Pianist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Zucker is a Yale graduate and Rhodes scholar who is quickly becoming a prominent voice in the New York avant-garde music scene. Zucker has won awards from ASCAP and the American Composers Forum and has performed in 18 countries in a various formats ranging from No Reference For Taste, his rock-jazz duo, to Underorder, his indie band, by way of 20th century repertoire solo piano performances. Last November, Zucker released Weighing, his fourth studio album and his second on the ESP-Disk imprint, an extended composition in eight movements based on Rachel Kushner’s novel The Flamethrowers, set primarily in the 1970s New York art scene. Joining Zucker on the record are trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and saxophonist Eric Trudel as well as drummer Tyshawn Sorey, whom Zucker met at the 2013 Banff Jazz and Creative Music workshop. “Like most of my work, Weighing is long, and not exactly a light listening experience,” says Zucker. “But, at its best, it should draw you in to move at the same speed it does.” Nextbop is honored to premiere today the new video, directed, filmed, and edited by Alice Plati, for the last movement off the album, namely “the stones in my pockets”, a beautifully crafted and brilliantly creative piece of multimedia art showcasing a play on light and shadow that graciously moves to the rhythm of the music. Well worth the 7-minute viewing time in our opinion.
Weighing , the new album by pianist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Zucker is out now on ESP-Disk and can be streamed and purchased via Zuker’s Bandcamp.