Taylor Ho Bynum – cornet, flugelhorn, co-leader
Abraham Gomez-Delgado – percussion, voice, co-leader
Jen Shyu – voice, erhu
Mark Taylor – french horn, mellophone
Reut Regev – trombone, flugelbone
Matt Bauder – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet
Michael Attias – baritone saxophone
Pete Fitzpatrick – electric guitar
Alvaro Benavides – electric bass (on Plena Organization &
Contenido Adentro)
Keith Witty – acoustic bass (on Revamped & Travels Part
4)
Tomas Fujiwara – drums
About: Positive
Catastrophe is the brainchild of Taylor Ho Bynum
and Abraham Gomez-Delgado. Bynum has been described
as “animated as a vintage Loony Tune...one of the most exciting
figures in jazz's new power generation” (Steve Dollar, Time
Out Chicago). Gomez-Delgado has been called “the new
century's mad scientist, creating a musical hybrid so seemingly
wrong it can be nothing but right” (Global Rhythm Magazine).
Together they have come up with Positive Catastrophe: a trans-idiomatic
ten-piece little big band that connects the dots between Sun Ra
and Eddie Palmieri.
The group enlists a bevy of New York’s most adventurous jazz
and salsa musicians, all composers and leaders in their own right,
whose performing credits include such luminaries as Anthony Braxton,
Max Roach, Henry Threadgill, Paul Motian, Steve Coleman, and Eddie
Bobé. With the exceptional musicianship of the players and
their fluidity in multiple genres, a unique instrumentation that
hints at a traditional jazz and salsa big bands yet includes french
horn, erhu, and rock guitar, and a pair of dramatic vocalists that
are comfortable singing in three languages, Positive Catastrophe
creates a truly boundary-crossing kind of new music.
“This is the audio equivalent of a funhouse mirror. ‘Travels,’
for example, sounds like a low-speed collision between Sun Ra’s
‘Nuclear War,’ Julie London’s ‘Cry Me a
River’ and Chano Pozo’s Dizzy Gillespie vehicle ‘Manteca’
– all mashing together while the drivers giggle. Pos-Cat maintains
a playful, even giddy vibe as it bends its Latin, swing, and progressive
vibes so that they’re each recognizable but delightfully warped.
If you’ve been hungering to hear Latin-based jazz in a new
light, your prayers have been answered.” (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni,
NY Press.)
“The ten-piece Positive Catastrophe pools the resources of
two outstanding bandleaders: the ever-searching avant-jazz cornetist
Taylor Ho Bynum, and Abraham Gomez-Delgado, head of the eclectic
alterna-Latino outfit Zemog El Gallo Bueno…full of swagger
and groove, it combines Mingus-esque polyphonic momentum with vibrantly
off-kilter world-funk.” (Time Out New York.)
Positive Catastrophe - Plena Seguiro
Portrait photos and video by Heather Conley
Live photo by Scott Friedlancer
Click on picture to download hi-res version
