Steve Coleman And Five Elements

Set 1
DAVE HOLLAND - LIONEL LOUEKE duo

Dave Holland double bass
Lionel Loueke guitar and vocals

One of the pillars of jazz from the late 1960s onwards and one of the most personal and innovative guitarists to appear on the jazz scene in recent decades: the encounter between Dave Holland and Lionel Loueke, documented by the United album released in 2024 by English Edition, transcends mere collaboration, embodying the dialogue between sensibilities; of two musicians from different backgrounds, capable of listening to each other, of blending their respective instrumental voices, the absolute mastery of the double bassist with the West African heritage present in the style of his partner. A close dialogue that began as an impromptu moment during a soundcheck and blossomed into an album that reflects the spirit of two artists dedicated to pushing boundaries and exploring new horizons.

Born in 1946, Dave Holland has experienced at first hand a variety of jazz events, from Miles Davis' electric jazz at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s to the dynamic post-free evolutions with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers, also leading his own groups and recording numerous albums as a leader. One of these is Conference of the Birds (1973).
Born in Benin, Lionel Loueke rose to international fame thanks to his collaboration with Herbie Hancock, to whom he dedicated the album HH in 2020, interpreting some of the famous keyboardist's compositions solo. On the Donizetti stage, Holland and Loueke have already appeared several times: the English musician in 1971 with Chick Corea's Circle and then in 1998 with Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz and Bill Frisell and in 2000 as a duo with Jim Hall, but many still remember when he performed in 1976 at the Palazzetto dello Sport with Sam Rivers' trio; the guitarist, on the other hand, in 2015 and 2021, respectively involved in Jeff Ballard's and Michael League's projects. And then last summer he was heard at the Lazzaretto with Herbie Hancock.

Set 2
STEVE COLEMAN AND FIVE ELEMENTS

Steve Coleman alto sax
Jonathan Finlayson trumpet
Rich Brown electric bass
Sean Richman drums

Exactly twenty years after his previous concert, one of the pivotal personalities of contemporary jazz expression returns to Bergamo Jazz, the creator of a powerful sound mixture that rigorously translates the concepts of tradition and innovation, in a close dialogue between composition and improvisation. The musical philosophy of the Chicago-born Steve Coleman, born in 1956, is faithfully and authoritatively interpreted by the members of the Five Elements, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, guest soloist with Tino Tracanna's Panorchestra in the concert at the Teatro Sociale in 2023, also included in the events of “Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture”, bassist Rich Brown and drummer Sean Richman, who together make up a powerful yet dynamic rhythm section.

Grown up in the R&B scene, routed to more adventurous jazz by Von Freeman and other Chicago jazz historians, and moved to New York in 1978, Steve Coleman also made his mark in the big bands of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Sam Rivers and Cecil Taylor. Amongst other collaborative experiences, the one with Dave Holland stands out, in whose groups, trio and quintet, he was a long-time member. His name is closely linked to M-Base, a collective but also a kind of aesthetic-philosophical thought that took shape in Brooklyn in the 1980s, around which other prominent musicians such as Geri Allen, Cassandra Wilson and Greg Osby coagulated.
The Five Elements, the longest-running of the saxophonist's various ensembles, are a veritable concentration of the M-Base musical ideal, a meeting point between funk and other metropolitan rhythms, complex metric and melodic structures that look beyond the tradition of western music.
Steve Coleman's discography includes over thirty albums as leader and countless others recorded as a sideman. 

Program and cast