Recording: Ken Aldcroft and Scott Thomson

Artist: Ken Aldcroft and Scott Thomson / Aldcroft/Thomson/Liu/Oswald

Songs: [excerpt from duo improvisation] + [excerpt from quartet improvisation]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 17, 2015.

Ken Aldcroft and Scott Thomson - [excerpt from duo improvisation]

Ken Aldcroft/Scott Thomson/Germaine Liu/John Oswald - [excerpt from quartet improvisation]

This show celebrated the release of Red & Blue, a new duo album from Ken Aldcroft (guitar) and Scott Thomson (trombone). This format allows the pair — who have also collaborated in larger ensembles — to investigate a variety of subtle interplays, each ranging from the delicate to the more abrasive, with Thomson moving from quiet lines to tinny blasts while Aldcroft provided both knotty bursts and looped textures.

Their duo set was followed by a quartet, with Germaine Liu (percussion) and John Oswald (alto sax) joining in the fray, with quiet ruckus building up to the shreddin' groove heard at the end of the excerpt here.

[Ken Aldcroft will be bringing a different duo project to the Tranzac on Wednesday July 8th, when he'll be joined by tenor saxophonist J. Robinson.]