Lao Dan
Lao Dan
At this week’s Improvised Music Series we welcome Lao Dan in from Hangzhou, China to perform two sets with a Chicago-based quartet. The band will feature Mabel Kwan on piano, Joshua Abrams on bass, and Michael Zerang on drums. Instead of pursuing the conventional career path as a professional conservatory flutist inside the “system”, after leaving SYCM, Lao Dan became an independent musician. With his unique understanding of the woodwind instruments through two decades of playing, Lao Dan sticks to his own vision and approach to the Chinese flute and its sounds. We can’t wait to hear two sets from this quartet! Music at 8:30pm
8:30PM Lao Dan Chicago Quartet
Lao Dan - Bamboo Flute, Saxophone
Mabel Kwan - Piano
Joshua Abrams - Bass
Michael Zerang - Drums
2 Sets
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
Artist Bios
Lao Dan ⽼老老丹丹 Lao Danstarted his music career with the saxophone at the age of 8, before taking up the Chinese bamboo flute. In 2007, he was admitted with the highest score to Shenyang Conservatory of Music (SYCM), majoring in the bamboo flute. During college, he served as principal flutist of Youth Chinese Orchestra of SYCM. Instead of pursuing the conventional career path as a professional conservatory flutist inside the “system”, after leaving SYCM, Lao Dan became an independent musician. With his unique understanding of the woodwind instruments through two decades of playing, Lao Dan sticks to his own vision and approach to the Chinese flute and its sounds. Whilst he has explored various world instruments including the xiao, the bawu, the suona, and the duduk, the bamboo flute and saxophone remain his principal commitments. Lao Dan’s playing continues to push the limits of artistic expression on both instruments, exploring the possibilities of free, energetic, and nonconformist ways of sound-makingconfined by neither Jazz nor traditional Chinese musical conventions. His improvisation often brings to the audience an overwhelming sonic experience in which the East and the West, and the ancient and the modern clash dramatically on each other. In 2018, Lao Dan started performing with multi-instrumentalist Li Daiguo, the duo named themselves “Benbo’erba & Babo’erben” (哔哔哔 哔哔哔, “bBb bBb” for short), after two minions from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Delivering whimsical, improvisation-based music woven together around the backbone of Li Daiguo’s quirky pipa and Lao Dan’s spiritual flute, bBb & bBb take their listeners to a grotesque fairy world which presents a radical but light-hearted re-interpretation of traditional Chinese music. In 2019, the duo released their debut on cassette titled Benbo’erba & Babo’erben at the Old Heaven, a remixed live recording of their performance at the Old Heaven bookstore in December 2018. In April 2018, Lao Dan toured America, playing in fourcities where he shared stage with local musicians. In July2019, he went on tour across Japan, playing a solo concert in Hakodate and performing with legendary Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi in Tokyo and Yokohama. The recording of Lao Dan’s gig in Willimantic, CT, where he was joined by saxophonist Paul Flaherty, percussionist Randall Colbourne, and double bassist Damon Smith, was released by Family Vineyard in 2019. As the label’s website states: “Dan’s voice is starkly unique, even among the blurred lines of international Improv/Jazz. He’s steeped in native traditions yet eagerly obliterates those boundaries with ecstatic intensity and haunting melodies.” From 2020, Lao Dan began to form a series of bands called "TuTu". The first band "TuTu Duo" released an album of the same name at nobusiness records in 2021. The drummer was his old partner Deng Boyu. In 2020, The British music magazine "The Wire" conducted a long interview report on Lao Dan.