2025 Big Ears Festival, Day 3: Saturday, March 29

 

By Sarah Grosser

Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith at the Bijou Theatre 

 

 

Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith

Vijay Iyer- keyboards

Wadada Leo Smith- trumpet

The Bijou Theatre is full to the brim once again. The sardines are packed in; ushers find and fill every seat as Vijay rumbles away on some deep low notes on piano. Wadada expresses a breezy slow passage. Finally, after five minutes, most of the distracting noises of cans opening, rustling patrons finding seats, and coughing have died down. Vijay gets some faint ambient electronics going and Wadada lets rip with some sharp shrill stabs. The ambient fuzz adds a constant underlying tension, a bit like the pop and crackle of an unclean vinyl album in motion. It's like a breathing whirr; like the lungs of the piece, there is an air of suspense and focus. The reverberant Fender Rhodes produces sounds similar to that on the 2023 album Love in Exile (Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily).

Wadada's trumpet is distant and lonely, as if crying in a vast open plane. Vijay provides the base through his melody, Wadada infuses it with windy emotion. The chords are relatable and familiar, soulful, and vaguely hopeful. This is a deep and earnest performance.

The floor on the Bijou Theatre balcony is creaky wood and anytime someone leaves, it’s like a herd of elephants. It is difficult, but one must become hardened to it, and attempt to appreciate the ambient music. I want to stab everyone who interrupts it with their noisiness. EVERYONE!

Joyful Noise presents Greg Saunier, Kramer, Shahzad Ismaily, Thor Harris, Wendy Eisenberg, and friends at Pretentious Brewing Company. 

 

Joyful Noise

Wendy Eisenberg- guitar

Greg Saunier- drums

Tall Tall Trees- banjo

Kramer- guitar

Thor Harris- clarinet

Macie Stewart- violin

Shahzad Ismaily- bass synthesizer

Hope Littwin- vocals

“You should be here - Greg [Saunier] is the best drummer at this festival!” – Friends summoned me away from the Bijou Theatre to the Pretentious Brewing jam session featuring a kaleidoscope of colourful, free-spirited musicians. This jam truly lived up to the record label name presenting it, as everyone on stage could be seen euphorically engaging in their array of instruments. Thor’s keyboard was gaffer-taped to a plastic children’s basketball hoop. Someone (probably Shahzad) had placed a shoe on Greg’s snare. The little beer garden was bursting with spectators, even the perimeter of the fence was speckled with people who had climbed up from the other side to watch. At one point, a pair of identical twin brothers appeared, adding to the surreal, Lynchian vibe of the show. Bright, swirling melodies launched rainbows of colour into the overcast sky. In spite of the very name of the brewery, it is all carefree and ironically unpretentious. It’s contagious watching musicians who are clearly enjoying themselves. It’s like a playground up there. At one point Shahzad jumps up, zipping his onesie over his face, holding his Palestine t-shirt in protest. Soon after he is draping socks and other material over Thor’s instruments while he is playing them. Kramer is keeping a glue-like bassline going while Hope occasionally chimes in with her almost spiritual cries. Macie’s violin sets the tone, while Greg flails madly around in his “SUPER ME” crop top, which looks ab-solutely adorable. (Is he the best drummer at the festival? It’s a hard choice between him, Tyshawn, Sanchez, Wollesen, Waits, … how can one possibly choose?) Suddenly out of nowhere, Shahzad starts singing “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac. One by one, the spectators start to look at each other and laugh and smile. The jam has accidentally turned into a live remix, never once reaching the word "raining." Everyone just keeps singing in a loop: “Thunder only happens when it’s / thunder only happens when it’s…” The joyful noise continues until it doesn’t anymore, and the band bows and collects itself on the side of the stage for a group photo. Everyone looks so happy to be there.

After the conclusion of the performance Shahzad grabs a mic. “Fleetwood Mac! What the FUCK!” Everyone cheers. He goes on to make an announcement that if people have time and are interested, they should absolutely check out an Indonesian artist named Peni Candra Rini at 7:30. It’s a good thing he mentioned it too, because this performance ended up being an incredibly moving standout. But more on that show to come...

Sylvie Courvoisier: Chimaera at the Bijou Theatre

 

Sylvie Courvoisier. Photo by Ashli Linkou

Sylvie Courvoisier- piano

Ikue Mori- computer

Wadada Leo Smith- trumpet

Nate Wooley- trumpet

Kenny Wollesen- vibraphone, drums

Drew Gress- double bass

Nasheet Waits- drums

I must have looked like I was having trouble deciding where to sit, as one of the friendly ushers asked me if I needed some help. They asked if I would like to go and sit in the opera boxes next to the stage, as these were open for anyone. I’d never been up in one of those before, so I gleefully accepted the novel suggestion. The sound quality from the opera box was still perfect. Only the vision was slightly obscured due to the speakers. I had to stand up if I wanted to see Ikue Mori and Nasheet Waits, but I had a wonderful, uninterrupted view of Ms. Maestro at her piano.

It's a completely different sound hearing the band without the ambient warmth of Fennesz's guitar but today Ikue Mori is filling in on computer and effects. She is sparkly and shimmery over Sylvie's glittery arpeggios. Wadada's trumpet is shiny while Nate Wooley's is matte. Nate's solo is so squelchy and textured that it's almost percussive, while being totally original. Wadada's solo is the polar opposite: austere, long muted notes, shrill and emotional.

Sylvie – looking ravishing as ever in her new black dress – plucks along the inside of the grand piano, while Kenny Wollesen taps gently on the vibraphone. Ikue's electronics flitter around like electrical glowing insects. Drew Gress and Nasheet Waits keep the soulful groove flowing with its sultry, slinky vibe.

Ikue leads the intro of the next song and the performance is capitulating and beautiful. Perhaps fittingly so, no solo is as engaging as Sylvie's. Her presence at the helm is commanding, but not dominant. She is the one in control, and the piano leads. Kenny has switched to a second drum kit and he and Nasheet battle it out in a thunderous, unfeasibly intense drum duet which comes seemingly out of nowhere, like a random hurricane. Sylvie is enjoying it. It's rather mighty.

Sylvie gives a speech about words recently banned by the US government. She is filled with disgust at the "orange moron" and stands for empathy, compassion, and transparency. The applause that follows is one of the loudest of the festival so far.

Peni Candra Rini at the Point

 

Peni Candra Rini

Rini's voice is absolutely outstanding. It's a crime that she and Arooj Aftab, the Grammy-nominated Pakistani vocalist were performing at the same time. Despite this unfortunate direct competition, the modest church is generously full. Her shadow puppet visuals, sparkling sequin outfit, and delicate traditional dance movements are the perfect accompaniment to her jaw-dropping unamplified vocal performance of traditional Indonesian music with impressive operatic elements. Her vibrato is so controlled and comes directly from her heart. Just like the very slightest variation in her voice, the most delicate hand movements and choreography is executed with an equally controlled finesse.

Two of her Indonesian friends are controlling the puppets and adding additional traditional Asian instruments. She also uses objects as part of her dance- a human heart statue, a piece of firefly-inspired art by a fourteen-year-old. Dr. Andy McGraw and Shahzad Ismaily (again) accompany on traditional Indonesian instruments, and bass/Moog, respectively.

The shadow boxes tell a story from Peni’s childhood, in written English text which is manually rotated to reveal each next chapter. This ensures that no expression is lost in translation through Peni’s more simple spoken English, which she also naturally speaks with a slight accent. It also adds to a style of storytelling which transports the viewer into a familiar cocoon; homey, comfortable, and as enchanting as having storybooks read to you out loud as a child. These words and the shadow puppet imagery that accompany it conjure tangible fantasies, brought to life through Peni’s incredible voice. She sways between more traditionally nasal asian folk singing and a more westernised operatic vocal approach, which makes for an extraordinary range of dynamics. Beyond that, her peaceful compositions range from soft ballads through to more pulsing dance numbers. She never ventures into kitsch territory. At one point Shahzad is resting his head on his bass and just watching up at the silent shadow puppets. It’s such a relaxing space to be in.

Towards the end of the show, the shadow puppets are revealed from behind the screen and they are gold and colourful, like giant autumn leaves. Having only seen them in shadow form and therefore only black, this comes as a bright and magical twist. One puppeteer remains behind the screen while the other controls the coloured puppets in front of the screen. There are layers of animation now, and with Peni the star, dancing and singing out in front, I can feel my waterline beginning to flood. It is without question that the church rises to a standing ovation at the conclusion – a very long one, which clearly takes Peni by pleasant surprise. Later on, via Instagram she posts a photo of her Big Ears “Artist” wristband and writes: “Many thanks for the incessant standing ovation.”

أحمد [Ahmed] at Regas Square 

أحمد [Ahmed]

Pat Thomas- piano
Joel Grip- double bass
Antonin Gerbal- drums
Seymour Wright- alto saxophone

 

Having already played the night before to raving reviews the [Ahmed] Quartet returned to Regas Square for another frenzied round of their signature endurance-jazz. Talk about exhilarating. One of the most polarising acts in the jazz world today, this is the band all the elitists seem to love-to-hate. The general noisiness of the whole project is an acquired taste, as is Seymour Wright’s sax tone.

The [Ahmed] sound wall is dense and meditative. The speed at which the musicians play is a test of physical stamina, so too for the audience to listen to it. It’s totally extreme, and utterly relentless in the best possible way. As Homer Simpson once said: “Nobody snuggles with Max Power, you strap yourself in and feel the G’s!”

Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it changes in variation on drums are seamlessly woven in amongst chaotic bass and piano, while the honky sax creates a sound reminiscent of an alarm going off, repeatedly. At some points it feels closer to noise music than jazz music, and that’s truly a compliment to the innovation of the project. How often can one say that they have come across something in jazz which is *this* original? The closest musical comparison I can think of would possibly be the band Swans, whereby after a while, one begins to hear new sounds amidst the intensity, and the density. It’s also a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Earlier in the day, via a chance meeting at Starbucks, Joel Grip showed me his calloused, bruised hands, totally wrecked from thrashing the ever-loving shit out of his double bass at breakneck pace. Developing a thick skin has always been a necessity in jazz, this only proved it to also be physically true.

To put the speed into perspective, and to paraphrase Edward George’s liner notes from their 2024 album Wood Blues: “I think [Ahmed] can be said to rate as highly as Atomic on the Bassie Swing Metric […] almost breaking our measuring equipment.”

I have been told that the performance culminated in a full-house standing ovation, which I (criminally) missed seeing. The only thing that could possibly drag one away from the unstoppable quartet would be a personal invitation from Sylvie Courvoisier to join her on a walk downtown to see…

Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade at the Bijou Theatre 

 

Jenny Scheinman's All Species Parade

Jenny Scheinman- violin
Bill Frisell- guitar

Julian Lage- guitar

Nels Cline- guitar
Carmen Staaf- piano
Tony Scherr- bass

Kenny Wollesen- drums
Julianna Cressman- dance 

 

Jenny smiles as she sways her violin in her floaty, floral pantsuit. There’s not a spare seat in the theatre and there’s a line outside to get in. She is joined onstage on what can only be described as a frickin' powerhouse of a guitar trio: BIll Frisell, Julian Lage, and Nels Cline – so much character and individuality between the three. It’s a gift to be able to watch each trade a solo one after the other, really showcasing the diversity of the instrument: Julian with his understated, brilliant virtuosity, Bill with his familiar, sensitive master’s voice, and Nels with his almost punkish, effect-driven punches. But it feels almost rude to single out anyone from this obviously legendary lineup. Julianna Cressman also captivated with her contemporary dance, slinking and folding her body aesthetically around to the music in a white, earthy modern outfit.

From wafting swing ballads through to more upbeat blues, Jenny’s alluring violin-led tunes were an excellently curated collection, providing just the right party atmosphere for one of the final sets of the day.
 

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Read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

 

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2025 Big Ears Festival Day 2: Friday, March 28

 

By Sarah Grosser 

Eno (film)

 

To Brian Eno, there seems to be an eternal sense of wonder about the world. An artist without even trying to be one, it's just something he was born to do. And a relatable artist at that. The packed cinema enjoyed frequent outbursts of laughter watching the famous innovator swearing "Fuck off" at YouTube while waiting for the ads to end. This generative film can be viewed over and over again as the segments are randomly selected for each individual screening. Some folks who viewed both screenings of Eno at Big Ears estimated that around 50% of the movie was different in the second version- a section about Eno's love of the omnichord was not in the first showing, for example. Another fan was overheard saying that the version they saw last year had a stronger focus on Roxy Music and vintage Eno.

Oblique Strategies are a deck of cards developed by Peter Schmidt and Eno, designed to prompt new, creative solutions to artistic conundrums. As a proud owner of my own deck, (fifth edition 2001), I was pleased to see the cards appearing in different segments. Learning that Eno and David Bowie used to take a card each and not tell each other its contents, and then try work on the same track in secret resulted in some terrifically creative dichotomies, especially when both cards worked in polar opposition to each other. These small vignettes were a joy to experience. I could have kept watching all day.

Nels Cline Singers at the Mill & Mine

 

Nels Cline

 

Nels Cline- guitar

Skerik- saxophone

Trevor Dunn- bass

Scott Amendola- drums

Cyro Baptista- percussion

A little sunburn was a small price to pay for a front row spot on the railing for Nels's spectacular experimental band. Not that there was any shortage of talent onstage. Keyboard player Brian Marsella was notably absent, but becoming a first-time father is a legitimate excuse. The crowd cheered when Nels announced this happy news. This psychedelic group explored a range of props and accessories with their instruments, resulting in an array of unique textural squonks amongst the grooves. Me and my friends had fun dancing and imitating the different wah-wah's, click-clacks, and more. Cyro Baptista was blowing into a tiny whistle, clanging one of his many gongs, rustling handmade shakers, or providing odd vocal accompaniment. His bag of bizarre percussive tricks seemed infinite. He was endlessly entertaining and brought a fun, trippy spice to the already eclectic group. Frontman Nels was just as fun to watch, cycling through different effects and jamming out on his git. Some passionate moments saw him go momentarily punk, ripping at his axe dramatically, as if momentarily possessed. Watching Nels's wild flashes was exciting. The sound in the front row was difficult and it was almost impossible to hear Skerik’s saxophone. It's a strange thing to be two meters away from a wailing sax and not to hear it. Thankfully there were a few quieter moments where the sax could be made out. I'm sure it sounded fantastic everywhere else in the hall. But standing directly under the truss speakers, for a great live view, I suppose this is the unfortunate price to pay.

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet at the Bijou Theatre

 

Jeff Parker - Bijou. Photo by Taryn Ferro

Jeff Parker- guitar

Josh Johnson- saxophone

Anna Butterss- bass

Jay Bellerose- drums

I only managed to catch a few songs from this set, but I really enjoyed Jeff Parker’s smooth, easy guitar grooves. After the busy freak-out with Nels, a funky loop with a minimalist vibe was the perfect way to calm back down and ease into the rest of the day. The infectious repetitions of “Freakadelic” had the audience grooving away, their heads nodding along to the beat in the darkness. Unpretentious, understated, and really easy to enjoy. I hadn’t previously heard the long jams from their 2024 release “The Way Out of Easy” but I can see this becoming my soundtrack to a hot, loungey summer’s day.

I had heard, however, great things about Australian bass player Anna Butterss, and they did not disappoint with their soulful approach to the upright bass (and super cool pink buzz-cut.) A true original in the scene today and – after a quick chat after the show – a lovely person too.

Thor Harris at the First Presbyterian Sanctuary

 

Thor Harris

Thor has his little keyboard right up front in the middle, in contrast to Kramer and Shahzad who were hidden behind the grand piano, stage left. I can't tell if its little speaker is busted or if it's meant to be subtly distorted like that. The slight buzzing is a little off-putting against the angel clarity of the keys. When Thor comes in on an equally bright and clear clarinet, the buzzing continues. I've come to the conclusion that it was just an added effect by choice, as it did fade out over time. The toy piano sound is much more pleasant. I'm not sure what I expected from a former Swans percussionist, but certainly a toy piano looped with live clarinet was not on my radar. Even though his live playing kept it interesting, for me the loops are a little repetitive. For others this is surely entrancing.

"What an honor to play in the best festival in the United States!" Thor seems like a really positive person, shouting out friends in the audience, giving people big warm hugs. He seems genuinely nice. It's hardly any wonder he has seven musician friends to invite, joining him for an ensemble piece. The band is Water Damage and they play a soft looping piece which is mellow, calm, and subtly evolving. The numerous stringed instruments swirl around each other as the plinky toy piano descends like tiny snowflakes. Thor joins in on a melodica, and adds a bassline. This time, when the loops are played by musicians, it has a less mechanical feel to it.

The jam eventually begins to lift into a crescendo which is quite loud. Several people in the audience are nodding along with the musicians. The intensity is welcomed after the long start. At the conclusion of the show, one man launches to his feet, clapping maniacally into the sky with pure elation.

In between shows our crew heads over to Good Golly Tamale for vegan tamales which we then took over to eat at Pretentious Beer Co. – perhaps the most creative brewery in town, widely known for their unbeatable selection of delicious and inventive craft beers. As an Australian based in Bavaria, the opportunity for me to experience a real Tamale had not yet presented itself in this lifetime, so I was thrilled to be experiencing one for the first time. Scrumptious, and highly recommended!

Bill Frisell "In My Dreams" at the Tennessee Theatre

 

Bill Frisell's In My Dreams. Photo by Eli Johnson

Bill Frisell- guitar

Jenny Scheinman- violin

Eyvind Kang- viola

Hank Roberts- cello

Tony Scherr- bass

Rudy Royston- drums

Greg Tardy- clarinet and tenor saxophone

Despite having six friends on stage alongside, Bill is given all the sonic space he needs to stand out as the feature of this very listenable ensemble. The addition of strings makes it magical. They take a good thing and make it even better. The songs waft along like a warm spring breeze- the ideal accompaniment to the unusually hot weather outside. Bill is all smiles jamming with this group: the groove is smooth and elite. It's classy.

Rudy Royston's drum solo is a dynamic feast. Bill is clearly ecstatic at Rudy's immaculate demonstration and the joy is contagious. People are clapping before it's even over. Granted, it's after 8 pm on a Friday and beers are flowing. Everyone in the audience is loving it. Solo after solo elicits joyful applause. The composition has taken a turn for the ballad, and everyone is down for the ride.

The pieces are quite long, and have a typical Frisell groove to them, but they meander along with a relaxing, but not chill vibe- there is plenty of tension and suspense, but it's universally enjoyable.

(Turntable Trio) Miriam Rezaei, Maria Chàvez, Victoria Shen (aka Evicshen) at the Standard

 

Victoria Shen

The only downside to this incredible, provocative, electrifying performance is that there are no deck-cams to observe all the exciting, busy creativity happening atop the tables. A heavily male-dominated instrument, this all-female turntable noise trio is a miracle to behold. Maria to the right providing ambience and effects, physically dropping crumbled vinyl onto the deck to produce loud booms and manipulating her own voice via microphone. Miriam in the middle conjuring incredibly choppy beats and lightning-fast scratches and manipulations with speed and precision. And then there is Victoria Shen (Evicshen), unquestionably having the hottest theatrics of the festival, combined with a dominant stage outfit, and a mad-scientist’s collection of homemade noise instruments and devices. When she began combing her hair with a comb microphone, producing a loud gritty distortion, the guy next to me must have been tripping balls because he absolutely lost his shit. Contorting her body, using her mouth, nails, legs, squatting over her homemade turntable with a small trumpet, and finally cracking an actual whip, she had the enthralled audience in the palm of her hand. Or rather, under the heel of her boot. Exceptional.

Together, the three digital sirens interacted with each other, sometimes swapping places, constantly experimenting. The drum 'n' bass finale saw Maria excitedly jumping and smiling- in exuberance. It was contagious.

When the show ended, a man called out, "That's how you do it!" which I'm sure was meant well, but left me thinking, "Male confirmation not required." They clearly already know how it's done. 

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Read: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

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The Young Mothers - Better If You Let It (Sonic Transmission Records, 2025)

By  Martin Schray

Loyal readers of this blog may know about my ambiguous relationship with jazz-rock and fusion. In the early 1980s I was fascinated by musicians like Al DiMeola, Stanley Clarke (and their project Return to Forever), the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble or Jean-Luc Ponty because I was impressed by their virtuosity. However, I quickly got bored of it since it often seemed to be about showing off that virtuosity and less about authenticity, creativity, subtle ideas and sound. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned to appreciate some of my old albums again (e.g. John McLaughlin’s Inner Mounting Flame, Weather Report’s first album or Tony Williams’s Million Dollar Legs). Another reason were newer jazz-rock formations that I also found exciting, such as The Nels Cline Singers, Bushman’s Revenge or The Young Mothers. The latter, founded by the Norwegian bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten during his time in Austin/Texas, where he lived from 2009 to 2021, actually had the goal of combining as much cross-genre music as possible. Therefore, they first played live extensively for several years before their first album, A Mothers Work Is Ever Done, was released in 2014. Morose followed in 2018. Finally, Håker Flaten moved back to Norway in 2021 and it took until 2024 before the band managed to record a new album - quite a long time in the free jazz scene.

If you already liked the group from their previous albums, you can sit back and relax, because the open, various approach is still the band’s main characteristic and the line-up has also remained the same: Jawwaad Taylor (trumpet, rhymes, electronics and programming), Jason Jackson (tenor and baritone sax), Stefan Gonzalez (vibraphone, drums, percussion and voice), Jonathan F. Horne (guitar), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (acoustic and electric bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums, electronics and programming). According to the label, the songwriting for the new album was more collective than on its predecessors, which is reflected in an even greater stylistic range. The Young Mothers once again present an energetic mixture of jazz, prog-rock, hiphop, electronics and free improvisation, whereby prefabricated ideas are juxtaposed with free improvisation. Complexity and directness are no contradiction. However, the question with such music is whether the result is inconsistent or whether it has a clear line despite all the diversity. Here the answer is definitely the latter. Despite the often surprising twists and turns within the pieces, the music seems well thought out and organic.

The beginning of the last and longest track on the album, “Scarlet Woman Lodge“, is reminiscent of Miles Davis’s Get Up With It phase, before a shouter sneaks into the piece and the guitar and drums push the track in the direction of heavy metal. The title track and “Ljim” are relaxed but quite intricate jazz-hip-hop pieces, and you can’t deny echoes of Alfa Mist. “Hymn” develops away from composed passages into classic, hard free jazz, while “Song for a Poet“ has delicate ambient qualities.

Better If You Let It is great fun, hopefully Håker Flaten will manage to keep the band together. The more projects of this quality there are, the less chance I have of losing my love for jazz-rock again.

Better If You Let It is available on vinyl, as a CD and as a download.

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Tim Berne, Gregg Belisle-Chi, and Tom Rainey - Yikes Too (Out of Your Head, 2025) *****

By Gary Chapin

There’s a master’s thesis—or a tawdry Netflix miniseries—to be written about Tim Berne and his serial relationships with amazing, visionary guitarists. Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, Marc Ducret, etc. Berne met guitarist Gregg Belisle-Chi when the latter arranged a Berne composition for solo acoustic guitar (it was something to do during the pandemic) and posted it on Instagram. Berne reached out to Belisle-Chi and soon we had Belisle-Chi’s Koi: Performing the Music of Tim Berne , produced by Berne. Then came their duet record . Now, Belisle-Chi has become one of Berne’s usual suspects on both acoustic and electric guitar.

Belisle-chi has an expansive way of playing the electric, filling the room the way an orchestra does, with a quantity of sound. There’s a touch of proggy goodness in there—which is a treat for this lifetime prog fan. This sort of electric bombast makes for a perfect partner for Berne’s preternaturally strong sax.

The two take Berne’s compositions in a less oblique way than in other settings. It’s always interesting to hear how different agglomerations of players render these compositions. On the disc, we’re given 10 studio tracks and 9 live tracks. Here’s the thing: in a few cases, we hear a tune played in the studio, and then hear the same tune played live. Call me a nerd but I find it FASCINATING to compare versions of the tunes to one another. There’s the obvious differences of improvised chunks, but tempos, dynamics, voicing … it’s all up for grabs. The composition is composed in the moment! And look, I know that this is how our kind of music works—but it’s very cool to see it so explicitly in action. Like seeing the aurora borealis.

I haven’t mentioned Tom Rainey, yet. Not because I want to look away, but because I want to set him aside for high honors. Rainey is characteristically great on Yikes Too, holding the whole garment together with his infinitely long thread of whackity-whack. I’ve loved his stuff forever, but this year I’m feeling something special. In the race for improv MVP of 2025, he’s already at the top of my list. 5 Stars

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Stories about Thollem (and everyone else) [2/2]

Thollem. Photo by ACVilla

By David Cristol

See part 1 here.

Listening to music

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. It depends on how involved I am on any given project, which is pretty much all the time. Because of our travels, I have the great fortune to hear a lot of music that I might not otherwise be exposed to, as well as a lot of live settings, and this is an important part of my life and musical development. An indelible memory is listening to records at the library when I was a kid, and I had a pretty eclectic record collection as well.


Interests and influences

I am more influenced by elements outside of music than by music made by others. Also, very curious about popular science, ancient archeology, quantum physics, astronomy... Everything between the birth canal and the eventuality of death – so they say. I very much love working with artists of other disciplines, and learn a lot when interacting! One of the great benefits of being an artist is that there is always the potential to assimilate all of our experiences and interests. 

Photo by ACVilla

A sense of fun

I'm glad you hear a sense of fun in my music. At the very least, fun is a real-life experience just as are all the “serious” topics, emotions, approaches. I think, “does humor belong in music?” is a serious question, though I don't normally necessarily intend for my music to be humorous. I love music and I love making music with others, it’s where I find joy and relief from suffering, and want to spread this to others. That said, it is also because of how serious I do take it. When we stop to look at life from the human perspective we see constant contradictions underlying it all. For me the little revolutions and the big revolution HAS to include more joy, but at the same time it HAS to include more justice, which is deadly serious.


Shared values

Fortunately, in my line of work, there are endless colleagues I enjoy being and working with. This doesn't mean that I shy away from disagreements or challenging situations, in fact I am constantly finding – or putting – myself into challenging situations. Growth comes through both the abrasive nature of life as well as the joy we share. Generally, musicians and artists have pretty similar political views, at least in my circles. The pandemic and vaccines created a bit of a divide, for sure. It is important to work with people that share similar viewpoints, especially in this moment in time, because our values come through in our expression, and we are living in such a politically perilous moment. I would always hope, however, that nuance in disagreements can be a way to learn and grow. There are certainly people who work harder towards social issues and justice than others and there’s definitely a lot of performative actions with little substance. But this goes with all of humanity. We are all trying to navigate this crazy thing we call life, and it’s not easy for anyone. That said, I would never work with a MAGA supporter, partly because I can’t imagine we would have enough in common to want to create together but also because I wouldn’t want to validate their political beliefs by association.

Improvisation, composition and “comprovisation”

I came up with the “comprovisation” term and put it in some credits, but I don’t think of it as original. It's both an efficient and playful way to describe my approach to music. Where does composition stop and improvisation begin? In some ways I prefer it to the term improvisation, because I think most improvised music is actually quite composed, at least in the sense that in almost every situation, there are preconceived ideas of how musicians will approach their instruments and how they will interact with each other. But of course, it’s not very helpful in the long run if it’s not a common term, and it’s especially unhelpful if the goal is to reach out into the society at large. So, I don’t really use it that often.

A composition is something with a set of parameters that creates an outcome that is distinguishable from any other, no matter how slight. Improvisation is constantly happening in every aspect of the world. Sometimes I use the term instant composition, either for creative or bureaucratic reasons. Certainly, it's a shame that more emphasis is placed on composition by institutions financially. Though I came out of the hyper-composed world of classical music, and have degrees in composition, I believe improvised music has pushed the boundaries equally or even more so. And it was also an integral aspect of the development of classical music for centuries.

Solo piano

My solo piano work is the result of my lifelong practice. When I was young I dreamt of re-establishing the concept of composer/performer that used to be such an important part of what we call classical music. George Antheil was kind of my hero for a while, and then I began to realize that this was alive and well in the overall scope of jazz. Somewhere along the way it all merged for me, composition and improvisation, European concert music and black American music. I have a bunch of recordings out there, most recently Infinite-Sum Game on ESP-Disk’ which is a concert recording in Palermo in 2023.

Synthesizers and electronics

I am primarily inspired by exploring the possibilities of a particular instrument. I was dedicated to the piano for most of my life and didn’t record with an electric rig until about twelve years ago. I decided to take the leap and ended up owning about thirty different rigs. Synthesizers, samplers and mechanical instruments with pedals. Since I live on the road I owned only one at a time, so I was buying, exploring, recording, and selling, then buying a different one and so on. I’ve been working with the Korg Wavestate for about five years now – I’ve had about eight of them with other instruments in between – and have been working a lot utilizing my own recordings as sample sources which developed out of The Light Is Real , for which Terry and I recorded vocal improvisations virtually. His files were corrupted, so I chopped them up, imported them into the Wavestate and played them back through the keyboard with effects. Terry loved it and that gave me the idea to do this with samples from all five of the trio albums with Nels, William Parker, Michael Wimberly and Pauline Oliveros. ESP-Disk' released the first two Worlds in A Life volumes. Live in Dublin / WFMU Live will be coming out on a Limerick-based label in June.

Song and other writing

Most people who know my work do not know that I'm also a singer-songwriter. It definitely hasn't been my emphasis, but I have been writing songs since I was a very young. I'm the lead singer of Tsigoti, as well as with the Hand To Man Band (Mike Watt, John Dieterich and Tim Barnes) and on solo albums such as Machine in the Ghost and Hot Pursuit of Happiness' This Day's Called Tuesday, both on the Personal Archives label from Iowa and on a brand new album I'm self-releasing on Bandcamp called Oligarch Super Villains. Most of my songs are socio-policital commentary, anti-war, and philosophy, but I'm starting to work on an autobiographical album called Godammit Tommy! which is centered on my upbringing in the SF Bay Area and the political and cultural happenings, drawing parallels to the dynamics of our time now. Other than that, I have been published as a writer, most recently for a publication out of the UK called The Land, about experiencing the transition from the Valley Of Heart's Delight to Silicon Valley as a teenager. Over the last decade I have been the sole music writer for First American Art Magazine which is devoted to native artists of the Americas, as well as Essays on Deep Listening (for Pauline Oliveros), Blue Moon Magazine out of Prague, and ThreeFold Press out of Detroit.

Vision Festival and the New York scene

The common ground is the world of sound and our shared humanity. The beauty of freely improvised music is that everyone is coming at it with the idea that we are entering into a known/unknown territory, where exploration and connection with each other is key. William Parker and I first met in Detroit when I opened up for his trio at the old Bohemian National Home and we continued our friendship over the years. He had contributed a composition to Estamos Ensemble, a group of U.S. and Mexican musicians I put together, and eventually I asked if he would like to play with me and Nels Cline. I used to play a lot in New York but I haven’t so much in the last few years, mostly because I’m no longer traveling around the country in our van. It was a thrill to record with Karl Berger[1935-2023]. We were talking about a follow-up recording before he died. A great honor, and I cherish this one recording we made. I also have a couple of albums with Michael Snow, another dearly departed. One was recorded at the Philly Museum of Art to open his retrospective show, and was released by Edgetone Records, and the other one is part of my Astral Traveling Sessions that we recorded at Array in Toronto and published on Astral Spirits as part of a 25-album series of collaborations with many different musicians in 2019 and released during the pandemic.
 

Photo by ACVilla

It was great playing at the 2024 edition of the Vision Festival. I was able to attend the entirety of the fest. The first night was in honor of William who performed with a variety of his projects and ensembles, and I played on the last night, which also included the Sun Ra Arkestra and Marshall Allen for his 100th birthday celebration! I performed a solo piano set as well as Worlds in A Life along with live video art by ACVilla. 

Upcoming projects

This month a duo album is coming out with Carlo Mascolo, a trombonist from Puglia as well as a new Hot Pursuit of Happiness – my solo songs project – album. This album is pretty political. In March I have a duo album with the Uruguayan contrabassist Alvaro Rosso. These are comprovisations based on the structures I devised originally for my duo with Stefano Scodanibbio. We have a concert in Lisbon March 20th. In April will also see the release of Omnileliomatic II with the SIO. We will be celebrating this with a concert in Catania and another in Palermo organized by Curva Minore, the organization founded by Lelio Gianneto. I will also be playing duo concerts with Maria Merlino , a wonderful saxophonist from Messina to celebrate our duo album on Setola di Maiale. The label is run by Stefano Giust, a great drummer whom I originally met in a trio with Edoardo Marraffa . We call ourselves Magimc. Other releases coming out include my first heavy metal album with a band called Akklamation from the Navajo Nation. I got to know them through Diné [the name Navajos call themselves] musician Michael Begay whom I’ve been collaborating with for several years. In September I will be directing the second installment of the Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence which brings together over twenty musicians for three days of collaborations. Everyone is invited as individuals and we play three large ensemble concerts at night as well as smaller groupings, panel discussions, and educational programs. I am also working with Cork Marcheschi, a visual artist and founding member of the 1960s experimental rock band 50-Foot Hose for the next Thollem/Cline trio album. Cork has built an array of mechanical noisemakers and Nels and I will be playing in response to these!


Further meditations

We live in an increasingly perilous moment in time. I believe the arts have an integral role to play in re-envisioning our relationship with each other and the planet. I would encourage everyone to be more curious about what’s happening in smaller pockets, places outside of the cultural meccas, and in your own home town. In all of my travels I have had the privilege to experience artists and communities in small cities and rural areas which are all too often ignored by the larger publications, festivals and audiences. I’ve always thought of counter-culture as something that is truly counter to the anti-values of so much of mainstream culture. I’m afraid to say however, that much of that has been lost to previous eras. The world of improvised and experimental music has adopted many of the same tactics and dynamics of consumerist society: There has been an accumulation of wealth in power. We have our own 1%, as well as cult of personality and celebrity worship, and as a result many beautiful artists are left behind. It should always be about the work itself, not about where you come from, and especially not what resources you have to throw at publicists. I know dynamics are difficult in our world and there are many pressures, and I am not suggesting that those who have the attention are not deserving it, but it seems to me that there should be more curiosity for what is happening in the more obscure parts of the world.

https://www.thollem.com/

https://thollem.bandcamp.com/

Upcoming albums (2025)

• Oligarch Super Villains Godammit Tommy! (January)
• Quattro Frecce e Buonanotte Duo with Carlo Mascolo on Muzic Plus (January)
• Shatter and Conquer Godammit Tommy! (February)
• Memories of Ourselves Duo with Alvaro Rosso on Setola di Maiale (March)
• OmniLelioMatic II with the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra on Setola di Maiale (April)
• Untitled trio with Jacopo Andreini and Charles Ferris on Bandcamp (May)
• Worlds in A Life Live (Solo Sextet) on Fort Evil Fruit
• Ohms with Akklamation (Heavy Metal band from the Navajo Nation) on TBA

Live in 2025

• Mar 7 (Urbana, IL) @ University of Illinois - Workshop with Improvisers Exchange Ensemble
• Mar 8 (Urbana, IL) @ University of Illinois - 'Stories About People And Everyone Else' (with ACVilla)
• Mar 9 (Chicago, IL) @ The Hungry Brain - Trio with Matt Lux and Avreeayl Ra
• Mar 12 (Detroit, MI) @ Trinosophes - Solo Piano
• Mar 20 (Lisbon, PT) @ Casa do Comum - Duo with Alvaro Rosso (release concert for Memories Of Ourselves) and 'Stories About People And Everyone Else' (With ACVilla)
• Mar 27 (Strasbourg, FR) @ Conservatoire de Strasbourg Workshop plus concert with Tom Mays and Jean-Daniel Hege
• Mar 31 (Zurich, CH) @ XENIX Thollem/ACVilla's 'Stories About People And Everyone Else'
• Apr 3 - 5 (Bologna, IT) @ Centro di Ricerca Interdisciplinary Sulla Voce - residency in collaboration with Francesco Venturi
• Apr 6 (Bologna, IT) @ Centro di Ricerca Interdisciplinary Sulla Voce - duo with Francesco Venturi
• Apr 10 (Catania, IT) @ Zo with the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra
• Apr 11 (Palermo, IT) Sala Perriera Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa by Curva Minore - with the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra
• Apr 12 (Palermo, IT) @ Sala Perriera Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa by Curva Minore - Duo with Maria Merlino for the release on Setola di Maiale
• Sep 18 - 20 (Flagstaff, AZ) @ Coconino Center for the Arts co-Directing the Southwest Collaborative Music Convergence along with Interference Series
  
  

Solo piano (Kuumbwa Jazz Club, 2019):

Thollem on the Free Jazz Blog: 

• Thollem’s Astral Travelling Sessions with Alex Cline & Susan Alcorn (Astral Spirits, 2021) ****
• Ribbons of Euphoria, Music Unlimited 31 Festival, Wels, Austria, Nov. 10-12, 2017 (Part 2 of 2)
• Rob Mazurek – Rome (Clean Feed, 2017) & Chimeric Stoned Horn (Astral Spirits, 2017) ****½
• Thollem | Mazurek - Blind Curves and Box Canyons (Relative Pitch, 2017) ****
• William Parker & Stefano Scodanibbio - Bass Duo (AUM Fidelity, 2017) *****
• Nels Cline - Lovers (Blue Note, 2016) ***½
• Over the Pavement: Detroit's Festival of Art Music (Tom Weber Films, 2015) ****
• Magimc - Area Sismica (Setola Di Maiale, 2015) ***1/2
• Thollem McDonas & Markus Hunt - Adobe (Edgetone, 2016) ***½
• Thollem/Cline/Wimberly - Radical Empathy (Relative Pitch, 2015) ****
• Estamos Trio - People’s Historia (Relative Pitch, 2013) ****
• Piano solo
• Thollem, Parker, Cline - The Gowanus Session (Porter, 2012) ***½
• Piano, piano, piano
• Piano & piano - the aristocratic art
• The Naked Future - Gigantomachia (ESP, 2009) ****

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Stories about Thollem (and everyone else) [1/2]

Thollem. Photo by ACVilla

By David Cristol

Thollem McDonas – or simply Thollem according to which album cover you’re looking at – is a pianist, keyboardist, songwriter, vocalist, and activist whose work straddles free jazz, new classical, improvisation, film scores, punk rock, art pop, the minimalist and the maximalist, the avant-garde and all kinds of experimental music, from (acoustic and electric) solo to large ensembles, and countless collaborations which include, in addition to those featured in the following interview, Jad Fair (from Half Japanese), drummers Brian Chase (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Sara Lund (from Unwound) and Gino Robair, French guitar improviser Jean-Marc Montera, pedal steel virtuoso Susan Alcorn, Chicago cornetist Rob Mazurek, New York bass player Michael Bisio, … With a restless and fiercely independent work ethic and wide-open aesthetic vistas, Thollem’s music doesn’t fit easily into any genre or category,which might confuse the most dedicated listener and doesn't help make his music marketable. An oeuvre so multifaceted in scope it's almost impossible to grasp – let's try anyway, through the artist’s own words. There are many sides to Thollem, whose creativity knows no bounds.

P.S. The Gowanus Session, by Thollem/Parker/Cline (Porter Records, 2012), was this listener’s introduction to Thollem’s music, and not a bad entry point in the sprawling discography.

***

Growing up in a musical environment

Both of my parents were pianists, though kind of at opposite ends of the spectrum. My mom was a classical pianist and my dad played in piano bars. Although I didn’t know him very well growing up, they both had a big influence on my musical perspectives and interests. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and exposed to much music from all of the communities represented there. It had a huge impact on my way of seeing the world and experiencing music.

The piano

Piano music was all around me growing up. One of my earliest memories is crawling up and into my mom’s piano and playing the inside. I studied classical piano music and have been improvising and composing for as long as I can remember. I was very fortunate that I grew up in an environment where music was integral to our lives, and my creative interests were encouraged. My mom was also very strict, which I’m thankful for now!

Influences

I grew up studying and performing classical piano music, so those 450 years of musical history definitely shaped me as a pianist. I also had the great fortune to have access to the Kuumbwa Jazz Club in Santa Cruz, California, where my stepsister was, and still is, the chef. Anyone who has played there knows Cheryl and her food! I started going to shows there when I was 12, and heard Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Toshiko Akiyoshi , Pharaoh Sanders and many others. At the same time, West coast punk was in its heyday and had a huge influence as well. I went to the Cabrillo Music Festival each year. My mom studied with composer Lou Harrison, and I attended classes with her. I was influenced by music from all of the communities from the Bay Area, like salsa, norteño, taiko, gamelan, West African, Eritrean, and on and on…

Photo by ACVilla

Playing style

My playing in certain contexts has elements that make it distinct, but I’m more interested in approaching each musical situation as a unique event and expression. I have always thought of myself as an explorational musician and a serial collaborator. Collaboration for me means the opportunity to discover something new about myself in relation to others. As a solo pianist I incorporate many influences but people on many occasions said they knew it was me from the first moments of listening. As a songwriter I am continuously pushing myself. I’m inspired by music from all eras and places. I dropped out of school and society for the most part, during the buildup to the Persian Gulf War in 1990, and spent years living out of a backpack, devoted to organizing and protesting. This was a profound break from everything I had been preparing for up to that point in my life. It took years to figure out how to participate in this society in a way that was aligned with my values, and at one point I had kind of a nervous breakdown realizing that I had neglected playing music throughout my 20s. I mention this because it had a huge impact on the way I approached music again coming back. I had burned every bridge I had built up to that point and had to start from the ashes. My first real tour was in 2005 when I was 38 years old, so I’ve felt like I had a lot of catching up to do and all of this is what has created a deep urgency in my work.

Europe

My first time playing in France was 2006 with an Italian outfit of misfits called Squarcicatrici led by Jacopo Andreini. Jacopo and I originally met at the Olympia Experimental Music Festival that Arrington de Dionyso was directing. On the tour I met Pierre Barouh and his son who invited me to release a solo piano album on the Saravah label, called SoMuchHeaven SoMuchHell. The following year I was invited to play a concert on the only piano Debussy owned for the last 14 years of his life, which is housed at Musée Labenche in Brive-La-Gaillarde. For the first half of the concert, I performed works of Debussy's that he wrote on that piano, and for the second half I was joined by Italian double bass player Stefano Scodanibbio, with whom we improvised within a structure. French artist Delphine Dora got in touch and invited me to release something on her label Wild Silence. At the time, I was going through old tapes that I found when clearing out my mom’s house after her death, recordings of me as a teenager playing compositions of my own and others. I collected them together and titled the album Dear Future . Most recently I was in Marseille for a week with the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra (SIO) hosted by Grand8 – both are large ensembles dedicated to improvised music. I have taken on a temporary long-term role with SIO after its founder Lelio Giannetto died of Covid in 2020. I was there at the right moment to help keep the ensemble going. They had always performed under the guidance of a visiting artist, and I had given several workshops and collaborated with many of the members over the years. Grand8 is a more anarchic ensemble, without a leader, and each year they invite another ensemble to Marseille for a week of collaborations and performances. SIO and I have our second album coming out this spring, after OmniLelioMatic (Superpang, 2023). I have a punk band in Italy called Tsigoti, that released our fifth album last year. In 2012, we did an anti-mafia tour throughout Italy in conjunction with anti-mafia organizations and anti-mafia events. When we were driving South and arrived in Napoli, my bandmates said, “now everything changes”. That was an interesting moment. We didn’t have any issues, and I don’t know how effective we were, but it was important to us and to what the band is about. In Portugal I’ve put out albums with Ernesto Rodrigues ’ Creative Sources label and collaborated with great improvisers including Carlos Zingaro as well as members of a noise rock band called dUASsEMIcOLCHEIASiNVERTIDAS. We formed a band called Para Poupar Coma Merde [to save money, eat shit].

Photo by ACVilla

Terry Riley

I first met Terry at a party at Joan Jeanrenaud’s house in San Francisco around 2007. I grew up on the West Coast and was steeped in his music, and feel very aligned in many ways philosophically. At the party I gave him Racing The Sun, Chasing The Sun which was a new album of mine at the time, and later he told me that he listened to it over and over again on his trips to LA while he was developing Hurricane Mama Blues , his huge organ work at the Disney Concert Hall. When I was invited to perform on Debussy’s piano I was inspired to invite Stefano Scodanibbio and asked Terry if he would put in a good word for me. Stefano and I then met in Brive the night before our performance and Terry wrote the liner notes for the album. With The Light is Real [2023 trio album with Riley and Nels Cline ] I had an epiphany when I was in New Mexico. My Suegra [mother-in-law] had painted a mural of a redwood forest in her bathroom, and the light was streaming through the window. I took the photo and thought “the light is real” and “Terry Riley”. So, I mentioned this to Terry and he was up for the idea, which was simply to vocalize together spontaneously. We had a great time. Later, Yuka Honda recorded Nels and me in their home in New York and I mixed it together. Other Minds Records wanted to put it out which felt appropriate because of their historical connection with Terry.

Film scores

I’ve primarily worked with the animator Martha Colburn and my partner ACVilla. They both have extremely different approaches to their work, so that also changes my approach. Martha composed her film, Triumph of the Wild, to my music; and I composed the score to ACVilla’s video works. Currently we are developing a project called Stories About People and Everyone Else. We’ll be performing it at the University of Illinois, Trinosophes in Detroit, and Lisbon and Zurich this spring.

ACVilla

ACVilla and I have been collaborating together for over thirty years, in life and in our work. She was an inter-city bilingual teacher for many years before taking the leap into joining me full-time on the road fifteen years ago. She’s also collaborated with artists including, most notably, the Rova Saxophone Quartet. We’ve been quite prolific together as well collaborating on projects such as Who Are U.S. In 2016, we traveled throughout the lower forty-eight states documenting the points where people came into contact with each other and the environment. Artists Engaged is a long-term series of interviews and profiles of artists and organizations working in response to the needs of their communities and the dynamics of the world. We have the third in a series coming out at the end of this month that is focused on New Mexico artists and organizations. We’ve also toured extensively internationally with our multimedia performances Obstacle Illusion and Worlds in A Life. We have a new one that we’ll be touring with soon called Stories About People and Everyone Else which investigates what a story is and how much can be left out for audiences to fill in for themselves. 

Photo by ACVilla

Long run and one-offs

Many albums are one-offs, with groups that never played again. It stems from leading an itinerant lifestyle. I also have projects that have had years-long lives, multiple albums and performances. Those include six trio albums with Nels Cline. Revolving members include William Parker , Michael Wimberly, Pauline Oliveros [1932-2016] and Terry Riley. Tsigoti just released a fifth album, No Vacation from Poverty. The Estamos project has four albums including two by large ensembles and two by a trio with Carmina Escobar and Milo Tamez. There are several albums with Rent Romus and Bloom Project. Several with Arrington de Dionyso, several with John Dieterich [of Deerhoof]. I don't have any one main project or projects, except for my solo work. So, a lot of side projects that are all important! I live on the road, so this gives me the opportunity and time to meet with musicians along my travels, either on stage or in the studio. I wouldn’t say necessarily that they represent a certain period of my playing but more what my collaborators bring out of me that I may not have known was there previously. I don’t have a grand vision as an improviser, it’s truly about being in the moment, challenging and supporting each other, diving deeply into my curiosity and finding the beauty in what is created and ultimately how this informs myself as a human being in this world. For many of these albums the particular group of musicians never met again and certainly never toured. It’s kind of an anti-model in a hyper-capitalist society.

Defining your own music

Ah, you were just buttering me up with the easy questions! My music is an ever-changing amalgam swirling in the confluence of infinite rivers – something like that. I’ve called myself an eccentriclect, and my music as omni-idiomatic in the sense that my influences and interests are eclectic, in that I’m open to ideas and inspirations from infinite sources and experiences and that I don’t want to be burdened by anyone’s idea of what should be. Depending on albums and eras I’ve been called a free jazz pianist, a post-classical improviser, a punk rocker and more. I prefer to always remain independent in search of other independent minds and creators and to encourage others in order not to succumb to the pressures to conform which are constantly attacking us in myriad ways. I’m doing all I can to assist in humanity’s evolution into a more mature, playful, creative relationship with our world and each other. My involvement in music making both solo and in collaboration is always coming from this place. The actual aesthetics are less important generally speaking, but crucially important situationally. I love to explore the value of different aesthetics and how that changes my relationship with music, art and fellow artists.

How projects are born

Primarily, I want to work with people I enjoy being with, and that share my vision of communality both musically and supra-musically. Joy and curiosity have got to be there before anything else of interest can happen. This I have learned through many varied experiences. So, many collaborations happen as anything else in life, because I happen to be in the same space and time with someone, and ideas generate organically out of a mutual experience. That is not always the case, of course, but it generally is. I often live by “What if?” and “Why not?”. This is the basis for experimentation. “What if I bring these different elements or artists together in this particular setting?”, “What will happen with the least amount of guidance from me?” A big part of the practice of my interaction with music making is a cycle that continually builds on itself. Sometimes collaborations are well planned out and often they happen because of our lifestyle of living on the road. We haven’t lived in our own place in over fifteen years and own almost nothing except what is essential to our lifestyle and that we can fit in our carry-on size backpacks. This has afforded us the ability to collaborate with amazing artists as well as document communities, like with our Artists Engaged series [Everything can be streamed freely through: www.artistsengaged.com].

 

Part 2 continues here

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