Mr. Chair Mixes Science and Music at the Majestic

The Madison ensemble “Mr. Chair” will bring its eclectic blend of jazz, classical, and electronic music to the Majestic Theatre on Friday, September 5th with a concert celebrating the release of “Nebulebula.” The massive triple LP includes 118 minutes of music, primarily long-form original compositions by members of the group. Trombonist Mark Hetzler, keyboardist Jason Kutz, and drummer Mike Koszewski visited the WORT studios on Tuesday, August 27th to discuss the event and the album with Peter Haney of Back Porch Serenade. Bassist Ben Ferris was there in spirit. “Nebulebula” emerges in part from a collaboration between Mr. Chair and Dr. Stephen Meyers, a UW-Madison Vilas Distinguished Professor of Geoscience who commissioned the group to create music evocative of the Big Bang to accompany a lecture in his introductory Geoscience course. Prof. Myers will appear at the Majestic on the 5th, as will many other collaborators whose contributions enrich the album. Among these are poet and spoken word artist Dequadray James White, who is student with the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s remarkable First Wave Scholarship Program. White contributed lyrics and added his voice to Hetzler’s ballad “Purity,” which also features members of the choir from Madison’s Mount Zion Baptist Church. In the coming months, Mr. Chair plans more collaborations with Prof. Meyers and performances highlighting their arrangement of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella.