Last time Bobby Previte visited Birmingham, he brought together his acclaimed Constellation Ensemble; a jazz orchestra formed of trumpets, keyboards, sax, clarinet, harp, piano and additional drums to compliment the ones of Previte, renowned as much as a jazz drummer as a composer. That concert, commissioned by the City of Birmingham was celebrated in February 2004 at CBSO, 7 other cities in the UK and Teatro Nationale in Milan, Italy in May of 2005.
Previte played what is considered his masterpiece, The 23 Constellations of Joan Miró, a multimedia performance including texts and slide projections, based on the abstract work of the Spanish painter, which stunned Previte as he visited one of the three opportunities in history to see the full collection of 23 paintings together at the New York MOMA, in 1993.
The wide range of musical influences embraced by Previte allows him to travel from free-jazz together with the Constellations Orchestra, to urban funk, interpreted together with two of New York’s most outstanding musicians, Charlie Hunter playing his eight string guitar and DJ Logic at turntables for Previte‘s composition Blasticity. Other influences are massively mixed in his music, from Piazzola tango to Latin jazz, through to John Zorn, with whom he has worked in several projects. Some of the musical labels that have been associated to Previte’s music are free-jazz, psychedelia or doom jazz. The plastic arts and visual influence is still present at Previte’s recordings and live performances.
He will be performing at Supersonic, together with VJ Benton-C Bainbridge, an audio-visual performance in which Bobby will trigger his drums in a full direct set, no loops, no overdub, over Benton-C’s light brushstrokes, at their only tour date in the UK, in partnership with Birmingham Jazz.
By Nicolás Gómez
Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35
available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline
Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork