Racer Session #220 | Kenny Mandell | April 27, 2014
RONIN is a constantly evolving musical group that showcases original compositions that reflects the players influences. This ranges from Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk and many others. We practice group improvisation as an ongoing process and attempt to treat every musical form in a fresh way.
This Sunday, we will play our original views of Thelonius Monk compositions, hopefully adding some different ways to hear the music of a great master.
For the improv session after our performance, we would like to encourage the players to work with quirky rhythmic ideas together with melodic fragments. Most of Monk's music is played with little regard to his original and eccentric melodic and rhythmic ideas.
—Kenny Mandell