Pics by Bill Foster.

Knoxville, TN. The Variego3 concert at the Bijou Theatre on September 26th was a notable performance blending jazz, tango, and contemporary chamber music. Jorge Variego (clarinet and compositions), Taber Gable (piano), Matías Pedrana (bandoneón), and Rob Linton (bass) delivered a compelling program inspired by the music of the Río de la Plata. The ensemble’s sound fused traditional tango elements with modern jazz harmonies, creating a unique blend that resonated with the audience.

The concert featured intricate improvisations and harmonic textures, showcasing the virtuosity of each musician while maintaining a cohesive group dynamic. The addition of the bandoneón brought an authentic Argentine flavor, further enhancing the concert’s thematic focus. One audience member described the performance as “a warm and organic experience with a modern edge,” reflecting the group’s ability to bridge past and present styles.

This concert, a collaboration with the Knoxville Chamber Music Society, was praised for its innovative approach to chamber music, combining classical, jazz, and folk traditions in a fresh, engaging way. – Nathan Greene

Pic: Bill Foster

Join us this Thursday at the Bijou Theatre – 7PM for our first collaboration with the Knoxville Chamber Music Society. “Music from el Rio de la Plata” will include works by Astor Piazzolla, Gustavo Beitelmann, Miguel Del Aguila, Ariel Ramirez and Jorge Variego.An outstanding string quartet featuring Evie Chen and Sarah Ringer (violins), Hillary Herndon (viola), and Max Geissler (cello) will open the concert. The second part will include new music by the Variego3 with Jorge Variego (clarinet and compositions), Matías Pedrana (bandoneón). Taber Gable (piano) and Rob Linton bass.

Venite este jueves al Bijou Theatre a las 7:00 p. m. a nuestra primera colaboración con la Sociedad de Música de Cámara de Knoxville.“Música del Río de la Plata” incluirá obras de Astor Piazzolla, Gustavo Beitelmann, Miguel Del Aguila, Ariel Ramírez y Jorge Variego.Un cuarteto de cuerdas (que la rompe) con Evie Chen y Sarah Ringer (violines), Hillary Herndon (viola) y Max Geissler (cello) abrirá el show – entre otras cosas, van a tocar Four for Tango de Astor! La segunda parte incluirá música nueva de Variego3 con Jorge Variego (clarinete y composiciones), Matías Pedrana (bandoneón), Taber Gable (piano) y Rob Linton (bajo).

🎶 The Sewanee Summer Music Festival’s composition program has wrapped up with an impressive finale! We celebrated over 15 premieres, 3 orchestral miniatures, inspiring composition seminars, and much more. Our young composers thrived at the University of the South. 🌟

(only a selection of images here!)

Kudos to Sayer Gage, Wallace Vaughan, Kat Carpenter, James Gaudi, Luca Terrasi, Jacob de Roode, Claire Kwon, and Riley Hylkema for their amazing work!

“The future of music is in good hands.” 🎵

#SewaneeMusicFestival #YoungComposers #MusicPremieres #UniversityoftheSouth #sewaneemusiccenter

A recent review of “Recompensa” in the latest edition of The Clarinet from June 2024. / Una linda reseña de “Recompensa” en la última edición de The Clarinet de junio de 2024. A seguir! 😊

Recompensa. Variego³: Jorge Variego, clarinets; Jack Roben, electric guitar; Rob Linton, double bass. J. Variego: Tango Blue; And the Trees; Recompensa; Susurro de Paris; Tema de Manuel; Reencuentro; Malambo; What is Home. Centaur Records, CRC 4074. Total Time: 44:33.

This album features the jazz trio Variego³ performing works written exclusively by clarinetist Jorge Variego. Variego was born in Rosario, Argentina. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and is currently on the music theory/composition faculty at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville, and the Sewannee Music Festival. Guitarist Jack Roben is based in Oakland, California, and previously served as lecturer of jazz guitar at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. Double bassist Rob Linton is adjunct professor of music at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte, and performs professionally in Knoxville.

The first track on the disc, Tango Blues, is a pleasant, tuneful work featuring Variego primarily as soloist on BÌ clarinet. This piece seems to be an homage to Gershwin, particularly It Ain’t Necessarily So. The writing includes quite a bit of unison playing in the ensemble, exemplifying their excellent intonation and rhythmic precision. Here, clarinetist Variego aptly demonstrates his ability with multiphonics and jazz-riff playing.

The next work, And the Trees, is a mournful soliloquy performed beautifully on bass clarinet by Variego. He incorporates a “smokiness” to his sound, giving this piece a very seductive and mysterious quality. The color of this instrument combination is especially alluring and effective.

Recompensa, the album’s namesake, again features Variego playing bass clarinet. While the intonation and improvisation expertise exhibited in this performance are notable, the tessitura in which the bass clarinet frequently plays leaves the listener wishing it was written in a lower octave. The accompanying instrument writing, however, is brilliant and expertly played.

Susurro de Paris brings us to a smoky Parisian café with Variego’s smooth, melodic stylings on bass clarinet. Linton also provides a lyrical double bass solo and Roben adds elegant glissando-type gestures to this curious but delightful work which is a play on parallel tritones.

Tema de Manuel is a habanera of sorts with its characteristic bass line. Here, on clarinet, Variego demonstrates again his exquisite intonation and a natural, understated flair for improvisation. Also notable in this work is Variego’s seamlessly legato glissando work.

Reencuentro opens with a very soulful and colorful electric guitar solo by Roben which segues into a dialogue with Variego on bass clarinet. Again, unison accuracy of intonation is on full display in this performance. From an audio recording standpoint, perhaps more could have been done to clarify the texture within the ensemble. The guitar effects at certain moments are effective but a bit too prominent in the sound mix.

In Malambo, we truly hear Variego’s wailing jazz style and his prowess with improvisation. His growls on bass clarinet, used sparingly on this disc, were completely effective when employed. Here, also, Roben lets loose a bit with a very dynamic and expressive improvised solo. This work is the highlight of the disc.

What is Home, the final work on this disc, is a somewhat melancholic statement that may be a longing for one’s past. There’s an earthiness to this music with its minimalist elements and lack of exuberance compared to works that precede it.

The timing of this disc is 44 minutes, a bit shorter than standard album length. Nonetheless, Recompensa is a refreshing contribution to the clarinet recording canon with its uniqueness of genre and composer/performer conception.

– Kenneth Long

Excited to back in Lima this week for the Sinapsis VII. Extremely thankful to share ideas and work with colleagues and young composers. Here we go again! / Muy contento de Volver a Lima esta semana para el Sinapsis VII. Con muchas ganas de reencontrarme con amigos y escuchar música nueva. Con la música a todas partes!

More Jazz

VARIEGO Tango Blues. And the Trees, Recompensa. Susurro de Paris. Tema de Manuel. Reencuentro. Malambo. What ls Home. Variego . CENTAUR 4074 (44:30)

The jazz part of the Centaur catalogue seems to be the jewel in the label’s crown. I definitely en- joyed David Park’s Passion of the Soul disc (reviewed Fanfare 47:l); a review that ledto Fanfare’s first-ever live concert review (at London’s United Nations Ballroom: see the Fanfare Archive).

Entitled Recompensa, this disc finds Variego3 (Jorge Variego, clarinets; Jack Roben, electric guitar; Rob Linton, double-bass) presenting a sequence ofeight pieces by Variego himself. Recorded in Knoxville, Tennessee, in February 2023 (and all in one day), this disc presents highly sophisticat- ed jazz. While the first track, Tango Blues, might sound relatively traditional in the rhythmic slinkiness iness of its opening and cheeky clarinet solos, it soon moves into more modem territory. The lyricism of Variego’s clarinet is underpinned by the more rhyhmic guitar and bass. As the music fragments, and imitation between instruments creeps in, the soundscape becomes sparser and more exploratory as if striving to refind itself.

Altogether more elusive is And the Trees: slow,lyrical, dreamy but with an acidic tang to the harmonies, mirrored in the steely sound of Jack Roben’s electric guitar against the creamier strains of Variego’s clarinet. This music begins quietly and diminuendos to near inaudibility, at which point one seems invited to focus on the sheeq strange beauty of the sounds produced. A1l of this makes the fulI appearance of melody all the more cherishable in this lovely track, characteizedby a sort of modernistic nostalgia. The titular track and the third in running order, Recompensa, extdes a sort of sophisticated jollity. A duet between Variego and Ruben lifts the mood beautifully, with its slightly qll;izzica! ending usherin g in Susurro de Paris (Whisper of Paris), a gently wafting number in which Variego’s woody, plaintive sound speaks volumes.

I don’t know who Manuel is, but Tema de Manuel is deliciously haunting. The potent melody stays with the listener for a long time. As the longest track on the album, there is space for expansion, and for musings as well. The long solo by Roben is particularly impressive, both gentle at heart and gently rhythmic, ending with the tenderest of strummings to lead back into Variego’s liquid legato melody. Tema de Manuel seems linked to the next piece, Reencuentro (Reunion), but here the quietude carries an undercurrent of disquiet. If this is a reunion, neither party is sure of their feet.

Active rhythm retums with the slirlriy Malambo, as circular phrases allow for a sense of natural forward movement and the composed fade at the end is perfectly managed. Finally, there comes What is Home (no question mark). As the title might suggest, the effect here is ungrounded (homeless, one might say, possibly home keyless); Rob Linton’s double-bass makes its mark via its desolate pizzicato.It’s a powerful way to close. Shying away from any overt virtuosity, the players won- derfully ask us instead to enter a reflective space.

There is no documentation apart from a track listing and recording information: the space Centaur uses for notes is filled by one large black-and-white photograph of the musicians-not a bad thing, of cowse. It just means the music has to speak completely for itself, and it certainly does that. This is a great disc, and a treat for all jazz lovers. The range of styles is large; all three players are superb in their own right and even better together as one entity. A Want List candidate, for sure. Colin Clarke

Cameron Rehberg (viola) and Ashlee Booth (cello) performed “Fuego y Duende” at the Parkview Senior Living and as part of the Knoxville Chamber Music Society 23-24 concert season.

Fuego y duende is a composition about the unrelenting search that fuels music in all its forms. At its root, the need for music comes from an inexplicable desire to find something indescribable. Music is a constant search. In García Lorca’s words “… there are no maps nor disciplines to help us find the duende. We only know that he burns the blood like a poultice of broken glass, that he exhausts, that he rejects all the sweet geometry we have learned…” 

Feeling strong after rehearsal for our show next week at the SapeShifter Lab. Super Pumped! / Muy motivados después del ensayo para nuestro show de la próxima semana en el ShapeShifter Lab. A meterle que va a estar bueno! https://shapeshifterplus.org/event/variego3-recompensa/

With Jorge Variego (clarinet and compositions), Taber Gable (piano) and Rob Linton (bass).

“RIFT”, for wind ensemble, captures the essence of conflict, delineating an imaginary world where clashes and discordance are the norm. It depicts a tumultuous society on the brink of collapse; its very fabric woven with cracks and ruptures, mirrors the combative nature of its inhabitants.

With sparse moments of quietude, “RIFT” captures the relentless strife within this fictional world. The music becomes a vessel through which the tension, clashes, and fissures of this society are expressed, immersing the audience in a landscape where interactions shatter and rifts emerge at every turn.

Special thanks and kudos to Max Tfirn and Mark Reimer for organizing an AMAZING festival.

Program note: “Uno” intertwines a collection of ones. The interplay of the voice and the cello suggests a search of oneself, a moment for reflection. Sparse, for moments frantic, the cello character goes from gritty to idyllic, always exploring. Throughout an introspective journey the piece takes the listener through momentos tangueros based on Mariano Mores’ tango Uno, to strokes of Brahms first Symphony. All tinted with the palette of my own self.

American cellist Natasha Farny has performed as soloist with the Boston Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and several regional orchestras throughout New York state, recently premiering Avner Dorman’s double concerto written for her and Ekstasis Duo partner, Eliran Avni. Solo and chamber music tours include appearances in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Brazil, and nationally at Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Brooklyn’s Bargemusic “Here and Now” Series, and Florida’s BIG ARTS Sanibel series. Ms. Farny’s debut CD of French cello music on the Centaur label appeared in 2020, followed in 2022 by “Women’s Voices” with Eliran Avni. Nationally, Ms. Farny has performed live on radio programs including Chicago’s “Live from WFMT”, and is a regular guest at WXXI’s “Live from Hochstein” series in Rochester, New York. Recent performances have taken the duo to Merkin Hall, Strings Music Festival (CO), The Holland Theater (OH), and the Del E. Webb Performing Arts Center (AZ). She has been appointed to numerous summer festivals including the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, the Brancaleoni International Music Festival, the National Music Festival (MD), the Colorado Music Festival, and the Fredonia String Camp. During the year, she holds a professorship at the School of Music at SUNY Fredonia.