Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut, inventor of Environmental Tuning (tuning synchronized to the sound of one’s surrounding), is the founder of THIS IS THE MUSIC OF LIFE (Reality Music): A series featuring both inter-disciplinary and multi–instrumental artists who have a place in American History and emerging artists dedicated to documenting the essential connection between the visual, movement, music, and word in a living and creative space.


Players include: Multi instrumentalists
Marshall Allen, Sonny Simmons, Joe McPhee, Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre, Daniel Carter, Luther Thomas, Sabir Mateen, Blaise Siwula, Frode Gjerstad, William Parker, Stephen Swell, Will Connell Jr., Rob Brown, plus Bern Nix, William Hooker, Jackson Krall, Andrew Barker, Ed Chang, Motoko Shimizu, MR. DORGON, basist Hilliard (Hill) Greene, Adam Lane, percussionists Tatsuya Nakatani, Toshi Makihara, Lukas Ligeti, poet Steve Dalachinsky, dancer/singer Treva Offutt,
Video / Visual Artist Helena A D Johard, and
Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
Plus + Enrico Oliva, Nick Gianni, Brian Osborne, Robyn Siwula, Jerome James, and Welf Dorr.

*Live multi media performances have also included collaborations with
Billy Bang and Jameel Moondoc.

This series was created March 2003.



Appearances include:

CBGB’s, THE KNITTING FACTORY, TONIC,
THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.



Reviews:

Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut’s
“THIS IS THE MUSIC OF LIFE”


“This Music Lives Up To Its Name.”
-The Village Voice (2005)


“A luta continua… intense, astringent , multipoint,…engrossing level of improvisitory interaction… a viscerally thrilling ride.”

-Cadence Magazine


“Shurdut pledges allegiance to the spirit of ecstasy with a band of ebullient blow torches, including Sonny Simmons, and Blaise Siwula.”
-Time Out NY (2005)

“Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut leads a sextet featuring legend Sonny Simmons.”
-The New York Times (2005)


“Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut’s THIS IS THE MUSIC OF LIFE ….ecstatic jazz ensemble with key players Daniel Carter, Bern Nix, Hill Greene, Andrew Barker, Adam Lane.”

-Time Out NY (2005)


“Daniel Carter with Jeff Shurdut ...Haunting, Reflective, and Engaging.”

-Downtown Music Gallery


“Jeff Shurdut’s THIS IS THE MUSIC OF LIFE with Marshall Allen and Sabir Mateen… Wynton Marsalis should get this group over to Lincoln Center.”

- The Village Voice (2005)


“TOP NOTCH INCENDIARY FREE JAZZ
FROM JEFFREY SHURDUT'S COLLECTIVE.”

--TIME OUT NEW YORK
NOVEMBER 17-23, 2005




Expression is not a mean in the difficult task of understanding life - it is already part of this understanding. So thanks for reminding us that among all modes of _expression, the one you chose was to be a scream, men gathered to stab silence, not in the back, the way of traitors - not hidden behind skills, techniques, routines, plots - but right there, right away. "This is the music of life" : creating situations with the musicians (inviting individuals to join, act together, or even contradict with each other, which is sometimes what happens in your disc) as one creates situations with his friends, at his work, in the street... Records and performances that mirror life in that it stresses interactions, rather than depicting it. It is not representing it, like a picture, it is not figurative : it is life. Your slogan is incredibly meaningful. "This is the music of life".

-Julien Palomo Paris, France (2005)




QUOTES:

"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MELODY. THERE IS ONLY NOW. AND A BRIEF CHANCE TO HARMONIZE WITH SOUND AS IT IS BEING MADE. I WAS BORN OVER 3RD AVENUE IN 4D TO THE VIBRATION OF MACHINERY, ENGINES, AND SPEED PLAYING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF MY WINDOW. AND WHEN I WOKE THE MUSIC WAS ALREADY THERE. I JUST TUNED MY GUITAR TO 35 MILES AN HOUR."

Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
August 29, 2005


The closer you get to reality, the more abstract it becomes.
-Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
Norway, December, 1999


"This Is The Music of Life is a series featuring both inter-disciplinary and multi-instrumental artists who have a place in American History and emerging artists dedicated to documenting the essential connection between the visual, movement, music, and word in a living and creative space."
Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
March 2002


"This music is more African than American Jazz. Each piece is our lives. It can even be described as a Native American Music. The music chants, and is part of a ritual, ceremony, and celebration of our day. Also, the notion of freedom and independence are very different ideas. Classical musicians are Independent and not free. We are free without independence. Each of us needs each other to react with and stand along with to make the music sing. Ironically, 'Alone, Together' is more of a classical idea, musically, than it is jazz. In spirit, if you perform a classical piece and the person drops dead next to you, the music continues because of what is written. In this music if the person dies next to you, the music dies with him."
Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
November 26, 2005

"1+1 is 3"
-Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut, 2005


“To lead by not leading is the assurance we need for things to work themselves out for the good of harmony.”
-Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut
January 2006


"Reality Music (THIS IS THE MUSIC OF LIFE). An orchestra tuning in the pit has always been my preferred music. It’s the first thing I can remember when I was a kid. I always thought you could hear the entire composition in those first few minutes. That was it for me. Everything else was expected. Everything there has already been played."

--Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut



RECORDINGS OF NOTE:

"AMERICAN HOLOCAUST", "PRISONERS OF HOPE", “THE NAIL STICKING UP GETS HAMMERED DOWN“, "INTERNET ANNIE", "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL ALLEN (LIVE AT ZEBULON)", "The Virtually Free Music Series; A Cost Effective Orchestra for The American Way of Life", “EVERYTHING IS DIVISIBLE BY ONE”, "Peace Prize For Freedom", "A DAY LIKE THIS", "DARK WITHIN OURSELVES".


Upcoming Works:

"I Didn't Ask For This", "The Unfortunate Existentialist", "BORN PRISONERS".


NORTH COUNTRY DISTRIBUTORS
NO LABEL RECORDING LABEL.

SEARCH: SHURDUT, JEFFREY SHURDUT