gabby fluke-mogul - GUT Live at Roulette (self-released, 2026)

By Richard Blute

“Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.”

-Samuel Butler

A stunner from violinist gabby fluke-mogul (they don’t capitalize their name). gabby and frequent collaborator violist Joanna Mattrey are redefining the roles of their instruments in improvised music.

There have been violins in jazz since its very earliest days, going back to the music of Stuff Smith, who played violin in Alphonse Trent’s big band in the 1920s and subsequently led his own bands. (Be sure to check out Smith’s work on the amazing historical jazz label The Complete Jazz Series.)

But this is something very different.

I first discovered the two artists when I randomly clicked on a Youtube video of a solo performance by Joanna Mattrey. My initial reaction after 10 seconds was “My god, what is she doing to that poor viola?”. Another 10 seconds later and I was completely hooked. I realized I was watching something extraordinary and unlike anything I had encountered before.

Joanna’s music led me to the music of gabby. The violin in gabby’s hands was an instrument that could combine traditional classical music, improvisation and harsh noise into a remarkable stew. While Antonio Stradivari is no doubt spinning in his grave, I was thrilled. I had found something genuinely new and exciting.

A review of gabby’s bandcamp page finds multiple treasures where gabby shows their virtuosity and their unique approach to the instrument. There are solo albums, Love Songs and Threshold,both great. There are two duos with percussionists: Lily Finnegan on Throw It In The Sink,and Nava Dunkelman on Likht,which demonstrate another side of their playing. The first is great fun.Also excellent is a duo with Joanna on Oracle.Possibly gabby’s finest collaborations are on the albums Death in The Gilded Agewith Joanna, Ava Mendoza and Matteo Liberatore and Mama Killa with Ava Mendoza and Carolina Pérez.

The album Gut: Live At Rouletteis unlike anything gabby, or anyone else, has done before. It might seem like a solo violin album, but gabby had a partner, sound technician Danishta Rivero, who, to quote the liner notes, “processed the instrument’s timbre with rock concert-quality barrages of sound”. The result was then blasted through 14 speakers, which must have been crushing but delightful to the Roulette crowd.

From the description on the Bandcamp page, I was almost expecting something like Metal Machine Music on violin. While there is an element of that, gabby produces much more. They frequently pluck the violin or bow with minimal arm movement and with Rivero’s overamplification, I swear I hear Hendrix. They also manage to use the violin as a percussion instrument. There are also quiet moments to be had. Those moments of calm make the louder moments more intense in contrast and one can listen to notes decay into something beautiful and then we just hear silence. There’s even a lovely tribute to occasional violinist Ornette Coleman to be found.

All proceeds from the sale of this album go to South Brooklyn community members targeted by ICE via standwithsouthbrooklyn.org.