Sonic Liberation Front is deeply rooted in the traditions of Afro Cuban music and has spent years fusing that grand tradition with new sounds including composed jazz, modern chamber composition, and the powerful Orisha spirit.
Sonic Liberation Front brings together sounds and time periods in a manner like no other band around today. As Sonic Liberation Front, this ensemble has consistently won international critical acclaim and have been named #1 or Top 10 by the Village Voice, All About Jazz, Jazziz, and more. The band has recorded five internationally-distributed albums. The eight-member ensemble has played extensively in the Philadelphia and New York area, and at festivals and cultural institutions throughout the Midwest U.S. and Canada.
The Musicians
Kevin Diehl – bata, Afro Cuban percussion, drumkit, sensory percussion, composer
Matt Engle – bass, electronics, composer
Veronica Jurkiewicz – violin, viola, vocals, sometimes piano
Elliot Levin – woodwinds (mostly reeds)
Jameka Gordon – woodwinds (mostly flutes), percussion
Special Projects:
Skip Burney – bata & Afro Cuban percussion, vocals
Greg Deal – bata, drumkit, electric bass
Tracks
Press Reviews & Quotes
“[a] sundry collection of wonders. It’s among the years greatest excitements.”
– JAZZTIMES, Micheal J. West
“How dare you give me goosebumps so early in the morning.
It looks like a great community of musicians you have there in Philly.”
– John Tchicai (Perpignan, France)
“Ludicrously Superb”
– Ben Watson, The WIRE
“wanted to tell you that i dig your record”
– Flea
“Sonic Liberation Front is well on its way to becoming one of the more important American ensembles of the decade.”
– Point of Departure, Bill Shoemaker
“Jetway Confidential is a roiling stew of diverse percussion and avant-jazz… evokes the Sun Ra Arkestra in its raucous, expansive sound.”
– DOWNBEAT, Shaun Brady
“So in this beautiful album, there’s a mixture of sacred and profane, African-American song and ritual Cuban beat (influenced by Santería).”
– JAZZ Magazine (France), François-René Simon
“Yin and yang-fierce avant-sax and friendly folksongs united by shifty Afro-Cuban beats.”
– VILLAGE VOICE, Number 1 Jazz album, Tom Hull
“a wild joy… it’s tempting to think that the kind of sound Coltrane had in mind wouldn’t have been very different from what Murray recorded over three and a half decades later with the Philadelphia based free jazz collective Sonic Liberation Front.”
– THE WIRE UKAdventures in Modern Music, Dan Warburton
“…succeed in demonstrating how close to African models much of the freakout music of Ra and Coltrane actually was… ludicrously superb, giving itotele,iya, quinto, okonkolo, chekere, chawaro, clavé, palitos and drumkit such rotundity and resonance you’re shaken to the orb.”
– THE WIRE UK Adventures in Modern Music – Ben Watson
“A brazen conflation of free jazz, electronica,and Afro-Cuban rhythm. Those who thinkjamming begins and ends with Phish are encouraged to track this down immediately.”
–Tom Moon, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER,
Publicity Photos
Sonic Liberation Front- From L to R: Matt Engle, Veronica Jurkiewicz, Jameka Gordon, Kevin Diehl, Elliot Levin
Sonic Liberation Front- From L to R: Matt Engle, Veronica Jurkiewicz, Jameka Gordon, Kevin Diehl, Elliot Levin
Bombogenic Recording Session (2016). From L to R: Mike Watsun, Matt Engle, Veronica Jurkiewicz, Russell Kotcher, Eric Coyne, Tom Lowery, Ron Howerton, Elliot Levin, Kevin Diehl, Oliver Lake, Melanie Hsu, Nichola Rivera. Range Recording Studios, Ardmore, PA
Performance Milestones
* Kulu Se Mama – an expanded Sonic Liberation Front performed John Coltrane’s seminal album – presented by Philadelphia Jazz Project, in collaboration with Temple University Libraries, WRTI, PhillyCAM, Jazz Near You – At the Conwell Dance Theater, Temple University as part of Philadelphia Jazz Project’s Coltrane at 90 Celebration.
• Oliver Lake meets Sonic Liberation Front at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, Arts Council of Princeton
• The Dream Book – a twenty eight artist multi-media performance. Co-presented by Sonic Liberation 8. Co-presented by Philadelphia Jazz Project, Bowerbird & Sonic Liberation Front — Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Philadelphia, Sept. 2015. Collaborating Artists/companies: Kulu Mele African Dance Ensemble, Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, Moor Mother, John & Jamie Hubbard/Cause & Effect pictures.
• Sonic Liberation 8, The Classical Revolution Trio with Oliver Lake, Co-presented by Ars Nova Workshop & the Rotunda — Rotunda, Philadelphia 2015
• Thurman Barker, Julius Masri & Sonic Liberation Front — Music for Metal Membranes and Circuits Rotunda, Philadelphia 2014
• Odean Pope & Marshall Allen Meet Sonic Liberation Front, Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz, 2012
• The Painted Bride Performing Arts Center, Philadelphia 2010
• Swarthmore College – opening for the Sun Ra Arkestra 2009
• ICA Philadelphia (Institute of Contemporary Art) at University of Pennsylvania – featuring a commissioned composition for twelve piece ensemble, coinciding with ICA’s exhibit – Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago’s Afro-Futurist Underground, 1954-1968. This was presented and commissioned by Ars Nova Workshop. 2009
• Vision Festival & The Sedgwick Arts Center – Sonic Liberation Front Meets Sunny Murray
• World Cafe Live – Sonic Liberation Front Meets Badal Roy
• Other performances:
Ars Nova Workshop sharing bills with Kahil El Zabar & Billy Bang,
again with the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek & Chad Taylor),
Johnny Brenda’s sharing the bill with Extra Golden,
The Rotunda with Warriors of the Wonderful Sound,
Sci-Philly Music Series,
Crossroads Music Series Philadelphia, the Music Gallery -X Avant Festival Toronto,
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Urbana Il,
New Millennium Music Series – Claudia Cassidy Theater – Chicago Cultural Center,
Edgefest – Kerrytown Concert House –Ann Arbor MI,
Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival Montreal,
Freestyle Jazz Series @ CBGB’S & Jimmy’s NYC,
the Knitting Factory NY 2005-2008
Contact
booking
Kevin Diehl – kevin@sonicliberation8.com