This is a matrix in the original sense of "source". It is a "small-world" network, meaning that the nodes (people) inside it are — mirroring human society — within a few steps of everybody else inside it. The matrix was built to allow regional Brazilian musicians to be discoverable steps away from everybody else in the arts world, and by logical necessity this m.o. requires not only that the great Brazilians be matrixed, but so far as possible, all working artists in our time. Ergo:
THIS MATRIX, THOUGH BRAZIL-BORN, IS UNIVERSAL
This Jess Gillam matrix node is steps away from the entire planet by the well-known small-world ("6 degrees") phenomenon dictating that in human society you yourself are within several degrees of Jess Gillam.
1 DEGREE FORWARD: Jess Gillam (node) ROUTES TO THESE ARTIST NODES
Are these Jess Gillam's personal recommendations?
CURATION STATUS
- → Routes by The Matrix via ↴
Who & Where
- Name: Jess Gillam
- City/Place: London
- Country: United Kingdom
- Hometown: Ulverston, Cumbria
Current News
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What's Up?
I’m very excited to announce my new single ‘Transit of Venus’, out now! The piece is originally by Joby Talbot who you might know as the composer of the Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005) film soundtrack.
The piece is from a project called ‘Once Around the Sun’ which is inspired by the year long cycle of the transit of the earth around the sun, and Joby composed one piece a month for the project. I was first introduced to this piece by my Dad who loves Joby Talbot’s music and its ethereal beauty has inspired me ever since!
We recorded Transit of Venus in RAK Studios on day two of the three-day recording process. Other tracks recorded that day include the Philip Glass, Brian Eno and Björk pieces which I can’t wait for you to hear!
Life & Work
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Bio:
After performing at the prestigious Last Night of the Proms in 2018 and having her performance described as “the indisputable highlight” by BBC News, Jess continues to grow her international career. This season, she will perform at the Last Night of the BBC Proms Japan, with the Minnesota Orchestra, at the Lucerne Festival, with Deutsches Symphony Orchester Berlin, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. She also continues to perform throughout the UK in recital as well as with the Hallé, Manchester Camerata and the European Union Chamber Orchestra.
Jess is the first ever saxophonist to be signed to Decca Classics and recently released her debut album “Rise”, which shot to No.1 in the Official UK Classical Charts. Featuring a selection of her favourite pieces ranging from Marcello and Shostakovich to David Bowie and Kate Bush, it was highly celebrated and received rave reviews.
She is also a presenter on TV and Radio. She became the youngest ever presenter for BBC Radio 3 and hosts her own weekly show called “This Classical Life” in which she talks to musical friends and colleagues about the music that inspires them. The show has been very well received by audiences and critics alike, with The Guardian stating “there are many more established presenters who lack Gillam’s warmth and impressive ability”. She also presented five BBC Proms live on television alongside Katie Derham and Tom Service.
Jess has been the recipient of a Classic BRIT Award (in the Sound of Classical Poll), was the first ever saxophonist to reach the final of BBC Young Musician of the Year, and in 2019, performed live at the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Awards) to millions of viewers at home.
A free spirit in style and character, Jess is a passionate advocate for the power of music in society, often combining her concert engagements with educational and social projects. She is a patron for Awards for Young Musicians and a trustee for the newly formed HarrisonParrott Foundation, working towards full inclusivity of all ethnicities, genders, disabilities and social backgrounds with equal access to the arts.
Jess studies with acclaimed saxophonist and composer John Harle. She is a Vandoren UK Artist and became the youngest ever endorsee for Yanagisawa Saxophones aged just 13. She is a lover of live music and continues to promote her own concert series, bringing international talent to her hometown of Ulverston.
Contact Information
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Management/Booking:
General Management:
HarrisonParrott and Polyarts
5-6 Albion Court
Albion Place
London
W6 0QT
Ed Milner
Ed.Milner@harrisonparrott.co.uk
+44 (0)20 3725 9178
Valérie Decker (artist coordinator)
Valerie.Decker@harrisonparrott.co.uk
+44 (0)20 3725 9116
Media & Markets
- ▶ Twitter: jessgillamsax
- ▶ Instagram: jessgillamsax
- ▶ Website: http://www.jessgillamsax.co.uk
- ▶ YouTube Channel: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCCXHJ8hIdJguGNrfTHRwzew
- ▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/7LJmkbrV4WcUnM9D7rCvsQ
- ▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/7GuRclIncpIaFUj7MZJGlF
- ▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/7DUw9dmNftpzJmaaUiXqem
- ▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/1Z2tcCSEn4n6aDwujskGkS
- ▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/0ZEpyGicZxKp6PdnlUmWvG
- ▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/2eqwUh1pNk0HX4EhoT43Vc
More
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Quotes, Notes & Etc.
“Vibrant and assured, her playing showed exquisite control of colour, volume and timbre.”
Evening Standard (Last Night of the Proms, September 2018)
“Jess Gillam….. lighting up the hall with her seemingly effortless virtuosity and limitless expressiveness. Gillam is all set for stardom: to listen is to love her.”
Artsdesk
“…Pedro Iturralde’s Pequeña Czarda, the ‘Brazileira’ from Milhaud’s Scaramouche and the traditional Russian song ‘Dark eyes’ contain by-now trademark Gillam isms – lively characterisation combined with technical brilliance.”
GRAMOPHONE (RISE review)
“…she’s great, fantastically virtuosic when required but always with the music at heart, and she is unbelievably shapely, sensitive and tender in slower numbers – deeply affecting in fact…but make no mistake: Jess herself is ★★★★★”
Classical Source (RISE review)
“Saxophonist Jess Gillam steals the show.”
“She may only be 20 years old, but saxophonist Jess Gillam was the indisputable highlight of the Last Night of the Proms.”
BBC News (Last Night of the Proms, September 2018)
“Britain’s next top musician – delete the ‘next’, she is a star already!”
AZ BADENER TAGBLATT (September 2018)
Clips (more may be added)
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Jess Gillam, Jess Gillam Ensemble - Gregory: Orbit
65 views
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Jess Gillam, Jess Gillam Ensemble - Thom Yorke: Suspirium (Arr. Rimmer)
80 views
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Jess Gillam, Jess Gillam Ensemble - Howard: Dappled Light (RAK Studios Version)
68 views
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Jess Gillam - Bush: This Woman's Work (Arr. Lawson)
62 views
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Jess Gillam - Sakamoto: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Arr. Metcalfe)
73 views
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Jess Gillam - Milhaud: Scaramouche - 3. Brazileira
66 views
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Jess Gillam - Iturralde: Pequeña Czarda - Pequeña Czarda (Arr. Harle)
70 views
THE MATRIX WAS BUILT HERE, inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone... The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum...it sings!
Sprawled across broad equatorial latitudes
Stoked and steamed and sensual in the widest sense of the word
Limned in prosody and cadenced song
brəˈzɪl / from "brasa" / Latin for "ember"
w/ David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio
Given the immense untapped power of the small-world phenomenon, from Brazilians the matrix was expanded to include nodes per jazz artists, given jazz's common roots with Brazilian music (nodes based in publicly available information; some artists we informed — Bob Mintzer, Kamasi Washington, David "Fuse" Fiuczynski, Vijay Iyer, Greg Osby — and got thumbs up, others we'll get to), and moved on from there. Artists/academics/"creative people" are welcome to create their own nodes and curate (connect to other artist nodes, so that others may follow). BTW, our logo is a cortador de cana, cane cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specializes in.
MUCH MORE on all of this in the window below (which, if you are logged in, will instead contain instructions on recommending), and in the window within that window (which includes a "radio" called by The Guardian one of "10 of the best music radio stations around the world"):
