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Twins Jazz has never been afraid to book acts that are willing to push the boundaries of music and challenge an audience. One such group is coming to the club on Wednesday night in the form of New York's Prana Trio, an ensemble that melds the contemporary and ancient, combining the influences of modern new music, free-form improvisation, and ancient literature.
"Being tough to pigeon hole can make it difficult to find the right place to play and we have tried a variety of locations," said Prana's drummer, Brian Adler. "We have played jazz clubs, dive bars, yoga centers, art galleries, avant-garde mixed media festivals and concert halls."
Prana, whose name comes from the Sanskrit word translating into breath, vital energy, or life force is the concept of Adler and vocalist Sunny Kim, who came together whilst studying at the prestigious New England Conservatory.
"The band’s concept is centered on two elements, ancient poetry and improvisation." said Adler. "It started with the love for the texts of poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Lao Tzu, Shankarcarya, Kabir, Issa and Han Shan, that Sunny and I both share."
Underneath this literary influence lies the spacious sound of the group's open compositions in which the band incorporates primal grooves, electronic soundscapes, spoken word, and Eastern tonalities to frame the sung poetry. The ensemble's influences include Steve Lacy, John Hollenbeck, Debussy, and John Cage.
Explaining his compositional approach, Adler said, "I start with poetry that moves me, and then I sit with it long enough to allow a form, a shape and a melody to spin out of the poem itself."
Such a universal outlook to music making is no surprise given the band's history. The members have travelled extensively and Adler himself spent ten years living on an eastern influenced ashram.
Until recently, Prana performed mainly as a trio featuring Adler, Kim, and bassist Stomu Takeishi. However, tomorrow night's performance will include special guest pianist Carmen Staaf.
"With Sunny’s voice occupying the upper registers, Carmen’s piano playing cascading through many different registers and the percussion traveling through the extreme highs and lows, there is a tremendous amount of timbral space that remains unoccupied in the middle ground, Adler said, "this creates a feeling of spaciousness and thereby gives the feeling of breath or 'Prana.'"
Photo courtesy of Brian Adler
The Prana Trio performs tomorrow, January 30, at Twins Jazz from 8 p.m. to midnight. $10.
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i have a general question regarding the venue, twins. is the one on U Street the only one open now or is the one up on Colorado going to re-open at some point?