03.11.11 - 8:00pm

AIR: Nate Wooley presents The Seven Storey Mountain

Trumpet player Nate Wooley, a 2011 ISSUE Artist-in-Residence, will present The Seven Storey Mountain, a 7-part series of abstractions and additive processes on the theme of ecstaticism. Each performance features elements of all the proceeding performances, and consists of a layered tape background over which Wooley combines graphic notation and inprovisation. Performers include Paul Lytton, Chris Corsano, David Grubbs, C. Spencer Yeh, Matt Moran, and Chris Dingman. Wooley’s performances and recordings, called “exquisitely hostile,” have been numbered amongst a privileged handful that have helped to shape a new approach to the instrument.

Immediately following the concert, Artistic Advisory Board Member David Grubbs will host a Q&A reception for ISSUE members with Nate Wooley

Nate Wooley (b. 1974) was raised in Clatskanie, Oregon, a small fishing and lumber town on the Columbia River.  He began playing trumpet professionally with his father at age 12.  After college in Eugene, Oregon and Denver, Colorado he moved to Jersey City, NJ, where he currently resides.  Since 2001 he has become a much sought after performer, composer, and improvisor, working with Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Christian Marclay, C. Spencer Yeh, and David Grubbs among others.  His trumpet playing has been called “exquisitely hostile” by Italy’s Touching Extremes Magazine, and his solo performances and recordings have been numbered amongst a privileged handful that have helped to shape a new approach to the instrument.

The Seven Storey Mountain is a 7 part series of abstractions and additive processes on the theme of ecstaticism.  Each performance features elements of all the proceeding performances and consist of a layered tape background, over which Wooley combines graphic notation and improvisation.  The first Seven Storey Mountain featured David Grubbs on harmonium and Paul Lytton on percussion and was released on Important Records in 2009.  The second iteration took place at Issue Project Room and featured C. Spencer Yeh on violin and Chris Corsano on drums and will be released on Important Records in 2011.  This, the third iteration of Seven Storey Mountain, is performed by Lytton, Corsano, Grubbs, and Yeh, along with vibraphonists Matt Moran and Chris Dingman.  The concept of each performance is to go directly towards producing an object without overdubs, editing, or hand-wringing; to capture a group of musicians dealing with a certain set of information that is designed to push them towards a sort of sense of release. An analog of this may be religious ecstasy or trance behavior.  The overarching form is dedicated to the not-always-successful, but honest religious aspirations of Thomas Merton.

Established in 2006, ISSUE’s AIR program provides emerging artists with a 3-month residency including rehearsal space, production, curatorial, and pr/marketing support to create new works, to reach the next stage in their artistic development, and gain exposure to a broad public audience. ISSUE’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Jerome Foundation, the Suzanne Fiol Memorial Fund, and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York’s 62 counties.