecture, interior design, fashion, photography, cookery, and the fine and applied arts, as well as literature, foreign language books and international magazines. Rizzoli Bookstore has been, and will continue to be, a literary landmark in New York City, and a celebrated destination for important authors and book lovers from all over the world.

MONDO JAZZ

Mondo Jazz is a weekly program on Radio Free Brooklyn dedicated to the proposition that jazz is an international language. It is hosted every Wednesday night from 10 PM to midnight and Thursday morning from 8 to 10 AM, by Ludovico Granvassu, the founder and editor in chief of All About Jazz Italia. All archived episodes are available .

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