Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based composer Darcy James Argue leads Secret Society, an 18-piece band devoted to his original music. Ben Ratliff of the NYT says: "A big, broad musical vocabulary came together easily, without jump-cutting or wrenching shifts of style. Mr. Argue made all these elements belong together naturally."
In October 2006, Darcy got to go to Germany and lead the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra in a program of his own music at Stadgarten. He's been commissioned by the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra and BMI, and written arrangements for the Atlanta Symphony, Shelby Lynne, Renee Rosnes, and the Klezmer Conservatory Band. He's also been tapped to write arrangements for an upcoming collaboration between singer Lizz Wright and the ASO.
Boring but obligatory list of grants and awards: American Music Center CAP grant, BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize, SOCAN Award for Composition, Down Beat Student Music Award, various Canada Council Grants.
Darcy graduated from McGill and New England Conservatory and he's studied with Bob Brookmeyer, Maria Schneider, John Hollenbeck, and Lee Hyla. He is also the Keeper of the Blog for Pulse, so if you have any "technical" "issues" (or "whatnot"), talk to him.
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