Dear friends!
2016 has been so far a year of new beginnings and exciting prospects .
First of all, I moved from the apartment in which I spent my first 7 years in New York to a new place in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. That apartment was my very first landing spot in the City, thanks to my great friend and mentor, then only an acquaintance, Ohad Talmor.
I’m not going to attempt to sum up the amount of important life moments that happened in that place. That would, without a doubt, take up a few hundred pages! Thanks to Ohad, who established the building as a place where music and art rule, my apartment was a place that saw the birth of my projects (Sebastien Ammann Quartet, Color Wheel), enabled countless “sessions” and rehearsals with friends and heros, heavy hangs that resulted in deep realizations and understandings that contributed to shape my concepts about music and life today, and also first meetings with people that over the years have become close friends. I could not have dreamed of a better place to land in New York City. That spot has been very important in my developement as an artist. Thank you Ohad!
I’m also lucky to have found a very nice new place which I feel will be home for a while.
2016 has already been a productive year so far:
Trumpeter Jake Henry and myself have started a new band with Chris van Voorst van Beest on bass and Max Goldman on drums. Our first show is scheduled on May 10th as part of James Carney’s Konceptions Music Series at Korzo (Park Slope).
Also coming up is Color Wheel‘s first shows of this year at IBeam (February 28th at 8pm) and the Firehouse Space (April 7th at 8pm). Our first record is due to come out this year, so keep your eyes and ears open!
I’m excited to also be a part of an upcoming performance with a co-lead project with trombonist Samuel Blaser featuring some of my favorite musicians: Oscar Noriega (reeds), Michael Bates (bass), Devin Gray (drums). We’ll be at Ibeam on February 27th at 8:30pm.
On March 4th at IBeam, I will be sharing a double bill with trumpeter Jake Henry’s band Sweet Talk with a trio featuring drummer Dayeon Soek and bassist Lim Yang.
I can’t wait to make music with all these inspiring people and I hope to see you at these performances!
Sebastien Ammann