Glen Velez & Lori Cotler at the Underground

Information

$18 General Admission $15 Student/senior About the show: 3 time Grammy Award winning Master Drummer Glen Velez is joined by vocal wizard, Lori Cotler, to create a sonically infused sanctuary of shaman inspired rhythms and melodies. Glen Velez "Shaman Drums," invokes the ecstatic spirit drumming and vocal music of the shamans of Central Asia, the Americas and the Mediterranean world. Music inspired by the shamanic traditions of the ancient and modern world " Extreme virtuosity and imagination ... astonishing sophistication" - Village Voice " A galaxy of timbres and inflections ... remarkable rhythmic fireworks " - The New York Times "Performances of primal exhilaration ... seizing the soul of the music at hand" - The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) " Velez's music led to the essence of improvisation and composition ... the audience was rapt, absolutely still, except for those dancing in place" - The Village Voice Glen Velez Bio: Grammy award-winning percussionist Glen Velez is an international soloist and a seminal figure in the history of the frame drum. Over two decades ago he brought a new genre of drumming into the Western music world by creating his own compositional style inspired by years of drumming studies from various cultures. He introduced Remo Belli and the Remo Drum Company to the world of frame drums and initiated, what has become, a whole line of drums from world cultures. After fifteen years performing and recording with Steve Reich (1973-1988) and Paul Winter (1983-1998), Velez is working as a soloist and with his Handance Ensemble, while continuing to collaborate with a variety of prominent artists in many genres. Twentieth century music guru John Cage wrote a piece especially for Glen in 1989. Velez has also played with notables such as Pat Metheny, Richard Stoltzman, Suzanne Vega, Howard Levy, Zakir Hussain, and Sonny Fortune. His own compositions have been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and John Schaefer's New Sounds and have been commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and Reader's Digest. He has written music for theater and dance and recorded hundreds of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, and Sony. In addition, he has several instructional videos, five instructional books and over a dozen recordings of his own music on CMP, Music of the World, Sounds True, Interworld, Ellipsis Arts and DafTof Records. As a master teacher who conducts workshops worldwide, Velez developed his own teaching approach called “The Handance Method.” It incorporates voice and body movement into the process of learning to play the frame drum and has been presented in hundreds of universities world wide. Velez has also designed his own Signature Series of frame drums for the REMO Drum Company and has recently designed a handmade frame drum series for the Cooperman Drum Company. Lori Cotler Bio: Lori Cotler is winning accolades as a true vocal visionary. She has been thrilling audiences in the US and around the World with her boundless global fusion which melds South Indian Rhythm Voice (Konnakol), Jewish inspired mystical chant (Niggun), Tribal Improvisation and Jazz Scat in exotic meters. Born in New York to a Jewish family, Lori's musical gifts were discovered early on. With unconditional support from her parents she began formal musical studies at age 6. Although piano was her primary instrument, she began to explore her voice more intensely at performing arts high school (Cultural Arts Center, Long Island) with her first Jazz mentor Dave Burns Sr., renowned trumpeter with such musical luminaries as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, James Moody and Thelonious Monk. It was during her classes with Burns that she discovered the possibility of using her voice as an instrument, with a particular emphasis on scat singing up-tempo instrumental melodic material from the bee-bop tradition. Lori is currently on tour with Grammy Award winning World Music master drummer/composer Glen Velez. In 2002 Velez invited Lori to collaborate in the recording and performance of some of his compositions and this led to their 2003 CD release called “Elephant Hotel” (DafTof Records). Lori also co-produced and recorded vocals on their new CD “Rhythms of Awakening” on the Sounds True label. Glen and Lori have been receiving rave reactions to their live performances which feature raucous audience participation in overtone singing and rhythmic chanting, along with their spellbinding drum voice duos, some of which spotlight Lori’s lightening fast renditions of South Indian vocal percussion (Konnakol). Lori is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and is active in the commercial music field, recording for film and TV using her wide knowledge of composition and vocal stylings. Lori is also a member of International Women in Jazz. www.internationalwomeninjazz.com. Lori holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music and a Masters Degree in Music Therapy from New York University. Since earning her Masters Degree in Music Therapy from New York University, Lori has gained professional recognition for her clinical work in adult psychiatry, autism and at-risk teens. Her achievements in the Music Therapy field led to an invitation to teach at the New School University (NYC) in 2000. She continues to be a professor of Music Therapy, and also teaches Voice in the Jazz Department there. Lori has also performed and recorded recently with saxophone legend Sonny Fortune (Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner), Grammy winning harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy (original member of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), Bansuri flute master Steve Gorn (Paul Simon), S. Indian flute master V.K. Raman, Javier Paxarino (renowned Spanish composer/recording artist), Yousif Sheronick (Philip Glass, Ethos), Shane Shanahan (Yo-Yo Ma ), Grammy winning cellist/composer Eugene Friesen (Paul Winter Consort), pianist Enrique Haneine (Ricky Martin), among others.