Monday Roundup #264

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Concert announcements:

mdbm [Michael White/Maggie Keogh/Don Rooke/Blake Howard] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-11 (Wednesday) [more info]

Agnes [Rob Clutton/Bea Labikova/Mira Martin-Gray/Doug Tielli/Kevin Turcotte/Mark Zurawinski] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2025-02-17 (Tuesday)

Project Nowhere presents (feat. Hot Garbage / Yoo Doo Right / Bonnie Trash) / Lee's Palace 2026-02-20 (Friday). $27.65, 19+. [FB event]

Earlobe fundraiser (feat. Louis Pino/Colin Cudmore/Karen Ng/Fahmid Nibesh/Mark Zurawinski/Germaine Liu/Andrew Furlong/Bea Labikova/Mira Martin-Gray/Marilyn Yogarajah/fossa (Lenny)/Bibibi) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-26 (Thursday)

Is your show missing from this list? Submit it via this form!

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Shows this week:

University of Toronto New Music Festival: Vis a Vis [music of Vivian Fung and Morton Feldman] (feat. U of T Percussion Ensemble) / Walter Hall 2025-02-02 (Monday). $free. [more info]

Chris Banks presents (feat. Max Stover/Chris Banks/Mateos Labbé-Phelan) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-02 (Monday)

Harry Vetro and Friends [Kae Murphy/Harrison Argatoff/Ben Isenstein/Andrew Furlong/Harry Vetro] / The Emmet Ray 2026-02-02 (Monday). $15

Track Could Bend #113 (feat. OH GEE [Marilyn Yogarajah/Rob Campbell] / Ryan Kinney) / Wenona Lodge 2026-02-03 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Holy Oak Family Singers Present: Team Building (feat. Mira Martin-Gray/Joseph Shabason/Justin Orok/Fan Wu/Maggie Keogh/Johnny Spence/Alex Lukashevsky/Danika Vandersteen/Caitlin Woelfle-O'Brien/Robinson Kirby) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-04 (Wednesday – early) [more info]

Dan Pitt NEW Quartet [Dan Pitt/Jen Lo/Kae Murphy/Stefan Hegarat] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-04 (Wednesday) [more info]

More Noise Please! presents: An Evening of Deconstructed Sounds (feat. SlowPitchSound / Property Violator / o0yu x rOrU / System78 / The Eyes, The Mouth / dsouziate) / BSMT 254 2026-02-05 (Thursday). $17.31/pwyc. [teickets/more info]

The Eric West Quintet [Eric West/Kae Murphy/Leland Whitty/Julian Anderson-Bowes/Chris Pruden] / Sellers & Newel 2025-02-06 (Friday). $25 minimum donation. [FB event]

Doug Tielli and... (feat. Doug Tielli/Michael Davidson/Brandon Davis/Aline Homzy) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-06 (Friday)

Jo Passed [record release] (Heaven for Real / Wedding) / The Baby G 2025-02-07 (Saturday). $16.57, 19+. [tickets + more info]

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – noon)

Ayal Senior & Friends (feat. Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman / Destroya / Nick Flanagan / OOP) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday – 2:30 p.m.) [FB event]

Bad Baby and Mayme Joach [Aidan McConnell/Jack Johnston/Evan Cartwright/Charliecello Lukashevsky/Alex Lukashevsky] (Fan Wu / Colleen Coco Collins) / Burdock Music Hall 2026-02-08 (Sunday). $22.13. [tickets + more info]

Musica Universalis (feat. Colin Fisher Quintet [Colin Fisher/William Hunt/Ben Dwyer/Spencer Cole/Maxwell Stover]) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2026-02-08 (Sunday)

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Bandcamp corner:

• Hey, Bandcamp Friday is back this week! Here's some things on my list...

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In memoriam:

Sad to hear of the passing of the sui generis Jeff Burke, who elevated any ensemble he was a part of with his bassoon (and, occasionally, theremin). Glad I got to see/document him in some different contexts (I recall catching him several times when he was bucking on the TTC, but sadly don't have any recordings of that). Here's some sounds from the archive...

• ...on November 12, 2014 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Arnd Jurgensen and Friends - [set 2 excerpt]

• ...on March 10, 2015 at Array Space (Audiopollination 28.2).

Attariwala-Burke-Sokol - [edited excerpt from an improvisation]

• ...on February 9, 2020 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynapticCircusSundays).

Kathryn Ladano/Jeff Burke/Alex Fournier/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera - [excerpt from 2nd piece]

[Do remember that you can click on the tags below to go back and find the original posts (and often, more stuff) from these artists.]

Recording: Burke/Martin-Gray/Grossman

Artist: Jeff Burke/Mira Martin-Gray/Ben Grossman

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynCirSundays), November 13, 2022.

Jeff Burke/Mira Martin-Gray/Ben Grossman - [excerpt #1]

Jeff Burke/Mira Martin-Gray/Ben Grossman - [excerpt #2]

This nifty trio assembled by Nilan Perera saw the live debut of Mira Martin-Gray's Landscape Stereo Field (the operation of which resembled the midway point between touch typing and a gentle massage), which created three dimensions of static and crackles to complement Jeff Burke's bassoon and theremin and Ben Grossman's hurdy-gurdy.

You can check out some visual documentation from the set over at the SynCirSun youtube playlist:

[SynCirSundays is back at The Tranzac on December 11th, presenting The Electronoise Orchestra with Connor Bennett, William Davison, Mira Martin-Gray, Mike Hansen and Heraclitus Akimbo.]

Recording: Ladano/Burke/Fournier/Liu/Perera

Artist: Kathryn Ladano/Jeff Burke/Alex Fournier/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera

Songs: [excerpts from two improvisations]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynapticCircusSundays), February 9, 2020.

Kathryn Ladano/Jeff Burke/Alex Fournier/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera - [excerpt from 1st piece]

Kathryn Ladano/Jeff Burke/Alex Fournier/Germaine Liu/Nilan Perera - [excerpt from 2nd piece]

Host Nilan Perera constructed this evening to serve as a showcase for bass clarinetist Dr. Kathryn Ladano, who was presenting music from Masked, her second solo album — which was itself derived from the work done for her PhD thesis, "The Improvising Musician's Mask: Using Musical Instruments to Build Self-Confidence and Social Skills in Collective Free Improvisation". Some collective free improvisation was explored by this grouping that Perera assembled, first with some get-to-know-you duos that were followed by full quintet explorations. The flexible rhythm unit of Germaine Liu (percusssion), Alex Fournier (double bass) and Nilan Perera (electric guitar) created some frames for Ladano's bass clarinet as well as Jeff Burke's theremin and bassoon.

[SynapticCircus returns to The Tranzac on Sunday (March 8th) with sets from Jay Hay/Jim Lewis/Wes Neal/Rick Sacks/Nilan Perera plus Dame Cook & Eugene Martynec.]

Recording: Parmela Attariwala

Artist: Parmela Attariwala & Adele Armin / Parmela Attariwala/Branko Dzinovic/Robert Aitken / Parmela Attariwala/Jeff Burke/Casey Sokol / Parmela Attariwala + Shahriyar Jamshidi

Songs: [excerpts from improvisations]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination 28.2), March 10, 2015.

Parmela Attariwala & Adele Armin - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Attariwala-Dzinovic-Aitken - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Attariwala-Burke-Sokol - [edited excerpt from an improvisation]

Parmela Attariwala + Shahriyar Jamshidi - [excerpt from an improvisation]

This Audiopollination kept Parmela Attariwala busy all night long in four sets that saw her pitted against a variety of different sounds. A quiet duet with Adele Armin (violin) hinted at classical austerity, and a trio alongside Branko Dzinovic (accordion) and Robert Aitken (flute) felt like formalized fragments from a folksong, here being subverted by Attariwala skrtching at her strings with a block of styrofoam. Another trio with Casel Sokol (piano and prepared piano) and Jeff Burke (bassoon, theremin) took things on an abstract rocketship ride. A closing duet with Audiopollination favourite Shahriyar Jamshidi (kamanche) was a satisfying close to the night. Kudos once more to Audiopollination for putting such a wide range of sounds together.

[These field recordings, especially the first couple, are a little on the lo-fi side. You'll get a nicer sound if you check out the full recordings over at Audiopollination's bandcamp page.]

Recording: Arnd Jurgensen and Friends

Artist: Arnd Jurgensen and Friends

Songs: [set 1 excerpt] + [set 2 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 12, 2014.

Arnd Jurgensen and Friends - [set 1 excerpt]

Arnd Jurgensen and Friends - [set 2 excerpt]

Guitarist Arnd Jurgensen had the booking for this early timeslot in the Southern Cross, though word was the set was going to be a group backing the mercurial Mary Margaret O'Hara. She didn't make the gig, but this was still a more-than-adequately-interesting combo to hang out and listen to, with Jurgensen joined by Aidan Closs (percussion, piano), Michael Herring (double bass), Bob Vespaziani (wavedrum), and the wonderful Jeff Burke (bassoon and theremin). What was originally going to be a duo followed by a larger group was combined into two sets of improvised music by the quintet, touching on a range of vibes, from the first set's abstract space blues heard in the first extract to the second set's spontaneous ballad heard in the second.

[You can check out Jurgensen, quite possibly with a different mix of collaborators, in his next Tranzac appearance, Wednesday January 15th in the early slot.]