The third in-person sliver of, or more precisely, an actual, regular festival day of our 2021 Something Else! Festival Series at the Bayfront Park consists of four solid Southern Ontario special projects spearheaded respectively by RYAN DRIVER, PETER JOHNSTON, KURT NEWMAN, & BRODIE WEST, we will enjoy one full set of music each from THE TITILLATORS, SEE THROUGH 4, NASHVILLE MINIMALISM UNIT, & EUCALYPTUS. Hamilton guitarist CHRIS PALMER will also perform a solo acoustic set. PLUS, there will be exciting solo and one-off duet situations.
SCHEDULE
12:00 —> Chris Palmer
12:30 —> Nashville Minimalism Unit
13:30 —> Thom Gill
14:00 —> See Through 4
15:00 —> Chris Palmer & Brodie West
15:30 —> The Titillators
16:30 —> Nick Fraser & Germaine Liu
17:00 —> Eucalyptus
By donation…
Suggested donation $15-25 at the door…
…$15 advance via Eventbrite
NO ONE WILL BE REFUSED ENTRY FOR LACK OF FUNDS
EUCALYPTUS
Photo by Aaron Hutchinson
BRODIE WEST alto saxophone • RYAN DRIVER clavinet • KAREN NG alto saxophone • KURT NEWMAN guitar • MIKE SMITH bass • D. ALEX MEEKS percussion • NICK FRASER drums • EVAN CARTWRIGHT • drums
Brodie West was in the midst of a decade-long association with The Ex and Ethiopian saxophone legend Getatchew Mekuria when he formed Eucalyptus in 2009. The 12 year old all-star octet remains a distinct and beloved presence in Toronto. Languid, poppish melodicism rides a polyrhythmic web of eclectic rhythms inspired by various global traditions. All-out groove and freeform impulse conspire secretly to produce volatile, but radically accessible, hybrid forms.
THE TITILLATORS
Photo by Vegar Samuelsen
It is a rare privilege to encounter as original a musician as Toronto’s RYAN DRIVER, whom savvy locals know, for example, for mysterious, evocative synthesiser playing and vocals with the Cluttertones (a Hamilton favourite), for singing languorous, rapturous jazz standards (and originals; he’s a splendid composer) with his Quintet/ Sextet, and crucial roles in both, Titanium Riot (performed on July 24) and Eucalyptus (also a Hamilton regular, playing this very afternoon).
THE TITILLATORS is a recently conceived of band underpinned (almost literally) by Ryan Driver’s extraordinary street-sweeper-bristle bass, an actual tine of metal that he flicks off the side of a wooden block in a bewildering approximation of jazz bass playing.
Add three percussionists (GERMAINE LIU, D. ALEX MEEKS, EVAN CARTWRIGHT) playing all manner of things strewn about a colourful carpet, and a pair of synth players (TANIA GILL & THOM GILL) to play standards in ways that are whimsical, experimental, psychedelic, and consummately joyful.
SEE THROUGH 4
KAREN NG saxophone, TANIA GILL piano, and JAKE OELRICHS perform the compositions of bassist PETE JOHNSTON. SEE THROUGH 4’s performances blur the lines between composition and improvisation in the tradition of the Jimmy Giuffre 3, Carla Bley and Ornette Coleman, with some 1980s-era King Crimson mixed in to keep it real. Bill Meyer of The Wire says: “They swing with such a light touch you might almost miss their covertly proggy digressions.”
NASHVILLE MINIMALISM UNIT
Hovering right over the intersection of psychedelia, experimental composition, instrumental country, and free-improvisation, guitarist and pedal steel practitioner KURT NEWMAN’s exciting project NASHVILLE MINIMALISM UNIT comes in all shapes and sizes, utilizing many of Toronto’s finest improvisers, country & roots music aficionados, and fearless avant-gardists. KURT NEWMAN electric & pedal steel guitars, PETE JOHNSTON bass, & JAKE OELRICHS drums
The Nashville Minimalism Unit is an ensemble with shifting membership, drawing on the immense talents of the Toronto experimental jazz and bluegrass communities, dedicated to exploring the intersection of honky-tonk instrumental country and the cellular/ repetition-based composed music of the post-John Cage era.
Initially deriving inspiration from the pioneering explorations of Henry Flynt, the NMU has mutated into a looser and freer entity, culminating in the sound heard on its debut LP, Soldier's Joy Lurking at the heart of every NMU performance is the pedal steel guitar of Kurt Newman.
A free improvising guitarist in the European tradition since the late 90s, Newman studied classic Nashville pedal steel style with the legendary Neil Flanz (Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Charlie Louvin) in Austin, Texas in the 2000s, and has for years been immersed in the recorded history of electric country of the post-Hank Williams and pre-Garth Brooks period.
Playfully knotting and un-knotting these various obsessions and compulsions while keeping the good times going: our thing.
CHRIS PALMER
A truly original improvising guitarist with a keen sense of adventure, humour, fire, curiosity, and mischief, CHRIS PALMER can easily rock a house party or stun a literary audience, hypnotizing them with his charm and chops. Palmer has been playing guitar for nearly forty years in a variety of contexts.
For over a decade before moving to Canada from New Zealand, he was actively involved in the Wellington improvised and avant-rock music scene. He’s a fair third of the incendiary Hamilton free jazz unit Lee/Palmer/Bennett, with bassist David Lee and reeds player Connor Bennett.
This one-of-a-kind afternoon fiesta was made possible with kind support from Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, & the City of Hamilton.
