Recording: O'Reilly/Strutt/Pitt

Artist: Patrick O'Reilly/Joe Strutt/Dan Pitt

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #109), October 7, 2025.

Patrick O'Reilly/Joe Strutt/Dan Pitt - [excerpt]

There's an informal rule at TCB that the host doesn't also perform, but on request of guitarist Dan Pitt, that rule was bent enough to reconvene this trio that had played together informally at Patrick O'Reilly's birthday jam. I brought out the Kaossilator, and the ukulele as well to make it a full-on string band. The results seems quite satisfying, blurps and bloops and some nice textured bits.

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

Recording: Dan Pitt Quintet

Artist: Dan Pitt Quintet

Song: 27 Hours

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser Presents), November 25, 2024.

Dan Pitt Quintet - 27 Hours

Back from tour and in fine form after fighting the elements across Western Canada, guitarist Dan Pitt and company (Alex Fournier on bass, Nick Fraser on drums plus Patrick Smith and Naomi McCarroll-Butler on woodwinds) tore it out in this homecoming romp. Celebrating the rease of Horizontal Depths, the group's second album, the ensemble moved through most of the album's pieces, exploring moody zones and blistering rockers like this set-opener.

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

Recording: Swankey/Pitt/Pitt

Artist: Laura Swankey/Brittany Pitt/Dan Pitt

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #96), October 1, 2024.

Laura Swankey/Brittany Pitt/Dan Pitt - [excerpt from first piece]

There were pedals all around for this trio, with Dann Pitt (electric guitar) flanked by Brittany Pitt (baritone sax) and Laura Swankey (vox). There were some nice swirling sounds here and some outward-pushing adventures that, with the addition of a rhythm section, could turn this into a particularly cosmic psych band.

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

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (November 5th) with solo sets from visitors Darren Williams and Rebecca Bruton and an introductory duo from Marilyn + Apple. Meanwhile, Brittany Pitt, with her Reverie ensemble, will be holding down a November residency at The Rex, with shows every Tuesday in November from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.]

Recording: Dan Pitt

Artist: Dan Pitt

Song: [3rd piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Kurt Newman presents: an evening of cool solos), July 16, 2024.

Dan Pitt - [3rd piece]

Dan Pitt brought some delicately-spacious pieces for his set, exploring some terrain similar to his solo compositions.

You can check out some more from this set (and the rest of the evening's second half) over on youtube:

Recording: Dan Pitt & Alexei Orechin

Artist: Dan Pitt & Alexei Orechin

Songs: unknown^* + Sketch For a Summer [The Durutti Column cover]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #80), June 6, 2023.

Dan Pitt & Alexei Orechin - unknown

Dan Pitt & Alexei Orechin - Sketch For a Summer

A year after bringing some solo sounds to TCB, guitarist Dan Pitt doubled things up by bringing along the always-astonishing Alexi Orechin. Things were really cooking on both electric and acoustic guitars, but rather than heading for the shred-zone, the pair exhibited a lithe and nimble interplay, full of lightness and liquidity.

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

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona tonight (July 4th) with sets from Brian Ruryk and Del Stephen's Wurld Of Xo '42 Multivurse Melody Band.]

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

Recording: Dan Pitt

Artist: Dan Pitt

Song: Tape Age

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #70), August 2, 2022.

Dan Pitt - Tape Age

Having recorded an album of solo guitar in January 2020, Dan Pitt joked that he was ahead of the pandemic trend of solo recordings in isolation. But that also meant that the album would come out at a point when shows were at their scarcest, so this was his first opportunity to explore the material in live performance since the album's release. Evolving from improvisations into composed pieces, several of these have found their way into his group contexts as well. While sharing some pieces from the album — as well as this newer one that emerged after it was recorded — Pitt covered Bill Frisell and referenced Paul Motian. And by a bit of happy luck, just as Pitt was mangling his loop at the piece's end, there's some metallic clanging as a beer keg was being shifted in the backroom behind the stage area — and it fits in quite nicely.

You can also check out the full set over on TCB's youtube playlist:

Recording: Brittany Pitt & Dan Pitt

Artist: Brittany Pitt & Dan Pitt

Song: Moment [composer: Paul Motian]^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 12, 2022.

Brittany Pitt & Dan Pitt - Moment

Noting that sometimes it's hardest to find time to play with the musicians you live with, Brittany and Dan Pitt relished a chance to explore some tunes together in this set. Mixing a couple originals alongside a standard or two and a pop song to boot, Dan offered a range of guitars tones, from spacious reverb to melt-y loops while Brittany not only contributed sax but some vocals as well.

^* Did I get this right? This is what I wrote down, but I don't immediately see it in the author's canon looking online. Please leave a comment if you can confirm!

Recording: Newman/Pitt/Keogh

Artist: Paul Newman/Dan Pitt/Maggie Keogh

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 80), February 8, 2020.

Paul Newman/Dan Pitt/Maggie Keogh - [excerpt]

Some quieter explorations from this trio, with Pitt's nylon-string guitar, Keogh's vocals and piano and Newman's tenor sax layering together in a really complementary way.

You can also check out some visual documentation of this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:

[Paul Newman will be launching a new duo album with Brian Abbott at The Tranzac on Saturday, March 14th. Audiopollination returns to Array Space on Saturday, March 14th with another self-curated night including sounds from Rick Sacks/John Oswald/David Sait, Nicholas Cooper/Del Stephen/Kalia Lenaghan, Ryan Kinney and Avant-Gardeners, and Tiina Kiik/David Story/styrofoamNosebleedPrincess.]

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: Franche-Nolan/Ballyk

Artist: Franche-Nolan/Ballyk

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), February 23, 2019.

Franche-Nolan/Ballyk - [excerpt]

This project's core duo of Noah Franche-Nolan (piano) and Mark Ballyk (drums/electronics) was augmented by Laura Swankey (voice/electronics) and Dan Pitt (guitar) for a set of push/pull improvisations, moving from florid clomping and saloon-y tinkling to abstract close-mic'd cymbal feedback rumbles. The latter end of the spectrum was pushed even further when the members of drone/folk-gospel explorers Joyful Joyful (who'd opened up the evening) joined the quartet on stage for en extended coda to the set.

[Noah Franche-Nolan will be playing new compositions with a trio including Hayden Farrar and Nick Fraser at the Tranzac on Sunday night (April 28th).]

Recording: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 2

Artist: The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 2

Song: Dog Pound [composer: Caleb Klager]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music By Harry and Furlong, S1E3), November 28, 2018.

The Search For Eternal Happiness Pt. 2 - Dog Pound

This "episode" of this new-ish Tranzac residency delivered exactly what its title promised: music curated and performed by Harry Vetro and Andrew Furlong. As a musical unit, Vetro's Search For Eternal Happiness seems to be as conceptual as the titular metaphysical pursuit, with different iterations bringing a rotating series of musicians to join him.

This set saw him on drums backing a sort of double trio that included Dan Pitt and Harry Bartlett on guitar plus Jill McKenna and Caleb Klager on double bass. It's possible that it's an expanded version of a trio containing Bartlett, Klager, and Vetro that recorded some tunes together — including the ode to the Alberta village heard here. Carefully-arranged countrypolitan twang, this was "jazz" as filtered through the influence of Bill Frisell, whose work was also tackled during the set.

[Music By Harry and Furlong continues at The Tranzac on Wednesday, January 23rd, with a new The Search For Eternal Happiness configuration (with Harry Vetro plus saxophonist Harrison Argatoff as well as dancers Alison Keery and Mateo Gilando) plus a duo set from Patrick Smith and Mike Gennaro.]

Recording: Harrison Vetro & Friends

Artist: Harrison Vetro & Friends

Song: [sections 2 + 3]^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Music By & For Ken Aldcroft XXI), September 12, 2018.

Harrison Vetro & Friends - [sections 2 + 3]

The first half of this night of music for Ken Aldcroft brought some carefully-crafted sounds from drummer Harry Vetro alongside Kaelin Murphy (trumpet) and Dan Pitt (guitar). With some nice give-and-take all around, there were moments of quiet introspection pushing outward seamlessly into louder abstractions.

^* I'm not sure if these are a couple smaller pieces, or two parts of a larger suite. If you know that and/or the titles, please leave a comment!

Recording: Adolescence

Artist: Adolescence

Songs: Why Do People Smoke Outside of Hospitals? + Which Way is Up?

Recorded at Array Space (Somewhere There's Second Sunday Series), March 12, 2017.

Adolescence - Why Do People Smoke Outside of Hospitals?

Adolescence - Which Way is Up?

Once again, Somewhere There was supporting and amplifying the voices of emerging composers + performers with their Second Sunday of the month series. This group (with some familiar faces from the younger cadre and a few that were new to me) was assembled by percussionist Harry Vetro and included Emily Denison (trumpet), Harrison Argatoff (sax), Meghan Gilhespy (vox), Dan Pitt (guitar), and Jacob Thompson (synth + piano). Vetro's scores contained both notated lines as well as pictures, giving the musicians a basic musical framework plus room to explore based on the moods the images evoked. That meant the pieces were more "atmospheres" than "tunes", but they were rather agreeable spaces to range around in.