*announcing* Rob Mazurek - Exploding Star Orchestra - Live at the Adler Planetarium
(( photo by Alejandro Ayala ))
*announcing*
IARC0087
Rob Mazurek
Exploding Star Orchestra
Live at the Adler Planetarium
LP/CD/DD out September 27, 2024
Beautiful new live document from interdisciplinary artist, composer and bandleader Rob Mazurek and a nine-piece iteration of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra (ESO). Live at the Adler Planetarium will be released on LP, CD and DD on September 27th.
With Mazurek (on trumpet) leading ESO regulars Nicole Mitchell (flute), Damon Locks (vocals), Tomeka Reid (cello), Craig Taborn (keys), Angelica Sanchez (keys), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), Gerald Cleaver and Chad Taylor (drums), the album captures the ensemble in a special one-off performance underneath the dome of the Grainger Sky Theater in Chicago’s iconic Adler Planetarium.
A staple of Chicago’s downtown lakeshore since 1930, the Adler Planetarium is not only the first and oldest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, but it has actually played host to a live album recording at least once in the past – notably, Kelan Phil Cohran & Legacy’s legendary 1993 record African Skies. Mazurek and ESO join that tradition proudly and potently with this document, which was co-produced by Chicago institutions Experimental Sound Studio and International Anthem.
(( photo by Alex Inglizian ))
A full album-length concert film for Live at the Adler Planetarium was also created by director Brian Ashby (known for his work on Charles Stepney: Out of the Shadows) that beautifully captures the spectacle of the event, which featured ESO performing underneath large, kaleidoscopic projections of Mazurek’s abstract visual art on the dome screen of the Grainger Sky Theater.
Ashby’s concert film will premiere at a special screening event on September 28th at the Logan Center in Chicago as part of this year’s Hyde Park Jazz Festival. The event will feature two screenings of the full 40 minute concert film. In between the screenings, there will be a conversation between Mazurek and Mike Smail of the Adler Planetarium.
(( photo by Britt Mazurek ))
...about Rob Mazurek
and Exploding Star Orchestra...
Rob Mazurek is an interdisciplinary artist & abstractivist, with a focus on electro-acoustic composition, improvisation, performance, painting, sculpture, video, film, and installation, who spent much of his creative life in Chicago, and then Brazil. He currently lives and works in Marfa, Texas.
As a composer Mazurek has written over 500 compositions over the past 30 years and has released 80+ recordings on various labels including International Anthem, Nonesuch, Astral Spirits, Corbett vs Dempsey, Cuneiform, CleanFeed, Delmark, El Paraiso, Family Vineyard, Harmonipan, Mego, Northern Spy, Rogue Art, Submarine, Aesthetics, and Thrill Jockey. He has led/co-led many ensembles of various sizes and shapes including Isotope 217, Chicago Underground (Duo, Trio, Quartet, and Orchestra), Alternate Moon Cycles, Alien Flower Sutra, Pharoah and the Underground (featuring Pharoah Sanders), Jeff Parker Duo, São Paulo Underground, and Exploding Star Orchestra.
Originally inspired by a joint commission from the Chicago Cultural Center and Jazz Institute of Chicago, Mazurek founded the Exploding Star Orchestra in 2005 to investigate the city’s avant-garde musical traditions. He brought together a group representing the diversity of the city’s contemporary music scene including musicians from Chicago’s North, West, and South-sides, from the then burgeoning post rock scene to the highly influential AACM and Northside Improvisation Scene. Since the inception the Orchestra has expanded to include musicians from around the world, with an ever-expansive pool of visionaries joining the fray based on the needs of the composition at hand. The group has featured Roscoe Mitchell, Bill Dixon, Fred Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Damon Locks, Jeff Parker, Chad Taylor, John Herndon, Tomeka Reid, jaimie branch, Joel Ross, Mikel Patrick Avery, Macie Stewart, Joshua Abrams, Angelica Sanchez, Ken Vandermark, Mike Reed, John McEntire, Jason Ajemian, Hamid Drake, Matthew Lux, Matana Roberts, Mauricio Takara, Guilherme Granado, Avreeayl Ra, Dan Bitney, Luke Stewart, and more.
Deluxe Limited Edition Vinyl Package
Live at the Adler Planetarium in vinyl form comes on a deluxe limited edition LP inside a shiny, reflective metallic silver foil jacket, with images from the performance taken by Ashby, Alejandro Ayala, and Alex Inglizian. Liner notes included with the package are taken from music writer Bill Meyer’s review of the performance originally published by Magnet Magazine in March of 2023.
Purchase Live at the Adler Planetarium
as part of the
**Fall '24 Bundle**
For the fervent, faithful collector of our output.
The FALL '24 BUNDLE is available for purchase now! Perhaps our most mondo bundle yet, this single parcel will include all SIX (6!) LPs to-be-announced across Fall 2024. No spoilers here, but beyond the two we've announced thus far (IARC0086 Anna Butterss and IARC0087 Rob Mazurek - Exploding Star Orchestra), we can tell you for certain that the season is STACKED.
This bundle includes 5x single LP releases and 1x double LP release. Purchase gets you a bundle-exclusive discount of 10% off the LP prices, plus a 60% discount on shipping costs.
The bundle will ship from our warehouses in the US, EU and UK, but don't sleep.. the quantity available in each warehouse is limited! Early purchase is recommended to ensure the lowest possible shipping, tax, and VAT costs.
All items will ship together in one package around November 1st, so you'll be receiving half of your bundle 2-4 weeks after the initial street dates, and the other half you'll be receiving early.
Bandcamp downloads will be sent via email for all the releases by, or before, the ship date.
Order the Fall '24 Bundle on limited edition color vinyl here.
Order the Fall '24 Bundle on classic black vinyl here.
The limited CD edition is pretty banging as well; also in a shiny metallic silver ultra-gloss cover.
