Mark Segger Sextet in Sackville

Mark Segger

The Catbird Jazz Society is pleased to announce that it is presenting the Mark Segger Sextet at George’s Roadhouse in Sackville, NB at 8 pm on November 16, 2012.

The Toronto-based Mark Segger Sextet, an “avant-chamber-jazz” group, was formed in 2008 to realize the music of St. Francis Xavier University trained drummer/composer Mark Segger.

The Sextet features a combination of Canadian jazz veterans (Jim Lewis, trumpet; Rob Clutton, bass; and Tania Gill, piano/melodica) and formidable younger players (Chris Willes, tenor/clarinet; Heather Segger, trombone; and Mark Segger, drums).

All are spirited improvisers with an affinity for 20th/ 21st century music and jazz, and each moves fluidly and unassumingly in and out of the foreground as envisaged in Segger’s imaginative charts. His distinctive and refreshing compositions often provide the context for improvisation by evoking an image, presenting a joke, or telling a story.

Segger’s compositional attitude is somewhat reminiscent of Frank Zappa, and his music suggests the influence of a wide range of musical traditions, including chamber music, bop, free music, and Latin funk. It is characterized by elastic rhythms, shifting tempi, free-for-all rave-up episodes, and other bits of inspired and engaging playfulness.

Here is what two reviewers have said, for example, of Segger’s “My Dog Has Fleas”, from the group’s first CD, The Beginning (2011).

“Willes’ saxophone response to the canine affliction ranges from unaccompanied chromatic slurs to narrowed and striated shrills to melodic, decorated peeps, accompanied by the drummer’s rim-shot rebounds and challenged by top-of-range tremolo trombone slides.” (Ken Waxman)

“Willes displays depth in the development of his expressive solo on ‘My Dog Has Fleas’, followed by some extended technique git-down by trombonist Heather Segger.” (Glen Hall)

Get ready for an evening of head bopping, finger snapping, foot tapping, and ear-opening entertainment on November 16th. For a sample of the sextet’s music, please visit: www.marksegger.com

Tickets for the event are available in advance for $17 ($7 for students) at Tidewater Books (506-536-0404) in Sackville. Admission at the door is $20 ($10 for students).