Press releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Howland’s second book published
“Great reading, and should be in every musician’s library.” Hal Blaine, studio drummer
“Fills a niche! Says many things of interest to both drummers and laypersons, entertaining, substantial.” Peter Erskine, drummer and leader
“Wow! Talk about comprehensive.” Vic Firth, former solo timpanist, Boston Symphony Orchestra
“Truly a masterpiece, and every drummer should read it! Nothing like it has ever been written. It is a wonderful piece of literature: his command of the language is magnificent and the ideas expressed in such flowing narrative as to retain the reader’s interest throughout. A work for the ages.” William F. Ludwig Jr., drum manufacturer
“Very enjoyable, well written!” Chet McCracken, drummer, the Doobie Brothers
“Eminently readable!” Rick Van Horn, former senior editor, Modern Drummer magazine
June 18, 2009 -- SeaStory Press has published Hal Howland’s acclaimed, long-awaited nonfiction book The Human Drummer: Thoughts on the Life Percussive, ISBN 978-0-9821151-3-8, in a handsome paperback edition priced at $18.
The 412-page work has earned praise from major recording artists, symphonic musicians, and music-industry leaders. The Human Drummer contains musical and social commentary; advice for students, parents, and professionals; celebrity interviews; musical memories of America, Europe, the Middle East, and a colorful career in pop, jazz, and classical music; esoteric information for percussionists; groundbreaking timpani research; a professional directory; a satirical glossary; a comprehensive bibliography; an index; and two actual adventures on the high seas. The book is available from booksellers and from www.amazon.com, www.halhowland.com, and www.seastorypress.com.
This project is sponsored in part by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, the State of Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private donations.
Hal Howland is the author of After Jerusalem: A Story and Two Novellas, ISBN 978-0-9821151-0-7, which Key West writer Michael Haskins calls “masterful” and former Miami Herald columnist Michael Suib hails as “a literary treat of symphonic proportions.” Howland is currently promoting his next novel, Landini Cadence. Born in Washington, D.C., Howland lives on Sugarloaf Key, Florida. His Web site address is www.halhowland.com.
Howland fiction collection published
“Hal Howland weaves a tale that is reminiscent of when short stories flourished in magazines and publishers fought each other for writers’ stories. Howland brings the Key West I know so well to life and captures the essence of the characters that call the end of the road home. Howland’s weaving of his knowledge of music through the stories is masterful. I not only enjoyed the stories, but closed the book having learned something too.” Michael Haskins, author of Chasin’ the Wind
November 15, 2008 -- SeaStory Press has published Key West writer and musician Hal Howland’s fiction debut, After Jerusalem: A Story and Two Novellas, ISBN 978-0-9821151-0-7, in a handsome hardcover edition priced at $25.
The author will sign copies of After Jerusalem on Saturday, December 13, at 5 p.m., at Voltaire Books, 330 Simonton St. (corner of Eaton), Key West, 305-296-3226.
In the short satire “Murder in the Percussion Section,” someone is going around the country killing successful drummers, using vintage percussion instruments and accessories as weapons—and leaving these coveted items at the crime scenes. The reader gets inside the classical, jazz, and rock music worlds and travels from D.C. to New York, Wyoming, Key West, Indianapolis, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Boston seeking the traitor in this eccentric society. An FBI agent partners with a Key West homicide detective whose drumming experience may help crack the case. Lieutenant Rich Castillo reappears in Brice Miller’s Notebooks.
The first of two novellas centers on a successful Irish writer living in Key West and on Henry Rivers, a local English teacher. Sexually shy Brice Miller has decided to try her hand at erotica, and she begins tapping Henry’s experience in her research. The two friends have vowed not to fall in love. Meanwhile, someone is murdering Key Westers who are involved in the sex trade, in cleverly gruesome ways. Brice and Henry themselves are threatened by a religious predator. Supporting characters include Brice’s beautiful next-door neighbor and her oversexed boyfriend, a pair of worldly young employees of a downtown fantasy club, a respected lesbian police inspector and her unstable brother, a tenacious homicide detective and his accidentally helpful partner, a dangerously handsome former priest and his young drag-queen roommate, a county commissioner who doesn’t let a little scandal get in the way of helping an old friend, and an assortment of businessmen who clearly chose the wrong business.
The central character of After Jerusalem is a beautiful Palestinian double agent in the Israeli army who not only is caught up in an insane plot to assassinate the prime minister of Israel but also is beginning to doubt her lesbian orientation. In a twist of fate, she is assigned as a security escort to a restless American jazz pianist who is visiting Israel on a State Department tour. Along for this wild ride are the soldier’s kind but unreliable twin brother, the zealous ringleader the siblings are trying to escape, an oracular Greek friend (himself reluctantly involved in the conspiracy), a mischievous old Israeli major whose matchmaking turns tragic, and the soldier’s volatile estranged girlfriend. The Orpheus legend serves as a metaphor for peace in the Middle East, and jazz runs through the action as “the music of the dispossessed.”
Hal Howland is a freelance writer and musician. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Virginia, Europe, and the Middle East, he now lives on Sugarloaf Key, Florida. Howland’s master’s thesis, “The Vibraphone,” the definitive history of the instrument, appears in Percussionist (summer and fall 1977). Since 1978, he has contributed to ArtSpirit, Culture, the Key West Citizen, Key Wester, L’Attitudes, Modern Drummer, Music Retailing, Percussion, Percussive Notes, Scene, The Secret of Salt, Solares Hill, Sticks & Mallets, Talking Drums, and Unicorn Times. After Jerusalem is his first book-length collection of fiction. SeaStory Press will publish Hal Howland’s nonfiction book The Human Drummer: Thoughts on the Life Percussive in 2009. Howland is currently promoting his next novel, Landini Cadence.
After Jerusalem is available from your favorite bookseller, www.amazon.com, www.halhowland.com, and www.seastorypress.com.
Howland releases new CD
Jazz retrospective combines D.C. music and Key West art
August 22, 2003 -- Key West composer and former Washingtonian Hal Howland is pleased to announce the release of his new retrospective jazz CD, 10 Years in 5 Days.
Called “eloquent, modern, first-class” by Stereo Review and awarded Best Jazz Recording and Best Debut Recording (and nominated Best Small Jazz Ensemble, Best New Artist, Best Song, and Best Record Design) by the Washington Area Music Association, this timeless music features seven of D.C.’s finest players: Chris Battistone, trumpet; Brian Bennett, piano; Hal Howland, drums and percussion; Jon Metzger, vibraphone and marimba; John Previti, bass violin and bass guitar; Tom Reed, vibraphone; and Bruce Swaim, saxophones and flute. The CD includes eight Howland compositions and two by Tom Reed.
10 Years in 5 Days was recorded and mixed by Bob Dawson at Bias Studios, Springfield, Virginia, in 1984, 1985, and 1988. The title track was remixed by Jim Robeson at Bias in 2003. The pristine original tapes were digitally remastered by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow Mastering, Springfield, in 2003.
10 Years in 5 Days features cover art by Key West painter Janet Mueller. Prints of Mueller’s painting Jazz Guyz are available for purchase as giclée on canvas, from an edition of 500, measuring 30” x 24”, stretched, varnished, signed, and numbered by the artist. See the CD booklet for ordering information.
The European cover design of 10 Years in 5 Days is by Key West graphic artist Bob Bender.
The CD was manufactured by Oasis CD Manufacturing, Sperryville, Virginia.
Hal Howland plays Ludwig drums, Zildjian cymbals, and Vic Firth sticks, brushes, and mallets.
To order 10 Years in 5 Days, send a check or money order for $15, payable to Hal Howland, to 263 Venetian Way, Sugarloaf Key, FL 33042-3612. 10 Years in 5 Days and its colorful predecessor, Reiko (1995, with liner notes by jazz great Peter Erskine), may be ordered together for only $27. Tracks 1-7 of 10 Years in 5 Days are available on audiophile LP as The Howland Ensemble (1986, with liner notes by Hal Howland), for $12. Shipping on all orders is free of charge.
Both 10 Years in 5 Days and Reiko are available also from Amazon.com, Artistdirect.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Bestbuy.com, Borders.com, CDNow.com, cdstreet.com, CDuniverse.com, Circuitcity.com, FYE.com, HMV.com, Sonicnet.com, Target.com, Theorchard.com, Towerrecords.com, Virginmega.com, Waldenbooks.com, Yahoo.com, many more online sources, and distributors and record shops worldwide.
Howland sings, records, teaches
Solo guitar gigs, retrospective jazz CD, lessons
August 4, 2003 -- To help celebrate Captain Tony Tarracino’s 87th birthday, singer-songwriter Hal Howland will perform his award-winning originals and English, Irish, and American folk and pop tunes on Sunday, August 10, 4:30-8:30 p.m., at Captain Tony’s Saloon, 428 Greene Street, Key West, 305-294-1838. A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
Howland will strap on the 12-string again on Friday, September 5, 5-9 p.m., at Hogfish Bar and Grill, 6810 Front Street, Stock Island, 305-293-4041.
From his usual spot behind the drums, Howland will release his critically acclaimed retrospective jazz CD 10 Years in 5 Days, with cover art by Key West painter Janet Mueller, in the next few weeks. To reserve a copy, send a check or money order for $15, payable to Hal Howland, to 263 Venetian Way, Sugarloaf Key, FL 33042-3612. 10 Years in 5 Days and its colorful predecessor, Reiko (1995), may be ordered together for only $27. Shipping is free of charge. Both CDs will be available also from www.amazon.com and in record shops worldwide.
Howland Percussion Studio is accepting a limited number of students of drum set, snare drum, timpani, mallets, and theory. Hal Howland teaches also in Monroe County schools. Call 305-745-2572 for an appointment.
Howland wears many hats
Goes for baroque, swings, rocks, gets the blues
November 15, 2002 -- Percussionist Hal Howland will play baroque timpani in a performance of Handel’s glorious Four Coronation Anthems with the Miami Bach Society, Don Oglesby, conductor, on Sunday, November 24, 2002, at 7:30 p.m., at Temple Emanuel, Miami Beach. The highlight of the Society’s annual Tropical Baroque Festival later this season will be an outdoor performance of Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music, complete with fireworks. For information call 305-284-4162.
Howland will play in the 20th annual community performance of Handel’s Messiah, Dean Walters, conductor, on Sunday, December 1, 2002, at 8 p.m., at Key West United Methodist Church, Eaton and Simonton Streets. Call 305-745-1409.
Howland will reunite with New York jazz guitarist Joshua Breakstone at the Banana Café, 1211 Duval Street, Key West, 305-294-7227, Thursdays at 9 p.m., starting December 5, 2002.
The Keys Chorale, Emily Lowe, conductor, will perform holiday works of Bach, Haydn, Puccini, and others on Friday, December 6, 2002, at 8 p.m., at the Tennessee Williams Theatre (TW), 5901 College Road, Key West, 305-296-1520.
Howland drives the fun rock band Group Therapy (Joe Dallas, bass and vocals; Larry Erskine, guitar, mandolin, and vocals; Tom O’Brien, guitar, reeds, and vocals) throughout the Keys. The group will perform at Coconuts, 30535 Overseas Highway, Big Pine Key, 305-872-3795, on Friday, December 27, 2002, at 10 p.m. See other gigs on the Performances & news page on this Web site.
Island Opera Theatre, Vincent Zito, conductor, will perform Johann Strauss Jr.’s operetta Die Fledermaus on Tuesday, December 31, 2002, at 7 p.m., also at TW. A New Year’s Eve party on stage and in the theater lobby will follow the performance.
Howland will rejoin Atlanta blues-guitar great Roger “Hurricane” Wilson on Sunday, January 19, 2003, at 10 p.m., at the Green Parrot Bar, 601 Whitehead Street, Key West, 305-294-6133.
The Howland Ensemble’s acclaimed Reiko CD is now more widely available than ever. New outlets include Baby’s Coffee, 3178 Overseas Highway, Mile Marker 15, and the online store Key West Sights and Sounds. See other worldwide distribution sites below.
Howland online, on stage, and on the air
New Web site, Banana Café house gig, airplay on Conch FM
August 17, 2002 -- Musician, teacher, writer, and editor Hal Howland has published a new Web site, www.halhowland.com, containing fun photo galleries, news of performances, recordings, publications, lessons, lyrics, and much more. Visit today!
Howland plays drums Thursdays, 9 p.m. to midnight, with the Lonnie Jacobson Trio at the Banana Café, 1211 Duval Street, Key West, 305-294-7227. This group, with pianist Gordy Michael, has the rare ability to burn at a low volume. Hear world-class jazz and enjoy fabulous French cuisine in the Banana’s breezy ambiance.
Howland will play timpani in a commemorative performance of the Brahms Requiem with the Keys Chorale, Emily Lowe, conductor, Wednesday, September 11, 7:30 p.m., at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Duval and Eaton Streets, Key West.
Howland will play baroque timpani in the 20th annual community performance of Handel’s Messiah, Dean Walters, conductor, Sunday, December 1, 8 p.m., at Key West United Methodist Church, Eaton and Simonton Streets. (The difference between regular timpani and baroque timpani is that the latter fit in a Mustang.)
The award-winning Howland Ensemble jazz group’s compact disc Reiko and audiophile phonorecord The Howland Ensemble are available directly from halhowland.com, Amazon.com and from The Orchard. (Dealers please contact NorthCountry Distributors, 315-287-2852.)
Locally Reiko is available at Records & Rogues, 1018 Truman Avenue, Key West, 305-296-4115.
Reiko and The Howland Ensemble are enjoying airplay in the Keys on WCNK 98.7 Conch FM, 305-872-0474.
Howland and New York jazz guitarist Joshua Breakstone joined former Knitting Factory performance artist Bea Licata in two special performances during the annual Erotic Festival at the Woodenhead Gallery in Key West. On February 9 the trio and reader Adrienne Haynes performed Licata’s provocative theater piece Immaterial, and on February 12 Licata strapped on her signal processor for an evening of inspired poetry and improvisation.
In addition to the last two seasons’ residencies at the Banana Café and at Virgilio’s in Key West, Howland performed with Josh Breakstone in three April 2001 concerts sponsored by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts ArtReach program. These free concerts were sponsored in part by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, the State of Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private donations.
Howland’s research lives on
Performs with Key West Symphony, records with National Chamber Orchestra
December 10, 2001 -- Guy Frisch, a percussion instructor in Luxembourg, is writing a new thesis on the vibraphone, picking up where Hal Howland’s published history left off in 1977. For information contact the Percussive Arts Society.
In its twenty-fifth-anniversary January 2001 issue, Modern Drummer magazine reprinted Howland’s 1979 interview with jazz great Elvin Jones.
On December 6, 7, and 8 Howland played timpani and percussion in a fully staged production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors and seasonal carols with a national cast and the Key West Symphony Orchestra, Sebrina María Alfonso, conductor, at St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Key West.
Howland plays timpani on the recent compact disc by the National Chamber Orchestra, Piotr Gajewski, conductor, featuring New York Philharmonic principal cellist Carter Brey and violin virtuoso Kurt Nikkanen, performing music of Steven Gerber (b. 1948). KOCH International Classics CD no. 3-7501-2 HI is available directly from Amazon.com.
Howland performs
Acclaimed jazz group, solo Howland in Vienna; NCO celebrates 15 years
February 10, 2000 -- The award-winning Howland Ensemble jazz group (Hal Howland, drums; Paul Pieper, guitar; John Previti, bass; Bruce Swaim, reeds), which Stereo Review calls “eloquent, modern, first-class,” will perform at Jammin’ Java, 231 Maple Avenue, East, Vienna, Virginia, 703-255-1566, on Friday, April 7, and Friday, May 26, at 8 p.m.
Also an accomplished singer-songwriter, Howland will strap on the twelve-string at Jammin’ Java on Thursday, March 23, Thursday, April 6, and Thursday, April 20, at 8 p.m.; and at the Luna Park Grille, 5866 Washington Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia, 703-237-5862, on Thursday, May 4, at 9:30 p.m.
Howland has been the timpanist of the National Chamber Orchestra since its inception in 1984. In its fifteenth anniversary season the acclaimed orchestra, which the Washington Post calls “a lesson in elegance,” performs Beethoven’s Symphony no. 1, the Bernstein Serenade, Bizet’s Symphony in C, Handel’s Messiah, the Haydn Drum Roll Symphony, and other works. Call 301-762-8580.
Howland teaches at CU
Celebrates 15 years with NCO, 17 with Howland Ensemble
August 12, 1998 -- Hal Howland has been appointed to the percussion faculty of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University. Howland has been the concert manager at CU since 1996. He earned his M.A. in musicology at CU in 1976, and his thesis, “The Vibraphone,” published in the summer and fall 1977 issues of Percussionist, remains the definitive history of the instrument.
Howland is in his fifteenth year as timpanist (and charter member) of the National Chamber Orchestra, Piotr Gajewski, music director and conductor. Soloists with the NCO have included Manuel Barrueco, Carter Brey, Eugene Fodor, Eugene Istomin, Ani Kavafian, André-Michael Schub, and Barry Tuckwell. Call 301-762-8580.
The Howland composition “Second Chance,” from the Howland Ensemble CD Reiko, appears on the OasisJazz™ sampler CD, produced by Oasis Recording. Call 800-697-5734.
Reiko, featuring Chris Battistone, Brian Bennett, Jon Metzger, John Previti, and Bruce Swaim, has earned excellent reviews from Cadence, jazz great Peter Erskine (author of Reiko’s liner notes), composer Thomas Ludwig, Modern Drummer, Percussive Notes, Hugo Pinksterboer (author of The Cymbal Book), Royal Stokes (author of Swing Era New York), Talking Drums, and the Washington Post.
Here’s what they’re saying about Reiko
Colleagues and the media are unanimous in their praise
July 15, 1996 --
“Hal Howland’s recordings reward close and repeated listenings because they benefit from both strong compositions and talented contributors. Impressionistic, evocative, multi-thematic, lovely, dark-hued: a striking example of Howland’s versatility as an arranger and colorist.” Mike Joyce, The Washington Post
“This great production has a definite poetic quality. I can play it in the background, and I can play it if I want to listen to music--and there are not many CDs that have both. It is a fine balance.” Hugo Pinksterboer, author of The Cymbal Book
“Seasoned, versatile, bustling, bouncing, impressionistic, inventive, exciting” Cadence
“Exquisite: a mature and deeply felt work of crystalline clarity” Talking Drums
“A great recording: deep jazz roots and a sense of vision” Percussive Notes
“A beautifully thought-out and realized production” Jazz great Peter Erskine, author of Reiko’s liner notes
“Deft, unique modern jazz” Modern Drummer
“Great stuff!” Royal Stokes, author of Swing Era New York
Howland Ensemble returns to Blues Alley
New folk-rock group debuts at Luna Park
May 14, 1996 -- Washington’s colorful Howland Ensemble (Hal Howland, drums; Dave Kane, piano; John Previti, bass; Bruce Swaim, reeds) celebrates the long-awaited release of its new CD, Reiko, at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., on Monday, July 8, at 8 and 10 p.m. Call 202-337-4141.
Lost Ambulance (Happy Acosta, guitar, accordion, and vocals; Annette Gallant, guitar and vocals; Hal Howland, bass and vocals; Larry Taylor, drums), performing superb originals, Anglophilia, strange covers, blues, reggae, and more, will debut at the Luna Park Grille, 5866 Washington Boulevard, North, Arlington, Virginia, on Friday, September 20, at 9 p.m.
Howland Ensemble Reiko CD released
“A beautifully thought-out and realized production” Peter Erskine
November 1, 1995 -- Howland Records is pleased to announce the release of Reiko, the long-awaited new compact disc by the Howland Ensemble jazz group of Washington, D.C.
Containing nearly seventy-four minutes of rich and timelessly exciting European, mainstream, New Age, and fusion jazz, Reiko appeals to every listener.
In his liner notes, jazz great Peter Erskine says, “Good stuff survives the test of time. That’s where Reiko comes in. For those of us who have thought of the Washington, D.C., area merely as home to most of this nation’s politicians and bureaucracies, Reiko is good news. I really like the way these guys play. One can hear the continuum of this music, its past and future, in Reiko. This is a most enjoyable recording for me to listen to: music for our modern times.”
Composed, arranged, and produced by award-winning jazz artist Hal Howland, Reiko features a sextet of Washington’s finest jazz musicians: Chris Battistone, trumpet and flügelhorn; Brian Bennett, piano and synthesizer; Hal Howland, drums and percussion; Jon Metzger, vibraphone and marimba; John Previti, bass violin and bass guitar; and Bruce Swaim, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones.
Reiko was recorded and mixed by Bob Dawson at Bias Recording, Springfield, Virginia; mastered by David Glasser at Airshow, Springfield, Virginia; manufactured by Oasis Recording, Silver Spring, Maryland; and designed and photographed by Britt Malmgren.
Reiko is available for purchase at fine record shops worldwide. Reiko is distributed by NorthCountry Distributors, Cadence Building, Redwood, NY 13679-9612.
Howland receives NEA grant, Musician award
Performs at Blues Alley, Corcoran, Reston Community Center
February 1, 1989 -- Washington musician Hal Howland has been awarded a $7,450 Jazz Performance Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for the purpose of presenting his jazz compositions in 1989: at the Frances and Armand Hammer Auditorium, Corcoran Gallery of Art, 17th Street and New York Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 30, at 8 p.m., and at the Reston Community Center, 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston, Virginia, on Sunday, October 1, at 8 p.m. This project is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Howland Ensemble (Chris Battistone, trumpet and flügelhorn; Hal Howland, drums and percussion; Jon Metzger, vibraphone and marimba; John Previti, bass violin and bass guitar; Bruce Swaim, saxophones and flute; Keith Waters, piano and synthesizer) is one of ten national finalists, among nearly two thousand entrants, in the 1988 Musician magazine Best Unsigned Band Contest, judged by Elvis Costello, Mark Knopfler, T-Bone Burnett, and Mitchell Froom. “Bedouin Song,” from the Ensemble’s critically acclaimed, Wammy award-winning 1986 debut audiophile phonorecord The Howland Ensemble, appears on the CD compilation Best of the BUBs (Warner Bros. PR4757).
The Ensemble will perform also at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Avenue, Northwest, Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 5, at 8 and 10 p.m.
For more information contact:
Hal Howland
263 Venetian Way, Sugarloaf Key, FL 33042-3612
Telephone: 305-745-2572
Internet: halhowland@bellsouth.net