Past Events

Friday, October 2, 2015, concert 8:00 PM, doors 7:00 PM
Joe’s Cafe, 6014 Kingsbury Ave., 63122 (map)
Evan Parker — saxophones, Peter Evans — trumpet

From the late 1960s onward, Evan Parker has remained a crucial figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation and has pioneered or substantially expanded an array of extended techniques for wind instruments. Critic Ron Wynn describes Parker as “among Europe’s most innovative and intriguing saxophonists … his solo sax work isn’t for the squeamish.” In Evan Parker’s music, thought process and breath control are continuous, each being the instrument and measure of the other.

Though Parker has worked extensively in both large and small ensembles, he is perhaps best known for his solo soprano saxophone music, a singular body of work that in recent years has centered around his continuing exploration of techniques such as circular breathing and multi-phonics. Alone, these are mere technical devices, such that Parker’s use of them is, he says, less analytical than intuitive. He has likened his solo performances to entering a quasi trance-like state. The resulting affect is a hypnotic, uninterrupted flow of snaky, densely textured sound, and many listeners have found it hard to perceive that one man could create such intricate, complex music in real time.

Now at the age of 71, Evan Parker’s list of associations is prolific and includes collaborations with such vanguard improvisers as Anthony Braxton and Milford Graves, yet also with avant-rock names like Spiritualized and Scott Walker, and he continues to perform with emerging improvisers such as Okkyung Lee, Chris Corsano, and John Wiese.

Peter Evans is a trumpet player, improviser and composer based in New York City. Since 2013, Evans has participated in New York City’s broad, hybridized scene of musical experimentation, thus his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. He is committed to the simultaneously self-reflective yet collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool, and his capabilities in improvised concert settings are already legendary. Says regular collaborator, Okkyung Lee, “Peter can do anything!”, and when leading his own groups, Peter Evans Quintet and Zebulon Trio, he juxtaposes the cerebral and the playful in a truly unique manner.

Born in 1981, Evans has been a member of New York City’s musical community since 2003, when he moved there after graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory with a degree in classical trumpet performance. He currently works in a wide range of settings, including solo performance, chamber orchestra, performance art, free improvisation, electro-acoustic and composition. Regular collaborations include work with Mary Halvorson, Zach Hill, Claire Chase, Brandon Seabrook and Nate Wooley.

Special Engagement:
Evan Parker and Peter Evans will participate in a collaborative performance and artist talk at FOAM (3359 S. Jefferson Ave.) on Saturday, October 3rd at 11am. This event is FREE and open to the public. Local musicians will collaborate in short sets with each artist. Foam will have coffee and pastries available. Please see our website for updated information. RSVP on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1642020816065882/

Presented by New Music Circle and KDHX

Friday, May 8, 2015 Concert 7:30 PM Doors 7:00 PM	The Stage at KDHX – welcomed by KDHX 3524 Washington Ave. 63103 (map)
Tim Berne — saxophone Oscar Noriega — clarinets Matt Mitchell — piano Ches Smith — percussion
New York-based alto saxophonist Tim Berne has long been regarded as one of the Downtown scene’s most forward thinking bandleaders. Active in New York since 1974, Berne has fostered the creative talent of subsequent generations.Since learning music at the elbow of St. Louis master Julius Hemphill in the ’70s, Berne has built an expansive discography, and The New York Times described Berne’s signature sound as one consisting of “wide intervals, athletic tone, tiny grooves worked into the music’s pivots and hesitations”.Within the project, Snakeoil, Berne writes highly investigative and intricate jazz, bringing together the talents of Oscar Noriega (clarinet, bass clarinet), Matt Mitchell (piano), and Ches Smith (drums, percussion). The group has released three highly acclaimed albums for ECM.For an interview with Tim Berne published in Sunday’s Post Dispatch, click here. For more information and links to video clips, go to our facebook page. Buy tickets for Snakeoil Special thanks to Piano Distributors and Jackson Pianos

Presented by NMC and KDHX

Saturday, April 25, 2015 concert 7:30 PM, doors 7:00PM	The Stage at KDHX 3524 Washington Ave. 63103 (map)
Gerald Cleaver – Drums, Sound Design Cooper-Moore – Piano, Electronics Darius Jones – Saxophones Pascal Niggenkemper – Upright Bass Brandon Seabrook – Electric Guitar
Black Host is a Brooklyn-based quintet led by in-demand drummer Gerald Cleaver. For close to 20 years Cleaver has lent his drum skills to many ongoing collaborations with experimental-jazz figureheads as Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, and William Parker. In his Black Host project,  Cleaver is joined by pianist Cooper-Moore, alto saxophonist Darius Jones, bassist Pascal Niggenkemper and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.  As Black Host, they bring forth original compositions that blend modern jazz, free music, psych, post-punk and electrified noise with painstaking detail and heady abandon. For references, one might find comparisons to  Albert Ayler (especially the groups with pianist Bobby Few and guitarist Henry Vestine), the early ‘70s music of Norwegians Jan Garbarek and Terje Rypdal, or even Sonic Youth. Their 2014 release on Northern Spy, Life in the Sugar Candle Mines, is the group’s first record – hopefully one among several – a reverb-drenched and incisive stew of rhapsodic piano, searing alto and fractured guitar over rhythms that are alternately chunky and airy, rendered with a tremendous live energy. Watch a recent video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJNec8GghrI