Dan Tepfer’s Natural Machines
HUDSON – Hudson Hall and Catskill Jazz Factory present Dan Tepfer Natural Machines on Saturday, December 14 at 7 p.m.
Tepfer is a Brooklyn-based pianist well known for his classically influenced, harmonically distinct approach to acoustic post-bop jazz. According to New York magazine, Tepfer is “one of the decade’s most adventurous and relevant musicians,” and was voted a Best New Artist in JazzTimes in 2010 and a Rising Star in DownBeat in 2011, 2012 and 2013. With Tepfer’s latest release, Natural Machines (Sunnyside Records/2019) he pushes the naturally occurring boundaries between performer and instrument and employs automation and computer algorithms to create a new dynamic musical language and visual landscape. Tepfer’s live performances, while technical by design, are exceedingly joyful and playful and serve as the ideal way to experience his incredible musical talent.
Tepfer and his Natural Machines project is exceedingly unique. Tepfer plays a note, chord or phrase on a Yamaha Disklavier (an automatic digital player piano), and the instrument answers him according to a given algorithm. The result is a nimble and spirited call and response, where the piano matches, or mirrors, all of Tepfer’s keystrokes and creates a counterpoint to the maestro’s improvisational work. Though Tepfer prepares the algorithms in advance, the live performances are all single-take improvisations: the sound of him and the computer interacting in real time. There’s also a stunning visual component to the project, which generates animated graphics that mirror the notes played on the piano, both by Tepfer and the computer algorithm. The results are both ebullient and engrossing.
Dan Tepfer has made a name for himself as a pianist-composer of wide-ranging ambition, individuality and drive — “a remarkable musician” in the words of the Washington Post and one “who refuses to set himself limits” in those of France’s Télérama. The New York City-based Tepfer, born in 1982 in Paris to American parents, has performed with some of the leading lights in jazz, including extensively with veteran saxophone luminary Lee Konitz. As a leader, Tepfer has crafted a discography already striking for its breadth and depth, ranging from probing solo improvisation and intimate duets to richly layered trio albums of original compositions. His Sunnyside/Naïve album Goldberg Variations / Variations saw the prize-winning pianist performing J.S. Bach’s masterpiece as well as improvising upon it to “build a bridge across centuries and genres” (Wall Street Journal) in “an impressive feat that keeps coming back to a hearty and abiding respect” (New York Times). As a composer, he is a recipient of the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for works including Concerto for Piano and Winds, premiered in the Prague Castle with himself on piano, and Solo Blues for Violin and Piano, premiered at Carnegie Hall. Bringing together his undergraduate studies in astrophysics with his passion for music, his groundbreaking multimedia project Natural Machines integrates computer-driven algorithms into his improvisational process. Awards include first prize and audience prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition, first prize at the East Coast Jazz Festival Competition, and the Cole Porter Fellowship from the American Pianists Association.
ABOUT CATSKILL JAZZ FACTORY
http://www.catskilljazzfactory.org/
The Catskill Jazz Factory (CJF) is a “regional arts think-tank” and “formidable jazz incubator” (Hudson Valley One) founded in 2012 with an aim to support today’s best young jazz artists by offering year-round school workshops, mountaintop residencies, lectures, and world-class performances across the Hudson Valley and beyond. CJF presents unique programs in diverse spaces by partnering with educational facilities, arts organizations, and a variety of non-profits and businesses ranging from mountaintop donut shops and local high schools to recent concert series collaborations with the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY, and the New Generation Festival in Florence, Italy, to name a few.
Saturday, December 14 at 7 p.m.
Tickets: $25 Patron, $40 Premium
