Recording: Tim Crofts and friends

Artist: Tim Crofts/Ted Phillips/Nilan Perera / Tim Crofts / Tim Crofts/Nicole Rampersaud/Pete Johnston

Songs: [excerpts from improvisations

Recorded at Array Space ("Audiopollination 27.2"), February 17, 2015.

Tim Crofts/Ted Phillips/Nilan Perera - [excerpt from first improvisation]

Tim Crofts - [excerpt from solo piano improvisation]

Tim Crofts/Nicole Rampersaud/Pete Johnston - [excerpt from first improvisation]

An exciting night on this "bonus" Audiopollination, which featured three sets with pianist Tim Crofts, visiting from Halifax. The night featured a short solo set sandwiched in between some encounters with local improvisers — first with Nilan Perera (prepared guitar) and Ted Philips (cataRT) and later with Pete Johnston (double bass) and Nicole Rampersaud (trumpet). They each managed to push in separate directions under Croft's variety of techniques, including some tasty prepared piano work.

It's always exciting to have a chance to see creative musicians come to town to encounter old friends and make new musical connections — a difficult task at the scale this music tends to operate at. This show was made possible through the efforts of circuit, a "curated grassroots music performance network" that helps improvising musicians to tour across Canada's artist-run spaces. Clearly, this sort of cultural sharing is something we could use more of.

[The series continues tonight (Sunday March 1st) with Audiopollination #28.1 — that decimal point indicating multiple shows this month. The second isn't listed yet, but you can make plans for 28.3 (featuring Tiina Kiik, William Davison, Faster and Aalborggroup)]