A sound that defies description yet is eminently enjoyable fills the Brubeck Room when 9 Horses takes to the stage for its Wilton debut in a Hot & Cool: Jazz at the Brubeck Room concert on Sunday, November 13, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
9 Horses, formed in 2013, features Joe Brent (10-string mandolin), Sara Caswell (violin and Hardanger fiddle), and Andrew Ryan (bass). Each brings a unique element to the ensemble – Brent’s mandolin recalls the sound of Americana and folk music, Caswell is likewise an extraordinary jazz musician, and Ryan is a virtuoso improviser in several styles.
9 Horses is a musical experience unlike any other, perhaps like its name. According to Joe Brent, “The name of the band comes from a Billy Collins poem of the same name, which talks about a simple gift with a great significance. Small things with big meanings is a recurring theme in Collins' work, and in ours as well.” 9 Horses debut album, “Perfectest Herald,” was released in 2015 on Sunnyside Records. The title was influenced by Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing from the quote, “Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I were but little happy, if I could say how much.” The cornerstone of the album is a 4-movement suite that involves the trio taking the listener through tragedy, triumph and renewal. Budd Kopman from All About Jazz noted, “9 Horses is a very special group from which there is no doubt more will be heard and “Perfectest Herald” is a very special creative work.”
The group comes to this Hot & Cool concert after recently being named the winning ensemble in the 21CM Emerging Artists competition designed to showcase groups “re-imagining the future of art music” that took place this past September.
Joe Brent, who plays 8 string and 10 string mandolins, graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1999 with a focus on contemporary music and he immediately began working closely with many of the great modern composers, premiering and performing works by Elliot Carter, Pierre Boulez, Magnus Lindberg, Olga Neuwirth, David Loeb, and Nathan Davis, among many others. He has performed with numerous well-known chambers and orchestras, traveling and playing internationally as a result. Simultaneously, Mr. Brent has maintained an active career in popular and improvising music. He has performed and/or recorded with Regina Spektor, Woody Allen, Jewel, Stephane Grappelli, Alice and Ravi Coltrane, Tommy Tune, Sam Moore (from Sam and Dave), the Alan Ferber Nonet + Strings, Jillette Johnson, and Kishi Bashi. He also has been featured in dozens of Broadway and off-Broadway orchestra pits including Tony Award winners and nominees Spring Awakening, Everyday Rapture, Big River, Urban Cowboy, and the 2014 Shakespeare in the Park production of Much Ado About Nothing.
Violinist Sara Caswell has been recognized as “a brilliant world-class violinist…one of the very best of the present generations of emerging young jazz stars,” according to the late David Baker, internationally-renowned jazz educator and former Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks. She is becoming known as an eloquent jazz soloist, sideman and teacher. She performs regularly with clarinetist David Krakauer’s The Big Picture, bassist Brian Coughlin’s Fireworks ensemble, and 9 Horses. She was a member of the house band for NBC’s weekly summer variety show “Maya & Marty” starring Maya Rudolph and Martin Short, as well as the New York Pops Orchestra with whom she has been a featured soloist several times in Carnegie Hall. In addition, she toured for two years with 3-time Grammy-winning bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding. Ms. Caswell has performed and/or recorded with notable artists including musicians who have played in Hot & Cool concerts such as Gene Bertoncini and Bucky Pizzarelli. In 2006, Sara completed her M.M. Degree in Jazz Violin at the Manhattan School of Music.
Andrew Ryan has toured and performed internationally in a wide array of projects, and has studied at Ithaca College, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and Le Festival International du Domaine Forget, where he studied with virtuoso Francois Rabbath. A gripping performer and a sensitive collaborator, he strives to use his mastery of the instrument to seamlessly traverse genre and style.
The Hot & Cool concerts are made possible through funding from the William and Karen Tell Foundation with special thanks to Catherine and Ed Romer and Tish and Chris Brubeck. An informal reception follows the concert. There is a suggested donation of $10 per person. Advance registration is strongly suggested. Pre-registrants should arrive by 3:50 p.m. to be guaranteed seating; wait-listed and walk-in registrants will be admitted after 3:50 p.m. if space is available.