On Saturday, February 25th at 9:00 and 10:30 p.m., pianist/composer Myra Melford will debut her new ensemble, Snowy Egret, at The Jazz Gallery in New York. The interdisciplinary sextet features musicians Ron Miles (trumpet), Liberty Ellman (guitar), Stomu Takeishi (electric bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) as well as dancer Oguri.

Snowy Egret is the evolution of one of her earlier ensembles, Happy Whistlings, which she created in 2008 to perform a book of original music inspired by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano’s Memory of Fire Trilogy. In this latest incarnation, with all new personnel, the original pieces are further developed, rearranged and augmented with more recent compositions.

“Myra Melford lately seems to have entered a phase where she can do no wrong,” writes esteemed jazz journalist Francis Davis in his introduction to this year’s Rhapsody Jazz Critics’ Poll. Recent media coverage has called her “one of the most exciting musicians working in any genre” (Ehren Gresehover, At Length), “an insightful and far-reaching pianist-composer” (Nate Chinen, New York Times) and “a visionary bandleader” (Andrew Gilbert, Berkeleyside), noting her “ever-growing track record of arresting music” (Mike Shanley, JazzTimes).

In addition to her own projects, including the acoustic sextet Be Bread heard on her latest recording, The Whole Tree Gone (Firehouse 12 Records), she currently co-leads a duo with clarinetist Ben Goldberg and the all-star collective Trio M, which releases its second recording, The Guest House (Enja/Yellowbird), in February. She also serves on the faculty of the University of California Berkeley, where she develops and teaches courses about contemporary improvised music.

Learn more about Myra Melford at http://myramelford.com