EXPO2005 INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS

"Sustainable Environmental Education, Culture and Life"

Theme Concert

Message to Future Generations through Music Education
Ashley Slater’s BigLounge with Fujiko Shuri Concert
"The Globe" -Bigger Lounge-

+ Special Guest

Nagoya University of Arts String Section

+ Outline

EXPO 2005 International Workshop, July concert will be performed by artists from Canada, Japan, Britain and France.

The music will be a combination of mellow, loungey and cross-genre contemporary tones with a touch of 'Jazz Not Jazz', engendering a soothing and relaxing effect as though the Earth is floating in the Universe.

The performers will also give a Master Class (Workshop) to the Music Faculty of the Nagoya University of Arts, based in the Aichi prefecture; the home of EXPO. The aim is to communicate the musicians' global music experiences with young students at the University and collaborate with them to create music based on the EXPO theme of "Nature's Wisdom".

This concert is an ideal opportunity to encounter and enjoy"New Earth"
music taken beyond its generation and national borders.

Profile

BigLounge (In alphabetical order)

Steve Arguelles (Drums / UK)

Steve Started playing drums at the age of 16 and was soon backing visiting performers at Ronnie Scott’s. He was founder of the 80’s group, Loose Tubes. He then worked with Django Bates in the Human Chain. Steve lives in France, but regularly returns to London to work with his own sparring partners, both in his own band and also with Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, John Taylor and Billy Jenkins. In Europe, he forms part of The Hask collective in Paris and is known for work with Christy Doran, Marc Ducret and, recently, Robert Dick. His group The Recyclers, with leading young French musicians, Benoît Delbecq on prepared piano and Noel Akchoté on guitar, has one release on ZZ Records and has toured in Europe, Canada and UK. He also leads the quartet Blue Moon In A Function Room (with Stuart Hall, Billy Jenkins, Steve Watts), playing unusual versions of jazz standards. The band plays 'dance music of the twenty-first century', according to Jörg Solthurnmann of Swiss Radio. He plays lively and occasionally manic versions of tunes by John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Charles Mingus and George Gershwin. He works with accordionist Huw Warren, well known from his work in his own band Perfect Houseplants, as musical director to June Tabor and Christine Tobin and recently with Billy Jenkins and The Fun Horns. Other collaborations and music making occurred with Mose Allison. Alex Balanescu, Steve Lacy, Slim Galliard, Charlie Mariano, Lee Konitz...

Benoit Delbecq ( Piano & Keyboard / France)

Benoit Delbecq is a uniquely gifted French pianist and keyboardist who has created his own music using ideas and techniques from contemporary classical, jazz, Pygmy polyphony, European improve and other sources. He prepares the piano with various materials such as eraser bits and carved wooden twigs, and improvises on short, overlapping vamps and patterns. The result is a complex, spacious sound that hardly seems to be emanating from a single instrument. On Nu-turn Delbecq stretches out solo on a Steinway D in 8 astonishing structured improvisations; the final, 12-minute composition is a computer-created ambient "remix" that completely transforms the solo material. Recorded in a small concert hall directly to 6 channel DSD (the sixth channel is an optional height channel), the piano sound is remarkably realistic, and the music beguiling in its rhythmic-melodic-timbral meldings. Dexterous, brainy, evanescent and strangely moving. Highly acclaimed in Europe, Benoit Delbecq leads or co-leads a number of bands (The Recyclers, Karket, Ambitronix, PianoBook) and has releases on Naive, Plush, Deux Z and other labels. He has three previous releases on Songlines: two duos with Vancouver clarinetist Francois Houle Nancali, (SGL 1519), and Dice Thrown, SGL 1538), and one leading the Delbecq 5 (Pursuit, SGL 1529), about which Popmatters.com said: "...in the best sense, the newest in the new. It manages to push boundaries, sound fresh and smart, and be thoroughly and thoughtfully entertaining."

Laurent Levesque (Keyboard, Computer / France)

Composer, pianist, he works in multiple directions, with several people. He makes soundtracks for cinema, movies or TV, and publishes his own scores and music books. He works and plays with/for Ashley Slater, Loïc Dury, Robin Leduc, Costa-Gavras, les Tambours du bronx...

Christophe Minck (Bass / France)

Filmography :
Mauvais esprit (2003) ... aka Mala leche (Spain) ... aka Mean Spirit (International: English title)
Affaire Libinski (2001), Un samedi sur la terre (1996) (as Christophe Mink) .... Orchestre... aka A Saturday on Earth (USA)

Alan Weekes (Guitar / UK)

Alan weekes is one of the leading guitarists in the U.K. today. His unique style is both colourful and vibrant, bringing together the flavours of jazz and Caribbean sounds. Born in England in1958, he studied guitar under Dave Cliff, Jeff Pike & Phil Lee. He soon gained a reputation as a young virtuoso and continued studying at the Guildhall School of Music where he obtained a postgraduate degree in jazz and rock. He was one of the original Jazz Warriors and his recent work has been with Jazz Jamaica.

Application

Advanced reservation: Please refer to the EXPO 2005 official web site or the EXPO 2005 official guide book and submit your application online (either from computer or mobile phone).

If you would like to see the show, please take a seat ticket at the EXPO Dome Ticket Booth. It will be distributed from １:00 p.m. on July 24.
All seats are unreserved except some areas.

* Visitors without admission tickets for the EXPO 2005 will not be able to enter.
* If the number of applicants exceeds the capacity of a program, no more applicants will be accepted.
For further information: EXPO 2005 Message Events Operating Office
Tel: +81 (0)52-955-6015 Weekdays 10:00-18:00