Recording: JP Carter & Friends

Artist: JP Carter & Friends

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #60), March 3, 2020.

JP Carter & Friends - [excerpt]

With a night off from Destroyer's tour (where he was once more a part of Dan Bejar's backing band), Vancouver's JP Carter was looking for a local improvised music gig. He got in touch with drummer Joe Sorbara (himself still relatively recently-returned from the West Coast) who put together this group, which also included Aline Homzy (violin) and Ashley Urquhart (piano). Although Carter is often heard extending his trumpet sounds with electronics, this was an all-acoustic session, working up to some pleasing scrape/skronk — and, briefly, towards the end, even some double trumpet action from Carter.

[Track Could Bend's previously-planned fifth anniversary celebration will obviously not be happening. Keep an eye out at the series' FB page for news of things re-emerging when the gathering-together status has changed.]

Recording: Driver/Gill/Urquhart

Artist: Ryan Driver/Tania Gill/Ashley Urquhart

Song: Monk Musical Chairs [excerpt] [composer: Thelonious Monk]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynapticCircusSundays), January 12, 2020.

Ryan Driver/Tania Gill/Ashley Urquhart - Monk Musical Chairs [excerpt]

Another conceptual coup at Nilan Perera's SynapticCircusSundays residency saw three noteworthy local pianists taking turns on selections from the Monk songbook. The catch here was that the songs were presented continuously — one pianist would start a song, then slide over midway through as the next joined them for a four-handed middle section before the new pianist would complete the piece and begin another.

[SynapticCircusSundays will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday, March 8th.]

Recording: Brittany Craig Group

Artist: Brittany Craig Group

Song: Piece 2 [composer: Brittany Craig]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #54), September 3, 2019.

Brittany Craig Group - Piece 2

I first properly encountered saxophonist Brittany Craig at TCB a couple months back in a set organized by pianist Ashley Urquhart and realized I wanted to hear some more, so I asked her to put together a combo of her own. She brought back Urquhart as well as guitarist Dan Pitt, each bringing some of their own compositions to play. This one of Craig's might not have a final title yet, but it manages to evoke a melancholy mood that swirls outward into something like hopefulness.

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (November 5th) with sets from Naomi McCarroll-Butler & Patrick Smith, Sonja and Joe Sorbara's birthday combo featuring Andrew Furlong, Bea Labikova and Chris Pruden.]

Recording: Ashley Urquhart and Friends

Artist: Ashley Urquhart and Friends

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #51), June 4, 2019.

Ashley Urquhart and Friends - [excerpt from first piece]

Given the central role she played in bringing a piano down to Wenona's basement, allowing the opportunity to book a wider range of musicians, it felt important to have Ashley Urquhart come and play that piano at TCB. For the occasion, she assembled this trio with Brittany Craig on saxophone and Stefan Hegerat on percussion. Circling around some insistent drone/plunk continua, there were tasty little horn honks and hesitation beats accompanying Urquhart's piano moves.

[Ashley Urquhart's Colour and Noise plays The Rex on Sunday, August 11th — you can also catch her curatorial and performance skills in action at Furniture Music, which presents at Wenona on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Meanwhile, Track Could Bend returns to the cool, comfy basement at Wenona on Tuesday (August 6th) offering sets from Hiroki Tanaka, Del Stephen's Today Versions and Liz Lima.]

Recording: Queasy Weasel

Artist: Queasy Weasel

Songs: [excerpt from first piece, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Furniture Music), May 28, 2019.

Queasy Weasel - [excerpt from first piece, part 1]

Queasy Weasel - [excerpt from first piece, part 2]

The results were perhaps a little weasely but not so queasy from this quartet composed of Bea Labikova (alto sax), Ashley Urquhart (piano), Caleb Klager (double bass) and Stefan Hegerat (percussion), mixing quiet interludes (including some tasty chime-y plucked piano wires) with clomping gallops.

[Furniture Music will be back in the basement at Wenona on Tuesday, August 27th.]

Recording: Colour and Noise

Artist: Colour and Noise

Song: Saguaro, Whale of the Desert

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 9, 2019.

Colour and Noise - Saguaro, Whale of the Desert

The first Women From Space Festival saw four excellent concerts take place over the course of the International Women's Day weekend. Organized by Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, the festival felt like a really savvy gathering, always more than the sum of its parts and showcasing the depth of talent in the city's various creative music streams in a women-centred environment.

The night closed with a set from this improvising ensemble playing pianist Ashley Urquhart's compositions. The pieces leave a lot of room for the other members (Tara Kannangara on vox and trumpet, Patrick O'Reilly on guitar, Alex Fournier on double bass, and Aidan Sibley on trombone) to explore and drift, often pulling back into duos and trios given suble shadings by the remaining members.

[Three of this group's members will be playing with Triio (which is not a trio) at their CD launch at The Rex on Sunday, June 2nd.]

Recording: Laderoute/Urquhart/Story

Artist: Jesse Laderoute/Ashley Urquhart/David Story

Song: [last section]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 58), January 21, 2018.

Jesse Laderoute/Ashley Urquhart/David Story - [last section]

There were some different faces, including a couple rock'n'roll ringers at this edition of Audiopollination's "self-curated" series. Though best known for his work with Blonde Elvis (and assorted other projects) Jesse Laderoute is no stranger to improvisation. That said, he helped to start this night off with some volume, shredding away and opening a space for Ashley Urquhart and David Story to get loud in their own ways — the former leaning into the piano to hammer at the strings while the latter eased into a ferocious triangle solo (!). Things then settled into this section of coiled tension, unresolved like the middle part of a Necks piece.

Michael Lynn captured this whole night in black and white, so you can view the full set over on youtube:

[Audiopollination returns with the second Del Stephen-curated "Spirit of the Inner Child" show on Friday, February 23rd with spontaneous recombinative sets from Allison Cameron, Bea Labikova, Del Stephen, Jeff Sinibaldi, Julian, Mira Martin-Gray, Simone Baron and Tomasz Krakowiak. The next "self-curated" Audiopollination will be on Saturday, March 10th.]