Photo: David C. Sampson

In a last minute addition to his schedule, clarinetist/composer James Falzone will perform tomorrow afternoon at Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery in Chicago.

His 40-minute set, beginning at 2:00 p.m., will feature a condensed version of his solo project, Sighs Too Deep For Words, as well as “Abyss of the Birds”, the solo movement from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.

Each is a preview of things to come. Falzone will release a DVD of a full live performance of Sighs Too Deep For Words later this year (check out the preview clip on YouTube), and, as part of an annual tradition, perform the complete Quartet for the End of Time at The Musical Offering in Evanston on March 30th and Covenant Presbyterian Church in Chicago on April 1st.

Learn more at http://allosmusica.org

Thumbscrew, a new collective trio featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, will play its first two gigs at Cornelia Street Café in New York on March 11th and The Windup Space in Baltimore on March 14th. The group will perform all new music composed by each of its members.

The idea to work together followed a chance encounter last year in the rhythm section of one of Taylor Ho Bynum’s bands. “It was one of those situations where we instantly clicked,” Ms. Halvorson recalls, “and the three of us started talking about doing a project together right away. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what happens!”

She adds, “I have long admired bassist Michael’s playing, most notably in Tim Berne’s Bloodcount and on Am I Bothering You?, his ridiculously amazing solo bass record. In 2010, when I heard his release The Rub and Spare Change, I was blown away all over again. Tomas is one of my all time favorite drummers and a frequent collaborator. He is versatile, thoughtful, intense and extraordinarily deep in his approach.”

Learn more about the musicians on their Web sites at http://maryhalvorson.com, http://www.amibotheringyou.com and http://tomasfujiwara.com

Photo: Jeff Meacham

In its new profile, posted yesterday, New Music USA’s online publication NewMusicBox explores the breadth of Chicago-based clarinetist/composer James Falzone’s recent work, including his extended solo project Sighs Too Deep For Words, his Arabic-themed Allos Musica Trio and his working jazz quartet KLANG.

The eight-minute video, titled James Falzone—Music Through Other Lenses, includes live performance footage and an exclusive interview.

“James Falzone is not sitting back contentedly watching his star ascend,” writes contributor Devin Hurd in his accompanying article. “As an accomplished performer, composer, improviser, and educator, Falzone pursues a musical vision rooted in the middle ground between the fully notated world of conservatory-trained musicians and the improvisation-based energy of jazz and creative music. It is a territory he explores with an omnivorous appetite for musical influences and aesthetic directions, whether leading his quartet KLANG through a set of contemporary jazz compositions at a late night haunt, directing liturgical music with the Grace Chicago Consort, or composing for orchestra.”

He adds, “It’s that extra layer of consideration informed by experience that goes into creating music that gives the otherwise widely varied musical expressions of James Falzone its unifying quality. It’s what allows him to distill so many different influences into an aesthetic that is identifiably his own, pushing at the boundaries of what music is and might be.”

Falzone’s entire discography is now available digitally (in a variety of formats from MP3 to FLAC) through his label’s new Bandcamp site, including his nearly out of print debut, The Already and the Not Yet.

Learn more about James Falzone and his music at http://allosmusica.org

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

Photo: Steven Laschever

On Friday, February 24th, veteran bassist/composer Mario Pavone will return to New York’s Cornelia Street Café for a two-set performance with his Mythos Sextet. The group, which features frequent collaborators Dave Ballou (trumpet), Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone), Philippe Crettien (tenor saxophone), Craig Taborn (piano) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), will debut brand new music as well as celebrate the 10th anniversary of his 2002 Playscape Recordings release, Mythos.

In its critic’s pick for his July performance at Cornelia Street, Time Out New York declared, “The work of Mario Pavone bridges the dissonant, structurally open world of the avant-garde and the pulsing, swinging accessibility of the jazz tradition.” His music has also been described as “invariably exhilarating” (Steve Futterman, Jazziz), “filled with passion and the sound of surprise” (Owen McNally, Hartford Courant) and “at once intellectual and swinging, investigative and declarative” (Josef Woodard, DownBeat).

A 45-year veteran of the creative music scene, Pavone has earned his reputation as “a bassist-composer of experience and vision” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), first as a sideman to such legendary figures as Paul Bley, Thomas Chapin and Bill Dixon, and most recently under his own name as ”one of the very best—and when on his game, by far the best—small-group composer/leaders working on the East Coast” (Brian Morton, Point of Departure).

In 2010, he celebrated his 70th birthday by releasing Arc Suite T/Pi T/Po, his 20th recording as a leader/co-leader, featuring original music commissioned by Chamber Music America’s 2009 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program. His performance of that material at the 2010 Litchfield Jazz Festival was featured on NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater earlier this month. Learn more about Mario Pavone at http://mariopavone.com

Photo by Ines Kaiser

On Friday, March 9th, Darcy James Argue and his acclaimed big band Secret Society will return to Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space, where they celebrated the release of their GRAMMY® nominated 2009 debut, Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam Records), for a special double-bill with the new music collective Anti-Social Music.

The music will begin at 7:00 p.m. with Anti-Social Music (ASM) performing archival music from 11tet, a now-defunct jazz composers workshop from the late 1990′s, as well as new works written for ASM by Kamala Sankaram, Dan Lasaga and Pat Muchmore. The group’s members include Franz Nicolay (Hold Steady), Peter Hess (Balkan Beat Box), Jean Cook (Jon Langford, Ida), Ed RosenBerg (jerseyband) and John Wriggle (Ex Caminos).

Secret Society will follow with a set featuring Vijay Iyer’s “Three Fragments” and David T. Little’s “Conspiracy Theory”, two pieces commissioned by the band and premiered at the Ecstatic Music Festival in February 2011, as well as a suite of original music from the score of Brooklyn Babylon and other selections from the ensemble’s growing catalog.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Advance tickets are available online for $20.

Learn more about Anti-Social Music and Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society at http://antisocialmusic.org and http://www.secretsocietymusic.org

Photo: Marcus Stern

On Saturday, February 18th, Boston-based guitarist Eric Hofbauer will headline a night of jazz concerts at the non-profit community arts space AS220 in Providence. Hofbauer, who teaches at the nearby University of Rhode Island, will join three local bands on a bill that includes many of his current and former students.

This solo set is one of five New England dates Hofbauer will be a part of next month, each featuring him in a different context. He can also be heard with Karayorgis/Hofbauer/William/Gray at The Lily Pad on February 3rd, Charlie Kohlhase’s Explorer’s Club at Longy School of Music on February 4th, BOLT (featuring Jorrit Dijkstra and Eric Rosenthal) at Third Life Studio on February 11th, and Esther Viola and First Worst Thirst at Outpost 186 on February 24th.

Thanks to a recent string of innovative recordings, Hofbauer is steadily earning an international reputation as “an original if not maverick exponent of the guitar” (Kevin Le Gendre, BBC). Critics have described his music as “intriguingly original” (Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes), ”deft and inventive” (Brian Marley, The Wire), “accomplished and smart” (Philip McNally, Cadence) and “as unassumingly compelling as anything out there” (Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com).

Learn more about Eric Hofbauer at http://erichofbauer.com

Photo: John Sharpe

On Sunday, February 12th at 8:00 p.m., New York-based alto saxophonist/composer Darius Jones will be the featured artist at Creative Differences’ monthly 2nd Sunday Series at The Windup Space in Baltimore.

Jones, an AUM Fidelity recording artist, has created new arrangements of material from his first two releases, Man’ish Boy (A Raw & Beautiful Thing) and Big Gurl (Smell My Dream), specifically to perform on this night with local musicians Dave Ballou (trumpet), John Dierker (reeds), Lafayette Gilchrist (piano), Michael Formanek (bass) and Eric Kennedy (drums).

Since delivering “one of the great jazz debuts of the past decade” (Britt Robson, eMusic.com) in 2009, Jones has been called “a singular talent” (Brian Morton, Jazz Journal), “a hot commodity in the Gotham jazz scene” (Dusted), “one of the most impressive and unique voices of our time” (Troy Collins, AllAboutJazz.com) and “a skilled composer, a hugely soulful saxophonist, and an assured leader” (François Couture, AllMusic.com).

Time Out New York‘s Steve Dollar adds, “A powerhouse saxophonist with an unusually focused perspective, Darius Jones has ambitiously framed his personal story within the bigger picture of African-American musical history. It’s one of the reasons his performances have such a passionate narrative force, as if every solo conjured holy ghosts and prodigal sons, each with its own story to tell. The drama comes through loud and clear, as the stocky Virginia native has a lot of preacher blood in his veins.”

Jones, who is profiled in the February issue of DownBeat, earned his second consecutive nomination for Up & Coming Artist of the Year at the 2011 Jazz Journalists Association Awards, and Big Gurl appeared on a variety of best-of-the-year lists, including a Top 20 finish in the prestigious Rhapsody Jazz Critics’ Poll. Book of Mæ’bul (Another Kind of Sunrise), his third release as a bandleader, and the latest chapter of his ongoing Man’ish Boy series, will hit the streets in April.

Learn more about Darius Jones at http://dariusjonesmusic.com

Photo: Bryan Murray

Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist/composer Josh Sinton will perform two notable New York shows in early February.

On Wednesday the 8th at 8:00 p.m., Sinton will celebrate the release of his latest recording, Pine Barren (Engine), with a special solo performance at Barbès in Brooklyn. He’ll present the title book of original music heard on the record, which brings together three smaller suites, on baritone saxophone and bass clarinet.

The same compositions can be heard on a complementary release featuring his quintet holus-bolus, with Jon Irabagon (tenor saxophone), Jonathan Goldberger (guitar), Peter Bitenc (bass) and Mike Pride (drums), coming later this year on Prom Night Records.

On Sunday the 12th at 7:00 p.m., Sinton will bring his newly acquired amplified contrabass clarinet to The Local 269 for his first-ever set of improvised duets with drummer Satoshi Takeishi.

Both events have a $10 cover.

Learn more about Josh Sinton and his various musical projects at http://joshsinton.com

On Friday, February 10th at 7:30 p.m., pianist/composer Myra Melford will perform at the Northampton Center for the Arts in Northampton, Massachusetts as part of the three-week series, A World Of Piano, curated by WMUA 91.1 FM’s Glenn Siegel.

Ms. Melford, who will be fresh off a West Coast CD release tour with the all-star collective Trio M earlier that week, is planning to debut a collection of new solo piano pieces based on the drawings of the celebrated Sacramento-based artist Don Reich (1931-2010) as part of a set that will also include other original music and pieces by Ornette Coleman and Andrew Hill.

“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 described her as “one of the most exciting musicians working in any genre” (Ehren Gresehover, At Length), “a very accomplished composer” (Jez Nelson, BBC 3′s Jazz on 3), “a visionary bandleader” (Andrew Gilbert, Berkeleyside) and “a crafty original whose playing is filled with muscle, brains and poetic spark” (Time Out New York).

“Like her mentor, Henry Threadgill,” adds Point of Departure‘s Troy Collins, “Melford has a talent for effortlessly interweaving seemingly incongruous elements into cohesive multi-layered compositions, yielding a singular aesthetic that blurs the line between the written and improvised. As lyrical, adventurous and conceptually expansive as the work of contemporaries like Tim Berne, Dave Douglas and Marty Ehrlich, Melford’s compositions are among the most compelling of her generation.”

When not performing as a solo pianist or leading her own groups Be Bread and Snowy Egret, she currently co-leads a variety of ensembles, including Trio M with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Matt Wilson and a duo with clarinetist Ben Goldberg. Since 2004, she has also served on the faculty of the University of California Berkeley, where she develops and teaches courses about contemporary improvised music. Learn more at http://myramelford.com