(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchestra, featuring emcee TK Wonder and singer Jennifer Charles, brings its dance-floor-ready trip-hop sounds to MASS MoCA’s Club B-10 on Saturday, November 3, 2012, at 8 p.m. Rounding out drummer and bandleader Perowsky’s funky combo onstage will be David Baron on keyboards and Michael Blake on saxophone.
Ben Perowsky has been called a “thrilling bandleader with a flair for transforming rock repertory” by Jazztimes. One of the most accomplished drummers of his generation, Perowsky’s notable career has placed this first-call drummer for jazz artists from John Zorn to John Scofield to John Medeski among a small vanguard of players able to move between jazz, experimental music and cutting-edge pop and rock.
Perowsky is a contributor/founding member to rock acts Elysian Fields and Joan as Policewoman, a session/touring veteran drummer for Roy Ayers, Rickie Lee Jones, James Moody, Walter Becker (Steely Dan), John Cale (Velvet Underground) and Hercules & Love Affair as well as a producer of nine of his own critically acclaimed recordings.
Starting at a very young age, Perowsky worked with a list of artists who form a who’s who in the music world. He recently formed the band RedCred with Chris Speed, John Medeski, and Larry Grenadier, played beats on the disco hit song “Blind” by Hercules and Love Affair, toured with Canadian pop stars Tegan and Sara and continues to record and produce tracks with many artists while residing in New York.
The Village Voice cites Perowsky’s “angular trip-hop improvisations” saying they “lay the framework for hesitating and haunted female vocals.” The Boston Globe says, “Moodswing manages to mesmerize and thrill at the same time” while Alarm Magazine calls them “a seductive sonic alloy” and recommends their “soothing jams with striking originality and exceptional musicianship.”
TK Wonder is a singer, rapper, and songwriter who has supported such acts as Nas, Erykah Badu, and Talib Kweli, and opened for Sting, Justice, N.E.R.D., and The Prodigy as a featured artist on Kiril Dzajkovski’s international summer tours. She is currently working with acclaimed artists in the fields of electronica, experimental, and jazz music. The Washington Post says: “TK Wonder sits somewhere between M.I.A. and Flying Lotus… Rhymewise, TK’s ability to spit at aggressive tempos is rivaled by few of her contemporaries, and she’s got that killer combination of looks and skills that the game is sorely missing.”
Ben Perowsky’s Moodswing Orchestra with emcee TK Wonder takes the stage in MASS MoCA’s Club B-10 on Saturday, November 3, at 8 PM. Club B-10 is an intimate, casual venue on the third floor of MASS MoCA. Full bar plus dinner and snacks from Lickety Split are available before and during the show. Tickets are $12 in advance or $16 on the day of the show. Student tickets are $10. Members receive a 10% discount on tickets. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office, located off Marshall Street in North Adams, from 11 AM until 5 PM (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased online at MASS MoCA.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA is an independent 501(c)(3) whose operations and programming are funded through admissions and commercial lease revenue, corporate and foundation grants, and individual philanthropy. Except for an initial construction grant from the Commonwealth, and competitive program and operations grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASS MoCA is privately funded: 90% of annual operating revenues are from earned revenues, membership support, and private gifts and grants.