Bryan Hooten Faculty Recital at VCU

copied from press release: Bryan Hooten presents a VCU faculty recital: The Music of Verbatim Bryan Hooten is pleased to announce his faculty jazz trombone recital on Tuesday, September 8th 2009 at 8pm in the Sonia Vlahcevic Concert Hall inside the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts at 922 Park Avenue in Richmond, VA. The […]

September 7, 2009; 9:31 PM • by Dean Christesen

copied from press release:

Bryan Hooten presents a VCU faculty recital:

The Music of Verbatim

Bryan Hooten is pleased to announce his faculty jazz trombone recital on Tuesday, September 8th 2009 at 8pm in the Sonia Vlahcevic Concert Hall inside the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts at 922 Park Avenue in Richmond, VA. The recital will feature the music of Verbatim, an experimental duo comprised of Hooten and drummer Dean Christesen. The recital is open to the public and is free for VCU students, $5 general admission for non-students.

In June of 2009, Verbatim recorded its debut self-titled album in Richmond composer/guitarist and Fight the Big Bull leader Matthew White’s sweltering attic, otherwise known as Spacebomb Studios. Recorded in only a few hours, the album consists of all first takes of original compositions that were mixed in one pass while using no overdubs or splices, fully capturing the group’s dynamic live-performance energy. In support of the album, the duo embarked on an east-coast tour earlier this year, hitting experimental music hotspots in Washington DC, Brooklyn, NY and Philadelphia, PA before returning home for a CD release party at The Camel in Richmond, VA. The album is available at all Verbatim gigs.

Verbatim’s music combines the sounds of jazz, math-rock, punk, salsa, Tuvan throat-singing, New Orleans street beat and the avant-garde to create an original synthesis of composition and improvisation. Verbatim grew organically out of conversations and jam sessions between Hooten and Christesen in 2008. After playing on a few one-off gigs and a steady opening slot in front of Alan Parker’s Connect Four, the duo began planning a summer tour during a post-gig hang at The Camel in Richmond, VA.

Bryan Hooten plays trombone and composes for Ombak and Verbatim and also performs with Richmond super-groups Fight the Big Bull and No BS Brass. He teaches Music Theory, Small Jazz Ensembles and Jazz Composition lessons at Virginia Commonwealth University and teaches music at Hanover High School and James River High School. He also serves on the faculty for the Virginia Governor’s School for the Humanities and Visual and Performing Arts.

Dean Christesen is a Richmond-based drummer, writer and creator of RVAjazz.com, a portal for Richmond’s jazz, experimental, and improvised music scene. He is currently studying jazz performance at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a member of Mason Brothers, Verbatim, and various local jazz and free-jazz concoctions.

www.mypace.com/verbatimrva