Jessica Pavone
Composition
Astoria, NY
As an instrumentalist and composer, Jessica Pavone (b.1976, Queens, NY) explores tactile experience in her compositions and performances. Pavone has produced four albums of solo viola music, all of which present improvised pieces that intersect the Jazz tradition as her creative practice encompasses developing a personalized voice on her instrument. These structured yet indeterminate pieces stem from intensive long tone practice and an interest in repetition, song form, and sympathetic vibration. While her earliest training was primarily in classical music at the Hartt School of Music (B.M. Music Ed. `98) and Brooklyn College (M.M. Music Composition `07), Pavone has dedicated her career to exploring alternative avenues for creative musical expression. As noted by Steve Smith in the National Sawdust Log, “Jessica Pavone…has made a career of redefining the possibilities for her instrument.” Studying improvisation with Leroy Jenkins from `00-`05, she began harnessing her unique way of incorporating Jazz practices into her viola playing. Since then, Pavone has performed original music by William Parker, Henry Threadgill, Matana Roberts, Aaron Siegel, Tyondai Braxton, Glenn Branca, Matthew Welch, Samantha Boshnack, Elliot Sharp, and Taylor Ho Bynum. From `05 to `12, she toured regularly with Anthony Braxton’s Sextet and 12+1tet, appearing on his discography from that time.
In 2017, Pavone created the J. Pavone String Ensemble as an outgrowth of her solo viola language. The ensemble approach focuses on a vision of collective improvisation that prioritizes a collaboratively sewn musical fabric, in contrast to the traditional improvisatory approach that prizes the showmanship of the soloist. The group has performed at; The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Manhattan, the NYC Winter Jazzfest, Firehouse12 in New Haven, Roulette and ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, and The Rotunda in Philadelphia. Two studio albums have been released to critical acclaim from The Wire, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and the San Francisco Classical Voice. Chris Ingalls from Pop Matters described the music as "too stunning to lump into genres."
Pavone has been awarded residencies at the Ucross Foundation (2020), Soaring Gardens (2020), Arts Letters & Numbers (2019), and Mise-En_Place (2018). Her work has benefited from grants from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (2021), New York Foundation for the Arts (2021), Queens Council on the Arts (2020), New Music USA (2015), the Tri-Centric Foundation (2015), Experiments in Opera (2013), the Jerome Foundation (2011), and MATA Interval (2007). She has had world premieres at prominent NYC venues, including the Noguchi Museum, Abrons Art Center, the Museum of Art and Design, and The Kitchen. Pavone’s albums have been produced by Tzadik, Taiga Records, Thirsty Ear, Astral Spirits, Relative Pitch, and she has released four collaborative duo recordings with 2019 MacArthur fellow guitarist Mary Halvorson. In 2011, Pavone was featured in NPR’s "The Mix: 100 Composers Under 40." Brad Cohen of Jazz Times described her as "a freethinker who can’t be pigeonholed," and the New York Times wrote that her music is "distinct and beguiling…its core is steely, and its execution clear."
While at Ragdale, Pavone will work on her next large-scale composition for the J. Pavone String Ensemble, "Clamor," for double string quartet and featured soloist. Select movements will include bassoonist Katherine Young, also a composer and sound artist who has developed a unique language for bassoon. The piece will have built-in moments of gently structured spontaneity that attend to her original voice. To this end, preliminary sessions with Young cataloging sounds and techniques that demonstrate her style inform the creation of the composition.