08/03/24 Hot Wrk Ensemble: Original Compositions

 Hot Wrk Ensemble plus Guest Artist Gwen Laster

August 3, 2024 – 3 pm

Wallkill River Center for the Arts, 232 Ward Street at 17K, Montgomery, NY 12549

Accessibility:  Wheelchair accessible ramp and bathroom.

FREE CONCERT – Suggested Donation $20.00

Hot Wrk Ensemble, the saxophone/woodwind and percussion trio founded in 2020 by award- winning musicians J Brooks Marcus (J Why), Lois Hicks-Wozniak and Brad Hubbard, is committed to creating community through diverse, genre-eclectic “chamber grooves” that include collaborative improvisation.   

Hot Wrk’s programs include Bossa Nova, Scarlatti, Son Jalisco, Funk, free jazz, prepared electronics and original compositions by ensemble members in an interactive experience.  Audiences are invited to engage by sharing thoughts, asking questions, contributing ideas and listening.  Hot Wrk Ensemble believes chamber music can be a voice for change by engaging community to interact with and partake in the creation process – breaking systemic barriers that have placed classical and jazz in niche markets.

“Hot Wrk Ensemble is three gifted composer/musician/improvisers with a uniquely panglobal focus.  Are they a contemporary classical ensemble with truly eclectic instrumentation? Or are they a jazz group that has both Miles Davis and Domenico Scarlatti in their book?  The single answer to all those questions is a resounding ‘YES!’ In short, HWE is the very much the poster child for broadly inclusive unconventional cultural engagement.” (Elysium Furnace Works)

Lois Hicks-Wozniak is an active concert saxophonist and educator in the New York Metropolitan and the Hudson Valley regions, committed to community engagement through new music and global music styles. 

A D’Addario Woodwinds Artist, her many awards include winning the Special Presentation Winners Recital Series, sponsored by Artists International Presentations; earning her a New York Recital Debut at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall. 

She is described in performance as having “tremendous technique and fidelity to tone without sacrificing musical line,” and a “beautiful soprano saxophone sound…preserving the beauty and consistency of her sound regardless of the technical or musical demands of the moment” (Saxophone Symposium).

Her album Playback: Music for Saxophone and Bass Trombone features Matt Wozniak, trombone and Nadine Shank, piano.   Lois has performed and recorded with the Albany Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the first Burmese-American Hsiang Waing ensemble among others. 

Previously serving in the U.S. Army she played with the West Point Band and taught at Marist College, Montclair State University, and SUNY New Paltz. She holds degrees from Florida State University and Montclair State University.   Visit: http: www.loishickswozniak.com

J. Brooks Marcus (aka J Why) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who studied jazz, classical, electronic and experimental music at California Institute of the Arts, Berklee College of Music, and San Francisco State University.

He has composed for film, dance, puppet theater and podcasts. 

Collaborators have included theater director and playwright Theresa Chavez, dance filmmaker Susan Osberg, musician and composer Julz A, dance filmmaker Anna Brady Nuse, filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev, and choreographer Sasha Welsh. 

In 2017 he formed the collaborative production duo Obsidian Soundsystem with musician and engineer Jonny Taylor. As a performer, he has played with Pamela Z, Gwen Laster’s Gameboard, and Andy Rinehart. 

J teaches composition at SUNY New Paltz and private lessons at Beacon Music Factory. His music can be found at https://soundcloud.com/j-why-1 and https://obsidiansoundsystem.bandcamp.com/music.

Brad Hubbard is a Composer who plays Baritone Saxophone, Flute and Bass Clarinet. He is a member of 3rd Bell quartet combining jazz, world, and electronic music, The David Sanford Big Band with the recently released “A Prayer for Lester Bowie”, Neil Alexander’s X Ensemble a modern Chamber Jazz Octet and from 1988-2004 The New Century Saxophone Quartet.  

In May of 2024 Brad performed the World Premiere of his “Concerto for Baritone Saxophone and Concert Band.”  He has commissioned and premiered Benjamin Boone’s “Concerto for Baritone Saxophone and Orchestra” as well as pieces from Sherwood Shaffer, Monica Ashton, Mark Taylor and Michael Bellar and is also a composer and performer with Composers Concordance in New York City. 

As a sideman Brad has appeared with a broad range of artists including Corey Glover of Living Colour, Nancy Wilson, Pinetop Perkins, Joe Lovano, Lew Tabackin, Lenny Pickett, Boots Randolph, Roy Clark, The Monica Ashton Jazz Band among others.  

Brad is currently the Woodwind Instructor at The Beacon Music Factory in Beacon NY, where he lives with his family.

Gwen Laster – violinist, composer, teaching artist.  Gwen Laster is a nationally acclaimed musician who has been the recipient of awards by the National Endowment for the Arts, MPower Sphinx, Jubilation Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Arts Mid-Hudson, Lila Wallace, and the Cognac Hennessey 1st place Jazz Search. She began her love for improvising and composing because of her parents’ love of jazz, blues, soul and classical music played endlessly on the record player and her progressive jazz music educators from Detroit’s public schools. Gwen Laster is many things: A virtuoso violinist with exquisite taste. An adventurous composer, arranger and orchestrator. A classically trained artist with a deep appreciation for America’s musical history, and a scholar of African- American musical heritage. A socially conscious activist and educator who understands the power of music to reach and touch everyday people.

Her playing is poignant, descriptive and always relevant. Perhaps that’s why she has recorded and performed with the world’s most influential artists. The list reads like a “who’s who” of modern masters: Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Alicia Keys, Rhianna, Shaggy, Aretha Franklin, Solange, Mark Anthony, J Lo, Shakira, Gladys Knight, Natalie Cole, Anthony Braxton, Nona Hendryx, Wadada Leo Smith, William Parker, Danny Elfman, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tyler, the Creator, Emeline Michel and Andrew Baba Lamb. Her talents also extend to Broadway (Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, Wicked, Porgy and Bess, The King and I). As the founder of the Creative Strings Improvisers Ensemble (CSIE), she has created programs which promote self-expression through improvisation. Her sensitivity to global music informs her workshops and master classes across the U.S. A native of Detroit, she holds two degrees in music from the University of Michigan and has lived in New York for many years.

Her newest recording “Blue Lotus” is performed by New MUSE4tet, an improvisational string quartet whose original works promote social activism. Her features in Chamber Music America magazine for her commissioned work Black Lives Matter Suite (composed for New Muse4tet) shares her personal reflection and experiences that motivated the work.  Laster’s music is available at Bandcamp, iTunes and other digital media sources. Her recordings as a leader are Sneak Preview, I Hear You Smiling, Gameboard and Blue Lotus.

This concert is generously sponsored by