REDGREENBLUE
EUROPEAN TOUR
FALL 2023


Saturday Sept 30 @ Frim Fall Festival, Stockholm

Sunday Oct 1 @ KoncertKirken, Copenhagen

Tues Oct 3 @ Molk Factory, Amsterdam

This project is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant

REDGREENBLUE IS:
Paul Giallorenzo, synthesizer, pump organ, electronics
Charlie Kirchen, bass
Ryan Packard, drums and electronics
Ben LaMar Gay, cornet and electronics


The debut LP from RedGreenBlue posits a mesmeric, minimalist extension of Chicago's groove-based improvised music tradition. Over the course of two introverted, side-long pieces, the band patiently crafts hypnotic—yet still dynamic—sonic spaces using languid pulsations, careful shifts in colour, and occasional bursts of virtuosic urgency. It's music that hovers between worlds, unfurling a foundation of almost-ambient weightlessness that's inflected with audible spontaneity and given breadth through rhythm. The expansive result intimates connections to the most atmospheric corners of Miles Davis' electric catalogue, hints at Terry Riley's trance-inducing drones, makes oblique references to dub, and even nods in the direction of  Town and Country's DIY chamber music. Yet, all the while it inhabits its very own aesthetic space—a gravity-defying blend of the ethereal and the earthbound that draws the ear in slowly and subliminally.

The quartet of Paul Giallorenzo (synthesizer, pump organ, electronics), Charlie Kirchen (bass), Ryan Packard (drums, electronics) and Ben LaMar Gay (cornet and electronics) first assembled in spring 2017 for a four-week residency at the Burlington, a beloved a hub for exploratory music in Chicago's Logan Square. The End and the Beginningwas conceived and workshopped in the first half of the following year and was later recorded live at the Hungry Brain, another notable Chicago venue in July 2018.  With half of its membership leaving Chicago—not to mention the active performance schedule that each member keeps—the group has since started operating more as a rotating collective than a fixed ensemble.

Improviser, composer, producer, and sound designer Paul Giallorenzo employs an array of keyboard instruments and electronics within a practice that spans many exploratory styles from jazz to electronic abstraction. He collaborates with a cast of prominent musicians in outfits such as the Paul Giallorenzo Trio (on piano, alongside Joshua Abrams and Mikel Patrick Avery), GitGO (on piano, with Mars Williams, Jeb Bishop, Quin Kirchner and Anton Hatwich), Hearts and Minds (on electric piano and synth with Jason Stein and Chad Taylor) and SOTOL, and electronics-heavy duo with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. His work has been published on celebrated imprints such as Delmark Records, Leo Records, and previously on Astral Spirits. Elmore Magazine praised the Paul Giallorenzo Trio's record Flow as “an album of bewildering intricacy, melodic intrigue and cool intimacy.”
Charlie Kirchen's work and interests encompass a similarly vast range. Rapidly establishing himself in Chicago's close-knit jazz and experimental music community since his arrival in 2010, he went on to lead the Charlie Kirchen Quartet (Flood Music) with Nick Mazzarella, Dave Miller and Devin Drobka while lending his unique voice as a bassist to other groups such as The Flake (Amalgam Music), Rooms Trio, The Few, Sfyria Trio (Astral Spirits), and the Emerson Hunton Quintet. Kirchen since relocated to New York City, where he's pursuing a PhD from Columbia in music theory. Kirchen is noted for an analytical framework that draws upon various strains of critical theory to address everything from improvised music to popular forms, and from jazz to extensions of classical music.

Ryan Packard currently divides his time between Stockholm, Sweden and Chicago while nurturing an eclectic career that embraces composition, performance, jazz, improvised music, indie rock, new music and sound art. His compositional output has been performed by Fonema Consort, Ensemble Chartreuse, L Collective, Seth Parker Woods, The Morton Feldman Chamber Players and the AndPlay Duo. He exists seamlessly between the worlds of composed and improvised musics and has collaborated with artists like Nelly Agassi, Annea Lockwood, Nate Wooley, Will Guthrie, ZRL (Lia Kohl and Zachary Good), Finn Loxbo, Brandon Lopez, Dave Rempis, Jasper Stadhouders, John McCowen, Magnus Granberg, Peter Ablinger, Julio Estrada, Kunshu Shim, Gerhard Stäbler, and many others. Peter Margasak once praised his aforementioned trio ZRL in the Chicago Reader, stating that its members “belong to a new strain of Chicago musicians who operate so authoritatively in disparate settings that it’s difficult to describe them in terms of genre—they’re interested in exploration, wherever it may take them,” continuing to hail their self-titled cassette release as “exquisitely considered.” His sound installations have been featured at the Chicago Cultural Center, The Graham Foundation, Tel Aviv Art Museum and Chicago MCA. Ryan is also active in producing shows within the Stockholm experimental music scene and has been on the FRIM (Föreningen För Fri Improviserad Musik) board since fall of 2019.

Acclaimed composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay has carved out a singular voice as a solo artist while maintaining an enviably diverse collaborative profile. He has worked with the likes of Bottle Tree, Jeff Parker, Makaya McCraven, Natural Information Society, Nicole Mitchell, Circuit Des Yeux, Jaimie Branch, and the Notwist, while contributing to the ongoing legacy of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Music). Gay's defiantly unclassifiable album Open Arms to Open Us (2021, Nonesuch/ International Anthem) was touted byPitchfork as “a remarkable piece of musical pathfinding, sprawling in its ambition and surprisingly precise in its attack.” and appeared in best-of-2021 coverage from the Wire, and Bandcamp.


COVERAGE:
Year-End — Fester’s Lucky 13: 2022 Year-End Summary, Fast N’ Bulbous
News — Twisted Soul Blog
News — Son Of Marketing
News — G Point Audio
News — Soundindepth.com
Interview (Paul Giallorenzo) — 15 Questions
Interview (Ryan Packard) — 15 Questions
Interview (Charlie Kirchen) — 15 Questions
Interview (Ben Lamar Gay) — 15 Questions
Review — Chris May, All About Jazz
Review — Julien Aunos, Citizen Jazz
Review — Thurston Hunger, KFJC
Review — Bryon Hayes, Foxy Digitalis
Review — Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews
Review — Gérald de Oliveira, À Découvrir Absolument
Review — Yoshi Mclear Wall, The WholeNote
Review — Bill Meyer, We Jazz Magazine
Review — Elliot Marlow-Stevens, JazzJournal
Review — Ken Waxman, Jazzword
Review — Arjan van Sorge, Vital Weekly
Review — Nitestylez.de
Review — Ron Schepper, Textura
Round-up — Tom Hull, Streamnotes August 29, 2022
Round-up — Between The Cracks, Twisted Soul Blog
Round-up — Frank P. Eckert, Motherboard June 2022, Groove.de
Round-up — JazzPress.pl
List — Night After Night, For The Record (June 3, 2022)
List — The Attic : Staff Picks (June 2022)
List — Wartajazz (June 2022)
List — Best of Jazz
List — A Closer Listen, Upcoming Releases
List — Endaural
List — Jazz In Family
List — Jazzowe premiery czerwca 2022, Jazzpress.pl
List — Recommended New Releases July 2022, NYC Jazz Record
List — Night After Night, For The Record (April 22, 2022)
Roundup — Best of Jazz, Jazz June 2022
Chart — Heavy Airplay, WFMU (July 1, 2022)
Radio — David James, KFJC (December 23, 2022)Radio — Phil Factor, KFJC (December 9, 2022)
Radio — Phil Factor, KFJC (November 22, 2022)
Radio — Goodwrench, KFJC (November 4, 2022)Radio — No Love For Ned, WLUR (November 4, 2022)Radio — Cousin Mary, KFJC (October 31, 2022)
Radio — Sam Yorko, KFJC (October 29, 2022)
Radio — No Love For Ned, WLUR (October 28, 2022)
Radio — Thurston Hunger, KFJC (October 25, 2022)Radio — No Love For Ned, WLUR (October 21, 2022)Radio — Thurston Hunger, KFJC (October 25, 2022)Radio — Searching For A Thread, WRFI (August 3, 2022)Radio — A-Sides and B-Sides, WXDU (July 25, 2022)
Radio — Serious Moonlight Sonatas, WFMU (July 24, 2022)
Radio — Coarse Rushing Air, WXDU (June 25, 2022)
Radio — Wake Up And Smell The Chaos, WXDU (June 23, 2022)
Radio — Jive Slippers, WXDU (June 18, 2022)
Radio — No Pigeonholes, KOWS (June 16, 2022)
Radio — Urban Fantasy, WMSE (June 15, 2022)
Radio — Brian Plays Some Good Songs, WXDU (June 14, 2022)
Radio — Jazz in the Bible Belt, WPRK (June 12, 2022)
Radio — UNDAE! #237, Radio Círculo (June 6, 2022)
Radio — Afternoon New Music, WKCR (June 2, 2022)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (May 31, 2022)
Radio — Urban Fantasy, WMSE (May 25, 2022)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (May 24, 2022)

Radio — FFoxy Podcast, KMSU (May 23, 2022)
Radio/ Podcast — Free Form Freakout, KMSU (Episode #201) (May 15, 2022)
Radio — Jazz Bazar, CKIA (April 24, 2022)Radio — Daniel Blumin, WFMU (April 18, 2022)
Mix — Night Shift — Queen Mother Café Mix.