Curtis Hasselbring
This Brazilian cultural matrix positions Curtis Hasselbring globally...
Curation
CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
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Name:
Curtis Hasselbring
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City/Place:
Brooklyn, NY
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Country:
United States
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Hometown:
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Life & Work
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Bio:
The Basics
Curtis Hasselbring is a trombonist, guitarist and composer. Growing up in the midwest, Curtis relocated to the Boston, where he attended New England Conservatory and found himself immersed in a creative scene of like-minded musicians who channeled their love of a broad palette of genres into their musical language. After earning Masters degree at Rutgers University (M.M. in Jazz Performance), Curtis made his home in Brooklyn, N.Y. where he immediately immersed himself in the jazz, world and experimental music scenes. Curtis has performed and recorded with many artists including Medeski Martin & Wood, Slavic Soul Party, Matt Wilson, John Hollenbeck, Golem, the Either Orchestra, and Tom Harrell among others. Curtis appears on close to 100 recordings including four releases as a leader.
Mostly known for his trombone playing, Curtis has also played guitar since his teens and continues to freelance on that instrument playing in a wide variety of situations ranging from instrumental rock (with Chris Lightcap's Superette), Romanian music (with Sanda Weigl) to his own prog-surf trop-tronica band, the Curha-chestra.
Leadership
Curtis leads the group "the New Mellow Edwards", a quartet showcasing Curtis's unusual rock/jazz hybrid compositions and consisting of Curtis (trombone), Chris Speed (tenor saxophone and clarinet), Trevor Dunn (bass) and John Hollenbeck (drums and percussion). The group has released two recordings on Skirl Records. In 2010, Curtis, through a grant from Chamber Music America, composed and recorded "Number Stations" featuring the New Mellow Edwards plus Mary Halvorson, Matt Moran and Satoshi Takeishi. That recording was released in 2013 on Cuneiform. Curtis has also co-lead a big band with Andrew D'Angelo, and leads a quartet called "Decoupage" featuring Mary Halvorson, Matt Moran and Satoshi Takeishi.
Composer/Arranger
Since his teens, Curtis has been composing music. Starting off primarily composing in the jazz idiom, he developed his passion as a composer by writing music for the Either Orchestra, an adventurous ten-piece big band that he was a member of when he was based in Boston (1986-1991). Since then, Curtis has composed a large body of works including a trove of big band music, a series of trombone quartets, a plethora of small group-based jazz pieces and varied chamber music including a suite for wind ensemble and a quintet for trumpet and strings. His music has also been recorded by other groups including the Either Orchestra, Chris Lightcap's Superette, Jerry Granelli and the TilT Brass Ensemble. Most recently, Curtis has been involved as an arranger in the Ghost Train Orchestra's "Music of Moondog" project, including arranging a piece for the Kronos Quartet.
Curha
Curtis is also active under his nickname, Curha, making a combination of home recorded multi-instrumentalist/electronic music since 2000. He has made several remixes for Frank London and Slavic Soul Party in addition to a variety of EPs self-released on Bandcamp. In 2018, Curha's first full length, "I," was released on Chant Records.
Contact Information
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Email:
cunha1 at gmail.com
My Recordings
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Discography:
2018
Curha I (Chant Records)
Chris LIghtcap Superette (Royal Potato Family)
2017
Satoko Fujii Fukishima (Libra)
The Four Bags Waltz (guest appearance)
Curha The Logue EP (Bandcamp)
The Ghost Train Orchestra Book of Rhapsodies Volume II (Accurate)
2016
Banda De Los Muertos (Barbes)
Ken Schaphorst Big Band How To Say Goodbye (Jca Recordings)
2015
Ghost Train Orchestra Hot Town (Accurate)
Golem Tanz (Discos Corason)
2014
She and Him Classics (Columbia)
2013
Curtis Hasselbring Number Stations (Cuneiform)
Ghost Train Orchestra Book of Rhapsodies (Accurate)
2012
Ben Holmes Quartet Anvil Of The Lord (Skirl)
Eric Person Thoughts on God (Distinction)
2011
Curha Selected C-Sides (B.L.I.M.)
The Spokes Not So Fast (Strudelmedia)
Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York
Eto (Libra)
Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble Watershed (Libra)
Tilt Brass To Tilt: Volume 1
(Non-Site Records) (featuring the
Hasselbring composition "Revisitor")
Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra
Hothouse Stomp (Accurate)
Girls in Trouble Half You Half Me (JDub)
2010
One Ring Zero Planets (UrbanGeekRecords)
Sleigh Bells Treats (Mom and Pop Music)
Lycaon Pictus (Avant God)
2009
The New Mellow Edwards Big Choantza (Skirl)
Golem Citizen Boris (JDub)
2008
Gloria Deluxe Don't Must Whip 'Um
Beat Circus Dreamland (Cuneiform)
Slavic Soul Party Remixed (Barbes)
(features three Curha remixes)
2007
Satoko Fujii Min-Yoh Ensemble Fujin Rainjin (Victo)
Rob Reddy The Book of the Storm (Reddy Music)
Gogol Bordello Super Taranta! (Side One Dummy)
2006
The New Mellow Edwards (Skirl)
Golem Fresh Off Boat (JDub)
Satoko Fujii Orchestra NY Undulation (P.J.L.)
One Ring Zero Wake Them Up (Barbes)
2005
Gloria Deluxe Accidental Nostalgia
Frank London's Klezmer Brass All Stars
Carnival Conspiracy (Piranha)
Slavic Soul Party Bigger (Barbes)
Sam Bardfeld Periodic Tresspasses (Fresh Sounds)
(as a guest on the "megamouth")
2004
George Schuller Jigsaw (482 Music)
Golem Homesick Songs (Aeronaut)
Boban Markovich Boban Y Marko (Piranha)
(as a guest on one track)
Septeto Roberto Rodriguez Baila, Gitano Baila! (Tzadik)
Aaron Alexander Midrash Mish Mosh (Tzadik)
Satako Fujii Orchestra Blueprint (Natsat)
Club D'Elf Live Tonic NYC 5/26/04 (Kufala)
2003
Satoko Fujii Orchestra The Future of the Past (Enja)
Matt Wilson Quartet Humidity (Palmetto)
2002
Drazy Hoops Bring on the Hate (Slow Burn)
Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Brotherhood of Brass (Piranha )
Slavic Soul Party Live in Makedonia (Knitting Factory Works)
Sanda Weigl Gypsy Killer (Knitting Factory Works)
2001
EZ Pour Spout Don’t Shave the Feeling (Love Slave)
Ballin the Jack Big Head (Knitting Factory Works)
Cindy Hopkins Devotionals ( )
Satoko Fujii Double Take (Ewe)
Oren Bloedow and Jennifer Charles La Mar Enfortuna (Tzadik)
Club D’Elf As Above (Grapeshot)
2000
Frank Carlberg Variations on a Summer Day (Fresh Sound)
Satoko Fujii Jo (Buzz )
Drazy Hoops the Infinite Starlight (Slow Burn)
Dorgon y su Grupo (Jumbo)
Gloria Deluxe Hooker
1999
Tom Harrell Time’s Mirror (BMG)
Jerry Granelli Crowd Theory (Songlines)
Ron Sexsmith Whereabouts (BMG)
Brian Ales November (Intuition)
1998
Jazz Passengers featuring Deborah Harry Live in Spain (32 Records)
Jerry Granelli Enter, a Dragon (Songlines)
Satoko Fujii South Wind (Leo)
Ken Schaphorst Purple (Naxos Jazz)
1997
Bobby Previte Too Close to the Pole (Enja)
1996
Either Orchestra Across the Omniverse (Accurate)
Ken Schaphorst Over the Rainbow (Accurate)
1993
Medeski, Martin and Wood Notes From the Underground (Accurate)
Charlie Kohlhase Quintet Good Deeds (Accurate)
Benny Carter Harlem Suite (Musicmasters)
Ken Schaphorst Big Band When the Moon Jumps (Accurate)
1992
Either Orchestra the Calculus of Pleasure (Accurate)
Mandala Octet the Last Elephant (Accurate)
1991
Mandala Octet La Spada di San Galgano (Accurate)
Charlie Kohlhase Quintet Research and Development (Accurate)
Ken Schaphorst Big Band After Blue (Accurate)
1990
Either Orchestra The Half Life of Desire (Accurate)
Ken Schaphorst Big Band Making Lunch (Accurate)
1989
Orange Then Blue Where Were You? (GM)
Gunther Schuller Jumpin’ in the Future (GM)
1988
Either Orchestra Radium (Accurate)
Clips (more may be added)
There are certain countries, the names of which fire the popular imagination. Brazil is one of them; an amalgam of primitive and sophisticated, jungle and elegance, luscious jazz harmonics — there’s no other place like it in the world. And while Rio de Janeiro, or its fame anyway, tends toward the sophisticated end of the spectrum, Bahia bends toward the atavistic…
It’s like a trick of the mind’s light (I suppose), but standing on beach or escarpment in Salvador and looking out across the Baía de Todos os Santos to the great Recôncavo, and mindful of what happened there (and here; the Bahian Recôncavo was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place throughout the entirety of mankind’s existence on this planet, and in the past it extended into what is now urban Salvador), one must be led to the inevitable conclusion that one is in a place unique to history, and to the present:
Brazil absorbed over ten times the number of enslaved Africans taken to the United States of America, and is a repository of African deities (and their music) now largely forgotten in their lands of origin.
Brazil was a refuge (of sorts) for Sephardim fleeing an Inquisition which followed them across the Atlantic (that unofficial symbol of Brazil’s national music — the pandeiro — was almost certainly brought to Brazil by these people).
Across the parched savannas of the interior of Brazil’s culturally fecund nordeste/northeast (where wizard Hermeto Pascoal was born in Lagoa da Canoa — Lagoon of the Canoe — and raised in Olho d’Águia — Eye of the Eagle), much of Brazil’s aboriginal population was absorbed into a caboclo/quilombola culture punctuated by the Star of David.
Three cultures — from three continents — running for their lives, their confluence forming an unprecedented fourth. Pandeirista on the roof.
That's where this Matrix begins:
Wolfram MathWorld
The idea is simple, powerful, and egalitarian: To propagate for them, the Matrix must propagate for all. Most in the world are within six degrees of us. The concept of a "small world" network (see Wolfram above) applies here, placing artists from the Recôncavo and the sertão, from Salvador... from Brooklyn, Berlin and Mombassa... musicians, writers, filmmakers... clicks (recommendations) away from their peers all over the planet.
This Integrated Global Creative Economy (we invented the concept) uncoils from Brazil's sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix... expanding like the canopy of a rainforest tree rooted in Bahia, branches spreading to embrace the entire world...
Recent Visitors Map
Great culture is great power.
And in a small world great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC (I've lived here in Brazil for 32 years now) I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Ex Terra Brasilis
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX