IMAGINARY PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Imaginary Percussion Ensemble is the brainchild of gifted Toronto percussionist and composer Germaine Liu, and features two of the city's other foremost sonic imaginations, Joe Sorbara and Mark Zurawinski. The ensemble’s music is rooted in a deep concern for gesture, for physicality, for tactility—invested in performance as visceral exploration and co-creation, performance as an ongoing process of (re)discovering ideas and vocabulary; always in the hope of creating an inviting and inclusive space for audience and participants. Tom Beedham of Exclaim! touted their set at the 2017 X-Avant Festival as "an evening highlight," adding that their work "repeatedly challenged any academy-set definitions of just what constitutes an instrument or a musical practice."
MARS WILLIAMS & TOLLEF ØSTVANG
Chicago's Mars Williams might be most visible as a member of the Psychedelic Furs, but his career as a saxophonist is a total anomaly, spanning recordings with Hal Russell on ECM to appearances with Ministry, a featured artist slot at fable free jazz institution the Moers festival, to Grammy nominations with Liquid Soul. His duo with Norwegian drummer Tollef Østvang is suitably dynamic and peculiar, juxtaposing spacious sonic exploration with duo electricity that nods in the direction of Interstellar Space.
tollefostvang.com/project/mars-williamstollef-ostvang
DAVE DOUGLAS’ MARCHING MUSIC
Prolific NYC trumpeter, composer and educator Dave Douglas' practice is best summarized by one trait: wild diversity. His array of current projects include many crucial players in today's exploratory music landscape, among them Anna Webber, Tomeka Reid, Bill Laswell, Shigeto, Uri Caine, and Andrew Cyrille. Having received such distinctions as a Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Aaron Copland award, and two Grammy Award nominations, Douglas has also composed for the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Essen Philharmonie, and served as artistic director of the Banff Centre's Jazz and Creative Music workshop.
Marching Music is a direct outgrowth of today's uncertain political climate, conceived as "music you could have in your headphones when you attend Climate Marches, Demonstrations for Equal Rights, Voting Rights Movements, and all other actions towards a just society." This dynamic quartet sees Douglas alongside young guitarist Rafiq Bhatia (Vijay Iyer, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Moses Sumney), stalwart bassist Melvin Gibbs (Rollins Band, Vernon Reid, Sonny Sharrock, Arto Lindsay) and powerhouse drummer Sim Cain (Rollins Band, Greg Ginn, Elliott Sharp).