CD Release Concert by Mike Reed's Loose Assembly Band November 20, 2010

Jazz continues on the stage of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion when Chicago composer and drummer Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly band premieres its new album Empathetic Parts on Saturday, November 20 at 4 p.m.  Featuring the legendary reed player, Roscoe Mitchell, the concert will take place during the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians’ (AACM) 45th anniversary weekend of events.  Admission is free. 

With the glass doors of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion closed and audiences seated on the stage, concert-goers will get to hear Loose Assembly’s new work in an indoor setting overlooking Millennium Park’s Great Lawn, protected from the elements.  CDs will be available for sale following the performance.

Loose Assembly is the six year old ensemble headed by Mike Reed, featuring alto saxophonist Greg Ward, vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, cellist Tomeka Reid and bassist Joshua Abrams.  Roscoe Mitchell, a founding member of the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, joins the group on both the CD and onstage.

Empathetic Parts consists primarily of one long piece of the same name, composed by Reed and conceived for six musicians, which required a special guest to augment the Loose Assembly line-up.  Good fortune made Mitchell available to perform the piece - after only a quick read-through of instructions and a single run-through - at the 2009 Umbrella Music Festival.  Each of the members of the band contributed to the structural development and shape of the piece—an approach Reed calls &ldq...

Official Website: http://www.millenniumpark.org/parkevents/event.aspx?id=1211