Recording: Brandon Davis & Joel Lawrence

Artist: Brandon Davis & Joel Lawrence

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (coexisDance #113), February 28, 2026.

Brandon Davis & Joel Lawrence - [improvisation]

The coexisDance series, which has been bringing together improvisers from Toronto's music and dance scenes for more than a decade, seems to have been thriving lately. Settled into Cabbagetown's CCDT, there's a proper floor and room to set up a large illuminated circle for the performances, musicians strewn around the perimemter and getting a chance to improvise with two different dance artists over the course of the evening. Raphael Roter has brought curatorial energy to the series, with a passion for bridging two vibrant communities that might not rub elbows enough. [Do note that these field recordings are, by necessity, "incomplete" without the dancers' physicality, but I think it's worth preserving this work from some excellent players in the community.]

Joel Lawrence flexed like a bow scraping at the strings while double bassist Brandon Davis brought a vibrant energy to his playing in this set.

[Brandon Davis will be leading his Stations Quartet (alongside Patrick O'Reilly, Luan Phung, and Germaine Liu) in The Southern Cross on Wednesday (March 25th).]

Recording: Ballyk/Davis/Elrod/Hunt/Ng

Artist: Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng

Song: [1st set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), December 23, 2025.

Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng - [1st set excerpt]

Some very cool improvisations with some Berlin-based guests, including Toronto expat percussionist Mark Ballyk. Brandon Davis (double bass), Will Hunt (keybs), and Karen Ng (sax) represented the local side, while it was Kayla Elrod who surprised the most. Her bespoke rig featured Freddy Krueger-esque "fingernails" each with a contact mic (and each with its own channel on the mixer from her spaghetti bundle of cables) that could be run over any surface, creating mostly-crinkly texture sounds. Carpet, walls, windows and Ballyk's drumkit were in in play for tapping and scratching. That didn't lead to indiscriminate noise, however, as there were some some excellent mellow passages over these two sets.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Recording: Never Was

Artist: Never Was

Songs: [improvisation excerpt] + Dancing Through [composer: Joe Sorbara]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 9, 2023.

Never Was - [improvisation excerpt]

Never Was - Dancing Through

"We're the nine-piece band Never Was," said guitarist Patrick O'Reilly with a smile as this set got underway. In fact, though the band has seen some evolutions and expansions lately, due to summertime vagaries he was joined only by double bassist Brandon Davis for this outing. That gave them oodles of space to explore together, with O'Reilly spinning off with his usual array of effects and extended techniques, while Davis did a superb job of keeping things grounded. Staying true to the group's sonic space, they tackled some pieces from its book alongside some improvisations.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Recording: Davis-Grieve-Ballyk

Artist: Brandon Davis/Robert Grieve/Mark Ballyk

Song: Degradation

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 28, 2019.

Brandon Davis/Robert Grieve/Mark Ballyk - Degradation

A new grouping from guitarist Rob Grieve and bassist Brandon Davis featured Mark Ballyk on the skins this night, although Nick Fraser is the regular drummer. Playing some new compositions — this one, starting off a bit like a NMN record stuck in a groove, was the only one yet to get a title — the trio explored some new quiet/loud dichotomies in their jazz-metal excursions.

Recording: Bryan Qu Large Ensemble

Artist: Bryan Qu Large Ensemble

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series), August 14, 2016.

Bryan Qu Large Ensemble - [excerpt]

Over the course of the summer, this agglomeration has convened a handful of times to experiment with large-group free improvisation. Under the nominal leadership of saxophonist Bryan Qu (another young player from the U of T crew that's seeping into the city's creative music scenes) there's no conducting or prearranged cues, which makes it somewhat surprising that the group approaches things with relative restraint. Although the music crests in a series of Ascensions, you can generally follow individual players without things getting lost in a clamourous blow-out. The group were eleven deep this time out, as as far as I can work out, the contingent included: David Baldry (trumpet), Mark Ballyk (percussion), Evan Cartwright (drywalling tools), Belinda Corpuz (voice), Brandon Davis (bass), Emily Denison (trumpet), Chris Pruden (keyb), Alexei Orechin (guitar) Raphael Foisy-Couture (electronics), Vicky Mettler (guitar), and Bryan Qu (saxophone).

Recording: Denison Ballyk Davis

Artist: Denison Ballyk Davis

Song: [third piece] [edit]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Somewhere There Creative Music Festival – Show 2), February 20, 2015.

Denison Ballyk Davis - [third piece] [edit]

I first encountered trumpeter Emily Denison late last year as part of Ken Aldcroft's Convergence Ensemble, but this was a chance to see her sharing creative leadership. This trio, alongside Mark Ballyk (drums) and Brandon Davis (double bass) was more overtly jazz-informed than anything so far seen at the festival (even slipping into some comfortable blues changes at one point) but also managed to range a little further afield, slipping into quieter, more textured moments.