9 Horses

9 Horses
Origin New York City, New York, U.S.
Genres Jazz, avant-garde jazz, Experimental music, Chamber jazz
Years active 2013–present
Labels Sunnyside Records
Website www.josephbrent.com/9horses
Members Joseph Brent
Sara Caswell
Shawn Conley

9 Horses is a chamber jazz supergroup from the United States, consisting of composer and mandolinist Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist Shawn Conley, originating from New York City.[1]

History

Brent and Conley first played together in 2010 in Brent's short-lived project The Joe Brent Quartet, which also featured clarinetist Hideaki Aomori and guitarist Nadav Lev,[2] but when Brent's commitments to Regina Spektor's touring band and his teaching responsibilities at Mannes College spread his time too thin, he put the quartet project on hold.[3] In 2012, he started performing as a duo with Caswell,[4] and after releasing Joe Brent & Sara Caswell EP together in 2013, they decided to add a bass player and Brent called on Conley once again. After making the finals of the 2014 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition,[5] they were signed to Sunnyside Records and released their debut album, Perfectest Herald in October, 2015.[6] The recording includes percussionist Ben Wittman, but live performances generally feature the trio alone.

Brent is originally from Queens, New York, but spent much of his childhood in Tampa, Florida.[7] Caswell is originally from Bloomington, Indiana,[8] while Conley hails from Honolulu, Hawaii.[9] All three currently live in the New York City vicinity.[10]

Brent was formerly a member of Regina Spektor's band,[11] is an active classical soloist,[12] and, with Caswell, he occasionally performs with Kishi Bashi.[13] Caswell is also a member of Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society[14] and David Krakauer's The Big Picture.[15] Conley performs with The Knights,[16] a New York-based New Music orchestra, as well as Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project[17] and the touring ensemble of jazz vocalist Cyrille Aimée.[18]

The trio's music, all of which is composed or arranged by Brent, combines elements of improvised musical forms with classical chamber music and Brent's own indie rock influences. The four movement piece entitled Perfectest Herald which gives the album its name and acts as its centerpiece contains elements of rock, new music, Middle Eastern music, jazz, rhythm and blues, and traditional classical music, most notably in the 2nd movement, listening to the Elliott Smith discography in reverse order, in which a single musical subject passes through all of the aforementioned genres and a fugue before recapitulating.[19] The music for the 'Perfectest Herald' suite has been called, "...among the most life affirming one will ever hear... Regardless of which emotional depths Brent drew on to compose these pieces, this highly emotive music touches and communicates the essence of what it means to be an alive, feeling human being."[20]

Discography

As Joe Brent & Sara Caswell

As 9 Horses

Studio albums

Other contributions

Year Artist Album Description
2013 Kishi Bashi 7" Box Set Brent and Caswell play violin
2014 Lauren Kinhan Circle in the Square Brent and Caswell play violin
2015 Kishi Bashi String Quartet Live! Brent plays mandolin and violin; Caswell plays violin

References

  1. ↑ "9 Horses — Joe Brent". JosephBrent.com. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Live Music at Jalopy with The Joe Brent Quartet". Jalopy.biz. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Kioulaphides, Victor (20 November 2011). "Joseph Brent Interview". MandolinCafe.com. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Joe Brent & Sara Caswell". Allmusic.
  5. ↑ "2014 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition — 98.7WFMT". WFMT.com. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "9 Horses Perfectest Herald". Muzoic. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  7. ↑ McGee, David. "Joe Brent, Part 2: Have Mandolin, Will Travel". TheBluegrassSpecial.com. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Bhatia, Rafiq (23 October 2012). "Sara Caswell: 'A Universal Ambassador'". JazzSpeaks.org. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Shawn Conley". KCBassWorkshop.com. Kansas City Bass Workshop. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Opening Concert - 9 Horses on September 11". Jenkins House Concerts. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  11. ↑ McGee, David. "Joe Brent, Part 1: The Classical Mandolinist". The Bluegrass Special. Retrieved January 2012.
  12. ↑ "Beethoven Project: MTT explores early Beethoven". SFSymphony.org. San Francisco Symphony. 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "The Kishi Bashi String Quartet". Discogs. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Esperanza Spalding". SFJazz. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Chinen, Nate (30 January 2014). "A Clarinet Does Scenes — 'The Big Picture,' Movie Music at the Museum of Jewish Heritage". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  16. ↑ da Fonseca-Wollheim, Corinna (3 February 2015). "An Orchestral Group Effort, With a Star Turn for Banjo — Béla Fleck Joins the Knights at Pace University Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Bouchard, Fred (25 April 2015). "Ma's Silkroad Stretches Beyond". The Boston Musical Intelligencer. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Giannetti, Charlene (18 August 2015). "Cyrille Aimée Takes Jazz to a New Level". WomanAroundTown.com. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Perfectest Herald - 9 Horses". Allmusic. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  20. ↑ Kopman, Budd. "9 Horses Perfectest Herald". All About Jazz.


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