Alexa Torres "In Situ" Album Release

Thu, Jun 13

Join us for a live taping and listening-room concert for the Alexa Torres “In Situ” Album Release! Alexa Torres - violin Mario Wellmann - electric guitar Guillermo López - Bass Daniel Dufour - drums Alexa Torres is a LatinX improvising violinist with a background in jazz. She is a performer, band leader, and ethnographic music researcher based in New York City and Austin, Texas. Torres views her ethnographic and performance practices as reciprocal. Musically, she seeks to cultivate improvisational and compositional styles which are both historically and personally rooted, embodying a dialogue between tradition and innovation in modern improvised music. Throughout her musical career, Torres has performed in the US, Latin America, and Europe and has had the privilege of sharing the stage with renowned, Grammy-winning artists such as Kurt Elling and Mon Laferte. Breaking new ground in the world of improvised strings, in 2022 Torres became the first woman and the first violinist to graduate from the University of North Texas (UNT) Jazz Strings program when she obtained a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from the acclaimed Jazz Studies department. In Situ, Torres’s debut album as a band leader will be available on major streaming platforms on June 14th . The release of “In Situ” is supported by the Austin Live Music Grant and Torres will perform a series of multi-sited album release concerts with the Alexa Torres Quartet throughout Austin and New York City. The archaeological term in situ evokes a sense of rediscovery and temporal connection, reflected musically through the textures, improvisational languages, and timbres of the album. With a blended acoustic-electric violin sound, Torres’s be-bop lines intertwined with modern diminished and altered vocabulary float over guitarist Wellmann’s bright, distinctly contemporary voicings. Further mirroring the Alexa Torres goal of bridging past, present, and future, “In Situ” brings together original compositions as well as contemporary arrangements of jazz standards. The compositions foreground contemplative melodies, rich harmonic textures, and atypical forms. The arrangements reflect an intimate engagement with jazz idioms and Torres’s own Latinx heritage by synthesizing Latinx rhythms, modern jazz devices, and improvisation. Weaving an aural landscape that is both personally and historically grounded, “In Situ “sculpts a sonic bridge between the past and the present, between tradition and innovation, and between musical idioms and cultures. Please Note: This is a live-taping, so we'll be enforcing a whisper-policy! Cold bottles of still and sparkling water will be available for purchase, but this event is BYOB. Ice will be available if needed, wine keys and 9oz cups provided! 22 free parking spaces onsite are first-come-first-serve. Doors at 7:45pm, Show at 8pm