The John McNeil Quartet featuring Noah Preminger
Initially, John McNeil assembled a group to celebrate both Boxing Day and the first day of Kwanzaa. This proved too difficult, so after much deliberation and use of rock-paper-scissors, the band decided to create a musical tribute to the 110th anniversary of Marie and Pierre Curie's isolation of radium.
The musicians in the ensemble all have an abiding love for the couple, especially Mrs. Curie. In fact, if her research notes were not still dangerously radioactive, by now the band would have undoubtedly broken into the Curie Institute in Paris and used her papers to make an origami tribute to Edith Piaf, a secret Curie disciple.
Just a word or two about the band:
Tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger, new to NYC, has been referred to by reviewers as a "Wunderkind." His recent CD debut as a leader, “Dry Bridge Road,” has landed on critics' top 10 lists of 2008 and has been called the best jazz debut album of the year. In addition, listening to the CD actually changes the solos.
Virtuoso bassist Jorge Roeder is an expert on string theory, especially the D and G strings. His assurance in the upper register has inspired a school of thought that runs counter to Werner Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Jorge has shown that the locations of conjugate triad pairs can be known with precision.
Legendary drummer and Big Bang theorist Adam Nussbaum has demonstrated that time can be solid and flexible simultaneously, and that momentum and regular periodic oscillation are functions of placement within a rhythmic matrix.
About the music:
On the 9:00 set, the first eight notes of every piece will be assigned a numeric value, and the square root of the sum of these numbers will equal 226 --- the atomic weight of radium.
The 10:30 set will feature tune titles that are anagrams of "Maria Sklodowska", Marie Curie's maiden name.
In addition, this music is guaranteed to make you glow in the dark until after New Year's Day.
Friday Dec 26
9:00PM & 10:30PM
Cover: $10
The Cornelia Street Café
29 Cornelia Street, NYC
212-989-9319

The JOHN McNEIL QUARTET is:
John McNeil, trumpet;
Noah Preminger, tenor saxophone;
Jorge Roeder, bass;
Adam Nussbaum, drums
www.mcneiljazz.com , www.noahpreminger.com