GEORGE

Featuring:
Anna Webber-tenor sax/flute
Sarah Rossy-voice/keyboards
Chiquita Magic-keyboards/voice
John Hollenbeck-drums/piano/composition

From the Greek name Georgios, which was derived from the Greek word georgos meaning "farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements γῆ (ge) meaning "earth" and ergon meaning "work".

George Washington Carver, George Gervin, George Clooney, George Floyd, George Wein, Georgia (the state and the country), Georgia O’Keefe, Saint George, George Saunders, George Michael, George Carlin, George Clinton, George Frideric Handel, George Orwell, Boy George, Curious George, George the magazine, etc…

John Hollenbeck formed GEORGE during the Covid pandemic. He brought together three great musicians/people whom he loved and admired for a long time!  Even though most of the members had never met each other, John was confident from knowing them himself, that this group would immediately be, as one of the members calls it, "tight" (which means "very cool" in case you were wondering). Their group sound is firmly planted outside any categories or labels!  They remotely recorded a literal "Proof of Concept" in March 2021 and finally met in person in January 2022 in Montreal, Canada where they recorded "Letters to George", which was released on vinyl/cd/digitally on Out Of Your Head Records in January 27, 2023. On August 27th, 2023, GEORGE released "shorts", 4 re-composed remixes based on improvisations from their 1st recording session.
 
Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 Downbeat Critic’s Poll.

Sarah Rossy is a vocalist, keyboardist, composer and producer based in Montreal, Canada. Sarah's practice combines live electronic processing with jazz, folk, and Arabic music to create autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes. Recent themes in Sarah's work include ancestral continua, intergenerational linkage and community healing. A debut audiovisual album, a tender autobiographical soundscape imagined through a kaleidoscopic electronic jazz lens entitled 'OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME', is set for release in 2024.

Isis Paola Giraldo AKA Chiquita Magic is a latinx artist/producer hailing from Colombia and based in Canada. She uses microtonal synthesizers, her voice, and a drum machine to create a unique sound that can be described as futuristic electro pop with elements of EDM, hip hop, cumbia, funk, reggaeton, choirs & jazz.
 
Genre-crossing composer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds, has gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked with many of the world's leading musicians in jazz including Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, and is well known in new-music circles for his long-time collaboration with Meredith Monk.