The Jeff Herriott/Trevor Saint duo

Due to an injury to one of the performers, this show has been canceled.

Trevor Saint is a dynamic percussionist and improviser specializing in the glockenspiel; he performs on a rare instrument with an extended range of pitches. Now based in Brooklyn, the Wisconsin native returns to Madison for an evening of music with old friends and collaborators. The Jeff Herriott/Trevor Saint duo combines Trevor’s love of the glockenspiel (and other resonant metals) with Jeff Herriott’s ability to electronically alter reality at the edge of perception. They create soundscapes that shift slowly from one texture to another, often improvising within fixed structures. The Lawton Hall/Trevor Saint duo will be exploring new sonic worlds as a duo, with Trevor’s clear, shimmering bells contrasting Lawton’s mechanical sounds created with computer-controlled slide projectors. This performance will dig deeper into the elusive idea of “nostalgia”, which Hall also explored in the installation Cyclic Histories (for M.L.) and the album Spirits of the Age, two works (in two very different media) created specifically for the Sensorium gallery in Milwaukee.

http://trevorsaint.net/ts/media.html

Hobby Horse – Sunday, January 13 – Audio for the Arts – 8pm

Hobby Horse

Dan Kinzelman: Sax/Clarinets/Voice/Flutes

Joe Rehmer: Bass/Keyboards/Voice/Percussion

Stefano Tamborrino: Drums/Percussion/Melodica/Voice

Alternating between hypnotic and mysterious vamps and moments of explosive dynamism, the music of Hobby Horse combines elements drawn from free jazz, ambient music, rock and electronic music. The widely varying experiences of the three members enrich a music which evades genre limitations while nonetheless maintaining a strong connection to their jazz roots.

Hobby Horse first performed in 2008 as a traditional sax trio, but their more recent efforts have seen a tendency to explore the sonic limits of the trio by using non-traditional instruments such as tin whistle, recorder, glockenspiel, melodica and choral arrangements. This adds an almost orchestral dimension to the repertoire which places original tunes written for the band alongside tunes by Tom Waits, Robert Wyatt and Thelonius Monk.

Doors 7:30   Show 8pm

@ Audio for the Arts

BYOB

Tres Hongos @ Audio for the Arts, Thursday, January 3, 8pm

Tres Hongos is a trio comprised of Bay Area trumpeter Jacob Wick (White Rocket, HighLife), pianist Marc Riordan (Wishgift, Old Idea) and percussionist Frank Rosaly (Fast Citizens, Mandarin Movie, Rolldown), both from Chicago. The trio explores long and short form improvisation that draws influences from a wide range of sound and music traditions, from the improvised to the strictly composed. Their improvised performances are characterized by sudden, playful shifts between static harmonies and tones, modular melodies, pointillistic interplay and dense, percussive assaults. Tres Hongos is three modern musicians in suits.

Benjamin Bennett + Brothers Grimm, Monday, 11/26/12, 8pm, Audio for the Arts, 7 S. Blair St.

 

Ben Bennett started playing music as a young child, took up the drums in middle school, and has always been attracted to improvisation. His interest in jazz moved steadily towards the more avant-guarde, then to free jazz, and onward into the world of free-improv. His current music stems mainly from various forms of free-improv: maximalist, reduced, noise, etc. A desire to get the most varied and visceral array of sounds from the simplest instruments has led to an ongoing process of distilling the drumset to its essential sound-maker, the vibrating membrane. 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 during a performance. 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.For over a decade the Brothers Grimm have been performing string music together on Guitar, Cello, and Chinese string instruments. Separately, Brian studied Chinese music in Hong Kong and AJ studied Flamenco in Granada, Spain. They draw upon these experiences in addition to contemporary classical music forming flexible approaches in composition and improvisation practices.

 

He Can Jog with Tom Hamer, Greg Taylor and Geoff Brady – November 17 – 8pm – Audio for the Arts

He Can Jog is computer musician Erik Schoster and friends from Milwaukee Wisconsin. As He Can Jog he has released three full length records and a smattering of EPs, remixes, and sundry recordings on a number of small labels including Nomadic Kids Republic, Listening Party, Audiobulb Records and The Leaf Label. XLR8R calls it music to “please both laptop scientists and kids wanting something pretty to listen to while driving a car.”

Tom Hamer is a drummer and percussionist from Madison.Over the years he has played drums in many rock and experimental groups (The Romulans, Station Wagon, Vortex, Dangerous Odds and Fuzzy Logic). His ongoing collaboration with pal Gregory and friends gives him the opportunity for more subtlety and textural work, utilizing amplified sundry found items (pine cone, bottles, bowls, etc.) as resonant objects.

Gregory Taylor is an improvising laptop performer from Madison. He has performed globally as a solo artist and in various improvisational groups that include percussionist Tom Hamer, synthesist Darwin Grosse, laptop composer Brad Garton and mandolinist Terry Pender (as PGT), and with avant-Trumpeter Jeff Kaiser (as the Desert Fathers). In addition, Gregory hosts the weekly radio/webcast program of electronic and experimental music RTQE on WORT-FM.

Geoffrey Brady is a percussionist/thereminist who resides in Madison. The youngest of six children, Brady plays in local ensembles such as The Alison Margaret Quartet and Yid Vicious. He is a married homeowner with two cats who mainly wears Golden Toe socks.

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage at Audio for the Arts, October 19 8:00 PM

Brennan Connors & Stray Passage is a fledgling musical trio lead by saxophonist Brennan Connors. The ensemble embraces free and structured improvisation, original compositions, and groove based experiments.  Geoff Brady is featured on drums and percussion; Brain Grimm on cello, electric bass, and a variety of Chinese string instruments.  The breadth of the group ranges from focused minimalism to fiery high energy music, all while maintaining a sense of narrative organization throughout performances.  This October 19th marks the band’s next show at Audio for the Arts in Madison, WI.

Brennan Connors has been performing music in Madison and other areas of the Midwest for nearly two decades.  Working primarily as a saxophonist, he has embraced a multitude of musical styles and concepts while engaged with numerous ensembles. During a four year stay in Chicago, he played with The Chicago Samba School, Chainsaw Dupont & The Blues Warriors, and a plethora of jazz groups.  Brennan also led the Chicago based band Asylum, which for lack of a better term was self classified as “groove oriented free-jazz metal.”

Currently residing in Madison, Brennan continues to work a wide range of bands and musicians.  They include Brazilian music group Samba Novistas, Joe White & Brota Oroian’s Art Brothas, and work with percussionist/vocalist/Afro-Peruvian musical innovator Juan Medrano Cotito during his last visit to the Midwest. He’s also has been a regular member of bluesman James Earl Tate’s band since 1999.

Brian C Grimmis a composer, cellist, electronic musician, & Chinese strings multi-instrumentalist – creating music in Madison, WI with the Brothers Grimm, Lovely Socialite, and Watercourse Q4.  After studying Chinese music in Hong Kong and receiving his Bachelor of Music Theory & Composition from Butler University, BCG has found a niche composing and performing live scores for dance and theater.  Brian’s commissions & collaborations include: Fingerlakes Chamber Music Festival, PaperStrangers Dance and Theater Co., Ephemeral Dance, American Pianist Association, City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Radio & Television Hong Kong, Wu Ji Ensemble, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Indy Fringe Theater, The American Blues Theater at Chicago’s Victory Biograph Theater, WI Film Fest 2012. 

Geoffrey Bradyis a percussionist/thereminist who resides in Madison.  The youngest of six children, Brady plays in local ensembles such as The Alison Margaret Quartet and Yid Vicious.  He is a married homeowner with two cats who mainly wears Golden Toe socks. 

Audio for the Arts is located at 7 South Blair Street.

SBR and AFA present

Sons of Daughters

Sunday, September 16, 8pm

 

Sons Of Daughters

 

Patrick Breiner – tenor sax, clarinet, voice (Easton, CT)
Aaron Darrell – bass, voice (Boston, MA)
Devin Drobka – drums (New York, NY)

Sons Of Daughters are on the hustle. Not even two years as a band and they’ve already set out on over a half dozen DIY tours in support of 4 DIY recordings. Their newest CD, Beyond Animals, is by far their most reckless, joyous, and genuine recording to date and their first to feature all original music.

This trio of decorated Berklee and New School grads met in Milwaukee in April of 2010. But don’t let their stunning pedigree fool you. This ain’t no Downbeat reading, elbow rubbing, Blue Note wannabe college trio. These guys are bona fide road warriors with an agenda: to climb the highest hill, yell the loudest, and to make damn sure that what they’re saying means something.

Patrick Breiner, Aaron Darrell, and Devin Drobka all contribute compositions ranging from wistful rubato ballades to devil may care free jazz avalanches. Breiner’s tenor saxophone and clarinet are augmented by vocals (his own and those of bassist Darrell). Drobka is the wild card, as likely to play with any object within reach as he is to play his drum kit. In short, a helter-skelter new twist on the classic chordless jazz trio.