Jack Wright was a soprano choir boy and a marching band saxophonist in the fifties, a bluegrass washtub bassist in the early sixties, a university lecturer in history, and a revolutionist in the late sixties and seventies. Since then he has been playing freely improvised saxophone, touring the US and Europe, and has been dubbed "the Johnny Appleseed of Improvised Music". He is accused of impersonating pigs, ducks and human blowhards, but lately has been remembering the proper use of the saxophone --to support the tottering universe. His roots are in Philly, where he owns a house for wayward improvisers (Johan Nystrom is one of them and Evan used to be). Jack plays with everyone but performs and tours only with the finest, which usually means the most obscure, from Europe and the US. He and his partners are among the few true believers in absolutely free, unrestrained, unstructured, unselfconscious improvisation, played at soberingly high levels of musicianship. www.springgardenmusic.com
Evan Lipson (b. 1981) has been active as a bassist, composer, and improviser since adolescence, now living in Brooklyn. From Philly (like a great portion of the best musicians). In an on-going pursuit of all things occult and aberrant, Lipson acquired an early interest in the latral realms of visionary & experimental music -- quickly seeking to transcend the existent paradigms of idiomatic expression. This particular 'left-hand path' has afforded him the opportunity to work in a wide variety of contexts and styles (esoteric and otherwise); his formative experiences being primarily rooted in modernist composition, underground rock, jazz, outsider pop, noise, as well as various modes of improvisation. .Lipson upholds several working ensembles including:--NORMAL LOVE (trans/mutant art band)--SATANIZED (hyper-modernist non wave)--DYNAMITE CLUB (madcap hardcore freakout)--HISSWIG (telepathic improvised duo with microtonal violinist Katt Hernandez)
Ben Bennett is a totally legit musician based in Columbus, Ohio. He is continuously looking for ways to make the most varied and visceral array of sounds from the simplest instruments. His ongoing investigation of the drum set has led him to distill it to its essential sound-making apparatus - the vibrating membrane. He plays an evolving pile of often home-made instruments, which includes tuned drum heads, frame-drums, rubber stretched across a hoop, rubber by itself, sheet metal, and wind instruments with reeds made from drum heads. All this stuff fits easily on his back or on his bike, and can get rained on, dragged along the ground, or tossed down the stairs with no worry. Unencumbered by expensive, delicate, or complicated gear and electronics, little if anything stands between the sounds heard and the bodily movement required to make them. He has played sporadically with many musicians, but his most frequent and ongoing cohorts are Jack Wright, Ryan Jewell, Wilson Shook, and Jack Callahan. Some seemingly pretty smart people have called his sets "really great", "transcendental", "the best thing I've seen - maybe ever", or as this one music conservatory student put it, "pretty entertaining stuff". For sound and sight bites: http://milmin.nixsyspaus.org/index.html
Robinwood Concert House
2564 Robinwood
9pm - donations suggested
http://toledobellows.wordpress.com/