Battle Trance
The Shaking Ray Levi Society will present Battle Trance with Amanda Cagle and Bob Stagner on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 8 p.m. at Barking Leg Theater. Tickets are $7-10 at the door.
Review for Battle Trance:
"Palace of Wind" is the debut full-length release from Travis Laplante's genre-defying tenor saxophone quartet, Battle Trance.
"Palace of Wind" is a piece that not only transcends genres, but also transcends time and space. Existing in the cracks between contemporary classical music, avant-garde jazz, black metal, ambient, and world music, Palace of Wind is an album-length composition that pushes the four saxophonists to the limit, shedding new light on the saxophone as an ensemble instrument. The players use circular breathing to build continuous, hypnotic waves of sound; multiphonics layer to create intricate textures that seem to come from an ancient time; and blisteringly fast lines seem to liquefy into each other. Unorthodox articulations and unusual fingerings are also part of the vast sonic vocabulary that the members of Battle Trance have painstakingly mastered. However, "Palace of Wind" isn't merely concerned with demonstrating the virtuosity of the ensemble, nor with impressing or entertaining the listener. Instead, it is meant to be a portal of resonance where there is no separation between the listener and the sound.
Review for Bob Stagner and Amanda Cagle:
Bob Stagner is a percussionist, teacher, speaker and leader in arts advocacy for over 25 years. He co-founded the free improvisation duo, The Shaking Ray Levis, and the Shaking Ray Levi Society, an arts education organization that supports emerging artists in performance, art and film. He is the Southeast director of The Rhythmic Arts Project that provides music workshops for people with physical and mental disabilities. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Derek Bailey, Rev. Howard Finster, Wayne White, Bob Dorough, Fred Frith, Min Tanaka, Amy Denio, Shelley Hirsch, and John Zorn.
Amanda Rose Cagle studied Baroque strings and woodwinds at Case Western University and piano, double bass and clarinet at Hiram College. Returning to Chattanooga she began a study of modern improvisation with The Shaking Ray Levis. She has performed with the big band Sweet Georgia Sound, psychedelic jug band Big Kitty, poet-prophet Jack Rentfro and the Apocalypso Quartet, Ghanian drum and dance group Mawre and Co., polka partiers The Wurstbrats, rococo-horror trio Trigger Mortis, and speakeasy chanteuse Christabel.