fakeart: NEC Jazz Honors Ensemble

Each year, an audition committee of professional musicians and faculty selects a few exceptional student ensembles to represent the NEC Honors Ensemble Program. The ensembles work with a faculty coach and are given an opportunity to perform a spring recital in NEC's Jordan Hall.

Fakeart is a performance of notated and improvised music, often incorporating computer assisted-composition and improvisation. Formed in fall 2019, fakeart’s artistic style is reminiscent of Ornette Coleman, the Brian Blade fellowship band, and the conversational nature of birdsong.

Fakeart’s repertoire is almost entirely comprised of original compositions by the members of the band. Included in the repertoire are works created by the group’s Artificial Intelligence, affectionately named CHIRP. CHIRP’s compositions are based on hours of training by notable composers (so far, Charlie Parker, Anthony Braxton, Sam Rivers, and others), and manifest as loose improvisatory frameworks with notated aspects.

Fakeart has worked closely with Cecil Mcbee, Tyshawn Sorey, and Frank Carlberg, and plays regularly in the Boston area, with multiple performances in Distler Hall (Tufts), Killian Hall (MIT), and Jordan Hall.

This concert will be in-person and also livestreamed.

Watch livestream from Jordan Hall