Rob Morsberger has released three acclaimed CDs with longtime collaborators Jon Herington, Paul Ossola and Robin Gould. A top-call composer for PBS, he is currently scoring the series NOVAscienceNOW, on which he is also featured as a singing reporter. He has recently arranged an album for Jules Shear and logged up sideman credits (on keyboards/ accordian/ vocals) with Loudon Wainwright III, Dan Zanes and many others.

Artist/producer/singer-songwriter Valerie Ghent has released three CD's on her own label, West Street Records, and has run NYC's most popular acoustic songwriter's night, The Songwriter's Beat, since she founded it in 2000. With an unforgettably powerful and sensitive voice (3 1/2+ octave range) combined with a bluesy, soulful and funky piano style, Val - a native downtown New Yorker - has been composing and performing since the age of 8. Val has recorded and/or toured with luminaries such as Ashford & Simpson, Deborah Harry, Dr. Maya Angelou, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Billy Preston, TM Stevens, Defunkt and many other artists.

Not content to only create and perform music, Val actively brings music to others, as artist, as singer, as composer, as in-demand producer/session musician/engineer and as nonprofit director. A multiple ASCAP Pop award winner and American Music Center grant recipient, Val recently received the Paul Ramos Award for Service to the Arts for her work in starting The World Foundation for Music and Healing (WFMH), which brings music to children directly affected by the events of September 11th. (The WFMH is funded by the American Red Cross Recovery Grants Program.)

  robmorsberger.com ,  valghent.com

This unique series features both emerging and established vocalists in styles ranging from straight ahead, modern to avant-garde and free jazz. Each vocalist will present personal material that showcases their abilities as interpreters, improvisers, composers and arrangers. The Cornelia St. Cafe provides an intimate setting to hear these exceptional artists at a reasonable price!
 Cover $10   www.chrishumphrey.net ,  www.daviddevoe.com

“Innovative jazz does not have to be harsh, angry, loud, shrill, or grating; it can be delicate, witty, ethereal, and radiantly lyric, as the Claudia Quintet pointed out...”
[Chicago Tribune]

“...a band with the hippest groove in music today.”
Mark Corroto, allaboutjazz.com

“The Claudia Quintet creates a fresh, distinctive sound while it obliterates barriers between jazz, classical and progressive rock.”
-DownBeat
 Cover $10   www.johnhollenbeck.com

John Tchicai,
 Cover $12   www.charliekohlhase.com ,  www.garrisonfewell.com

The last ”Big Bang” this spring!
Big Bang, a creative collision of musicians with artists in spoken word, dance, visual art, video art, found words, theatre, etc. presenting works in progress. The evenings will include two featured groups followed by a brief talk back with the audience after each set. Every evening ends by inviting audience members to join in an informal jam session for about 10 minutes.

Katie Down - flute, percussion, portable record player, voice Daniel Kelly - keybaords, voice, general mayhem Chris Becker - laptop Audience members - on whatever we throw at them!!

8:30PM

Ahnfinod Manifestation #4

Ahnfinod is a nonsense word which represents the creativity which is produced from chaos. Patterns manifest themselves even in chaos, creating structure, and the resulting balance between structure and chaos provides the foundation of life, aesthetics, movement, beauty. For creativity to thrive, we require freedom to experiment. This manifestation of Ahnfinod is created to combine normally separate media in improvised sounds (violin & saxophone) and visuals (dance & projected images).

Willy Devlin brings to Ahnfinod the personal works of a group of corporate presentation artists, using the same industrial tools used in their corporate environments, in a series of projected images. With a range of abstract to photographic digital art. Contributing artists: Willy Devlin, Fred Caputi and Stuart Warner.
Willy is a Brooklyn-based freelance graphic artist who works in corporate environments.

Lathan Hardy and Julianne Carney provide the sonic foundation of Ahnfinod, with improvised drones, intervals, disonance, consonance, and sounds.
Lathan is a saxophonist/composer who currently resides in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He has performed in ensembles ranging from "The Thermal Men!" (Punk Band) to performing classical concertos with the IMP Orchestra throughout Europe. He is currently a member of Ahnfinod, Dos Dedos, The George Steel Toe Ensemble, and "Who Put the Bad Mouth On Me?".

Gina Pierre brings improvised physical movement, based on modern dance, Haitian dance, yoga, and alignment postures, to Ahnfinod.
Gina will complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance Performance from Hunter College this spring. She is featured in Ordinary Festivals (excerpts), a 1995 PearsonWidrig dance/theater piece for 300 oranges, 16 performers, and 2 knives, currently being performed at the Kaye Theater at Hunter College.

Julianne Carney is a Brooklyn-based violinist from Detroit, MI. She regularly performs with her own group, Ahnfinod, and has performed, toured, &/or recorded with a variety of cross-genre acts, including Jenny Scheinman, Bill Frisell, Adam Matta (beatbox), Ambitious Orchestra, Luminescent Orchestrii, My Brightest Diamond (formerly AwRY), Pilotram, and the One World Symphony; venue highlights include Tonic, Knitting Factory, Café Lena, and the Beachland Ballroom. She recently recorded with Sufjan Stevens on his latest album, Illinois, and will join Adam Matta at the Apollo Theater in May. She recently began a flirtation with Appalachian and New England style fiddle playing. Julianne was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2001-02, & she received her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, Summa Cum Laude, at Lawrence University, in Appleton, WI.

9:30PM

This configuration led by curator of Big Bang, Katie Down, focuses on the most essential component of any performance....THE AUDIENCE! We will ask members of the audience to create graphic scores for the trio to perform spontaneously. Video projections by special guests will also fit into the mix.

Katie Down is a composer, sound artist, and multi-instrumentalist (flute, ukulele, voice, Middle Eastern percussion, homemade instruments) with a passion for collaboration and improvisation in life/art. She has created and performed numerous sound scores for theatre and dance companies and at international festivals throughout Eastern and Western Europe, working collaboratively with theatre and film directors, choreographers, writers, painters, dancers, and of course, other musicians. She works with Ripe Time, Tap Fusion, and The Butane Group regularly and occasionally with Target Margin Theatre, Pilgrim Theatre Performance and Research Collaborative, Judith Shakespeare Company, chashama, and other local companies. Her music and sound designs have been heard in theatres such as Classic Stage Company, P.S. 122, SoHo Rep, Walker Space, The Culture Project, LaMaMa, The Duke at 42nd, HERE, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Ohio Theatre, Danspace at St. Marks’, WAX, Clark Studio Theatre at Lincoln Center, and many others. Her Sephardic music ensemble Adelantre includes homemade instruments, intricate harmonies, dance, and story-telling. She is also a member of the Ukuladies, a now-and-again 3-sisters and a cousin ukulele and tap dancing quartet from Winnipeg, Canada touring the Holiday Inn circuit across the United States.

Composer and pianist, Daniel Kelly has developed his own personal and unique approach to jazz, Afro-Cuban music and free improvisation using keyboards, samplers and electronic sound manipulation as well as the acoustic piano. He has recorded and/or performed with musicians such as bassist Harvie S, saxophonist Michael Brecker, hip-hop star Lauryn Hill, Bobby Sanabria, William Parker and John Zorn. Daniel has recorded two highly acclaimed CDs, World and Duets with Ghosts. Visit him at
 Cover $10   www.danielkellymusic.com.

The Flail have performed at some of the premier events and venues in the world including Carnegie Hall, the Vienne Jazz Festival, the Marseille Jazz Festival, and Sweet Rhythm.
 Cover $8   www.theflail.com