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.
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.
JACK WRIGHT & BOB MARSH (TOUR)
sax + bass, electronics, sound suit
BC GRIMM & MICHAEL KOSZEWSKI (Mad) [of Lovely Socialite]
cello, Chinese string instruments + percussion
TONTINE ENSEMBLE (MILWAUKEE)
double bass, cello, viola, violin – through fx
JACK & BOB
These two have been playing together since they met in Detroit in 1986, their duo transforming over time as their music has developed. This despite moving far apart, and never more than at present; after fifteen years in the Bay Area Bob now lives in Pueblo CO and Jack is in Easton Pa, so their meetings are infrequent. They have toured on the East and West Coast and the Midwest, most recently connecting in the Bay Area, before that tours that took them from the east coast to Chicago. Their music has shifted from a huge web of notes and fast-shifting directions on conventional instruments to sound and space, with Bob playing electronics and distorted voice….yet still they are indelibly the same duo. And the best of friends.
A review of a 2012 performance in Philadelphia from Cadence Magazine: “Jack Wright (sax) and his longtime collaborator, Bob Marsh (cello, voicings) sat in cramped quarters with records stacked all around, low ceiling strung with Christmas lights, and frightful paintings lining the wall. The two explorers seemed to like the atmospheric space and quickly went about their business of quietly merging tones and thoughts. Marsh, who was on a rare trip to these parts from this California abode, used everything out of his cello case on his instrument except the kitchen sink, which he was unable to get down the steep stairs of the lair. Also of note was the sighting of Wright in real pants and not his ever-present shorts…”
GRIMM & KOSZEWSKI
Michael Koszewski (percussion) & Brian Grimm (cello, Chinese string instruments) of Madison’s psychedelic Jazz/Rock outfit Lovely Socialite join forces as a duo. Both cut from the New Music cloth, they bring sensitivity, dynamics & chops to their explorations. Between Koszewski’s 5 years in Madison’s acclaimed Clocks in Motion Percussionensemble & BC Grimm’s array of Chinese zithers, lutes & bowed strings – who knows what sonic orchestrations may come to pass.
TONTINE ENSEMBLE
Tontine Ensemble was founded in the spring of 2014 with the mission to perform improvisational and contemporary chamber works, as well as champion the compositions of Milwaukee composers. Its four current members first played together for a Blank Radio recording session and immediately began rehearsing regularly. Allen Russell, Molly Lieberman, Pat Reinholz, and Barry Paul Clark are all classically trained musicians who teach and regularly perform in a variety of styles around the Milwaukee area and beyond.
Tontine Ensemble has appeared as guest artists at Mike Neumeyer and Friends, Danceworks, Inc. (Paleontology of a Woman – 2014, Footsteps, Shadows & Whispers – 2015), Milwaukee Follies, Formations Series for New and Improvised Music, Alverno Presents (Prince Uncovered – 2015) and The Pre-Maturely Air Conditioned Arts Collective. The ensemble has shared the stage with JOBS, Netmoiré, Lovely Socialite Mrs. Thomas W. Phipps, Geodes, Trench, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, and Jamison Williams.
For three years The Brothers Grimm have been heading the experimental music series “Tea & Improv” at Dobra Tea. Sadly, Dobra will close it’s doors this January, 2014. We’ll have one last show on Thursday 1/9 as a way to say thanks to all who have worked/come out to enjoy these events since 2011. DB, BC, & Eric will all perform short solo sets, as well as improvise together.
It can be difficult to find a welcoming platform for experimental & improvised music. Dobra has been our enthusiastic home base for much of this Madison experience. It has not simply been “a venue”, but a meeting place of disciplined philosophies, where music & tearoom perfectly alight in purpose – to have conversation. In a vibrant, hue-struck room with no internet or to-go options, the result is meaningful discussion with close friends. It was never the intent of our music to overpower the space (& people in it) to a hush, but rather to be another conversation & accept all happening sounds as music/inspiration. 3..2..1.. Now! ~ All conversation is improvisation. We fuel off the energy you give us and channel it back, vibrating the air. No sound is excluded from this Cageian discourse ~ kettle boils, clayware scrapes, somewhere a laugh, all is music.
Perhaps the most important element of performance in Dobra has been a public space for unknowing teagoers to encounter “avant-garde”//”difficult-edgy-freaky-‘nonmusic’music-skronky-improvised-noise…stuff”. We’re thankful for situations where people may come/go at any moment, have lively chit-chats, not feel they have to be classically-stuffy/know-the-rules, & happen upon experimental music over the flowing cup. Hearing such racketous free-for-all (beautiful to some…) on a record, coming at you through the speakers can be challenging for unpracticed ears – but having that be a live experience and seeing that the musician performing extended techniques is another breathing, sweating, emoting, human being that is trying to communicate something to you – is when this music becomes immediate & relateable. The more you as an audience give of your energy/vibes – the better the conversation is.
We’ve released a couple of albums at Dobra, including: Moonish Lodestar (2013) by Watercourse Quartet & Redolent Spires (2012) by The Borthers Grimm. Had wonderful performers such as: Watercourse Quartet w/ Ben Willis, Pat Reinholz (aka Weather Duo + Brothers Grimm); Lovely Socialite, db pedersen, Eric Miller, Thollem McDonas (aka Thollem Electric), Brian Tairaku Ritchie, Sult w/ Jacob Felix Heule, Guro Skumsnes Moe, Håvard Skaset; Timbre, Samuel Lockridge, Brother Stripes w/ Timothy Russell & Nick Zoulek; Prom Night Records w/ Brad Henkel, Nathaniel Morgan, & David Grollman; Dale Kaminski, Joey Molinaro, Zane Merritt, TJ Borden, Wrest Trio w/ Benjamin Bennett, Jack Wright, Evan Lipson; Stray Passage w/ Geoff Brady, Brennan Connors & more! – The tearoom has also played host to local Hindustani & Carnatic Indian Music group Saaz, Baroque & early western period instruments, & Yuri on the Russian domra.
Thanks to Qi Hong for fostering communitea.
Thank to the close friends who have come out over the years to support &/or participate in these happenings.
Thanks to all of the great Devoteas who have worked at Dobra & become a part of our lives.
“The books are back, but the party’s still on. On September 19, Central Library will be STACKED.We’re filling it with art, music, and local fare. Grab a drink and check out the art displayed around the new library and be prepared to meet your “Makers.” The Bubbler at Madison Public Library is bringing in community partners to set up hands-on activities. Don’t miss the Paka Paka light show dance party on the brand new 3rd floor! We’ll have live music and DJs on every floor.“
Proceeds benefit Central Library
100 Artists/ 1 New Library / 1 Day Only
DJs | Nick Nice, Wangzoom, Doctor Oxygen w/ PAKAPAKA Lightshow
LIVE MUSIC | MAIN STAGE———————–FIRST FLOOR ———————- SECOND FLOOR 08:30 Pioneer ——————— ———————– —————– ————————– 09:15 The Wets ——————-09:00 Spires… Sunset Rise ——-09:00 Pidge Anther
10:00 Golden Donna ———— 10:00 Samantha Glass ———– 10:00 Dietrich Goesser
11:00 Trin Tran ——————- 11:00 Noxroy ———————— 11:30 DB Pedersen
12:00 Control ———————- ———————– —————-⇝w/ BCG ————-
Wrest (on tour) ———————————-|Eric Miller + BC Grimm
Jack Wright – sax ——————————–| BC Grimm – cello / 古筝 / 古琴 / 二胡
Evan Lipson – upright bass ——————–| Miller – trumpet/viola da gamba/baroque cello
Benjamin Bennett – percussion —————| “Sounds of today, instruments of antiquity!”
The Brothers Grimm were lucky to share a set with Benjamin Bennett in 2012 at Audio For the Arts (> recent isthmus article) for the Surrounded By Reality series. Ben, fresh off an intensive meditative retreat, brought the house down with a fantastic sit on the floor set. Those in the control room claimed there had to have been more than just one percussionist performing in the room! He’s back in town on tour with a trio called Wrest (sax, bass, & percussion). These guys listen intently, resulting in delightfully sensitive free-improv – perfect for the Tea Room!
Wrest“The kind of music we play is called Free Improvisation, where Wrest cannot be counted on to play the same way each time. There is no typical Wrest “experience.” We are using all our imagination each show to get past what we did the night before. Free Improvisation is not a genre of music with characteristics that separate it from other musics. Rather it’s an approach to playing by musicians who would be bored representing an image of what they are. That’s why we can say, we don’t know what we’re doing until we do it. “
Described twenty years ago as an “undergrounder by design,” Jack Wright is happy to inhabit the vast territory below the radar of the professional music world. Since 1979 he has been traveling through the US and Europe in search of interesting partners and playing situations, and open to whatever might happen. Now living in a small Pennsylvania town, at 70 he is still the “Johnny Appleseed of Free Improvisation,” as Davey Williams called him back in the 80s. And he is still inspiring players outside music-school careerdom. Whenever he plays today, all that he has traversed is present, from fiery, breathless free jazz to quiet, breath-filled, and often animalistic sounds. A reviewer for the Washington Post said, “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king”. For more info go to springgardenmusic.com, for sounds:soundcloud.com/#jackwright writings: http://jackiswright.wordpress.com/
Evan Lipson (b. 1981), now from Chatanooga, has been active as a musician since adolescence. In an on-going pursuit of all things occult and aberrant, Lipson acquired an early interest in the lateral realms of visionary & experimental music — seeking to transcend the existent paradigms of idiomatic expression. His formative experiences were in underground rock, modernist composition, freak pop, jazz, noise, as well as various modes of improvisation. Lipson cultivates a palpably intense and vehemently iconoclastic body of music. He has performed in numerous groups including Normal Love, Satanized, WREST, Psychotic Quartet, Femme Tops, Legion of Strategic Deception, Dynamite Club, and Ruins. Past tours have taken him throughout North America, as well as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan. His music has been released on several imprints including SKiN GRAFT, UgEXPLODE, Public Eyesore, High Two, Badmaster, Caminante, New Atlantis, and Damage Rituals..
Ben Bennett, living most of the time in Columbus Ohio, started playing music as a young child, with an interest in jazz that moved steadily towards the more avant-guarde, then to free jazz, and onward into the world of free-improv. Using extended techniques involving breath and friction, as well as the time-honored tradition of hitting things with sticks, he plays an evolving pile of frame drums, pre-tuned drum heads, metal things, tubes, and other objects that can be combined and recombined to get a variety of sounds. This set-up lends itself greatly towards being crammed in a backpack, strapped to a bike, dragged along the ground, or thrown down the stairs, generally without physical or psycological damage. Recent projects besides Wrestinclude: bst.cr – trio with Ryan Jewell and Wilson Shook, Rotty What – trio with Jack Wright and John M Bennett; Central Ohio War Coalition – with Mike Shiflet, Joe Panzner, and others; duos with Ryan Jewell, Jack Callahan, and Ben Hall; and solo performances. Ben will be resident at the Spring Garden Music house during Dec. and Jan. 2012-13.
Eric Miller, gambist and cellist, plays viola da gamba and baroque cello with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Eliza’s Toyes, Ensemble Musical Offering, and has appeared with the Madison Bach Musicians, and many others. As a modern cellist, Eric has performed with American Players Theater. Additionally, as an accomplished trumpeter and able improvisor, Eric can be heard in settings around Southern Wisconsin such as jazz ensembles, singer/songwriters, and experimental ensembles. A passionate educator trained in the Suzuki approach, Eric maintains a large cello and trumpet studio in Madison.
FREEMAN//BORDEN//CAIN Trio (Buffalo)
Brothers Grimm recently played a Dobra Tea set with TJ Borden, which was one of our finest guest performances to date. A vast array of Contemporary & avant-garde techniques, improvised with classical precision. He is also back, on tour with a trio including cello, electronics, & sax. We can’t wait to hear what this intense, skronky, free-improv noise-trio has to offer!
YID VICIOUS Madison’s premiere quirk-fest Klezmer Ensemble, prepare for a face-melt!
