Stephen Gauci/Adam Lane/Kevin Shea Trio, David McDonnell Group + Will Yager/Zach Rowden duo

Stephen Gauci, Adam Lane & Kevin Shea Trio:

Stephen Gauci is recognized as one of the most strikingly original saxophonists on the New York City improvised music scene.Stricken by a childhood illness that has left him with a profound hearing loss, Gauci was drawn to the clear, deep, tone of the tenor saxophone. This was the first step in a lifelong relationship with, and investigation of tone, timbre, and especially.. voice. The nature of Gauci’s hearing loss are that outer sounds require of him the utmost level of concentration and focus. The flip side, however, is that inner sounds,  and the inner voice, are magnified… crystal clear and singing. The intense outward focus developed as a result of Gauci’s hearing impairment has been turned inward like a laser to illuminate, and manifest,  the inner voice.Gauci has performed and recorded with many of the leading improvisers of our time, including Cooper Moore, Joe Morris, Nels Cline, Karl Berger, Kenny Wessel, Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, Daniel Carter, George Garzone, Nate Wooley, William Parker, Steve Swell, Mike Bisio, Adam Lane, Kevin Shea, William Hooker, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Dave Rempis.Gauci runs the popular Bushwick Improvised Music Series, where he has presented over 600 concerts featuring many of New York’s greatest improvisers, as well as many international touring musicians.  At two years and counting, the Bushwick Series is the longest running weekly avant jazz series in Brooklyn. Gauci also performs at the Bushwick Series every Monday with his working quartet featuring guitarist Sandy Ewen, bassist Adam Lane, and drummer Kevin Shea. Having performed every Monday for over two years, this is arguably one of the longest running avant jazz sets in New York City history.

By combining a disparate set of influences into a unique improvisational voice, Adam Lane has become recognized as one of the most original creative voices in contemporary jazz. His 2006 recording New Magical Kingdom, was recently featured in the Penguin Jazz Guide 1001 Best Records Ever Made, and his most recent recording, Ashcan Ranting received a myriad of critical praise including four stars in Downbeat.His current projects include his Full Throttle Orchestra, a nine piece ensemble formed to realize his extended jazz orchestral compositions, The Adam Lane Trio, featuring legendary reedist Vinny Golia, Four Corners, a co-lead ensemble with reedist Ken Vandermark, and an ongoing solo project that combines unique processed double bass improvisations with Lane's original story telling. As a sideman he has performed with an eclectic mix of musicians, from tenor great John Tchicai, to alto iconoclast Richard Tabnik, to rock legend Tom Waits. Lane's compositions have been praised for their audacity and originality.

Kevin Shea is best known for his work with the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, he has collaborated with numerous other avant-garde and jazz musicians and composers, including Storm & Stress, Rhys Chatham, People (with Mary Halvorson), Peter Evans Quartet, Barr Shea Dahl, Micah Gaugh and Alan Wilkinson.

During the course of his twenty-plus year career, Shea has recorded on over eighty albums and has performed in more than forty countries. He has also performed with the Armitage Gone! dance company, and was lauded as New York City’s best drummer of 2012 by the Village Voice.

David McDonnell Group:

David McDonnell is a composer, computer music programmer and saxophonist, he is an Associate Professor of Music Technology at Temple University. His project, Dave McDonnell Group, performs his original compositions and has released three albums, one of which, the time inside a year, is on Chicago’s Delmark Records.

A veteran of Chicago’s avant-garde jazz and indie underground, McDonnell is perhaps best known as a founder member of longstanding scene mainstay Herculaneum, a critically acclaimed working unit with five recordings on offer via CleanFeed and 482 Music. His compositions for the group have been performed at the New York Winter Jazz Fest and featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. His recording career began in the late 1990’s as a member of the free-ranging group bablicon. Through bablicon, David began his association with The Elephant 6 recording company, leading to features on a number of recordings with members of the collective. David was a member of Icy Demons, fronted the synth-rock trio Michael Columbia (both of whom performed at the Pitchfork Music Festival), and performed with Philadelphia’s Need New Body.

This evening he'll be joined by:

Chris Welcome - guitar

Matt Engle - bass

Ian McColm - drums

Will Yager & Zach Rowden:

Will Yager is a double bassist committed to experimental music, improvisation, and collaborating with other artists in the creation of new solo and chamber repertoire for the double bass. He is a founding member of both LIGAMENT, a duo with soprano Anika Kildegaard, and the trio Wombat with Justin Comer and Carlos Cotallo Solares. Performance highlights include appearances at the High Zero Festival, Omaha Under the Radar, University of Iowa Center for New Music, Experimental Sound Studios’ Quarantine Concerts, 2021 International Society of Bassists Convention, Nief-Norf Summer Festival, New Music on the Point, Cortona Sessions for New Music, and the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival. He is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Zach Rowden is a musician based in Middletown, Connecticut. His work is focused in the areas of drone, repetitive structures and noise. Collaborators and projects include - Tongue Depressor (with Henry Birdsey), Hyperion Ensemble under the direction of Iancu Dumitrescu, Red Yellow Blue Green Black (with Austin Larkin),  Leila Bordreuil, Aki Onda, Arien Wilkerson, and Paul Flaherty.

The set they will be performing (on double bass and tapes) is based off of a solo bass piece written for Will in 2020 by entitled Tennessee Locked Grooves.

venue is wheelchair accessible