SUSAN ALCORN
pedal steel guitar
Baltimore-based Susan Alcorn has taken the pedal steel guitar far beyond its traditional role in country and western swing music. Known among steel guitarists for her virtuosity and authenticity in a traditional context, Alcorn first paid her dues in Texas country & western bands. Soon she began to expand the vocabulary of her instrument through her study of modern classical music, Pauline Oliveros’ “deep listening,” Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango, free jazz, and world musics (Indian rags, South American songs, and gamelan orchestra). Her pieces exploit the amazing complexity of her instrument while never straying from a very direct, intense, and personal musical expression. Her last Hamilton appearance included original works, improvisations with local players, and a solo pedal steel guitar version of Olivier Messaien’s And I Await the Resurrection of the Dead. The UK Guardian describes her music as “beautiful, glassy and liquid, however far she strays from pulse and conventional harmony.”
MONICKER
ARTHUR BULL guitar
SCOTT THOMSON trombone
ROGER TURNER drums
London-based percussionist Roger Turner has been working as an improviser percussionist since the early 1970’s, touring and playing concerts worldwide from Sydney to the Arctic, Tokyo to Belfast, New York to Beirut. He has performed in countless established and ad hoc configurations with European & international musicians and performers from Annette Peacock to Phil Minton, Cecil Taylor to Masahiko Satoh, Charles Gayle to Lol Coxhill, Derek Bailey to Otomo Yoshihide, Alan Silva to Keith Rowe, Josef Nadj to Min Tanaka, Toshinori Kondo to Axel Dorner. Monicker is Turner’s Canadian ensemble with Montreal trombonist Scott Thomson (last year’s Something Else! Artist in residence) and guitarist Arthur Bull, from Digby Neck, NS. The trio’s music, they announce, “has been and will be improvised.”
CHADBOURNE / GUTHRIE
EUGENE CHADBOURNE guitar, banjo, vocals
WILL GUTHRIE drums, percussion
Only in Hamilton! Spontaneity is the root musical value of the very different musics of guitarist Eugene Chadbourne and percussionist Will Guthrie. Over the years they’ve collaborated with many of the same artists, and each has toured extensively in Europe and Asia; yet, with Guthrie based in Nantes, France, and Chadbourne in North Carolina, these two master musicians have never had the opportunity to play together until this encounter in the Something Else! Festival. The audience can expect sensitive interplay as the percussionist and guitarist get acquainted; an easy rapport to be established between these two expert listeners and players; and then at some point, all hell will break loose!
THE REVIVAL ENSEMBLE
Plays Ellington’s Far East Suite
TED CROSBY tenor saxophone, clarinets
LISEN RYLANDER LÖVE tenor saxophone
KAREN NG alto saxophone, clarinet
ALAN MACKIE violin
SCOTT THOMSON trombone
LINA ALLEMANO trumpet
REBECCA HENNESSY trumpet
MICHAEL DAVIDSON vibraphone
HARLEY CARD guitar
COLE SCHMIDT guitar
JAMES MEGER bass
DAN GAUCHER drums
Led by Toronto-based saxophonist Ted Crosby, the 12-piece Revival Ensemble interprets and re-imagines the works of great composers, bringing them into the 21st century with a focus on free improvisation and contemporary composition. On their current Canadian tour, the Ensemble will be tackling the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s landmark 1967 album, The Far East Suite. Inspired by the Ellington Orchestra’s trip to Asia and the Middle East, the Suite offers portraits of strange new people and places. Staying true to the themes of these two great African American composers, the Revival Ensemble will explore the idea of travel and exploration into unknown territory against the contemporary context of our modern world. The Ensemble features some of Canada’s finest improvisers—plus a special international guest, Swedish saxophonist Lisen Rylander Löve.
Regular Admission: $35 door or $28 advance
Students, Seniors, Under-waged Admission: $28 door or advance
Passes: $125 regular (up to $225 value) / $100 students, seniors, under-waged for all 7 ticketed events