Alison Black - spoken word/poetry
John Davey - basses, guitars, keyboards, erhu, melodica, train whistle
Special guests - Steve Gorn (bansuri flute & soprano sax) and Jonathan Lorentz (tenor sax)
Influences
Leonard Cohen, Jack Kerouac, Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Tom Waits, Richard Wilber, Charles Mingus
Take a walk on the wild side with “Let Them Tell Us’, a collaboration between husband & wife team of Alison Black (spoken word/poetry) and John Davey (composer/bassist) known collectively as THEY SAY - intense poetry wedded to genre-defying compositions (pyschedelic/punk/jazz/doo-wop/folk/trance, raga). Alison’s poetry ranges from the sounds of train whistles to peripheral visions, from autobiographical stories of grade school dance classes to talks with Mr. Death, from anger to hope. John’s music is a reaction to the spoken-word, performed on guitars, basses, keyboards, melodica, erhu, drum programming, not to mention the train whistle! Special guests Steve Gorn, playing bansuri (Northern Indian bamboo flute) and soprano sax, and Jonathan Lorentz, playing tenor sax, round out the constantly shifting sounds. This is music for those quiet, reflective times or for times you want to groove. So, put on your headphones and turn it up!
Alison Black is an author-educator at SUNY Oneonta, involved with literacy. She has written many articles for education journals and has published a textbook on Reader’s Theater. She has been involved with The Oneonta Storytelling Center, and was a member of Talking Tall Puppeteers, a trio that performed “fractured” tales for children of all ages. She wrote the lyrics to “Cenote Dreams”, which appeared on John Davey’s CD “SoundBites”.
John Davey recently recorded the CD “You Are Here” with his world music/improvisation trio GLOBETROTTING, featuring bansuri flutist Steve Gorn and percussionist Brian Melick. He recorded his first CD as a leader, entitled “SoundBites”, in 2005. The CD features pianist Jeremy Wall, guitarist Chuck D'Aloia, percussionist Brian Melick, and vocalist Lorena Guillen. His chamber-jazz string trio FROM THE BRIDGE, featuring guitarist Dennis Turechek and violist Amy Merrill, released their debut CD “9 views” in the Spring of 2001. He has studied with jazz bassists Gary Peacock, Dave Holland and Mark Helias. He has performed with The Catskill Symphony, jazz pianists Mike Holober and Francesca Tanksley, saxophonists Al Galodoro, Brian Patneaude and J.R. Montrose, the late percussionist Collin Walcott, and jazz cellist Hank Roberts. He has produced the concert series THE JAZZ COMPOSERS AND IMPROVISORS PROJECT, featuring some of the best jazz musicians in Central NY, The Hudson Valley and NYC. He is currently performing with his jazz quartet, Open Range, which features saxophonist Jonathan Lorentz, guitarist Dan Muniz, and drummer Sadiq Abdushahid.He teaches jazz bass at SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he also teaches Jazz Combo and Jazz Theory.
“Let Them Tell Us’’ is available through cdbaby.com. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ysay
