Thursday, April 2
Dark Blue: Alex Harding and Lucian Ban
Doors 7:30 pm, $18
“I first saw Alex in 1996 when I visited New York. I went to hear The Sun Ra Arkestra, and it was so impressive, the musicians were coming out from the kitchen, from the hallway, Alex was playing baritone, it was fascinating, man. I always liked Sun Ra, but seeing them live was a new experience. I moved to New York to study at New School, and one of my roommates at the time said, ‘We gotta go listen to this amazing baritone player on the lower east side at a place called Pink Pony,’ a venue that isn’t there anymore. I went there and heard the trio which featured Alex, which sounded killing. After the show, I talked to Alex, who was gracious enough to say ‘Yeah, let’s do something together.’ We did a quintet gig, and then my first album in the US was a duet with Alex, called Somethin’ Holy (Cimp 2001). We’ve always had both musical and personal affinity for each other. Alex Harding was and is, in a way, my biggest connection to this music once I moved to New York. I value our collaboration deeply.” –Lucian Ban
“[Alex] Harding, baritone saxophonist and Detroit native, speaks with deep, punctuated bursts of ideas and phrases. Lucian Ban, pianist from Transylvania, communicates with a flowing string of sentences and stories. The music they create together sounds much like their friendship itself. ... Harding and Ban have been collaborating for nearly twenty years, releasing albums and touring along the way, often featuring other artists including Bob Stewart, JD Allen, and Sam Newsome. Both are deeply influenced by jazz, blues, and chamber music traditions, and their music deftly blurs the divide between improvisation and composition” [... Read the full Jazz Gallery interview here]
Photo: Cornel Brad
Friday, April 10
Dave Rempis, Chris Corsano, Jason Adasiewicz
Doors 7:30 pm
Dave Rempis – soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Jason Adasiewicz – vibes
Chris Corsano – drums
“There are super groups, and then there are SUPERGROUPS. This trio, comprised of three prolific journeymen improvisers whose work has been recognized across the globe, is neither. This is a band of down-to-earth, hard-working musicians, whose focus and dedication to the music is exceptional. [...] On their recent release Dial Up you get instantly wrapped into the sinews of the band’s shared aesthetic. There’s no ego here, simply a collaborative ethos that powers the music forward. While that’s a noted feature of the Chicago improvised music scene historically, it’s also one that Corsano has embraced in his own work for decades. And that’s key to what makes his transition to being a resident of the city and the scene there so natural. These three breathe together with a sensitivity that’s rare, whether they’re riding high through the anthemic bluster of "Past and Present Hallucinations," or delving into the pointillistic explorations of "Third Person." And while all three command broad and unique palettes on their instruments, there’s never a feeling that technical dazzle takes the place of musicality. Every motion is in service to the evolution and development of the spontaneous sound they bring forth.”
Dave Rempis, Chris Corsano, Jason Adasiewicz
Doors 7:30 pm
Dave Rempis – soprano/alto/tenor/baritone saxophone
Jason Adasiewicz – vibes
Chris Corsano – drums
“There are super groups, and then there are SUPERGROUPS. This trio, comprised of three prolific journeymen improvisers whose work has been recognized across the globe, is neither. This is a band of down-to-earth, hard-working musicians, whose focus and dedication to the music is exceptional. [...] On their recent release Dial Up you get instantly wrapped into the sinews of the band’s shared aesthetic. There’s no ego here, simply a collaborative ethos that powers the music forward. While that’s a noted feature of the Chicago improvised music scene historically, it’s also one that Corsano has embraced in his own work for decades. And that’s key to what makes his transition to being a resident of the city and the scene there so natural. These three breathe together with a sensitivity that’s rare, whether they’re riding high through the anthemic bluster of "Past and Present Hallucinations," or delving into the pointillistic explorations of "Third Person." And while all three command broad and unique palettes on their instruments, there’s never a feeling that technical dazzle takes the place of musicality. Every motion is in service to the evolution and development of the spontaneous sound they bring forth.”
TICKETS NOW ON SALE
Tuesday, June 23
Setting
Doors 7:30 pm
[$18 at entry]
The North Carolina Piedmont-based trio of Setting bring together their substantial collective skills as musicians and their collaborative, explorative mindsets from groups such as Mind Over Mirrors, Califone, Black Twig Pickers, Pelt, Peeesseye, Sylvan Esso, and Jake Xerxes Fussell to bear in their inventive and rich improvisations. Multi-instrumentalists Jaime Fennelly, Nathan Bowles and Joe Westerlund subvert expectations while creating a sense of ease and wonderment. Their intricate interplay of synthesizers, cassette loops, banjo, keyboards, electronics, zithers, and a litany of percussive instruments form a tactile amalgam of celestial transcendence and terrestrial rhythm, a loamy pulse fluidly guiding every minute fluctuation in feel. Dedicated improvisers with years working together, the band has developed their own idiosyncratic vernacular and sense of flow. Setting’s self-titled album (Thrill Jockey) is a definitive statement of their improvisational acumen meeting compositional rigor, a robust wellspring of hypnagogic grooves and mosaiced textures. Setting harnesses the euphoria of communal creation.
Thursday, October 8
Hayden Pedigo
Doors TBA
Hayden Pedigo: man, myth, master of disguise; un-picker, finger-picker, absurdist, perfectionist. The unorthodox contender for Amarillo City Council, subject of the film Kid Candidate, and creator of the acclaimed Letting Go (2021) and The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored (2023) now embarks upon the release of his new album I’ll Be Waving as You Drive Away. An innovator of the instrumental genre, challenger of the stereotypical, son of a truck-stop preacher, he backs up a cherry red Silverado under his own smiling, Brylcreemed and Nudie-Suited billboard. His foot hesitates above the gas pedal as a cloud of dust rises. Where between beaming advert and disillusioned entertainer might his truest self lie? On this intentionally maximalist, genre-resistant work of warped instrumental Americana — an exclamation point at the end of an accidental trilogy of records — we, and Hayden, might just be about to find out.
Unlike its predecessors in ‘The Motor Trilogy’ (tied together by their vehicular Jonathan Phillips artwork) — which offset the clarity of sparse acoustic compositions with a carousel of personas and outfits — I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away sees Hayden turn his practice inside out, set fire to the dressing up box, throw all other modern acoustic guitar records to the flames, and trip on the fumes. Solidly honing in on his technical craft after two years of non-stop touring with the likes of Jenny Lewis, Devendra Banhart and Hiss Golden Messenger, Hayden Pedigo is ready to peel back the curtain and let the world in. His most emotionally candid record, “there’s something really human” about this final installment, Hayden professes. “No face paint, no blue skin, the character on the front is no longer a character — it’s actually just me. I’m trying to tell the audience, I actually want you to meet me, I want you to know who I am.”
Taking cues from John Fahey’s weed-and-whiskey infused, tape-loop-heavy 1966 record The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party, I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away is, Hayden reflects, not a straightforward solo guitar record, but in a sense “a micro-dose psychedelic album. I wanted it to be this tangible feeling, as if somebody had cut up a tab of LSD and put on a Fahey record.” Unafraid to push the parameters of American primitive, the walls of the album’s world are fuzzed-up and glimmering. Pedigo’s trademark, highly skilled guitar compositions, more intricate than ever, are augmented by influences he’s never been able to achieve on previous records. There are whispers of the prog-rock mellotrons of King Crimson and the heavy phasers and bass of Led Zeppelin; all helped along nicely by the psychedelic sensibilities of producer Scott Hirsch [Hiss Golden Messenger, The Court & Spark, William Tyler]. However it is vital and natural, says Hayden, to also be influenced by contemporary modern music in order not to make an esoteric, rambling solo guitar record. For example, Bladee’s Cold Visions — “a masterclass of experimental rap music” — inspired some similarities in approach, despite the artists’ distinctly different genre backgrounds. “There are so many records buried within this record…there’s a lot of micro-sampling going on, like a rap album,” he concludes (though this manifests in echoes and phrases, rather than direct lifts).
RECURRING SERIES
Every Tuesday
Zekkereya El-magharbel presents “Tuesdays at Trinosophes”
Doors 7:30 pm | Sliding scale, prices vary. Please pay what you can to fund this series.Detroit Trombonist Zekkerya El-magharbel present four different series on a rotational basis, every Tuesday at Trinosophes ...
- 1st Tuesday: Maqam Workshop "Detroit Maqam Workshop," which features studying and learning classic Arabic melodies.
- 2nd Tuesday: Community Art Jam Art supplies provided by Arts and Scraps. Come hang with friends and make art.
- 3rd Tuesday: Meet the Composer(s) Concert/interview series. The first iteration features @taqsim.live as our subject for this "Meet the Composer" session.
- 4th Tuesday: Tuesday Nights Showcase Zekkereya's first monthly residency in the city, with a rotating ensemble of Detroit's finest, curated by the artist.
Trinosophes Projects is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the state of Michigan that supports, documents, facilitates, presesrves and furthers the arts and culture of Detroit. We are an independent, artist-operated entity located in the city’s Eastern Market district. Contributed and earned income goes directly into the hands of the artists we work with, so if you appreciate our efforts, consider making a donation to support our ongoing mission. Click here for a Paypal link.
How does your support help? Your donations go directly to our programming, exhibitions, publishing, media manufacturing, archival work, artist commissioning, project collaborations, educational work and regranting in the form of artist prizes, awards and emergency assistance. We believe that now more than ever, this work is important to the cultral health of our community, both through supporting, highlighting and perserving our region’s cultural legacy and by keeping it in dialogue with devlopments in the rest of the country and the world.