NEWS
Looking forward to recording In The Key Of Synesthesia, my latest composition, with the incredibly creative and dynamic NDR Bigband (Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra), on February 12-16, 2024.
Read about my new release A Conversation with the amazing NDR Bigband on the Waiting Moon Records page.
I was honored to be interviewed by WBGO's Greg Bryant about my activities during the pandemic, the music scene and my new recording "A Conversation."
"A Conversation" was a June 2021 Editor's Pick in
DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
Other Recent Releases:
TIM HAGANS QUINTET
ETERNAL FORGE
TIM HAGANS trumpet
ANDERS MOGENSEN drums
JOHNNY ÅMAN bass
CARL WINTHER piano
MAREK KONARSKI tenor saxophone
Eternal Forge is a new digital release from Tim Hagans' European Quintet. It is available on Amazon in June 2019.
The Tim Hagans Quintet has performed extensively in Europe at jazz festivals, concert venues and jazz clubs. Tim Hagans writes: "Anders Mogensen, Carl Winther and Johnny Åman create a supremely burning and churning, swinging pulse. Their astounding ability to play the entire spectrum of dynamics keeps listeners in suspenseful anticipation.”
The music on this recording is intended to conjure for the listener the wondrous palette of human emotion, from jubilation of the life's joyous moments to the deep hope of the blues.
Space Dozen, Not Yet and That’s What Happens When You Leave The Door Open by Tim Hagans offer cosmic swing, contemplative groove and relentless action. Deva Uma and Adam’s Calendar by Carl Winther take us from introspective beauty to rhapsodic swing. Concord by the great trumpeter Jens Winther, imbues an adventurous forward motion which embodies the idea behind the release's title: Eternal Forge. These five musicians channel their collective energy and breath to propel them ever forward on the journey of creating exciting new music.
Tim Hagans releases a new CD "Faces Under The Influence, A Jazz Tribute To John Cassavetes." (Waiting Moon Records 2017)
Great article in the Winter issue of JAZZIZ!
4 1/2 out of 5 Stars in DOWNBEAT!
About the project:
FACES UNDER THE INFLUENCE, A Jazz Tribute to John Cassavetes is a suite of 7 compositions by trumpeter and composer Tim Hagans, inspired by characters in the films of John Cassavetes. Commissioned and performed by the NDR Bigband (The Hamburg Radio Jazz Orchestra), FACES UNDER THE INFLUENCE, A Jazz Tribute to John Cassavetes was released on Waiting Moon Records, Hagans' own label, on June 1, 2017.
John Cassavetes is heralded as the father of independent film. Hagans chose characters from the directors' first six films: Lelia from Shadows (Lelia Goldini), Richard Forst from Faces (John Marley), Harry, Archie & Gus from Husbands (Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk & John Cassavetes), Seymour Moskowitz from Minnie & Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel), Mabel Longhetti from A Woman Under The Influence (Gena Rolwnads) and Cosmo Vitelli from The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (Ben Gazzara). The final composition, John Cassavetes, is a musical evocation of Cassavetes' passionate directing and acting style.
Hagans writes about Cassavetes: "With each film, I feel I have been given access to a story that began long before the first frame and is presently continuing. I am an undetected visitor viewing actual events being lived by actual people, and from my voyeuristic involvement in the drama, I hear music. John Cassavetes' films were fully scripted and included his acute observations of human life, relationships and the consequences of choice. His propensity to always allow actors to riff on his dialogue and go with their instincts, gave his films an improvised feeling that is both immediate and engrossing. He was a jazz director, and a visionary whose characters brilliantly portray the complete emotional palette of humanity, with its fears, desires, failings, and most important, its victories."
Tim Hagans writes about the NDR Bigband: "The band swings, roars and tips, technically impressive and supremely nuanced. Every musician is a soloist and the combination of their innovative and distinct voices make this ensemble a true jazz band. I have collaborated with the band many times and, knowing the band so well, composed this suite with each musicians’ sound and vibe in mind. I implemented John Cassavetes' methods into the composition and recording process, and the musicians became the characters from the films. The soloists integrated their characters’ emotional base and developments into their improvisations. There are composed sections that sound improvised because they are "scripted" but there is interpretation granted to the soloist/actors."
Tim Hagans was nominated for Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition for “Box of Cannoli” from The Avatar Sessions (2010 Fuzzy Music); Best Contemporary Jazz CD for Re: Animation (2000 Blue Note); and Animation*Imagination (1999 Blue Note). In addition to his own bands, he has performed and recorded with Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins and Dexter Gordon. For fifteen years Tim Hagans was artistic director and composer-in-residence for the Norrbotten Big Band, traveling to Sweden to perform, conduct and arrange projects with guest artists such as Rufus Reid, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano. The Avatar Sessions CD features music he created during that tenure. Tim Hagans is the featured soloist on the soundtrack by Howard Shore for the movie The Score, starring Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando.
