Film in Music is a project led by Vancouver based cellist/composer Peggy Lee. It was first conceived as a musical response to writer/creator David Milch’s HBO series, Deadwood. The eight-piece band of improvisers drawn from Vancouver’s rich creative music community is understood as analogous to a cast of characters in a story––within the framework of a composed musical suite, each improviser contributes to the unfolding musical drama through small ensemble improvisations and solo ‘monologues’. The seven composed sections imply the arc of a story and act as launching pads for extended improvised statements that take the listener on a journey that is never the same twice. The musical narrative travels from lush, tender beauty to stark abstractions--from playful exchanges to dense confrontations--always ending with a wild, off kilter parade. The ensemble features some of Vancouver's most well-know improvisers, all of whom are master musical story tellers capable of conjuring up rich sonic atmospheres and landscapes. Film in Music offers a unique and transformative musical experience.
Cellist, improviser, composer Peggy Lee makes her home in Vancouver, B.C. where she records and performs with longtime music associates including Tony Wilson, Ron Samworth, Dylan van der Schyff, Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb. Peggy also leads or co-leads a numbers of music projects: The Peggy Lee Band, Film in Music, Echo Painting, Handmade Blade (with JP Carter and Aram Bajakian), Waxwing (with Tony Wilson and Jon Bentley) and Beautiful Tool (with Mary Margaret O'Hara). In 2005, Peggy received the Freddie Stone Award for integrity and innovation in music and in 2010 she was awarded a Jesse Richardson Tehatre Award for outstanding composition. Peggy was the 2013 recipient of the Vancouver Mayor's Arts Awards for music.
PERSONNEL:
Peggy Lee - Cello
Jesse Zubot - Violin
Kevin Elaschuk - Trumpet
Dylan van der Schyff - Drums
Chris Gestrin - Keyboards
André Lachance - Electric Bass
Torsten Muller - Acoustic Bas
Ron Samworth - Guitar
Press:
"The compositions are strongly tonal, even tuneful, and there’s a kind of drifting feeling that suggests the Old West touched by a certain dissonant grit, the combination strongly suggestive of Bill Frisell’s off-kilter Western themes..." - The Whole Note
"The music is generally experimental and avant-garde as opposed to typical western movie soundtracks, but there is an underlying feeling of the west and a gritty frontier sense on some tracks." - The Winnipeg Free Press
"This entire disc is more like a journey or series of stories, moving gracefully from scene to scene. Another winner from the ever-expanding Vancouver scene. Don't miss it."- Downtown Music Gallery (New York)
"...highly listenable rock-rooted jazz." - The New York City Jazz Record
"...a fine addition to Lee's ever growing discography." - Textura
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