theBABAorchestra

theBABAorchestra is a Los Angeles based 17-piece experimental big band performing original new instrumental works by composer, conductor, and bandleader [Lauren] Elizabeth Baba.  “Baba is an artist to watch … she’s establishing adventurous new territory” (Downbeat). Her music is described as “ambitious and wildly imaginative new music for large jazz ensembles…a statement of marvelous depth and cinematic expanse” (JAZZIZ). Amidst intricately woven melodies and massive brass textures are subtly creeping rock grooves and a generally dark ambience; creative music drawing from free jazz, avant-garde, drone-rock, and Middle Eastern folk.

As one of the up-and-coming female big band composers and bandleaders, she has gained critical acclaim and recognition from the creative music scene.  Highlights include album reviews in Downbeat Magazine, JAZZIZ Magazine, LA Weekly, All About Jazz, and March 2018 Indie Life Feature in Downbeat.  Baba has received commissions through Idaho State University (2020), Viewpoint High School (2019), West Ranch High School (2016), and for “Marigold”, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society through the 2018 New Note Artist Award and premiered at the 2018 Angel City Jazz Festival at Ford Theater in Los Angeles, CA; recorded on theBABAorchestra’s 2nd album “Marigold.” Baba was recently awarded the 2022 “Fundamental Freedoms Commission” from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers [ISJAC] and will premier at the 2022 ISJAC Jazz Symposium in Austin, Texas.  theBABAorchestra highlight performances include the Hammer Museum’s JAZZPOP Series, Angel City Jazz Festival’s Jazz Night, CalArts Wild Beast Concert Series, Cooks Chapel’s Live Jazz Nite Series, ArtShareLA, and Blue Whale.  Baba’s original big band compositions have been performed by numerous high schools and colleges across the county and has been featured as guest conductor of the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra [California Jazz Conservatory].  She currently is curating a new Los Angeles music series called “Big Band Nights” that headlines three big bands in one night – creating a space for big band leaders to perform and share music and ideas and to build a strong music community.  Baba received the 2012 Young Jazz Composers Award for her work “144”, which appears on theBABAorchestra’s debut album “Another Ride on the Elephant Slide.” 

“Lauren Elizabeth Baba wants to disabuse anyone of the notion that all L.A. jazz is of the smooth persuasion.” — Bobby Reed, DownBeat, Editors’ Picks December 2017

“This is jazz that looks to the future—not the past. [theBABAorchestra] reflect[s] a 21st-century sensibility that combines jazz with a wonderful range of inspirations from contemporary classical and experimental sounds to rock, pop and world music. Lauren [has] used CalArts’s fertile mix of musical tradition and experimentation to nourish fresh ideas and extravagant new sounds.”  — David Roitstein, Chair of the California Institute of the Arts Jazz Program, 2017

“They’ve managed to squeeze 17 musicians onto the small stage, and they are playing jazz, or some derivative of it. [theBABAorchestra] responds to [Lauren’s] precise gestures with a whirlwind of texture and rhythm. There are surprising plot developments within the music, moments of curious spaciousness rudely pushed aside by something more sinister.”  — Gary Fukushima, LA Weekly, 2017

“theBABAorchestra … sculpts forms of expression that aren’t ever going to be considered a conventional medium.  The harmonic force this experimental big band generates is pretty thrilling…it’s especially enjoyable when they harness the strength of their numbers and stir up a storm.” — Bird is the Worm, 2017

Marigold delivers a powerful journey of intuitive unpredictability inspired by Baba’s family immigration story from Syria & Greece. Marigold embodies the emotional process behind the persistent drive to cultivate the freedom to create without fear. It is a narrative of perseverance to finding peace and initiating growth by virtue of change and adversity; knowing there is a continuous flow of creativity, understanding, equality, and limitless boundaries present for all of us in each moment. Produced by Baba, Marigold was recorded live in the studio – a 45-minute un-doctored real-time performance – presented as a long-form suite in 4 continuous movements; representing the nature of Marigold’s conception as “a loop – no beginning or end – exploring through-composition + improvisation and continuing the search to conceptualize time + music + existence – understanding that the past, present, and future are simultaneous experiences.” This loop represents our emotions and stories through perseverance; experiences that can happen in an instant or for eternity or anywhere in-between. Baba’s complex and thoughtful compositional voice captures moments of vulnerability, depth, and introspection through layers of driving rhythms and esoteric melodies intertwined with an intuitive play on timing and expectation; delivering an emotionally powerful and immersive listening experience.

Marigold was commissioned by Los Angeles Jazz Society through 2018 New Note Artist Award and premiered at 2018 Angel City Jazz Festival at Ford Theater, Los Angeles, CA.

Another Ride on the Elephant Slide delivers an emotionally powerful and immersive listening experience through Baba’s complex and thoughtful compositional voice: layers of driving rhythms and esoteric melodies intertwined with an intuitive play on timing and expectation.  Produced and conceptualized by Baba, this debut album was recorded live in the recording studio – an un-doctored real-time performance – and will leave you with an unforgettable sonic palette; capturing moments of vulnerability, depth and introspection.

ALBUM CREDITS

VIDEOS