Concert: MALIcool October 29, 2005

Roswell Rudd?s MALIcool will present a concert on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. in the Carleton College Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

MALIcool features seven instrumentalists who explore connections between American jazz and the traditional music from the African nation of Mali. American trombonist, Roswell Rudd, and Malian kora player, Mamadou Diabate, blend their musical traditions to lead the band in creating a new fusion genre. AllAboutJazz.com describes the kora as ?a 21-stringed instrument that can be fingerpicked in a blues-like manner and can be used to harmonize, play chords and/or produce incredibly fast runs.?

Members of MALIcool also will be presenting workshops and master classes with local students during their visit to Northfield.

Critics agree that the band is at its best when playing traditional pieces. ?[Rudd] has made a bold musical statement without changing the overall sensibility of the West African idiom. Such sensitivity is rare in world-jazz projects,? AllAboutJazz.com wrote about the MALIcool compact disc. The band also experiments with some lighthearted pieces including adaptations of a Welsh folk song and Beethoven?s ?Ode to Joy? from the Ninth Symphony.

John Wilson of The New York Times calls Rudd ??a trombonist of such sweeping power and majesty that he transcends all styles? and the Village Voice say, ?Take any opportunity that presents itself to hear [him].? Rudd is known for his work with musicians such as Herbie Nichols, the New York Art Quartet, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Carla Bley and Steve Lacy. His jazz operas, ?Blues for Planet Earth? and ?Gold Rush,? achieved cult status from their performances in the 1960s.

Over the past three decades, he has assisted Alan Lomax with a world song style project. In 2000, Rudd received a Guggenheim Fellowship in composition. He was named Trombonist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2003 and 2004. His latest recording project is a new CD with Yomo Toro, the Puerto Rican legend of the cuatro (a small stringed instrument resembling a ukelele) and a group of musicians from Mongolia.

The Carleton College Concert Hall has limited disability accessibility. For more information or disability accommodations, call the Carleton music department at (507) 646-4347.