Atlantis Quartet | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Minneapolis |
Genres | Jazz, post-bop, jazz fusion |
Years active | 2006–present |
Labels | Shifting Paradigm |
Members | Brandon Wozniak Zacc Harris Chris Bates Pete Hennig |
Past members | Travis Schilling |
Website | atlantisquartet |
The Atlantis Quartet is a musical group established in 2006 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Atlantis Quartet was formed in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, after guitarist Zacc Harris moved from Southern Illinois to Minneapolis in 2005 and met drummer Pete Hennnig while playing in an R&B band led by John Starkey. [1] [2] After working briefly as a quintet with a pianist, the group solidified their lineup with reed player Brandon Wozniak and bassist Chris Bates (who replaced Travis Schilling in 2008). They performed regularly at the Artists' Quarter and Clown Lounge, toured throughout the midwest (including gigs at The Jazz Showcase and The Dakota), and performed at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, the Iowa City Jazz Festival, as well as three clubs (L.I.C. Bar, Puppets Jazz Bar, and Miles Cafe) in New York City in 2011. Atlantis Quartet self-released three albums, followed by two more on the Shifting Paradigm record label. The group recorded a live performance at Icehouse in Minneapolis on November 24, 2014 for a planned future release. [3] Although their records have focused on original compositions by all four members, from 2008 to 2011 the quartet performed annual Halloween shows in which they interpreted other artists' albums, including The Bridge, Head Hunters, A Love Supreme, and Houses of the Holy. [4] [5]
On Atlantis Quartet's debut album, Again, Too Soon, All About Jazz reported that they "create an aura of musical textures that sound as fresh and relevant as they did in Miles Davis' heyday" and while "they're all talented songwriters, attacking their compositions with utmost earnestness...they sound as if they're just having fun." [6] In a review of their second album, Animal Progress, JazzTimes critic Bill Milkowski called the Atlantis Quartet "modern jazz renegades" who "shift nimbly from a punk-jazz aesthetic to ECM-ish sensitivity." [7] Regarding the same album, City Pages writer Rick Mason described "a signature Atlantis sound that taps historic elements like swing, bop, and free jazz while referencing contemporary bits of funk, rock, and world music, then rolls it all into a cohesive bundle of kinetic energy with the visceral allure of intense fireworks and the intellectual challenge of multilayered complexity." [8] Of their fourth album, Expansion, MPR's David Cazares wrote that they "deliver rapid-fire licks in complex rhythms and changing tempos, much like the best jazz-rock ensembles of the 1970s." [9]
McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, 2015 [10]
Star Tribune, Best of Minnesota, 2012
City Pages, Best Jazz Artist in Minnesota, 2011
City Pages, Top 10 Minnesota Albums, 2011
Minnesota Emerging Composers Award, 2010 (Pete Hennig) [5]
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest.
Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities after the area's two largest cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Minnesotans often refer to the two together simply as "The Cities". The area is Minnesota's economic, cultural, and political center.
The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Métis fur-trading voyageurs introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
KCMP is a radio station owned by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) music format including a significant rotation of songs by local artists. Licensed to Northfield, Minnesota, and covering the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, the station's studios are located at the MPR Broadcast Center on Cedar Street in downtown St. Paul, while its transmitter is located atop the Vermillion Highlands near Coates. The Current is also broadcast on stations in Rochester, Duluth-Superior, Pasadena-Los Angeles, translators around Minnesota, and online.
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Chris Bates is an American jazz bassist. He started studying upright bass in the 4th grade, and he attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He studied with James Clute of the Minnesota Orchestra and jazz bassist Anthony Cox. Beyond his work with jazz, Bates performs in reggae, funk, country, folk and classical styles. He has performed with several notable musicians including Mose Allison, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Steven Bernstein, Howard Levy, Ira Sullivan, Eric Alexander, Tim Sparks and Dean Magraw. Bates was a member of the Motion Poets, formed in 1993, which "released three albums to wide critical acclaim." He received a McKnight Composers Fellowship for his compositions in 1999 and has performed on over 30 albums. Bates' first album as leader was released in 2012.
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