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  Consilience CD cover

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Consilience

Featuring:
Vinson Valega - Drums
Anton Denner - Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Flute
Gary Wang - Bass

Recorded:
8/21 & 8/22/2002 at Avatar Studios, New York City.

Read Vinson's "Consilience" essay

Read the excerpt from May Sarton's, "Mud Season," which appears in the insert.

Read the Press Release

MP3s and interviews

Reviews

Streaming MP3s from Consilience:

1) Jiminy Cricket Goes To The Go-Go Dance  (Vinson Valega)

2) The Best Thing For You Would Be Me  (Irving Berlin)

3) You're Nearer (Rogers & Hart)

4) Stumble Monk (Vinson Valega)

5) Tide Pools (Anton Denner)

6) Long & Wrong (Vinson Valega)

7) Blood Count (Billy Strayhorn)

8) Black Fire (Andrew Hill)

9) New Haven (Anton Denner)

10) Fuggedaboutit (Anton Denner)

11) Jiminy Cricket Goes To The Go-Go Dance (Reprise)

12) You Must Believe In Spring (Michel LeGrand)

13) Secret Love (Fain & Webster)

An assortment of Free MP3s since 2005:

2005

Vinson Valega Trio,
featuring Anton Denner (alto sax), Gary Wang (bass), & Vinson Valega (drums)
Live at Blues Alley in Washington, DC (April 2005):

The Best Thing For You Would Be Me (Irving Berlin) - with Andrew Adair on piano [5.8 mb]
Jiminy Cricket Goes To The Go-Go Dance (Vinson Valega) [5.1 mb]


Live at the Cape May Jazz Festival  (April 2005):

Jackie-ing (Thelonious Monk) [7.7 mb]
Georgia (Ray Charles) [9.0 mb]

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2006

Vinson Valega Quartet,
featuring Anton Denner (alto sax), Dimitri Moderbacher (tenor sax) & Josh Ginsburg (bass)
Live at The Garage in New York City (December 2006):

Long and Wrong (Vinson Valega) [7.6 mb]
Gab (Dimitri Moderbacher) [8.8 mb]
Where or When (Rogers & Hart) [8.7 mb]

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2007

Vinson Valega Sextet
, featuring Anton Denner (alto sax & flute); Chris Bacas (tenor & soprano saxophones); Phil Grenadier (trumpet), Jon Cowherd (piano), Gary Wang (bass):
Live at Chris' Jazz Cafe, Philadelphia, PA (June 2007):

Lost (Wayne Shorter) [8.5 mb]
Tom Thumb (Wayne Shorter) [10.8 mb]
Stacked Sienna (Vinson Valega) [8.2 mb]

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2008

Vinson Valega Quartet
, featuring Chris Bacas (soprano sax), Sheryl Bailey (guitar), Gary Wang (bass), & Vinson Valega (drums)
Live at The 55 Bar, New York City (April 2008):

Think of One (Thelonious Monk) [12.6 mb]
The Trend is Your Friend (Vinson Valega) [5.3 mb]


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2009

Vinson Valega Quartet
, featuring Chris Bacas (soprano sax), John Hart (guitar), Gary Wang (bass), & Vinson Valega (drums):
Live at The 55 Bar, New York City (December 2009):

Black Fire (Andrew Hill) [9.9 mb]
Send One Your Love (Stevie Wonder) [6.3 mb]

=====================================================

2010

Vinson Valega Sextet
, featuring Anton Denner (alto sax & flute); Chris Bacas (tenor & soprano saxophones); Mike Fahn (trombone), Matthew Fries (piano), Gary Wang (bass) & & Vinson Valega (drums)::
Live at Smalls Jazz Club, New York City (May 2010):

Doesn't It Feel Great to Be Alive? (Vinson Valega) [9.2 mb]
Blood Count (Wayne Shorter) [8.3 mb]
A Moment of Silence (Vinson Valega) [9.5 mb]

=====================================================

Vinson Valega Radio Interview
Alisa Clancy, DJ from KCSM, 91.1 in San Francisco, interviews Vinson and Anton in July 2004

Part I [8.6 mb]
Part II [12.7 mb]

Sharif Abdus-Salaam, DJ with WKCR, 89.9 in New York City, interviews Vinson in February 2010
Part I [31.4 mb]
Part II [26.9 mb]

Reviews:

"Consilience is a very good recording. In particular, Vinson's tune, Stumble Monk really has a spark and Andrew Hill's Black Fire has a great feel. Of course, I am partial to this trio's treatment of Secret Love, which has a good feeling and strong "Poinciana" beat that reminds me of the Ahmad Jamal trio."

 ~ Harold Mabern, Jr.

======================================

"Valega's trio brings a dynamic, energetic, and fertile approach" to the music and "is to be commended for the quality, seriousness, and performance on this classy recording."

 ~ allaboutjazz.com, by Mark F. Turner

  download the review as a .pdf

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"Valega finds quirky ways of laying down the groove, coloring it with subtle polyrhythms and syncopation." The trio's "familiarity with the material breeds free-flowing interplay especially between the saxophonist and the drummer."

~ Cadence Magazine (.pdf)

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"Valega’s drumming continually evolves, steady rhythmically but given to frequent tonal shifts which create new environments which his bandmates respond to with snap reflexes."

~ Philadelphia City Paper - (.pdf)

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"A typical set sees them shift between moods, using Anton Denner’s highly expressive and fluent alto and Valega’s and Gary Wang’s (bass) creative and supportive rhythm section to realize compelling and seamless transitions."

~ from "The A List" at The Villager Newspaper, New York, NY - read the online review.

download the write-up as a .pdf

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"The album is filled with energized rhythms, smooth melodic structures and understated harmonies; many of which are not only surprising, but are are also thought-provoking. There are mind-blowing solos as well as well-rounded augmentations of some of the finest composers and innovators in music. But make no mistake about this recording, The Vinson Valega Trio has put together a CD that provides their own level of concurrence; one that speaks volumes of their adaptabilities as musicians, as well as their ability to express the uniqueness of jazz as an art form."

~ JazzReview.com, by Sheldon Nunn (12/18/03)
~ JazzReview.com, by Ronald Jackson (8/14/04)

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