The St. Louis-based label Freedonia Music, which documents the city's experimental and avant-garde music of the past and present, has two new releases out this month.
New Music for Clarinet and Piano features eight tracks of "spontaneous compositions" from clarinetist Eric Mandat and pianist Greg Mills, recorded "live" last year at Jackson Pianos.
The label's other new release Kuvuka teams Greg Mills with percussionist Glenn "Papa" Wright for "a summit conference for piano and drum set."
Recorded in June at Clayton Studios, it features four tracks of "free improvisation showing postmodern jazz and classical influences by two master musicians at the height of their expressive powers."
Both albums are available as downloads or physical CDs, and you can hear samples from both via the Freedonia website. And speaking of downloads, the entire Freedonia catalog is now available in downloadable form from the label's Bandcamp page for $7 per album.
This week, let's take a look at some of the musicians who will be involved in "3 Nights in September," a mid-week festival of improvised and experimental music organized by cellist Tracy Andreotti that will take place this coming Tuesday, September 22; Wednesday, September 23; and Thursday, September 24 at the Tavern of Fine Arts.
Tuesday's program is scheduled to include performances from Brain Transplant, NNN Cook, Michael Williams, and the Hess/Cunningham Duo, while Wednesday's concert will feature Ghost Ice & Mister Ben; Dave Stone with Henry Claude, Glenn "Papa" Wright & Joe Hess; and the Perhelion Ensemble.
The final performance on Thursday will include sets from the Experimental Arts Ensemble STL; Andreotti's own Vernacular String Trio; the STL Free Jazz Collective; and the duo of trumpeter George Sams and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw.
Attempting to "preview" shows of improvised music is always fraught with uncertainty, because by definition, every performance is different. But even so, and even though some of the today's featured clips are a bit rough, quality wise, perusing them should give you at least some idea of what to expect next week.
The first clip up above features the Hess/Cunningham Duo, captured in August of this year at the Acid Kat Fest in St. Louis.
After the jump, you can see videos of NNN Cook, also from this year's Acid Kat Fest; Brain Transplant, recorded in October 2014 during the last in-store performance at the now-shuttered Apop Records; and Ghost Ice, from a show in January of this year at the Schlafly Tap Room.
Then, it's saxophonist Dave Stone's trio, recorded in 2010 at Stone's regular Friday night performance at Mangia Italiano (which tends to be as much of a "tunes" gig as free improv); and a promotional trailer produced by the STL Free Jazz Collective.
Finally, there's a recording of Sams and Shaw performing at a tribute to the late trumpeter Floyd LeFlore last October at the Tavern of Fine Arts, with some help from saxophonists Jerome 'Jay Dubz' Williams and Lawrence 'Rahtu' Johnson and pianist David Parker.
Admission to "Three Nights in September" is $5 per night, payable in cash only, at the door. See the event's Facebook page for the latest details.
You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...
