Mike Allemana: Vonology Album Release
MIKE ALLEMANA

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Guitarist and composer Mike Allemana presents the music from his new album Vonology, released on ears&eyes Records, a five-movement suite that explores late saxophone legend Von Freeman’s musical, social, and spiritual contributions to the jazz world. Allemana found while researching his PhD dissertation that Freeman was deeply inspired by astrology and religion. Drawing from fifteen years of performing with Freeman, Allemana’s dissertation research, and the charting and reading of Freeman’s natal horoscope, Allemana compositions represent the ways Freeman interpreted the world around him. Vonology comprises volume two of Allemana’s dissertation, an artistic work built on musical practices, community values, and astrological formations that shaped Freeman’s musicmaking, mentoring, and social bonds.

Von Freeman often utilized astrological knowledge to interpret the world, which he expressed in conversations with Allemana and in interviews. Allemana decided to solicit his brother Brian Allemana, a professional astrologer, to chart and read Freeman’s natal horoscope. From those readings, Allemana assigned pitches and rhythmic values to Freeman’s chart to produce a set of pitch collections and rhythmic structures that represent sources of Freeman’s spirituality and creativity, and from which Allemana composed melodies and frameworks for improvisers. From the resulting sounds Allemana produced a Zodiac tonality to express Freeman’s humanity through sound and spontaneous creation, employing some of Chicago’s best improvisers, all of whom were deeply affected by Freeman’s musical and spiritual generosity.

Vonology will release on April 15 on ears&eyes Records in vinyl, CD, and digital download formats. Purchases on Bandcamp will include a digital copy of Allemana’s dissertation. ’Will You Still Be Mine?’: Memory, Place, Race and Jazz on Chicago’s South Side.” Vonology was made possible in part by a generous artist grant from DCASE and a commission from the Jazz Institute of Chicago.

Mike Allemana, guitar and compositions
Victor Garcia, trumpet and flugelhorn
Greg Ward, alto saxophone
Geof Bradfield, tenor saxophone
Kendall Moore, trombone
Katinka Kleijn, cello
Matt Ferguson, acoustic bass
Michael Raynor, drums
Brian Allemana, conductor
Voices:
Sue Demel, soprano
Lindsay Weinberg, alto
Alton Smith, tenor
Bill Brickey, bass