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Curated by Ken Pickering and Torsten Müller, this three-night collaborative project has eight internationally acclaimed musicians (three from Vancouver and five from the USA) exploring improvisational practices in a warm, intimate setting. Each evening the octet pushes the music into daring and invigorating terrain using different combinations of players throughout.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

TORSTEN MULLER Renowned German bassist Torsten Müller continues to be a valued collaborator on Vancouver’s creative music scene since making the city his home almost a decade ago. A great improviser who expands the sonic possibilities of his instrument through extended techniques, Müller has worked with a diverse cast of international improvisers including Gunter Christmann, Ken Vandermark, Evan Parker, John Butcher, and Robin Holcomb

MEI HAN is a groundbreaking virtuoso on the Chinese zheng. Presenting music deeply rooted in over two thousand years of Chinese culture, she is transforming the stately zheng into a powerful tool for the contemporary international concert stage. Han regularly performs challenging new works by leading-edge composers including compositions by Minoru Miki, Yuji Takahashi, and Barry Truax. As an accomplished improviser, she has toured internationally with the Mei Han Art Ensemble. Her collaborators include piano luminary Paul Plimley and mandolin master John Reischman.

DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF Vancouver drummer Dylan van der Schyff is a heavyweight in the city’s acclaimed jazz and improvised music community. AllAboutJazz.com notes that his “ability to extract an infinite variety of textures from a simple drum kit is unparalleled.” Besides working with local groups like Talking Pictures, NOW Orchestra, and the Brad Turner Quartet, Dylan collaborates with international names like Dave Douglas, Mark Helias, Achim Kauffman, and Fredrik Ljungkivst

SARA SCHOENBECK Californian Sara Schoenbeck is a bassoonist who dedicates herself to expanding the sound and role of her instrument in the worlds of contemporary notated and improvised music. The Wire magazine (London) places her in the “tiny club of bassoon pioneers” at work in contemporary music today, and the New York Times calls her “riveting,” noting that she mixes “textural experiments with a big, confident sound.” She is a member of Anthony Braxton’s 12+1 tet, Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas Quartet, and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble

JESSICA PAVONE Brooklyn-based string instrumentalist/composer Jessica Pavone is best known for her work with Anthony Braxton’s 12 + 1 tet and for her duo project with guitarist Mary Halvorson, which has been described as “distinct and beguiling [whose] core is steely, and its execution clear” (New York Times). She currently plays bass guitar and viola in her 60’s soul-inspired band The Pavones, and she plays viola and composes for No Way to Say Goodbye (a string quartet that substitutes a second violin for a double bass).

TAYLOR HO BYNUM New Yorker Taylor Ho Bynum is a brass instrumentalist/composer committed to the further exploration of composition and improvisation pioneered by masters like Ellington, Ives, and the AACM, but with a third-millennial flavour and a trickster sensibility. He presently leads his Trio, his Sextet, the chamber ensemble SpiderMonkey Strings, and the little big band Positive Catastrophe, and he has developed a body of solo music for cornet and duo work with dancer/choreographer Rachel Bernsen. Bynum regularly performs with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Dixon

MARY HALVORSON Brooklyn-based guitarist Mary Halvorson has been performing regularly with Anthony Braxton and Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant. She has also worked alongside Joe Morris, Nels Cline, John Tchicai, Elliott Sharp, Andrea Parkins, Marc Ribot, Oscar Noriega, and Jason Moran. Current projects include her Trio with John Hebert and Ches Smith, a chamber-music duo with violist Jessica Pavone, and the avant-rock band People. All About Jazz calls her “the most impressive guitarist of her generation” and enthuses that “the future of jazz guitar starts here.”

FRED LOMBERG-HOLM Chicago-based cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm works in many varied contexts including the Valentine Trio (Jason Roebke, Frank Rosaly); Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet; Ken Vandermark’s Territory Band, Frame Quartet, and Vandermark 5; Joe McPhee’s Survival Unit III (with Michael Zerang); and Tony Malaby’s Cello Trio. His extensive discography includes free improvised and jazz recordings as well as projects by rock groups including Califone, Freakwater, God is My Co-Pilot, Wilco, and many others