More on Theo Bleckmann's show at Macalester-Plymouth later this month

Courtesy Theo Bleckmann

The latest press release from Macalester College (replaces an earlier blog post):

Grammy-nominated jazz singer and composer Theo Bleckmann will perform for Macalester College students, staff, and friends on Friday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. at Macalester Plymouth United Church, 1658 Lincoln Ave., St. Paul.

The performance is part of a two-day residency that Bleckmann is doing at Macalester College, part of the college’s New Music Series, funded by the Rivendell Foundation.

Incorporating technology ranging in cost from 99 cents to $999, Bleckmann will draw from jazz, new music, and performance art with a repertoire that includes jazz standards, Guillaume de Machaut, Meredith Monk, and his own compositions and improvisations. Bleckmann uses all facets of his voice, including extended vocal techniques as well as low- and high-tech devices. His concert is not intended as a showcase for electronic gimmickry but rather to inspire and open up the horizons of traditional jazz and new music.

Bleckmann has released a series of albums on Winter & Winter, including recordings of Las Vegas standards, Berlin kabarett, and popular “bar songs,” a recording of newly arranged songs by Charles Ives, and most recently “Solos for Voice and Toys,” in which Bleckmann brought just his vocal technique, emotional commitment, and suitcase full of evocative voice-altering gadgets to the project of recording delicate songs and poems at a monastery in the Swiss Alps.

He has been described as “from another planet” by the New York Times, “transcendent” by theVillage Voice, and “magical, futuristic” by the website All About Jazz.

The performance is free and open to the public. For more information call 651-696-6808.