Recording: Snow/Kubota/Roblin

Artist: Michael Snow/Nobi Kubota/Diane Roblin vs. Artists' Jazz Band

Song: Improvisation on top of Tapioca

Recorded at Array Space ("Audiopollination 28.1"), March 1, 2015.

Snow/Kubota/Roblin vs. AJB - Improvisation on top of Tapioca [part 1]

Snow/Kubota/Roblin vs. AJB - Improvisation on top of Tapioca [part 2]

An unusually packed house out for this special evening. I might mutter a wish that some more of the crowd that comes out for "celebrities" of the local improvised scene would also drop in to support some of the emerging players that are at Audiopollination month in, month out — but that said, I would be the last person to say we shouldn't celebrate the players that helped build the city's musical community.

Michael Snow (piano) and Diane Roblin (piano) had not played together for decades, and alongside Nobi Kubota (vocalizations and loops) they decided to pay tribute to the Artists' Jazz Band, one of the formative groups that they all passed through. Their first piece was inspired by AJB's late-70's loft recording of an improvisation called "Tapioca", which was mostly percussion (though Kubota played some sax on it). Then and now were squashed together with the trio responding in real-time to the playback of the piece, with rolling chords on the pianos and clusters of vocal loops building up on top of the older percussive clatter. I've heard it said that you never stop improvising 'til about the time you stop breathing — and that's always worthy of celebrating.

[As always, you can revisit the whole night with a sterling recording over at the series' bandcamp. A busy month for Audiopollination wraps up on Monday (March 16th) at Array Space, with a special night of improvisations from visitors Aalborggroup plus local guests.]