image by Brodie McAllister
Michael Malis
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Michael Malis (b. 1988) is a composer, pianist, and music educator based in Detroit MI. A multi-faceted musical artist, he performs as a jazz musician, composes for the concert stage, and contributes to multidisciplinary collaborations.
photo credit: John Mark Hanson
2020 saw a proliferation of Malis’ work as a solo artist. In July of 2020, Malis released Dualisms, a multimedia project containing recordings, videos, and an accompanying 16 page zine of writings, artwork, and ephemera. Consisting of brand new original compositions, Dualisms features performances by Malis in duet with saxophonist Kaleigh Wilder, percussionist Thom Monks, and vocalist Denzel Donald, and features artwork by Zara Teicher. Each of the works presented in Dualisms were premiered at New Music Detroit’s 12th annual Strange Beautiful Music Festival in September 2019. All About Jazz praised Dualisms as “an extraordinary multimedia project which illustrates some of the remarkable ways artists in the age of COVID-19 found new approaches to displaying their craft and connecting with their audience.”
His March 2020 release, Three Pieces for Piano, was praised by the Southeast Michigan Jazz Association as “thrilling music, with shifting harmonic and rhythmic qualities that require prodigious precise technique and the kind of generic versatility that few pianists achieve.”
As a composer, Malis has been commissioned by Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Detroit Composers’ Project, Virago, Hole in the Floor, and others. His piece Five Stations, premiered in May 2019, featured Malis and saxophonist Marcus Elliot alongside a string quartet of musicians from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His string quartet, Emerge, was premiered at the Detroit Institute of Arts in 2018. His piece for piano and cello, Coda, was premiered by Detroit Symphony Orchestra principle cellist Wei Yu in 2018.
In April 2019, Malis and Elliot, who join forces under the duo known as “Balance,” undertook a collaborative performance piece with former Detroit poet laureate Bill Harris. The piece, which featured drummer Gerald Cleaver, set Harris’ collection of short stories I Got to Keep Moving. According to AllAboutJazz.com, “what was most striking about the synergy between Harris and the band was the sheer beauty of the music: the stark contrast between the grim realities of Harris's story and the band's melodic core, located in Elliot's exultant phrases and Malis's evocative runs, was stirring. And much of the music's strength was found in the spirit of resilience and defiance that permeates Harris's text.” The duo’s 2017 eponymous album was praised by the Detroit Metro Times as “contemporary jazz of the highest order, a benchmark for where the genre can go.”
In July of 2015, Malis’ self-released debut album as a leader, Lifted from the No of All Nothing, was called by The Detroit Free Press “an uncommonly mature and distinctive debut.” It was described by Hot House Jazz Guide (NYC) as “cover[ing] a broad range of free expression. [Malis] bridges the gap between original composed, complex material and the spontaneity of improvisation.” In September 2016, his trio made their debut at the Detroit International Jazz Festival.
As a pianist, he has shared the stage with a diverse array of musicians, including notables such as Marcus Belgrave, Gerald Cleaver, Jaribu Shahid, John Lindberg, William Hooker, A. Spencer Barefield, Tyshawn Sorey, Ken Filiano, J.D. Allen, Andrew Bishop, Dennis Coffey, and Marion Hayden. He has performed at the Yokohama Jazz Promenade (Yokohama, Japan), the Kennedy Center, Birdland (NYC), and The Stone (NYC).
FDWA Credits:
Composed by Michael Malis | commissioned by Virago | Performed by Michael Malis and Virago
For violin, cello, alto saxophone, prepared piano, vibraphone, and percussion
Violin: Meg Rohrer | Cello: Wesley Hornpetrie | Alto Saxophone: BethAnne Kunert | Prepared Piano: Michael Malis | Vibraphone and Percussion: Sofia Carbonara
Producer: Ben Willis | Recorded at Tempermill Studio June 6-7 2021 | Recording Engineer: Erik Maluchnik | Mixed and Mastered at Big Sky Recording Studio June-September 2021 | Mix and Mastering Engineer: Josef Deas
Design by Brodie McAllister
ABOUT THE PIECE (from Michael)
“I composed From Darkness We Awaken in the midst of what was the most chaotic period of time I’ve ever lived through. 2020 was a challenging year for everyone in the world, but against the backdrop of the intersecting crises of that time, a personal paradigm shift occurred for me: in March 2020, my wife and I found out we were expecting our first child.
Of course, we were incredibly excited. But as anyone who had a “pandemic baby” can attest to, that excitement came with a large dose of anxiety. We threw our pent up energy into preparing our home, our hearts, and our lives for the arrival of a new human. It was a strange juxtaposition, to be simultaneously balancing so much joy with so much fear.
The one thing that kept me relatively grounded in that unique moment was writing this piece. Admittedly, I got off to a slow start: an instrumentation change in the ensemble forced me to abandon my original idea for the piece. But this ended up being a blessing in disguise: I can’t imagine this piece any other way than it turned out.
Once I got going, I worked quicker than usual, immersing myself in it, and putting my whole self into it. As I progressed deeper into the piece, I observed it taking on more and more of a central role in my well being. I started to notice myself using this piece as a forum for processing these transformative changes that are upon me. From Darkness We Awaken became a proxy for my emotional preparations for the next phase of my life — a diary documenting my personal metamorphosis.
With the global pandemic throwing so much uncertainty into the arts sector, this piece has taken almost three years to produce. This, too, has been a blessing in disguise. It’s only with this expanded timeframe that I have some benefit of reflection. I initially thought of this piece as an avatar for awakening: for myself growing emotionally, for our child waking up into the world, and for our society as a whole. In hindsight, I can see how misguided this conception was. Of course the world didn’t become less toxic just because 2020 ended; of course we’re still dealing with intersecting crises on a global scale; of course we’re still careening recklessly into the future.
So instead of a celebration of an awakening, maybe this piece is actually a promise. A contract with my future self. Aspirational at best, naive at worst, but certainly noble. A reminder of the simple mandate to face every day eyes wide open, even though there’s no guarantee it will be better than the day before. Of continuing to try to make art in a world that is cold, callous, and cruel in the face of it all. From Darkness We Awaken — not once, but continually, renewing our promises to ourselves every moment of every day, forgiving ourselves when we break them, and trying again and again and again.”
-Michael Malis
photos above by Doug Coombe. photo below by Costa Kazaleh-Sirdenis.