THE DARREN JOHNSTON QUINTET: CD Release Concert For “The Big Lift”

Darren Johnston has been a ubiquitous creative force on the Bay Area music scene for over a decade now, as a composer, trumpeter, and a bandleader.  As a sideman he currently performs with Meklit Hadero (Ethiopian-born singer-songwriter), Brass Menazeri (Balkan brass band), Cylinder (avant-jazz), The Marcus Shelby Orchestra (big band jazz), and others.  All of these seemingly disparate approaches to making music lend insight into his work, which lies somewhere in between genres, remaining unique, and difficult to pin down, but a lot of fun.  As a leader, he focuses on the Nice Guy Trio, who has a new release on Porto Franco Records featuring the trio with a string quartet, and the Darren Johnston Quintet.  The first Darren Johnston Quintet recording, “The Edge Of The Forest” on Clean Feed Records, received much critical praise including four stars by four very different writers in Down Beat Magazine’s “Hot Box.” Tonight’s concert will be the West Coast CD release of “The Big Lift,” on Porto Franco Records, featuring Darren’s Chicago version of this quintet.  Selections from the new recording will be played, plus some newer original works, and reconstructions of folk music from Bulgaria, Egypt, and Scotland.

“Three old horns find unexpectedly eccentric new voices in this soft-spoken mischief.  There is an acerbic charm and emotional detachment at work that is cool, consistent, smartly calculated and positioned just so between straight jazz (“Apples”) and uneasy awkwardness.  The ensembles often have a lovely quirky elegance.  Worth the risk.” – John McDonough, Downbeat Magazine

“Someone to watch, on trumpet of course, but as a composer and bandleader as well.”
– John Corbett, Downbeat Magazine

 Darren Johnston – trumpet
Ben Goldberg – clarinet
Sheldon Brown – bass clarinet, tenor sax
David Ewell – bass
Hamir Atwal – drums

http://darrenjohnstonmusic.com/