Dans les arbres is an improvising ensemble comprising French clarinettist Xavier Charles and the three Norwegians – pianist Christian Wallumrød, guitarist Ivar Grydeland, and percussionist Ingar Zach.

“This unique improvising quartet (...) continues to fine-tune its artistic concept with a rare sense of accord, and shared responsibilities.” (ECM Records)

The group’s idiosyncratic inhabitants form unusual combinations of airy, wooden, metallic sounds, prepared strings and tampered drum heads. Their world of sounds and the fine sense of communication, lead to collective playing and spontaneous group-composing named to be in a “class of its own”. Their music moves gently but steadily ahead on broad planes of sound. The dynamic textural sceneries evolve as Dans les arbres harnesses its wealth of unorthodox extended techniques.

Since the recording of their first album in 2006, Dans les arbres has performed more than 150 concerts around the globe. The two releases on ECM Records and one on Hubro – the self-titled debut Dans Les Arbres (2008), Canopée (2012) and Phosphorescence (2017) have received praise from reviewers and audiences alike.

During autumn 2019 the group's fourth album Volatil was released on the label SOFA and their fifth album Mausoleum was released on Bandcamp. Dans les arbres was nominated for the prestigious Nordic Music Prize 2015.

Dans les arbres have performed with guest musicians such as Yumiko Tanaka, Otomo Yoshihide, Jim O ́Rourke, the Norwegian duo Vilde & Inga and The Norwegian Wind Ensemble. Together with singers and Oslo Sinfonietta they performed the piece About Nature by Henrik Hellstenius at the Oslo Opera House in 2015.

“There’s no end to the delights of this quite magical disc. The finest composition, like improvisation, ultimately relies on intuition, and these players seem to have an innate grasp of the right combination of sounds and textures. Dans les arbres must be one of the finest ECM Improv releases – indeed, releases from any label – in recent years.” (The Wire)

Limited number of advance tickets $15 via Eventbrite …or $20 at the door

Facebook

Eyal El Wahab seer, kearat, vocals
Galor Yefet keyboards
Lotan Yasih drums

It creaks and rattles, the screws are loose, but it holds together and it moves magnificently. It's the sound of El Khat, an international deconstruction squad from Tel Aviv led by Eyal El Wahab, a son of the Yemeni Jewish diaspora on a mission to recover his roots.

He found his epiphanous mojo in a collection of Yemeni folk and pop records of the 60's, sparking a bout of instrument building from bits of wood, saucepans, wire and rope, and the formation of the band with three friends from Polish, Iraqi and Moroccan backgrounds adding trumpet, guitar, disco-keyboards and hybrid jazz/junk percussion to El Wahab's heartfelt vocals and slippery inventions on his homemade bass.

As undulatingly stimulating as the eponymous plant, El Khat mix trash and tradition in a timely urban reclamation of a disenfranchised culture.

Limited number of advance tickets at Eventbrite $15 …or $20 at the door

Facebook

SUSANNA HOOD’S PACKET TRIO

Montreal-based bandleader and vocalist-dancer, Susanna Hood, along with the superb Toronto-based musicians, Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone) bring poet, Judith Malina and composer, Steve Lacy’s “Packet” suite to life through sound and movement.

At the heart of the suite, a provocation: the emotional, embodied, unfettered female voice. Heart-felt, yet unsentimental, these eight songs hold no punches as they bring voice to a woman’s later life, grappling with imperfection, sexism, paradox, grit, beauty, regret, invisibility, death and love. 

"Remarkably, Susanna Hood proves to be impeccable when it comes to interpreting Steve Lacy's repertoire of magnificent songs. Her voice, expressive and sumptuous, makes us favorably forget the interpretations of Irene Aebi, Lacy's collaborator and first interpreter of his songs."
– Montreal drummer, Michel F Côté

ADMISSION
$15 advance purchase via Eventbrite or $20 at the door
[NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS]

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports will be required.

​​The Michael Formanek’s Drome Trio consists of Michael Formanek on double bass, Chet Doxas on tenor and soprano saxophones, and clarinet, and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums. They have played together in different configurations since 2018 and have worked on music collectively as a trio since mid-2020. They are all composers and bandleaders and cover a huge range of musical territory between them. This incarnation focuses primarily on the compositions of Michael Formanek.

Their first recording as a group, Were We Where We Were, will be released in March 2022 on Formanek’s Circular File Records label on CD, limited edition vinyl, and digital formats. The stunning dark blue opaque vinyl LP was mastered by Alex DeTurk. It comes in a full color gatefold jacket adorned with original artwork by Stewart III and was designed by Steve Byram and Warren Linn. The music is based on a set of musical palindromes that started out as graphic scores and were then reinterpreted into conventional music notation. For live performances in 2022 their concerts will center around this set of compositions and will also feature a selection of pieces from their vast collective trove of varied repertoire.
Bandcamp

Michael Formanek has been described as “a bold and unclassifiable bassist and composer,” while The New York Times has noted that his music is always “graceful in its subversions, often even sumptuous.” Whether it’s for a small band or a large ensemble, he creates modern jazz that is earthy yet atmospheric, always alive with dark-hued melody and bone-deep rhythms, rich in dynamic possibility and the sound of surprise. Even with decades of experience to his credit – he got his start as a Bay Area teenager playing with the likes of Joe Henderson and Tony Williams – Formanek has made some of his keenest creative leaps in recent years, documented on a sequence of justly lauded recordings. His three ECM albums as a leader each scored rare five-star reviews in DownBeat. These included two discs – Small Places (2012) and The Rub and Spare Change (2010) – featuring a powerhouse quartet with saxophonist Tim Berne, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Gerald Cleaver; the third was a magnificent record – The Distance (2016) – that showcased his compositions for an all-star big band, playfully dubbed Ensemble Kolossus. Formanek’s first album for the Intakt label, Time Like This (2018), saw him leading his new Elusion Quartet with saxophonist Tony Malaby, pianist Kris Davis and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith to “soul-stirring” effect, according to All About Jazz. Formanek’s latest release from Intakt Records, Imperfect Measures, his second solo bass recording was released in mid-2021. Were We Where We Were by the Michael Formanek Drome Trio with saxophonist/clarinetist Chet Doxas, and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza will be released in March 2022 on his newly minted label, Circular File Records.

Chet Doxas is a multiple Juno Award nominee whose playing was also featured on the Grammy and Academy Award nominated soundtrack, Les Triplettes de Belleville, and in 2019 was awarded SOCAN’s Haygood Hardy Award. Now based in Brooklyn, NY since 2014, Chet leads and co-leads several projects including The Chet Doxas Trio, Doxas Brothers Quartet, Landline, and Rich in Symbols. Since this move, he has had the opportunity to perform alongside or record with: Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Dave Douglas, John Abercrombie, Michael Formanek and Ethan Iverson.

Vinnie Sperrazza is a Brooklyn-based jazz drummer. He has made a mark on the New York Jazz community with his swinging, enthusiastic playing and his commitment to original projects. He has released three full-length albums of original compositions for Loyal Label and Positone Records, is planning a release of a trio album of original music with pianist Ethan Iverson and bassist Michael Formanek for 2022, and has played on over 70 albums as a sideman. Notable touring has been with Stew and Heidi Rodewald in Stew and The Negro Problem and the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Pepperland with a score by Ethan Iverson. He is a member of the Hank Roberts Sextet and Hank Roberts Trio, tours and records with the groups Landline, the Choir Invisible, Ember featuring Orrin Evans, Matt Bauder's Hearing Things, Vinnie Sperrazza-Jacob Sacks-Masa Kamaguchi PLAY, and trioTrio, and collaborates closely with bandleaders/composers Mike McGinnis and Michael Formanek.

ADMISSION
$15 advance purchase via Eventbrite or $20 at the door
[NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS]

Limited capacity, masks, social distancing and vaccine passports will be required.

A rare and exciting opportunity to see two masters of jazz improvising together in a duo situation. Sure to be a transcendent and beautifully challenging exploration of the outer limits of instrumental expression, this duo features two of the most idiosyncratic musical talents.

New York based jazz pianist, composer and recording artist Russ Lossing is known worldwide for his highly personal and unique improvising voice. Lossing has composed over 400 works and has an international reputation as a world-class improviser. Lossing has twelve releases as leader on Hat Hut, Clean Feed, Fresh Sound, Double Time and OmniTone record labels. Lossing worked with Motian for over twelve years both as leader of his own trios and as sideman in the Paul Motian Quintet playing at the Village Vanguard in New York.

Samuel Blaser is a 21st century trombonist. Born in 1981 in the town of La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Swizterland, he emerged professionally after graduating from conservatory in 2002. During the next five years he developed associations with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the European Radio Big Band, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, pursued graduate studies at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, State University of New York, and recorded his first album as a leader, the Samuel Blaser Quartet’s 7th Heaven (Between The Lines). Since 2009 he has been based in Berlin.

The foundations of Blaser’s art are the breadth of his influences, his technical fluency, and the clarity with which he applies these assets. He grew up learning classical and Swiss folk music as well as jazz, and his projects include jazz-informed investigations of operatic, rock stead, and blues music. He understands that growth is relational, and has sought out and sustained relationships with veteran and senior musicians, such as Pierre Favre, John Hollenbeck, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Ducret, Paul Motian, Oliver Lake, and Daniel Humair, all of whom have helped him to develop his own sense of who he is. He exercises the full range of the trombone’s possibilities, including fluid melodic statements, emphatic rhythmic punctuations, earthy interjections, and abstract sound effects, with a clear sense of purpose. He approaches each endeavor as a leader and collaborator with a clear sense of purpose, knowing what he wants to accomplish and what each musical situation requires from him. Blaser’s responsiveness is never more evident than in his solo performances, which use his bold sound to draw out the qualities of both architectural and environmental settings.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced all musicians to suspend touring. But Blaser’s response illustrated another aspect of his resourcefulness. While he was off the road, he set up an internet label, Blaser Music, which issued its first four releases during the spring and summer. And as soon as Europe began to reopen, he returned to the stage, playing concerts with Samuel Blaser Quartet, Humair Blaser Känzig, and as a sideman for Michel Portal and Marc Ducret.

Mercury

LORI FREEDMAN clarinets, NICOLAS CALOIA double bass

Lori Freedman and Nicolas Caloia have been performing their own music in Quebec, Ontario and New York since 2002. Mercury will present their own compositions and improvisations as well as music written for them by musicians in the “creative player” community. A part of the programme will include one or two works from composers such as Earle Brown, John Cage, Cornelius Cardew, and Christian Wolff, known for their use of open and graphic scores. They believe that they are on the brink of finding a new sound aesthetic: unpredictable, untempered, organic, and irregular, but none-the-less, with cadence, consonance, transparency and silence. The music they seek is dynamic and conversational in structure and has a sensitive, thoughtful quality, rich in polyphonic and gestural interplay. The music can be spontaneously explosive or discretely poised with an unforced cohesiveness. Whether they are pushing the thresholds of their instruments’ capacities by playing in modes of frenetic angularity, or working in “extended” sound worlds and excruciating stillness they are at all times exploring the norms and expectations of musical form. Mercury’s music omits displays of technique and instrumental virtuosity and instead focuses on a virtuosity of listening, curiosity and playfulness.”

Eschaton

AARON HUTCHINSON trumpet, synthesizer, electronics, percussion CONNOR BENNETT saxophones, bass, vocals ANDREW O’CONNOR keys, electronics

A fearless, soulful noise duo, Hamilton’s finest in sound exploration, made up of improvising multi-instrumentalists… creating thick textural noise with vulnerable horn expressions, narrative soundscapes that breathe, bend and distort. Come, listen to Eschaton as they offer a transformative future for Canadian music!

Daniel Carter flute, clarinet, trumpet, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone Marius Duboule classical and electric guitar Michael Bates double bass Deric Dickens drums and percussion

What started as a simple New York session quickly developed into a collective quartet featuring the great improvisers Daniel Carter (US), Michael Bates (CA), Deric Dickens (US) and Marius Duboule (CH/FR). “From the time we started playing together,” remembered Bates “there was always a specific commitment to dynamics”. Carter added, “I feel like the band, the guys in the band, are very spacious. It can be very nuanced but at the same time very articulate.”

The use of space, simple textures and constant counterpoint, are the key elements of this group. The calm and quiet energy of their album “Thoughts Become Matter” mysteriously seduces the listener without falling in the stereotypes of jazz or contemporary music. Duboule adds “It’s very interesting to see how the music shifts from one point to another in a matter of seconds” and Dickens to develop “Because we all come from different generations, from different regions and became interested in different types of music at the first place, we’re all bringing these different spices in to the same meal”.

Zero Point’s music is entirely improvised, sometimes giving the impression of a known melody or a sound mass, similar to what the spectral music can evoke. Or just like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and Eric Dolphy the musicians of this band can also be deeply anchored in the tradition of blues and bebop, which resurfaces in a pictorial way. Zero-point energy describes the lowest form of energy a system may have. In the vacuum, when all the particles have been taken away, there remain oscillations and movement. This energy and the theories connected to it have sometimes been used as a common ground where the scientific and spiritual worlds meet. Thoughts Become Matter is a reflection on the influence our thoughts have on the world we live in.

March 2018 will see a vanload of adventurous musicians from both sides of the 49th parallel travel from Montréal through Southern Ontario in celebration of the late guitarist Ken Aldcroft (1969 – 2016), a long time leading figure in Canada’s creative music community.

Two Hours Early, Ten Minutes Late

saxophone and guitar duo music by Ken Aldcroft

Jason Robinson & Eric Hofbauer (USA)

A celebrated international figure in American jazz and experimental music (“rugged and scintillating,” New York Times), saxophonist Jason Robinson has teamed with acclaimed guitarist Eric Hofbauer (“a significant force in Boston’s improvised-music scene,” Stereophile) to perform and record a collection of sophisticated and virtuosic original music for guitar and tenor saxophone that Aldcroft and Robinson worked closely to develop through numerous performances over seven years throughout Canada and the U.S. “Two Hours Early, Ten Minutes Late,” a title drawn from an Aldcroft composition, is a celebration of Aldcroft’s music for saxophone and guitar and a culmination of the project the two began together.

Mars People

music by & for Ken Aldcroft

Emily Denison, Daniel Kruger & Joe Sorbara (Montréal/ Toronto)

Riding shotgun is Canadian trio, Mars People—which also draws its name from an Aldcroft composition. Trumpeter Emily Denison, acoustic guitarist Daniel Kruger, and drummer Joe Sorbara—all long-time Aldcroft friends and collaborators—will perform “Music By & For Ken Aldcroft” as an extension of an ongoing series in celebration of Ken’s life and music that takes place monthly at The TRANZAC, the de facto home for Toronto’s creative music scene for many years.

Of course, once five creative souls begin talking about spending time together, those souls can hardly resist imagining the possibilities inherent in making music as a quintet. We all look forward to hearing where that journey will take us as well.