Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra Plays Sly
Friday, March 27, 2026
Knoxville, TN @ Jackson Terminal - Big Ears Festival
1: Skin I’m In (ft. Sandra St. Victor)
2: Can’t Strain My Brain (ft. Joan As Police Woman)
Steven Bernstein (Director, Trumpet, Slide Trumpet) @stevenbernsteinmusic
Corey Wallace (Trombone) @thebigdawgcometh
Doug Wieselman (Clarinet) @dougwieselman
Peter Apfelbaum (Tenor Sax) @peter.apfelbaum
Erik Lawrence (Baritone Sax) @eriklawrencemusic
Charles Burnham (Violin)
Matt Munisteri (Guitar) @mattmunisteri
Chris Lightcap (Acoustic Bass) @lightcapchris
Ben Perowsky (Drums) @benperowsky
Special Guests:
John Medeski (Organ) @johnmedeski
Sandra St. Victor (Vocals) @sandrastvictor
Joan As Police Woman (Vocals) @joanaspolicewoman
#StevenBernstein #MillennialTerritoryOrchestra #SlyStoneTribute #SandraStVictor #JoanAsPoliceWoman
I realize there will be a LOT going on but in case you’re coming to @bigearsfestival this week here are some fun folks I’ll be performing with:
Friday (3/27)
GTO Plays Moondog @ the Tennessee Theater
Show 1: (Chamber Group) with David Byrne, Joan as Police Woman, Sam Amidon, Karen Mantler, Brian Carpenter, 12 pm
Show 2: (Orchestra) with Joan, Sam, Karen, Brian, 1:30
Steven Bernstein’s MTO plays the Music of Sly Stone @ Jackson Terminal, with Joan, Sandra St Victor, John Medeski, Nels Cline, 5:30 PM
Saturday (3/28):
Darius Jones Trio @ The Black Box, 10:30 pm
Sunday (3/29):
Nels Cline Lovers @ the Tennessee Theater, 6 pm
@joanaspolicewoman@davidbyrneofficial@nelscline@imdariusjones@bwcarpenter@stevenbernsteinmusic@johnmedeski@karenmantler
I am happy and excited to be returning to @bluenotetokyo — this time with my current group Consentrik Quartet! Ingrid Laubrock, Chris Lightcap, Tom Rainey and I will play music from our eponymous Blue Note recording which was released this last spring. It will be our honor to interpret my compositions and improvise together for the Tokyo listeners. See you next year! 🌀🔹🎶
Tickets on sale 11/11 at 12pm local - visit the link in bio for more information.
#nelscline #consentrikquartet #bluenotetokyo #bluenoterecords #liveinjapan #discover
I’ve been pretty slammed with travel the last few weeks so I’m just getting around to digesting the new David Byrne record “Who Is the Sky?” on which I played both electric and upright bass along with the rest of the @ghosttrainorchestra . All the other musicians and arrangers involved killed it, and the 8 days we spent tracking together in the studio with @davidbyrneofficial and producer @kidharpoon were a blast. Special shoutouts go to @bwcarpenter for helping to shepherd this project to its conclusion and also to @sarabassoon for crushing the brutal obbligato I wrote for her on my orchestration for David’s “I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party.” Low notes!
So thrilled to share the news that Darius Jones Trio will perform at @bigearsfestival 2026, March 26-29 in Konxville, TN ❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥 The whole line up is a blast!!
Who are we gonna see there?😎
More details at bigearsfestival.org
#dariusjones #dariusjonestrio #bigearsfestival #knoxville #BigEarsKnox #BigEarsKnox2026
I’m looking forward to playing Sunday, May 4th at 8 pm with the @bangonacan All-Stars in a new version of Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow in Curved Air,” arranged by @gyanriley . After that we’ll be closing out the Long Play festival with a performance of “In C” with some special guests to celebrate Terry’s 90th birthday. Hope to see you there!
3/24/25
💡🎻 Faculty Spotlight:
Chris Lightcap is an accomplished bassist and composer with a wide-ranging performing and recording career. He has worked with Marc Ribot, Regina Carter, Craig Taborn, Glen Hansard, Mark Turner, John Medeski, Jason Moran, The Kronos Quartet, Tomasz Stanko, Chris Potter, Paul Motian, John Scofield, Dave Liebman, Paquito D’Rivera, Anthony Braxton, Joe Morris, Sheila Jordan, James Carter, Butch Morris, Ben Monder, Mary Halvorson, and many other artists. His has played on over 100 albums and as a bandleader/composer he has produced six critically acclaimed albums of original music.
📸:Peter Gannushkin
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#chrislightcap #bass #SIM #schoolforimprovisation #improvisedmusic #performance #composer #music
A pretty sweet care package just arrived from @bluenoterecords …. “Consentrik Quartet,” the brainchild of @nelscline was officially released today, featuring @ilaubrock , Tom Rainey and yours truly. I’m looking forward to playing with these stellar folks at @bigearsfestival later this month, and we will also be hitting the road in April across the northeast.
About 20 years ago my good friend, the great pianist @bwaltzer asked me to play the fall holiday potluck dinner at the Dakota on 72nd St. (Yeah, THAT Dakota) On the way in my car Ben and I were enjoying “First Take” by Roberta Flack, a record I was first attracted to by the phenomenal groove laid down by Ron Carter on the opening track, but once I got to know the whole album the song that absolutely murdered me every time was her cover of “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye” by Leonard Cohen. Her voice is just so effortlessly exquisite on the whole album. We set up with the great @strassdrums and started to play… people started trickling in with their fancy plates of hors d’oevres and there were several notable celebrity sightings including Yoko Ono and Lauren Bacall. Nobody was paying any attention to us except one very energetic woman who arrived late in a super colorful track suit. She was standing in the corner of the courtyard digging our playing and cheering us on. I did a double take and then leaned over to Ben and whispered “That’s Robert F*$&ing Flack!” He was incredulous but then she came over to compliment us between tunes….
Her: “Man, you guys sound great!”
Me: “Thanks so much… can I please ask if you’re Roberta Flack?”
RF: “I sure am!!!”
Ben: “We were just listening to your record in the car!”
Joe and I started playing the groove from “Compared To What” for her, and she says “I wrote that bass line!!!” Then she started talking to me about her workout at the gym she just had and her bad ankle. If you’d seen the scene in a movie it would probably seem corny. We had NO idea she lived there. Possibly my favorite-ever NYC gig story.
Fast forward to Ron Carter’s 85th birthday concert three years ago at Carnegie Hall… as I was leaving a woman being pushed in a wheelchair looked up at me and asked me if I could please tell her where Mr Carter’s dressing room was. I pointed her in the right direction and she kindly smiled and thanked me and I didn’t realize until I was out on the street that it was her.
R.I.P. Ms Flack.
I just wrapped up a very busy three days of recording (32 songs!) with the incredibly witty tunesmith @drazyhoops . Also on board were my good friends and frequent collaborators @curtishasselbring and @danrieser . Looking forward to hearing the results down the road.
2024 was an exciting year! A sold-out record release show at @townhallnyc with our friends @kronos_quartet@davidbyrneofficial@karenmantler@marissa_nadler and @joanaspolicewoman in April. Followed by a studio recording over the summer with @davidbyrneofficial and producer @kidharpoon recording our arrangements of David’s incredible new songs. In October, Ghost Train Orchestra and Kronos Quartet were awarded the prestigious “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” Annual 2024 German Record Critics Award for “Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog”. And amidst all this we are working on a new batch of original compositions plus a follow-up recording of Moondog pieces with @kronos_quartet .
Hope to see you in the new year!
Town Hall photos by Sachyn Mital.
