The Way of the Trumpet

On Friday April 26th at 8pm please join the Village Zendo for The Way of the Trumpet – a duet between actor-author Peter Josyph and our own sangha member and extraordinary trumpet player Ryuko Aaron Shragge.

The performance is based on Josyph’s book The Way of the Trumpet (Boone’s Dock Press, 2012), a novel composed in verses of 17 syllables in the classic haiku format of 5-7-5. The music is improvised on solo trumpet around themes developed by Tim Hagans. Characters include the poet Peter-san, whose troubled eyesight urges him to learn what exactly a trumpet is; Dr. Duck, a Zen analyst who lives in Long Island’s Sunken Meadow State Park; the wealthy Mr. Moto, who loves what he calls “warp jazz” and is addicted to suicide and other guilty pleasures; and the elusive character of Trumpet itself leading the poet toward a kind of enlightenment.

Opening will be The Batteries Duo, trumpet and electronics by Gareth Flowers and Josh Frank. A seamless and fascinating blend of acoustic and electronic music.

Seating for the event is limited – Please buy tickets in advance here for $16 from Brown Paper Tickets. On the night of the show $20. For more information contact Musho.

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Josyph works concurrently as an actor-director, an author, a painter, a photographer and a filmmaker. His books include Cormac McCarthy’s House: Reading McCarthy Without Walls; The Way of the Trumpet; Liberty Street: Encounters at Ground Zero; Adventures in Reading Cormac McCarthy; What One Man Said to Another: Talks with Richard Selzer; and, as editor, Selzer’s Letters to A Best Friend, and The Wounded River, which was a New York Times Notable Book of 1993. For 12 years Josyph was artistic director of Victory Rep in New York, where he wrote 50 plays and acted/directed continually. About his portrayal of Henry David Thoreau in An Hour at Walden, the New York Times said: “Peter Josyph gives an extraordinary performance.” For 7 years he was artist-in-residence at the Smithtown Township Arts Council on Long Island, where his work as a painter made him a New Yorker Talk of the Town and a fellow of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. He directed the award-winning documentary Liberty Street: Alive at Ground Zero. The Way of the Trumpet is the first of four interrelated haiku novels comprising the Haiku Quartet, which includes London Journal, Stockholm, and Heroin Days.

 

Aaron Ryuko Shragge (trumpet, shakuhachi, composition) has been greatly inspired from the practice and study of the ancient musical traditions of North India and Japan. Shragge has a BFA in Jazz and Contemporary Music from New School University and is currently finishing a Master”s in Music therapy at New York University. Aaron Shragge has performed with multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter, Ben Monder, Jon Gibson, The Sam Roberts Band, Akim Funk Buddha, and Medeski Martin and Wood”s Billy Martin at such venues as Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, The Blue Note, CBGB”s and The Tenri Cultural Institute. He has studied improvisation with Kenny Werner, and is currently studying trumpet with Laurie Frink, shakuhachi with Grand Master’s Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, Japanese Master Yodo Kurahashi II and North Indian vocals with Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. His current projects include a duo with Ben Monder, a Jazz sextet that plays the music of Tom Waits and a trio with Daniel Carter and Alexi David.

 

Tim Hagans is a Grammy-nominated jazz trumpet player and composer. He performs and records with the Tim Hagans Quartet. The Moon Is Waiting, his latest CD (Palmetto Records, 2011), features his quartet performing all original compositions by Hagans. It was heralded by JazzTimes as “scrumptious madness,” by Downbeat as “an artistic success,” and by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “free jazz with constant drive and passion.” Hagans is a featured soloist on Howard Shore”s soundtrack for The Score starring Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro. For 15 years he was artistic director and composer-in-residence for the Norrbotten Big Band, traveling to Sweden to perform, conduct and arrange projects with guest artists such as Rufus Reid, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano. Last year Hagans was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Hagans is composer-in-residence with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble, which works exclusively with live original music. In January 2012 Hagans’ Outside My Window was performed with the MBDE at Dance Theatre of Harlem. He has played with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Stan Kenton, Joe Lovano, Dexter Gordon, and Thad Jones. Hagans is the subject of the feature documentary Boogaloo Road, directed by Runar Enberg and Marianne Soderberg for Swedish television.

 

 

The Batteries Duo is a trumpets and electronics duo of Gareth Flowers and Josh Frank. After being inspired by the work of synthesizer guru and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, they decided to form a duo that would perform improvisationally with found sounds and samples as a backbone of their music. The Batteries Duo has performed at many venues and festivals in the New York City area including Darmstadt at Issue Project Room, Jazz and More at Bargemusic, and Schizoid Music at Cornelia St. Cafe. They have been featured on WNYC’s New Sounds program, and often perform with guest artists. Recent collaborators include Caleb Burhans and Lisa Bielawa. They recorded a new album with multi-instrumentalist David Nelson this past fall, and with any luck, it will be released this spring.

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