Jerry Leake and Cubist to Perform

Jerry Leake and “Cubist” will perform at Amazing Things Arts Center, 160 Hollis Street, Framingham, MA, on August 7th, 2010.  Beginning at 8:00 pm, once again showcasing an incredible line up of Boston-based world, rock, and jazz musical talents (Steve Hunt, Randy Roos, Stan Strickland, Jerry Leake, and others), Jerry will synchronize the variegations and layers of polyrhythmic compositions that he created – an astonishing celebration of world traditions. 

Tabla, atsimevu (master drum), balafon, glockenspiel, frame drum, cajon, sogo, kidi, and kagan, will intermingle with funk-rock and smoky jazz, as international instruments speak to audiences of ancient cadences and modulations.  Simultaneously, modern adaptations catapult the music through the 21st Century, as a highly charged orchestration of universal sounds from all corners of the globe. Cubist comes to life with mathematical precision and beauty, where each composition resounds its exclusive musical “soul.” It reflects and retracts music, people, their cultures, and their experiences.

Innovative arrangements for the evening include: “Aldebaran,” which tells the epic story of stellar life and death; “Na Yella Bo,” a playful Ghanian 6/8 rhythm and song, accented by Flamenco “Alegrias,” and Mississippi delta blues guitar; and “Plan 9,” a Turkish-influenced epic in “9” mixing zurna, ney and vocals, with layers of dark and driving percussion.

Cubist music and its creator, Jerry Leake, are inextricably intertwined. After 30 years of experimenting, combining, and layering his personal and world musical history, ‘discovery’ remains a central part of Jerry’s mission. “Everything I create is based on some integral and traceable origin,” said Leake. And like Picasso’s “Cubism,” Leake set out to represent each musical object, theme, instrument, and influence, from all sides, in relation to the listener.

As a result, a more profound musical awareness evolves, with sounds that interweave human experience with global music. Jerry’s compositions evoke the entire body of the listener, not just the ears or the intellect, so plan on rocking in your seats or dancing in the aisles! All ages and backgrounds of audiences will enjoy this new direction in contemporary music, and discern the unique methods that distinguish the sonic invention called “Cubist.”

Jerry Leake is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, and teaches at the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music in Boston.  To learn more about Jerry, his world-music CDs, and a library of authored percussion books visit:  http://www.rhombuspublishing.com  For immediate online listening and purchase of the “Cubist” CD and soon-to-be-released “Cubist Live” CD, go to: http://www.cubistband.com.

“Cubist is well informed on so many fronts that it is rather staggering...mastery on many levels. Only devotion and constant evolution in life and music could produce "Cubist."

– Jamey Haddad, world-percussionist for Paul Simon