Recording: Avesta Nakhaei's Collective Improvisation

Artist: Avesta Nakhaei's Collective Improvisation

Songs: [two fragments from first section] + [unknown song feat. Soley]^*

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

Avesta Nakhaei's Collective Improvisation - [fragment 1 from first section]

Avesta Nakhaei's Collective Improvisation - [fragment 2 from first section]

Avesta Nakhaei's Collective Improvisation feat. Soley - [4th part, 1st piece]

As I've seen before, Avesta Nakhaei's Tranzac gigs are free-flowing affairs, with musicians coming and going throughout the night trying to keep up with Nakhaei's endlessly-inventive piano work. This session started off as a trio, with Nakhaei joined by Anoush Taba'i on clarinet and Michael Kaler on bass — you can hear a couple extracts of this grouping as they find their musical feet. Later on a good chunk of The Holy Gasp dropped by on their way to a gig, and Chris Weatherstone (sax) and Dave Oso and Benjamin Hackman (percussion) were sitting in for the night's final section, where they backed singer Soleyman Vaseghi (popularly known as just Soley).

Soley — a Persian singer of note who has made Toronto his home — sang with the sort of gravitas you can't fake. He performs with a qawwali group nowadays, has a pre-revolutionary popstar past, and released a series of what sound like fairly awesome New Age-tinged albums in the late '80's that you can hear on his website. (Someone should get on doing some re-issues of these.) At any rate, this is the sort of random discovery that can make a quiet night out at The Tranzac into something wholly astonishing.

[Avesta Nakhaei will be painting with an even broader brush at the return of his Meandering Streams of Consciousness project, which brings together improvising musicians with members of the local Persian music scene for large-ensemble improvising action. Check it out on Sunday, July 26th at Array Space.]

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Meandering Streams of Consciousness

Artist: Meandering Streams of Consciousness

Song: [excerpt from first set]

Recorded at Array Space, January 16, 2015.

Meandering Streams of Consciousness - [excerpt from first set]

An intriguing night of sounds from this large ensemble, even if it didn't quite juggle all the elements it had attempted. The visual element, as well as the presence of convening pianist Avesta Nakhaei, were missed but what remained was still quite formidable. A contingent of Persian instruments (oud, tar, tombak) created opportunities for different sounds to inspire each other even if, as I overheard one audience member say, it was often more of a "polite conversation" than a rambunctious encounter. That mostly took the form of the oud and tar introducing a theme, which would slowly be picked up and elaborated by the rest of the players, before easing down for another round. It was a genuine treat to get a chance to see top-notch musicians from a different "scene" — hopefully there will be another chance for this whole thing to happen again. [The full ensemble on this night was: Manuel A. Morales (piano), Peter Lutek (basoon), Anoush Taba'i (clarinet), Chris Weatherstone (sax), Bea Labikova (sax), Reza Assasi (Azeri tar), Arsalan Alizadeh (oud), Kousha Nakhaei (violin), Rob Clutton (double bass), Alinima Madani (tombak and hand percussion)]

Recording: Avesta Nakhaei

Artist: Avesta Nakhaei + friends

Songs: [three excerpts from a group improvisation]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 7, 2014.

Avesta Nakhaei + friends - [excerpt 1]

Avesta Nakhaei + friends - [excerpt 2]

Avesta Nakhaei + friends - [excerpt 3]

Shows in the Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge are inevitably quite informal, but there's degrees within that. This one was at the especially-unstructured end of the spectrum, a very casual set where musicians kept showing up and joining in as the set was already in progress. When I arrived, I thought it might be a duo with Avesta Nakhaei (pianist and instrument inventor) and bassist Michael Lynn, but they'd be joined by John Creson and Adam Rosen (vocalizations, misc percussion) and Anoush Taba'i on clarinet by the time the set started. As they played, guitarist Kyle James wandered in and took his place with the group, and a little later sax player Christopher Weatherstone. Nakhaei, hunched over the piano with his back to the room, took the changes in stride, letting out a delighted laugh when the sax took him by surprise. As the session continued in a shifting but unbroken progression, others might drop out or take a break, but one got the impression that Nakhaei'd be content to play indefinitely.

[Avesta and his brother Kousha Nakhaei will be presenting "Meandering Streams of Consciousness", a night of music and visual arts at Array Space on Friday, January 16th, 2015, which features an intriguing fourteen-piece ensemble.]