Artist: Toronto Improvisers Orchestra
Song: Word Building
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 12, 2026.
Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - Word Building
There was the usual range of approaches in this TIO session — conducted pieces, freely-played pieces, three-bar loops, approximations of jazz. And also, from noted lexophile Del Stephen, a couple word-game pieces, including this one, which starts off like a round of free improv Password.
Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXXI
Song: Where Have All The Melodicas Gone? [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 29, 2026.
Cosmic Homeostasis XXXI - Where Have All The Melodicas Gone? [excerpt]
The year's first fifth-Sunday-of-the-month brought a robust group of droners together to listen to each other and explore some distant zones.
The full ensemble for this occasion was:
As always, you can dig into the full session over on bandcamp:
[Due to a full-weekend Tranzac booking, Cosmic Homeostasis is being bumped, and will be performing in The Tranzac's Living Room on Sunday, May 17th at noon. However, also keep an eye out for a special offsite fifth-Sunday-of-the-month gathering!]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [2nd set excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), July 13, 2025.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set excerpt]
An air-conditioning failure sent the day's sets in the Southern Cross over into the Tranzac's Main Hall, giving some extra legroom for the TIO's monthly gathering. The crew were out eight-deep on this occasion, with a pair of saxophones adding embellishments to the proceedings, as Rod Campbell directed the proceedings. (He added some spoken word elements as well, which you can hear a little bit in the backgound here, though the microphones were more interested in the guitar and bass vi.)
[The TIO will be back in their usual Tranzac timeslot (and presumably back in the Southern Cross!) at noon on Sunday, August 10th.]
Artist: Pierre Mongeon/Michael Palumbo/Diane Roblin
Song: [1st piece, excerpt]
Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination), May 9, 2025.
Pierre Mongeon/Michael Palumbo/Diane Roblin - [1st piece, excerpt]
It'd been a good spell since I've been able to make an Audiopollination, so it was a prize to be able to slip back into the vibe with a classic "instant combo" like this one, with the three musicians playing confidently and listening intently. Michael Palumbo's modular synth mostly held down the high-end here ringing and buzzing above Diane Roblin's piano and Pierre Mongeon's trumpet/melodica.
You can watch the archive of the full evening's livestream over on Audiopollination's youtube channel.
[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on June 13th with sets by David Sait/Marilyn Yogarajah/Magick, cheryl o + Neil Wiernik, Heraclitus Akimbo/Laura Swankey/Judy Zhu and Mickle32 + Rod Campbell. It'll also be the last show hosted by Michael Lynn before handing things over to new hosts Marylin and Yasmine, so please come down to help celebrate the thirteen years he has been running the series.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 10, 2024.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Although the TIO will play freely when the numbers are low (or when the mood otherwise strikes), when there's a larger group the use of conduction leads the sounds to interesting places. Here, Eugene Martynec was having some computer trouble and took a break from troubleshooting to wrangle the ensemble, pulling things together to move from long tones to pointillistic daubs.
Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXIII
Songs: Moving [excerpt] + Top of the Mountain [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 31, 2023.
Cosmic Homeostasis XXIII - Moving [excerpt]
Cosmic Homeostasis XXIII - Top of the Mountain [excerpt]
With the calendar withholding a fifth Sunday of the month until March, this was the first manifestation of this ever shifting/growing collective in the calendar year, but even competing calls of Easter weekend couldn't stop a robust group of droners from gathering together. With birthday celebrant Diane Roblin considering the names of the pieces, there was a nice mix of gentle clatter and spacy drift over these two selections.
The full ensemble this time out was:
And as always, you can hear/download the entire performance over at bandcamp:
Artist: Cosmic Homeostasis XXII
Song: Stimulant Sister Comedown Cowboy [excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Cosmic Homeostasis & Audiopollination: Pre-NYE gathering + celebration), December 30, 2023.
Cosmic Homeostasis XXII - Stimulant Sister Comedown Cowboy [excerpt]
With the regular fifth-Sunday-of-the-month afternoon timeslot reserved for NYE prep, Cosmic Homeostasis took over the Southern Cross for a rare evening drone meetup. That might have brought on some slightly more rambunctious zones, but things were still relatively contained, with a really nice mix of acoustic and electronic sounds. Rather a pleasant way to gather with friends and celebate the turning of the year.
The participants this time out were:
As always, the full session is preserved over on Bandcamp:
Plus, you can check out some footage of the full first set over on youtube:
Artist: Diane Roblin/Colin Fisher/Jeff Luciani
Song: [2nd set excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 29, 2023.
Diane Roblin/Colin Fisher/Jeff Luciani - [2nd set, excerpt]
Always keeping a hand in with a variety of ensembles, pianist Diane Roblin presented a matinée with this occasional trio that saw her joined by Jeff Luciani (drumkit) and Colin Fisher (sax, guit). Adding some synth swells to the piano rolls, there was an appealing sonic range here and lots of joyful interplay — definitely suitable for watching the leaves tumbling down in the background.
Given how my camera was overwhelmed by the daylight streaming in behind the players, you won't see any of those leaves tumbling down (and rendering the foreground in a rather murky way), but you can check out some footage of this full set over on youtube:
Artist: Ecstatic Echidna
Song: Lullaby for Echidnas
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 16, 2023.
Ecstatic Echidna - Lullaby for Echidnas
Now with a second gig under their belt — as well as a formal group name — this trio may be evolving such that their most distinguishing feature is that they are being playful as much as they are playing.
Artist: Ladyfinger
Song: Fourteen [composer: Kayla Milmine]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 2, 2023.
Diane Roblin (piano + synth) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone) played a set of their own compositions, bookended by a couple Wayne Shorter pieces. There was room for romps and laments alike, all infused with the obvious chemistry and affection invested into this ongoing duo.
You can check out footage of the full set over on youtube:
Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra
Song: [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), June 11, 2023.
Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]
Out in nonet strength this time, the TIO alternated between free group playing, duos/trios, and conducted pieces — here with Ryan Kinney guiding the ensemble.
[The TIO will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (July 9th) in their usual noon to two p.m. timeslot.]
Artist: Lima/Roblin/Hall
Song: [1st piece, excerpt]
Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #80), June 6, 2023.
Lima/Roblin/Hall - [1st piece, excerpt]
Possibly named Ecstatic Echidna, vocalist/clarinetist Liz Lima put this ensemble together, bringing along reed expert Glen Hall as well as keyboardist Diane Roblin, who brought out some spacey synth sounds to expand the musical settings.
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.]
Artist: Diane Roblin/Ryan Kinney/James Erickson
Song: [excerpt from an improvisation]
Recorded December 4, 2022 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Audiopollination 10th Anniversary Bash).
Diane Roblin/Ryan Kinney/James Erickson - [excerpt]
A round number anniversary is always worth celebrating, and more so for this labour of love devoted to creative expression and community building. Kudos to Mike Lynn for putting in the work to keep Audiopollination going for a decade — definitely worth celebrating with a slice of pie and a crowded room in the Southern Cross.
A nicely even-handed trio here, with Diane Roblin (piano/synth), Ryan Kinney (guitar), and James Erickson (sax/clarinet) collaborating on some well-woven textures.
You can check out some footage from this set over on the Audiopollination youtube channel:
[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on Friday, January 13th with sets by Mike Barber/Daisy Betlej/Tegan Dietsch / Kousha Nakhaei/Owen Kurtz / Jamie Eriksen/Adrian Russouw/Bri Clarke and Kimberly Ivany/Katheryn Merriam.]
Artist: Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra
Song: [set 2, 2nd piece] [conductor: Diane Roblin]
Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), October 9, 2022.
Toronto Improvisor's Orchestra - [set 2, 2nd piece]
With the cooler weather bringing out a larger crowd of musicians, the TIO was looking more like, well, an orchestra this time out, with enough bodies on hand that it made sense to add some more structure. Some of that came from a series of shifting duos and trios, but the heart of it was some conduction to co-ordinate the members. Rod Campbell conducted one piece in this set, but for this one, Diane Roblin took over, nearly dancing aross the room as she co-ordinated the note-burtsts, held together throughout with some nice circular vibe-sounds from David Story's MalletKat.
Bumping Into... is a series of mini-chats with a variety of peeps that you might run into in some of our local music communities. (There's a bit of an intro and my thoughts behind the series here.)
How are you? Where are you?
In Toronto... managing.... up and down....... living on my own is an extra challenge during covid -lockdown. Very isolating. Also, I have been dealing with my attached neighbours decision to dig out their basement - which means jackhammers starting at 8:15am - 5pm every day!! Paper thin walls...... it is winter, covid, lockdown! The noise is unbearable... hence, I am forced to rent a space for the month of January.... there is a piano there - so it may turn out to be a very productive month after all - a new album could come out of it! at the very least I have an escape!
What have you been up to since March or so?
It's been a bit episodic based on what season and lockdown scenarios. Lots of long walks - 6-15kms several times a week with friends. Into cooking - it is very relaxing... I am a good cook and enjoy jamming from the fridge. For a short while we had a covid lifestyle - in fact, I had a gig at Emmet Ray in October… and I could meet a friend at a heated patio.... also in the Summer I did a lot more reading then usual - fiction mostly...... probably because I couldn't take any more news! I am a news junkie and prior to the US Elections - it was making me crazy - so I would go outside to my patio, turn the tv off and read. Now that winter is here, I should get back into that!
Have you found any new ways to do old things? How are you feeling about the shifts in how music is being made/shared/listened to?
I really really miss playing live with others…. the energy exchange from the music, connection and the hang. At the beginning in the Spring I was happy to freely improvise with friends here in Toronto and in Mexico.... but that got tired as Zoom wasn't a good platform. Now there are more reliable softwares i.e. Sonobus and JackTrip so may find myself connecting again with others... my whole musical world is via headphones.... c'est comme ça.
However, one very positive thing did come out of this... I connected with Sarah Weaver’s NowNetArts Inc. out of Brooklyn…. a wonderful ensemble of accomplished international artists, musicians, and video artists. She has been doing telematics for 15 years and put together an ensemble to explore internet connection during this pandemic. Players are from Singapore to Sweden. From April - June we got together weekly: developing tech, rehearsing for our weekly concerts. She is a very soulful composer and was a colleague and student of Pauline Oliveros. The early compositions were intense and very moving as it was the times of George Floyd, Brooklyn riots, NYC Covid disaster and a dark dark world. Her scores are created with Palettes using composition , gesture and improvisation. During early pandemic times, one score called Requiem Interconnection was very strong - Palette 1 was breathing: Palette 2 - Maya Angelou readings… 3. sorta bluesy tune for piano with free improvisation conducted weaving in and out via gesture and graphic etc.…. very inspiring and relevant to the times.... 7-15players. We are still performing but now once a month not weekly. Must say we became a family - as the closeness of expression during dark times brought us together. She is very up on tech and through her connection at Stanford etc. she has moved the performance from zoom (which had fallouts, latency etc) to us now being on JackTrip for audio and visual is Zoom through Vimeo hubs. I now have 8 inputs into my Scarlet interface! To be honest, i don’t always understand completely the tech but can follow instructions.
I am beyond grateful for Sarah’s NowNets - it gives me connection, consistency and creativity. And has added a very interesting and different platform for musical expression into my world. Will certainly continue with this when the live stage comes back. I will send you the link to our next performance as they are wonderful and fulfilling!
Also, I perform occasionally online with York University's Doug Van Nort's Electro-Acoustic Orchestra - soundpainting ...keeps me connected and creative.
Any works of art that have been a light for you in these times? Anything that's just been a good diversion?
as mentioned.... international ensembles, cooking, reading, walking, galleries when they were open, my cat Dooley is nutty and mostly loveable (lol).....
How are you feeling about 2021?
Truly who knows.... I am thinking about going into the studio to record some duos with various musicians... improvising with my compositions as the kick- off. Or maybe with the band - it is the only way I will get to play live - so am considering my options. ...usually I go to Merida Mexico and play with other musicians; not a fan of cold weather.... I have no idea.... just trying to stay positive, socially connected and creative.
Anything else we'd chat about if we bumped into each other?
Nope - just really great to hear from you - and always appreciate all the support you give to the Arts. How are you doing? Fill me in on your world. Your picture makes me smile! Wishing you all the best of the Season and a healthy, happening 2021!
Artist: Diane Roblin & Kayla Milmine
Song: Nefertiti [composer: Wayne Shorter]
Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics), January 14, 2020.
Diane Roblin & Kayla Milmine - NefertitiUsing a handful of pieces (including ones by Monk and Carla Bley) as springboards for improvisation, this pairing for piano and soprano sax found room to get dense, stretch things out, and end with a laugh.
Artist: Diane Roblin & Heather Saumer
Song: Ictus [composer: Carla Bley]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 9, 2019.
Diane Roblin & Heather Saumer - IctusThe 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.
In the spirit of the festival, this piano/trombone duo chose to celebrate (and deconstruct) the works of a noteworthy female composer, playing with and around and in and out of some pieces by Carla Bley.
[Diane Roblin will be presenting (and playing with) Glen Hall's Ossingtones at The Tranzac on Sunday, May 19th.]
Artist: Paul Newman/Diane Roblin/Heraclitus Akimbo
Songs: [two excerpts]
Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 66), December 8, 2018.
Paul Newman/Diane Roblin/Heraclitus Akimbo - [excerpt 1]
Paul Newman/Diane Roblin/Heraclitus Akimbo - [excerpt 2]
Sometimes in improvised settings, one participant will show up with a gameplan that imposes to a greater degree on their fellow players. Fortunately, in this case, when Heraclitus Akimbo announced a plan to put microphones on Diane Roblin's piano and Paul Newman's saxophone and manipulate their signals, they were seemingly content to go along for the ride.
You can also watch this full set on youtube:
[The next Audiopollination will be at Array Space on Sunday February 3rd. Diane Roblin will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday, February 17th, presenting (and playing in) Glen Hall's Ossingtone. Heraclitus Akimbo will be releasing a new album (also at The Tranzac) on Wednesday, February 20th, and Paul Newman (along with Kayla Milmine) will open the show.]
Artist: Mira Martin-Gray/Diane Roblin/Justin Huang Ford
Song: [edited excerpt]
Recorded at Array Space (Track Could Bend #37), April 3, 2018.
Mira Martin-Gray/Diane Roblin/Justin Huang Ford - [edited excerpt]Continuing a series tradition, Track Could Bend marked its third anniversary by inviting back all of the previous year's performers for a celebration. That's enough of a crowd to warrant a larger stage, so for one rainy night, the action shifted over to Array Space. There ended up being sixteen players, all of whom put their names in a hat to be drawn to create spontaneous ensembles for a series of quick sets. Things got started with this atmospheric combination that saw Diane Roblin's piano provide some structure for the drift and squeal of electronics and feedback.
[TCB will be having a special extra-early show at The Baby G on Tuesday, June 5th, with sets from Barry Prophet, Nicole Rampersaud and Lisbon's Sal Grosso.]
Artist: Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen
Song: [excerpt]
Recorded at The Steady Café (Track Could Bend #27), June 6, 2017.
Diane Roblin & Katie Jensen - [excerpt]This one had been in the works for a while. The irrepressible Diane Roblin had asked me quite a ways back to play TCB and I agreed, but told her I was keeping an eye out for the right person to pair her with. When I saw Katie Jensen playing keyboards last spring at the Music Gallery's Drone Therapy event, the figurative lightbulb switched on. It took a while to get everything to come together, but this turned out to be a satisfying musical blind date. The pair don't have the same sort of background or musical practice, but I had an inkling there'd be a connection there personality-wise — a sort of optimistic tenaciousness. Musically, there was a meeting place in a sort of wobbly dreamworld soundtrack, with Roblin's more structured approach mixing nicely with Jensen's pedal-aided shimmers and textures. Cheers to both performers for taking a little excursion outside their usual comfort zones.
[The next instalment of Diane Roblin's monthly at The Tranzac (on Sunday, July 9th) sees her improvising with MFS faves Glen Hall and Brandon Valdivia. Track Could Bend is back at The Steady on Tuesday (July 4th), with Montréal's Sound of the Mountain as well as Ami Spears' solo project Blue Light and Body of Waste (Adam from Retired).]
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