Next, a trio recording with guitarist Joe Morris and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck, is now available for pre-order from Porter Records; very intimate and intense improvisational chamber music. And two other recent CDs are still warm from the oven: The Throes, a quartet with Nate Wooley on trumpet, Ken Filiano on bass, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums, and Book of Three , a collective trio with bassist John Hébert and drummer Gerald Cleaver. All music I am very proud to stand behind, click on the titles for links to sample and purchase.
Coming up later this month:
The North American premiere of Anthony Braxton’s Echo Echo Mirror House Music, at Firehouse 12 in New Haven on May 20 and at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville on May 21.
On May 27 and 28, I’ll be performing in the premiere of choreographer Rachel Bernsen’s interdisciplinary work Corridor, at the Take Your Time series at the Big Room in New Haven. Then I’ll close out the weekend with a performance with Jason Kao Hwang’s Edge at the Stone in NYC on May 29. Click on the links for more info, or visit the calendar page of my website.
Festivals
In June, the Festival of New Trumpet Music will present WE SPEAK, a three-night concert series that I curated:
On June 3 at the Rubin Museum of Art, I’ll be performing alongside Stephen Haynes, Rob Mazurek, William Parker, Warren Smith, and special guests Stanton Davis and Wadada Leo Smith, in a tribute to one of my heroes and mentors, Bill Dixon.
June 5 features Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet at Le Poisson Rouge.
And on June 7, FONT partners with the Vision Festival in a night at Abrons Art Center, featuring Amir ElSaffar, Ted Daniel, Tomasz Stanko, Stephanie Richards, and Jonathan Finlayson.
I’ll be returning to the Vision Festival on June 10. At 5pm I’ll be performing with Gerald Cleaver’s ensemble plus a group of students he’s been mentoring, then that evening I’ll be presenting the debut of Action Theory, an interdisciplinary improvisational performance collective with percussionist Abraham Gomez- Delgado and dancers Rachel Bernsen and Melanie Maar. The Action Theory rehearsals have been full of explorations and revelations; I can’t wait to bring this group before an audience.
Free Music
Finally, I’m starting a new series of free album-length downloads on my website. In honor of the performances coming up, the first release is a recording of the original THB Sextet at the Vision Fest in 2008, featuring Matt Bauder on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Jessica Pavone on viola, Mary Halvorson and Evan O’Reilly on guitars, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. This group was together for about four years and recorded two CDs, but I think this might have been the band’s best performance; everyone was on fire that night.
I’m also releasing Borgel Songs: a twelve-minute, three-movement song cycle with text by the marvelously absurdist author Daniel Pinkwater. The recording features soprano Lisa Saffer, with Bill Lowe on bass trombone and David Bryant on piano; Bill and I also play some improvised interludes. This was recorded back in 2005, I’ve always loved this but have never found a proper place to fit it, so I’m thrilled to finally just put it up on my website.
Coming soon on the free downloads series: audio road diaries from last year, with recordings from my trip to China and my Acoustic Bicycle Tour.
