Subtle Degrees

Subtle degrees is the new duo from Travis Laplante (tenor Saxophone; Battle Trance), and Gerald Cleaver(drums). Travis Laplante is an saxophonist and composer who lives in Brooklyn, New York, and southern Vermont. Battle Trance is his acclaimed tenor-saxophone quartet. He is also well-known for his solo saxophone work as well as his longstanding ensemble Little Women. Laplante, along with Ches Smith and Peter Evans, So Percussion and Michael Formanek, Gerald Cleaver and Michael Formanek, Buke u0026 Gase, Darius Jones and Mat Maneri, has performed or recorded recently. His music has been extensively toured and he has performed at many international festivals, including Jazz Em Agosto in Portugal, Jazz Festival Saalfelden in Austria, Hopscotch in Raleigh, NC, Earshot (Seattle WA) and many more. Popmatters called Laplante’s compositions “an accomplishment not only for the saxophone but for avant-garde composition as a whole”, while the New York Times described Battle Trance’s debut album Palace of Wind as “mesmerizing…a floating tapestry of fascinating texture made up of tiny musical motifs and a music which throbs between stillness, agitation and density, density, light, and tension.” Laplante has also served as guest faculty at Dartmouth College and The New School. Laplante was a student of master Robert Peng in qigong. He has also received traditional intensive training. Under the guidance of Laura Stelmok his recent focus has been on Taoist alchemical medicines and cultivation of the heart. Laplante is passionately interested in the intersection of medicine and music. Sword Hands is a qigong, acupuncture, and healing practice that Laplante and his wife founded in Brooklyn, New York, and Putney, Vermont. Gerald Cleaver, one of New York’s most respected composers and drummers, covers a broad range of styles. He is a product many traditions in creative music, having played with jazz legends Tommy Flanagan and Barry Harris, as well as Wadada LeoSmith, Henry Threadgill and Muhal Richard Abrams. Cleaver is well-known for his association with Roscoe Mitchell and Miroslav Vitous as well as Charles Gayle, Charles Gayle. Miroslav Vitous was also a part of the group. Cleaver is also the leader and founder of Uncle June, a reflection on the personal, familial and cultural challenges faced by Black Americans during The Great Migration, with Tony Malaby and Drew Gress, Mat Maneri and Craig Taborn), Violet Hour, and Black Host. This avant-garde band features Pascal Niggenkemper and Cooper-Moore. Farmers By Nature, a free-improvising group, was co-led by William Parker and Craig Taborn. http://nnatapes.com

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