Live at LunÀtico

The project merges the different activities of Arthur Kell who played extensively at Bar LunÀtico in Brooklyn as a sideman for artists such as Kenny Wollesen, Roy Nathanson, Paul Bollenback, Matt Darriau and Avram Fefer. This generation contributed greatly to the flourishing and maintenance of a vibrant music scene in today's Brooklyn. Likewise, the involvement of Arthur Kell through this scene allowed him to develop his latest musical explorations.

With two great guitarists Brad Shepik and Nate Radley as well as rising star Allan Mednard on drums, the Speculation Quartet works simultaneously on contemplation and interaction, with the uncertainty and potential inherent in life. The quartet's musicians consider assumptions about the inevitable risks we take with everything we encounter and everyone we come into contact with.

The very melodic compositions of the album are inspired by Arthur Kell's travels which took him very far, in particular his solitary journey from Dakar to Senegal to the Indian Ocean, over four months. Two 12/8 pieces are explicit, as are allusions to his work as a founding member of the late Thomas Chapin's Afro-Brazilian group, Spirits Rebellious, and Brian Prunka's Arabic music groups. More indirectly, the rare two-guitar frontline recalls both Joey Baron's Killer Joey and Marc Johnson's Bass Desires.

When it was founded in 2015, Bar LunÀtico was just a modest storefront on a quiet residential street in Bed-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Then the bar became an important and essential venue for live music in New York, a place that makes the concert valuable for the musicians who thrive in its intimate setting. Bar LunÀtico is an incubator and home for countless bands and genres. From Tiga Jean Baptiste d'Haïti to Bill Frisell via Duduka Da Fonseca, every evening you can hear Wayne Tucker as well as Madeleine Peyroux, Julius Rodriguez, Dan Weiss, Secret Trio, Samir Langus, Leo Genovese, Yacouba Sissoko, Jorge Glem, Lau Noah or the late Henry Butler, to name just a few.

Arthur Kell has worked for a wide range of influential leaders in New York and beyond, including Thomas Chapin, Matt Darriau, Kálmán Oláh, Guillermo Klein, Steve Cardenas, Paul Bollenback, Eri Yamamoto, Bruce Barth, Sam Newsome, Quintan Ana Wikso, Saul Rubin, Roy Nathanson, Claire Daly, Richard Julian, Philip Johnston, Denman Maroney, Shelley Hirsch, Danny Walsh and many others. He has recorded alongside Bernard Purdie and Matt Wilson. He has released five recordings of original music on various labels, including Origin, Fresh Sound and Brooklyn Jazz Underground.

Le groupe d'Arthur Kell a accueilli divers musiciens tels que Brad Shepik, Loren Stillman, Nate Radley, Michael Blake, Federico Casagrande, Nir Felder, Mark Ferber, Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Donny McCaslin, Gerald Cleaver, Francesco Bearzatti, Jeff Boudreaux, Allan Mednard, Guilherme Monteiro, Adam Kolker, Bill McHenry, Allison Miller et Gadi Lehavi.

Arthur Kell is one of the owners and co-founders of Bar LunÀtico in Brooklyn. He graduated from the Oberlin University Conservatory of Music and taught music at the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in Tamil Nadu, India. He coordinated the environmental work of the New York Public Interest Research Group in New York for ten years, until 1997.