Tag Archives: Free Improvisation

10/18 | BlueStem Jazz Presents: Brennan Connors & Stray Passage live audience in-studio recording session at Audio For The Arts!

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Friday, 10/18/2024
8pm, $15 tix
Audio For The Arts recording studio
7 S Blair St # 1, Madison, WI 53703

Presented by BlueStem Jazz and Audio for the Arts.
Brennan Connors & Stray Passage Jazz trio return to AFA studios once again to record their new album in front of a live studio audience! As any free-improviser will tell you, the audience is also a bandmate. You are crucial to the performance of improvised music! It is a feedback loop between the performer and the listener. Whatever energy you give to us we respond and give back to you. However you react to our music, in that moment changes what we play and which direction the improvisation moves in. It’s a give and take, so come be a part of that magic circle and inspire us with your presence! It’s just not the same without you.

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage has maintained a presence in Madison, Wisconsin as rugged experimental jazz trio for nearly a decade and a half. In 2016 we recorded our first album, which was released in 2017 on the Italian record label Setola Di Maiale. It’s time to make a new document of where we currently are with our music, and you are invited. This event will be a live in-studio recording at Audio for the Arts, and a ticket to the live show comes along with a CD and a digital download of the new album once it is officially released.
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Brennan Connors (saxophones & flutes) continues his wide eyed, open eared journey exploring music, sound, and whatever is around such things. He has been leading the trio into spaces that reflect and express those explorations, here and now.

Brian Grimm (strings & effects) is currently composing musical scores and soundscapes full-time for professional live theatre throughout the Midwest.

Geoff Brady (drums, percussion, theremin) still brings his excellent drum work to the trio (Mr. Harvey Pekar wrote, “Brady is a fine, subtle percussionist.”). He has also been utilizing his virtuosity on the theremin as new staple in Stray Passage’s sonic lineup.

This event is BYOB.

Check out some clips from our March 2024 concert at Cafe Coda!

Our album “Emergence” (2017) was also recorded live with a live in-studio audience back in 2016 at Audio For The Arts. You can check it out here >>

3/9 | Michael Zerang (Chi) and Biliana Vouchkova (US Tour) support from Louise Bock Drone Orch. @ ALL

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Sat, 3/9 | 8pm $15adv, $20door @ Arts + Literature Laboratory (ALL)
2021 Winnebago St, Madison, WI 53704

Michael Zerang (Chi) and Biliana Vouchkova (US Tour)
support from Louise Bock Drone Orchestra

TICKETS

[from ALLJazz]

” ALLJazz presents renowned Chicago jazz improviser Michael Zerang with internationally acclaimed violinist Biliana Vouchkova for an evening of creative improvisation on Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 8:00PM. A Drone Orchestra directed by Taralie Petersen will open the show.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. College/university/high school students receive a $5 discount on either price (valid student ID must be presented at the door – no exceptions). Advance tickets are available online until one hour before the performance. Doors open at 7:30PM.

The ALLJazz Series is sponsored in part by Alchemy and Dobhan Restaurants. Student discount made possible by Grant Samuelsen Real Estate.

About the Musicians

Michael Zerang has been a active musician, composer, and producer since 1976, focusing extensively on improvised music, free jazz, contemporary composition, puppet theater, experimental theater, and international musical forms. He has been a long-standing member of The Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Friction Brothers, Brötzmann/McPhee/Kessler/Zerang Quartet, and Survival Unit III with Joe McPhee and Fred Lonberg-Holm. 

Biliana Voutchkova is a thoroughly engaged artist, violinist, composer-performer and improvisor who combines regular performances of major solo violin/ensemble works, new music by contemporary composers often written for her, and her own work with performative, long length formats, real time composition and improvisation. Her constant research as a creative artist spans the widest possible range of sound and movement and extends her sonic, technical and physical capacities evolving into the development of a highly individual artistic language. “

Opening will be another installment of the Drone Orchestra hosted by Louise Bock. Featuring guest players Brennan Connors, Brian Grimm, Nadia Chana, Michael Groome, Erik Kramer, Patrick Best, Tracy Peterson, Taralie Peterson, Wendy Maland, and special guest…. “

9/4, 9/7, 9/8 | Shows This Week

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JAZZ SEXTET

Tues, 9/4 | 9p-12 $0 @ The Mason Lounge (every Tuesday!)

416 S Park St, Madison, WI 53715

FIVE POINTS JAZZ COLLECTIVE!

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As always, you can find me on Bass Guitars at the Mason Lounge on S. Park ST every Tuesday night, with the Five Points Jazz Collective!  We’ll have the full sextet this week, featuring Charlie Painter on guitar, Trey Grimm on keyboard, Rin Ribble on violin, Kyle Rightley on trombone/euphonium, and Eric Shackelford on drums!  Sure to please with funk, latin-jazz, swing, and blues along side the wonderful selection of craft brew that the Mason rotates on tap.  Warning! Jazz occurs between 9p-12a.

JAZZ, IMPROV, & INDIE ROCK

 Fri, 9/7 | 7p $Tips @ Bos Meadery

849 E Washington Ave, Madison, WI 53703

BOAT PATROL (on tour Jazz/Grass)

LABRADOR, THE BAND (Indie Rock)

BRENNAN CONNORS & STRAY PASSAGE (Free Jazz)

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Built on an improvisational base, Boat Patrol (pictured above) uses a trove of influences and techniques ranging from bluegrass to avant-garde jazz to create extensive musical landscapes and textures.

Boat Patrol began creating music in the fall of 2017 in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.  Avoiding simple categorization, boat patrol explores every nook and cranny of the musical palate with each live performance serving as a unique portrait of the band.  Featuring Cai Mountjoy – bass/madolin/guitar, Daleth Mountjoy – keys/synths, Evan Verploegh – drums/theremin

Labrador. The band. are a mellow, moody three-piece that sounds like the type of estro-rock you might hear in The Bronze on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage is a free/outside jazz trio. Performances delve into fiery high energy music, focused minimalism, and raw expression.

Donations suggested.

FREE-IMPROV

Sat, 9/8 |6p potluck 8p music $5 @ The Vault

JACK WRIGHT & ROUGHHOUSING (tour)

HIGH PRIESTS OF THE APOCALYPSE

BRIAN GRIMM (cellos)

Improviser extraordinaire and road warrior Jack Wright and his trio Roughhousing is back in Madison for a show at The Vault!  Roughhousing features bassist Evan Lipson and guitarist Zach Darrup.  Read more about the trio here > Roughhousing EPK. Potluck starts at 6pm – bring a tasty dish to share and enjoy; music starts by 8pm.  Enjoy a night of free improv at one of Madison’s most notorious DIY venues with a trio that aims to strip away the layers of facades that plague the digital marketing age.

3/18, 3/19 | Brennan Connors & Stray Passage record live album @ Audio For The Arts

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AFA 20.PNGGrimmusiK logo

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage
TWO NIGHTS, LIVE IN-STUDIO
ALBUM RECORDING SESSIONS
@ Audio For The Arts Studios

March 18th & 19th, 2016
$10 cover, doors at 7:30pm
7 S Blair St # 1, Madison, WI 53703

“Their sets embrace plenty of sinuous melody and conversational interplay,
but can just as easily dive into minimalism and dissonance.” ~ Tone Madison

Brennan Connors & Stray PAssage

Experimental Jazz Trio Brennan Connors & Stray Passage has been performing in Madison for over three years, exciting listeners with their range of sonic capabilities.  Their improvised music is directly linked to the atmosphere in the room and energy of the audience.  Being that the listener is such a crucial element in shaping the band’s sound, it is only fitting that this album should be recorded in front of a live in-studio audience.  Attendees will experience a jazz trio that embraces free and structured improvisation, original compositions, groove based experiments, and sound exploration. The breadth of a performance ranges from focused minimalism to fiery high energy music, all while maintaining a sense of narrative organization and compelling ensemble interplay.

The group is led by Brennan Connors on tenor and soprano saxophones.  Geoff Brady provides orchestrated drum and percussion textures & Brian Grimm who rounds out the trio playing cello, contra-cello, and electric bass. On Friday, March 18th & 19th (Fri, Sat) – the trio will record two, live-concert performances which are open to the public.  The sessions will be hosted & recorded by master engineer Steve Gotcher at Audio for the Arts on 7 South Blair Street in Madison WI.  Stray Passage would be honored by the presence of anyone who wishes to experience the recording process.

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage
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