Palm Arts: Rudy Royston Closes Jazz Series, 9/22!

15 Sep Palm Arts: Rudy Royston Closes Jazz Series, 9/22!

The Palm Arts Telluride Summer Jazz Series concludes Sunday, September 22, 7:30 p.m.
at the Michael D. Palm Theatre with percussionist, educator, and composer Rudy
Royston and his eclectic Flatbed Buggy project. Tickets on sale now at www.telluridepalm.com. $10 students; $20 adults, ($5 more at the door). In addition to the public performance in Telluride, Flatbed Buggy will be performing a public performance in Ouray, as well as an in school for Telluride and Ouray students.

Scroll down for a taste of what’s in store.

Rudy Royston, first-call drummer with Bill Frisell, JD Allen, Dave Douglas, and a host of other
jazz greats, has honed a thoroughly engaging voice as a composer and bandleader.

Royston’s Flatbed Buggy project is rich in tonal contrast and mood, yet steeped in the supple, enduring swing and groove that has driven his writing and playing from the start. The instrumentation is a striking departure as Royston leads a compact, almost chamber-like quintet featuring Gary Versace (accordion), Luis Pino (bass clarinet/saxophones), Hank Roberts (cello), and Joe Martin (bass).

“I was going for something that was more about melodies,” Royston declares. “I wanted to illustrate a story.”

And indeed, the melodies flow forth with rich harmony, subtle orchestration and interplay occurring at every step along the way.

Royston was raised in Denver and began playing drums and percussion as a toddler. While a sophomore in high school, he attended the Telluride Jazz Camp on scholarship, where he studied jazz drum set for the first time with Duffy Jackson and Ed Soph. It was then Royston knew he would pursue music for the rest of his life.

The warmth and immediacy captured by Royston and the group, the unorthodox sound of the instrumental combinations themselves, marks his latest project as a creative breakthrough. Along with the deep, woody instrumental timbres of Flatbed Buggy, there’s the way Royston keeps everything continuously in play, well beyond conventional jazz-combo roles:

“I wanted us all to be constantly playing. I wanted us all to orchestrate or color or have a little input regardless of who is soloing. So if you check out the little stuff Hank is doing on Gary’s solos for instance — all those neat little themes are happening. It sounds very orchestra-like for me.”