Announcement of Performance Date Forthcoming.
HEAR in NOW is a collaborative trio performing primarily original jazz-tinged avant-classical compositions. First brought together in the winter of 2009 by an Italian concert promoter for the WomaJazz festival in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy, the trio, feeling a great sense of musical chemistry, have since kept the momentum going. Residing in three separate locales, the women of Hear in Now bring together elements from their indivIdual regions for a unique sound experience by exploring free improvisation along with through-composed pieces.
HEAR in NOW is comprised of Mazz Swift (NYC) on violin/vocals, Silvia Bolognesi (SI, ITALY) on doublebass and Tomeka Reid (CHI) on cello. As individuals all three are active performers in the international music scene, having performed and/or recorded with William Parker, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Nicole Mitchell, Butch Morris, Vernon Reid, Burnt Sugar and Members of the Black Rock Coalition, Enrico Rava, Keiko Bondjeson and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
Mazz Swift Biography
Violin/Vox/Freestyle Composition artist Mazz Swift engages audiences worldwide with her signature weaving of improvisation and composition. In addition to full-time work as a performer, Swift is a composer and educator. Her works include commissions by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the University of Delaware, Neues Kabarett (through a Meet-the-Composer grant), The New Harmony Music Festival, and the Blaffer Foundation. Two of Ms. Swift’s compositions are featured on the Jersey City chamber music organization Con Vivo Music’s compilation, Modern Dances.
Mazz has performed and taught workshops in free improvisation and “Conduction” (conducted improvisation) on six continents and is a performing member and teaching artist with the acclaimed Silkroad Ensemble. She is also a Carnegie Hall teaching artist, where she coaches talented teens from every corner of NYC, writes and records lullabies with incarcerated mothers and mothers-to-be at Rikers Island, coaches the inmates at Sing Sing Penitentiary in string studies and composition, and leads professional development workshops on improvisation for symphony orchestra members and their students.
Ms. Swift is a Jerome Hill Fellow, currently working on several projects, all of which involve conduction (conducted improvisation) and are centered around protest, spirituals, and the Ghanaian concept of ‘Sankofa’: looking back to learn how to move forward.
Tomeka Reid Biography
Recently described as a “New Jazz Power Source” by the New York Times, cellist and composer Tomeka Reid emerged as one of the most original, versatile, and curious musicians in the Chicago’s bustling jazz and improvised music community over the last decade. Now based in New York, her distinctive melodic sensibility, usually braided to a strong sense of groove, has been featured in many distinguished ensembles over the years.Reid has been a key member of ensembles led by legendary reedists like Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell, as well as a younger generation of visionaries including flutist Nicole Mitchell, singer Dee Alexander, and drummer Mike Reed. She is also a co- leader of the adventurous string trio, Hear in Now, with violinist Mazz Swift and bassist Silvia Bolognesi. Reid released her debut recording as a bandleader in 2015, with the eponymous recording by the Tomeka Reid Quartet (Jason Roebke, Tomas Fujiwara and Mary Halvorson), a lively yet charged debut album that is a vibrant showcase not only for the cellist’s improvisational acumen, but also her knack for dynamic arrangements and her compositional ability. Reid, grew up outside of Washington D.C., and her musical career kicked into gear after moving to Chicago in 2000 to attend DePaul University for graduate school. Her work with Nicole Mitchell and various Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians-related groups have proved influential to the young musician. By focusing on developing her craft primarily as a side person and working in countless improvisational contexts, Reid has achieved a stunning musical maturity. Reid is a 2016 recipient of a 3Arts award in music and received her doctorate in music from the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign in 2017.
Silvia Bolognesi Biography
Silvia Bolognesi is a double bass player, composer and arranger.
Graduated in double bass at the R.Franci Institute of Siena with Maestro Andrea Granai, perfecting with Maestro Alberto Bocini.She approached jazz studying at the Siena Jazz Accademy with Paolino dalla Porta, Furio di Castri and Ferruccio Spinetti.
The most significant encounters in his musical training are those with William Parker, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Roscoe Mitchell and Antony Braxton.
Winner of the "Top Jazz 2010", by “Musica Jazz” as best new talent and in the same year winner of the "In Sound" trophy for double bass category.
She leads several bands: Open Combo, Almond Tree, Xilo Ensemble, Ju-Ju Sounds, Fonterossa Open Orchestra, Young Shouts, Sly Family…
Since 2009 she is part of the international string trio Hear In Now with Tomeka Reid on cello and Mazz Swift on violin and vocals; with this trio they completed Roscoe Mitchell’s sextet in his Homage to John Coltrane in 2017.
She’s part of the "Art Ensemble of Chicago 50th Anniversary" special project.
In 2010 she founded her own label “Fonterossa Records”.
She teaches double bass and combo class at the Siena Jazz Academy and at “Associazione Mosaico” in Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena).
Since 2016 she is part of the "European exchange-Erasmus +" program for the Conservatory of Maastricht (Holland), Tbilisi (Georgia), Riga (Latvia), Birmingham (UK).
She runs workshops on Improvisation and "Conduction" since 2008.