projects

projects=groups with which josh performs.
for booking or more information, please email josh at
josh (at) joshrutner (dot) com

CURRENT PROJECTS



THE RESPECT SEXTET
josh:reeds, radio, melodica, toys|eli asher:trumpet, toys|
james hirschfeld:trombone, toys|red wierenga:piano, accordion, melodica|malcolm kirby:bass|ted poor:drums, palm pilot


This is a band that's given me some of the best listening experiences I've had over the last couple of years.
Robert Iannapollo, Cadence Magazine/Opprobrium

They have great chops and a great sense of humour, and they seem to play just about everything.
Nate Dorward, Cadence Magazine

The Respect Sextet brings the swagger of a retro-swing band to music that ranges from free-bop to freak-out jazz...a band on the rise.
David Dupont, One Final Note

[Respect] challenges and instigates. It delightfully confounds. This is world-class American jazz at its finest and freest. It's pure truth. Respect the truth.
Frank De Blase, City Newspaper

Nothing is good, I see, without Respect. Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day!
William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice



FORMED IN 2001, The Respect Sextet is a powerhouse ensemble dedicated to performing a wide variety of improvisational musics. respectbiosmall2 Relying on their explosive energy, rare telepathy, outstanding musicianship, and a deep friendship, Respect pieces together free improvisations, original compositions, free jazz classics, television commercial jingles, text pieces, jazz standards, game pieces and more into “a whirling collage,” shouts Exclaim! Magazine, “that ransacks and reshapes the entire jazz tradition, from New Orleans march to Misha Mengelberg, Sun Ra to Charlie Parker.” Named “one of the best and most ambitious new ensembles in jazz” by Signal to Noise, The Respect Sextet continues—after nearly a decade as a collective—to fearlessly push the envelope.

Respect’s newest release, Sirius Respect: The Respect Sextet play the music of Sun Ra & Stockhausen, (Mode/Avant, 2009), was called “one of the most compelling recordings of the year” by the Wall Street Journal and filed under “Love It” in Newsweek Magazine (“an out-of-this-world pairing”). Sirius Respect brings together the music of Sun Ra and Karlheinz Stockhausen and views them through Respect-colored glasses. Pieces ranging from Stockhausen’s “Tierkreis” (inspired by the Zodiac) to Sun Ra’s “Saturn” are juxtaposed, layered, deconstructed and re-assembled. respectbiosmall1“It’s neither jazz nor classical,” says John Schaefer of WNYC’s Soundcheck, “but something cosmically both.”

The group comprises Eli Asher (trumpet, toys), James Hirschfeld (trombone, jamespectronics, toys), Malcolm Kirby (bass), Ted Poor (drums), Josh Rutner (reeds, radio, toys), and Red Wierenga (piano, keyboard, accordion, redspectronics).

Through its eclecticism, humor, devotion to improvisation, predilection towards swing, and its use of toys and “little instruments,” The Respect Sextet has drawn comparisons both to New Dutch Swing and the AACM. Many dialectics are at work (and play) in Respect’s world, in which the serious, heady, and intellectual mingle with the light, comic, and absurd, where compositions alternate and mesh with improvisations, and where tight ensemble work coexists with loose, empathic interplay.

Visuals and soundclips of all past Respect recordings are available here.)

FUN FACT: The Respect Sextet doesn't like onions.

Visit the official Respect Sextet website!




G'HOKTASAURUS
josh:clarinet|eli asher:trumpet|red wierenga:accordion|ryan ferreira:electric guitar|greg chudzik:electric bass|james hirschfeld:tuba|jared schonig:drums

G'hoktasaurus functions as a klezmer band of the twenty-first century, breathing new life to the classics, as well as bringing a touch (sometimes more than a touch) of Bulgarian, Turkish, Metal, Soft Rock, and Ambient music to the table. The name is derived from a yiddish phrase, 'G'hokta leyben is besser v' g'hokta tzuris' meaning 'Chopped liver is better than chopped troubles.'

FUN FACT: G'hoktasaurus isn't afraid of the dark but is very afraid of anything that glows in the dark.




ANDRE CANNIERE GROUP
andre canniere:trumpet|josh:tenor sax, clarinet|ryan ferreira:guitar|ike sturm:bass|ted poor:drums

The ACG is devoted to the bringing to life all the crazy and nigh-impossible musical ideas that Andre Canniere has floating about that head of his. We make a point of mentioning to him every rehearsal that 'perhaps things don't need to be so damned complicated' but a canniere will ever be a canniere, through and through. And who are we to argue? One of my favorite groups to play with.

FUN FACT:The Andre Canniere Group did not originally include Andre Canniere. It was only after Ted noticed that calling the group 'The Andre Canniere Group' was slightly suspicious, that we auditioned several trumpet players, and Andre won.

Visit the official Andre Canniere website!




THE RED WIERENGA UNIT
josh:reeds|red wierenga:piano|malcolm kirby:bass|ted poor:drums

'The band started to play and our jaws dropped. These guys were incredible. Unbelievable...Their interplay was phenomenal... These musicians are absolutely wonderful and deserve to be recognized on a national - nay, international level.'
-Michael Fitzgerald, co-author of Rat Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce

'an excellent quartet'
-City Newspaper

A Rochester-native subset of The Respect Sextet, the Red Wierenga Unit strives toward interesting ways of playing the works of obscure composers, and swinging like monkeys. The Unit performed at WGMC's Meet-the-Artist concert in April, 2002. In addition, the group performed music of Gigi Gryce in August, 2002, as part of a booksigning by Noal Cohen and Michael Fitzgerald of their book, Rat-Race Blues: The Musical Life of Gigi Gryce. After the booksigning, Noal Cohen wrote:

'We were blown away by your original, imaginative and fascinating takes on Gigi's music. You guys obviously got into it and gave it a lot of thought. We are extrememly grateful for your contributions which really made the evening a success beyond our most optimistic expectations.'

The Red Wierenga Unit has plans to record sometime soon.

FUN FACT: The Red Wierenga Unit's favorite color is red.

Visit the official Red Wierenga website!