Bill Cole’s Untempered Quartet to Perform at U.Va. Chapel March 27

Bill Cole headshot

Bill Cole, a talented jazz musician with a penchant for using non-Western instruments, is known in the music world for his innovative and masterful blending of diverse musical traditions.

The Charlottesville Jazz Society and the University of Virginia arts administration program will present a concert by jazz musicians Bill Cole, Lisa Mezzacappa, Lisette Santiago and Ras Moshe – collectively, the Bill Cole Untempered Quartet – on March 27 at 8 p.m. in the U.Va. Chapel.

Cole returns to Charlottesville after a 2009 performance with the late violinist Billy Bang, the recording of which was praised internationally, given an honorable mention in the New York City Jazz Record’s Best of 2011 list, and noted as “one of the most daring moments in music” by the All About Jazz website.

The U.Va. Chapel is located at 1619 University Ave. Doors will open at 7. Tickets may be purchased at the door only for $10 (free for students, and $5 for members of the Charlottesville Jazz Society). 

Cole, a talented jazz musician with a penchant for using non-Western instruments such as the didgeridoo, Ghanaian bamboo flute and Tibetan trumpet, is known in the music world for his innovative and masterful blending of diverse musical traditions. A recent emeritus professor of Syracuse University, he is also an important figure in the academic world, having written books about jazz legends Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Mezzacappa’s music spans the vast terrain between free improvisation, contemporary composition and creative jazz. She leads many of her own celebrated bands, including her garage jazz quartet Bait & Switch (voted “Best Debut” in the Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll), the electro-acoustic chamber ensemble Nightshade, and a trio with Brooklynites Chris Welcome and Mike Pride. Mezzacappa is a 1997 graduate of the University of Virginia.

Santiago is a multi-instrumentalist who started singing at age 4 and was accepted into the Children’s Metropolitan company at 9. She has recorded and performed with artists such as The Jungle Brothers, Stereo MCs and Grammy Award-winning artists Cyro Baptista and Itaal Shur. She is currently working on new projects, experimenting with electronic music, vocals, percussion and theremin, which Wikipedia describes as an “early electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist (performer).

Moshe began leading his own ensembles in 1987 and enjoys playing as a sideman in reggae groups. He has performed his compositions at Roulette, The Brecht Forum, The Brooklyn Lyceum, Buffalo’s Hallwalls Gallery, Deep Listening Space, The Vision Festival and Washington, D.C.’s The Fridge, among many venues. He is a seven-year member of Cole’s Untempered Ensemble.

The Charlottesville Jazz Society is a local nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion, preservation and perpetuation of jazz through education, performance and community outreach. This concert marks the fourth collaboration between the Charlottesville Jazz Society and the arts administration program at U.Va., which has sponsored annual jazz concerts for several years. The University Programs Council at U.Va. is also playing a large role in promotion of the event, and the concert is supported by the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts.

For information, contact George Sampson at gws6n@virginia.edu.

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