Recording: Wobbly + John Oswald

Artist: Wobbly + John Oswald

Song: [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #116), March 5, 2026.

Wobbly + John Oswald - [excerpt, part 1]

Wobbly + John Oswald - [excerpt, part 2]

Exciting times at hand as San Francisco-based Jonathan Leidecker (who operates as Wobbly) initiated this meet-up with local legend John Oswald. While Oswaldperched with his sax and offered some garbled talk-squawking to complement Leidecker's mangled samples, the latter also processed Oswald's sounds, fingers dancing over an array of touchscreens as the inputs were granulated and resynthesized — a cavalcade of manipulated sounds, blips and squeaks where the sax's notes were sometimes coming out the speakers sounding like a calliope or harpsicord.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on Tuesday (June 2nd) with sets from saucering [Tilman Lewis/Nilan Perera/Laura Swankey] as well as Colin Fisher/William Hunt/Jack Johnson/Cal Adam.]

Recording: Homzy/Storring/Oswald/Kurtz/Cole

Artist: Aline Homzy/Nick Storring/John Oswald/Owen Kurtz/Josh Cole

Song: [1st set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents: new works for improvising musicians), March 14, 2026.

Aline Homzy/Nick Storring/John Oswald/Owen Kurtz/Josh Cole - [1st set excerpt]

The current cycle of Josh Cole's Tranzac residency is entitled "new works for improvising musicians", and this first outing was a variation on the "trio plus strings" format, keeping string players Nick Storring (cello) and Aline Homzy (violin) as well as saxophonist John Oswald, while adding Owen Kurtz's electronic manipulations in the wildcard slot. (He was definitely showing off his skills in using his Kaoss Pad as an instrument in this encounter.) With the strings sawing and tapping, the players have done this together enough to have a strong sense of when evryone else was about to flip from chaotic rambling to imploding drones, leading to some really satisfying dynamics.

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

[New works for improvising musicians is back at The Tranzac tomorrow (Monday, May 11th), presenting Nick Fraser’s Special Topics.]

Recording: Cole/Clutton/Oswald/West

Artist: Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/John Oswald/Brodie West

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), September 10, 2024.

Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/John Oswald/Brodie West - [set 1 excerpt]

Reflecting on what they might or might have been doing forty years ago to the day, this gathering nudged toward the long-held platonic desire to establish a quartet composed of two saxophones and two double basses. (One can argue whether Brodie West's additional deployment of clarinet muddied that purity of intention, though the sonic results were hard to argue with.)

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

Recording: Non-Twins

Artist: Non-Twins

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

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

Non-Twins - [1st piece, excerpt]

Originally devised by John Oswald as "Twins", a set for two saxophones and two double basses, the set lost some conceptual elegance with bassist Rob Clutton being unable to make the gig. Improvising, percussionist D. Alex Meeks (in town for a different show a couple days later) was pulled from the crowd to round out the ensemble, which, with Oswald and Karen Ng on horns alongside visiting double bassist Christopher A. Williams, hewed closer to a traditional ensemble format. That didn't lead to many traiditional sounds, however, with the group preferring more off kilter explorations. (Williams contributed to this with his idiosyncratic approach to his instrument, which he played more like a de gamba while using his bow has much as a preparation as for regular arco work.)

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube, including an extended guest appearance from clarinetist Zoe Pia:

Recording: Clutton/Cole/Fraser/Oswald

Artist: Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/John Oswald

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), April 9, 2024.

Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/John Oswald - [2nd piece]

No string section this time for Josh Cole's double double bass band. Three pieces went to all the places you'd expect from this combo — offset bowing and plucking alongside Rob Clutton, squawktalking sax from John Oswald and rattleburst percussion from Nick Fraser (who got sputtery himself with some froglike vocal gargles).

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Josh Cole will be presenting his trio Kind Mind — this version with Ted Crosby on sax — in his residency slot next week (Tuesday, May 14th) in the Southern Cross.]

Recording: JO∪ST

Artist: JO∪ST¹

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 30, 2023.

JO∪ST - [excerpt]

Originally scheduled as an Amber set, trombonist Scott Thomson had to pivot and improvise when Lori Freedman was unavailable, leading to this alternate duo with saxophonist John Oswald taking the stage. More akin to a conversation, there was plenty musical chatter back-and-forth over the course of a set.

---

¹ One observer noted to the players that the band bame "Joust" contained the initials of John Oswald and Scott Thomson, but wondered what the "U" was for? Oswald responded that it was not, in fact, a "U", but the set union symbol "∪", making the duo's name a mathematical statement.

Recording: A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald

Artist: A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald

Song: [set 2 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), March 29, 2023.

A Josh Cole Trio + Strings feat. John Oswald - [set 2 excerpt]

Bassist Jash Cole has been experimenting lately with bringing in a miniature string section (here Nick Storring on cello and Aline Homzy on violin) to augment his ensembles. (The other components of the trio in this case were regular percussionist Blake Howard and special guest saxophonist John Oswald.) Moving from zones of quietude to shaking clatter, there were intruiging destabilizations all around here, held together as always with Cole in the calm centre.

Recording: Desert Island Re-Direct

Artist: Desert Island Re-Direct

Song: When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at at Array Space (Musicworks at 40), November 15, 2018.

Desert Island Re-Direct - When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, part 1]

Desert Island Re-Direct - When Shall We Meet Again [excerpt, part 2]

Though celebrating its fortieth anniversary, Musicworks Magazine's resolute focus on the here-and-now means there's not much time for nostalgia. Given that, I was glad that I was able to cajole my way into a small part in making sure that the occasion didn't go unmarked. After co-hosting some talkin' history back in September, I also helped curate the music for this fundraising event alongside Nick Storring (whose Riparian Acoustics is currently presenting plenty imaginative sounds).

This closing duo of noteworthy listener/theoreticians John Oswald and Sandro Perri got together before their set and put a lot of thought into where they'd meet musically. Perri was inspired by Oswald's (admittedly egocentric) "desert island" list while Oswald bounced the idea of his anti-DJ "All-request re-direct" concept (where he'd play music he thought evocative of that requested by listeners) and the introduction and deconstruction of their chosen concept (someone get these two a podcast!) was almost as fun as the piece. That turned out to be an act of four-handed co-operative wind-up record-player operation with the pair never quite in total control of an old shellac side (possibly this one?) and some sundry contact microphones. Call it Plunderphonics at 78 R.P.M., perhaps — but hopefully someone will call these two to make some sounds together again.

[Sandro Perri will be back at Array Space, albeit in song mode, opening things up as Joseph Shabason — himself the subject of a recent Musicworks story — celebrates the release of his Anne album on Thursday, January 10th.]

Recording: CCMC

Artist: CCMC / CCMC with Charity Chan

Songs: [two improvisations]

Recorded at Array Space, October 20, 2018.

CCMC - [set 1, 2nd piece]

CCMC with Charity Chan - [set 2, 1st piece excerpt]

Launching a new, ongoing residency at Array Space, CCMC was playing sans pianist Michael Snow. That meant the first set was as a trio of John Kamevaar, Paul Dutton and John Oswald, and for the second set the piano was ably manipulated by special guest Charity Chan, taping, plucking and ebowing the strings. As usual, the banter game was on point and there was some ambiguity about who had actually stopped or started — and in-between those endpoints that particular flavour of CCMC free improvisation.

[CCMC's residency continues at Arrayspace on Friday, December 21st.]

Recording: Patrick O'Reilly, Nilan Perera and friends

Artists: Patrick O'Reilly and Nilan Perera with John Oswald and Kayla Milmine

Songs: [various improvisations]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), May 6, 2018.

Patrick O'Reilly, Nilan Perera and John Oswald - [trio improvisation]

Patrick O'Reilly and Nilan Perera - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Patrick O'Reilly, Nilan Perera and Kayla Milmine - [excerpt from first piece]

Patrick O'Reilly, Nilan Perera and Kayla Milmine - [excerpt from second piece]

Uncanny things can happen in the Southern Cross Lounge on a Sunday afternoon, including scheduling mishaps and unplanned encounters. Both of those were in play at this session, as originally-slated saxophonist John Oswald could only stick around for a short trio piece before bustling off to another engagement — and then, after completing the first set as a duo, Nilan Perera and Patrick O'Reilly managed to convince Kayla Milmine, who had merely dropped in to check things out on her way by, to join them for the second set. So here's a generous helping of various flavours of atmospheric loops, reverse-delay soundscapes, extended techniques and various saxophone stylings — as well an unsecured snare drum rattling away, and occasional guitarbursts from a main hall soundcheck seeping in like secret radio transmissions.

[All of these players can be found around and about, especially at the Tranzac. Nilan Perera's Synaptic Circus will be back in the Southern Cross on Sunday, July 29th, while Kayla Milmine will be presenting and playing at Faster's Summer Sound Explorations at Gerrard Art Space on July 21st.]

Recording: DUST

Artist: DUST

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at Gerrard Art Space, April 28, 2018.

DUST - [set 1 excerpt]

The return of "the quietest big band in the known world" (one of several projects re-ignited with the return of percussionist D. Alex Meeks to these parts) brought out a baker's dozen of old hands and new to attempt to collectively make as little noise as possible. The ensemble this time included Nicholas Buligan, John Oswald, James Bailey, Mike Smith, Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Lina Allemano, Cory Latkovich, Kayla Milmine, Brian Abbott, Mark Zurawinski, Sebastian Shinwell, Paul Newman and Meeks, all quietly blowing, rubbing or scratching at their instruments — or, just pausing to eat some fruit. As always, there's no proper way to replicate the aural experience via a recording, as the thing that is striking about DUST in the flesh is that bare minimum of sound interacting with the environment. If it needs to be (barely) heard to be comprehended, there is at least a greater chance of that now re-occurring.

Recording: Circuits Bending Frames Ensembles

Artists: Circuits Bending Frames Ensembles (Christine Duncan/Paul Dutton/Laura Swankey + Jonathan Adjemian/Ryan Driver/Tiina Kiik/Laura Swankey + Christine Duncan/John Oswald/SlowPitchSound + Paul Dutton/Tiina Kiik/Wes Neal + Ryan Driver/Jonathan Adjemian/Mani Mazinani/Tiina Kiik/John Oswald)

Songs: [various improvisations]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Somewhere There Creative Music Festival – Show 3: Circuits Bending Frames), February 24, 2018.

Christine Duncan/Paul Dutton/Laura Swankey - [improvisation]

Jonathan Adjemian/Ryan Driver/Tiina Kiik/Laura Swankey - [improvisation]

Christine Duncan/John Oswald/SlowPitchSound - [improvisation]

Paul Dutton/Tiina Kiik/Wes Neal - [improvisation]

Ryan Driver/Jonathan Adjemian/Mani Mazinani/Tiina Kiik/John Oswald - [improvisation]

The Somewhere There Festival's Saturday night show was an ambitious multimedia undertaking, with live performances responding to the films of Laurie Kwasnik. Kwasnik is a familiar face at improvised music shows, especially anything in the orbit of Michael Snow (she's been collecting footage for her documentary Fields of Snow for many years now). It was a treat to get a glimpse into her archives, especially to see some of her artfully-arranged works responding to the music with their own visual improvisations. In between filmed snippets (and some visual mashups mixing together music from a wide range of performances) a group of improvisers recombined into a series of small ensembles for miniature performances.

The second half turned to cymatic visualisations, driven by a trio of synth players (Jonathan Adjemian, Ryan Driver, and Mani Mazinani), whose oscillations set pans of water and salt wiggling — which was then live-mixed on the big screen. There were a few technical difficulties along the way, but it was on the whole a pleasing and unique evening.

Recording: Haynes-Oswald-Mazinani

Artist: Justin Haynes/John Oswald/Mani Mazinani

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Belljar Café (Track Could Bend #33), December 5, 2017.

Justin Haynes/John Oswald/Mani Mazinani - [excerpt from first piece]

After an anticipated duo set with Brian Ruryk had to be postponed (look for it in March!) Justin Haynes made some lemonade by putting together this noteworthy trio. With John Oswald's sax and Mani Mazinani's Octave Cat synth, Haynes (with keys and guitar on hand) took things on an unexpected post-apocalyptic trip to Funkytown, throwing some janky beats on a cassette into the mix and cranking up the volume for a mutoid dance party.

[Track Could Bend is back at The Belljar on Tuesday (January 2nd) in an especially-tantalizing night mixing Bachelard's modular synths, LUKA's poetic examinations and tendencyitis' no-input mixer feedback sounds. What a superb way to start your concert-going year for 2018!]

Recording: Arrington De Dionyso + John Oswald

Artist: Arrington De Dionyso + John Oswald

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at Ratio (TONE Festival – Show #7), June 24, 2017.

Arrington De Dionyso + John Oswald - [improvisation]

Although the local "jazz" festival is anticipated in some quarters, it seemed that too often there was no home there for adventurous and experimental creators. Thus, out of necessity, the TONE Festival was born to give these touring musicians a chance to connect with local audiences and artists. A collaboration between Burn Down the Capital's Tad Michalak, Ron Gaskin (a.k.a. Rough Idea) and Karen Ng and Daniel Pencer, the goal was to create shows that were rewarding for players and listeners alike. Coming after their own funeral series, this was also the last concert at beloved local DIY venue Ratio.

Anyone who showed up on time for the scheduled first set had already missed something, as Sook-Yin Lee (who'd be playing later) had facilitated with saxophone meet-up between Arrington De Dionyso (on the left here) and John Oswald (on the right). Just a little amuse-bouche of a honkfest to begin the night.

[Brandon Caswell Douglas was also documenting the show with his video camera — check out his youtube playlist from the night.]

Recording: CCMC

Artist: CCMC

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at Ratio (Burn Down The Capital Presents), June 13, 2016.

CCMC - [excerpt from first piece]

The CCMC crew lead off this evening of freewheeling improvisation fresh off a retrospective night mixing together members of the group's various eras. Back in the more familiar form of the current quartet, the group offered joshing banter and bouts of mutual musical destabilization. John Kamevaar was in fine form here, adding momentum with skittering beats and static-y whirrings underneath John Oswald's sax and Michael Snow's piano. Paul Dutton, with just one microphone in Ratio's smaller space, commented on the walls and ceiling drawing in while tossing in a few literary one-liners.

Recording: EAR-CAM

Artist: EAR-CAM

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Tiki Room), April 16, 2016.

EAR-CAM - [first set, excerpt 1]

EAR-CAM - [first set, excerpt 2]

Another in an intermittent series of reunions from this longstanding improvising force saw the group's numbers reduced with vocal soundmaker Nobuo Kubota absent. He did, however, make some virtual appearances via Glen Hall's cataRT sound manipulations, which also included some cut up Burroughs vocals. Embroidered by Tomasz Krakowiak's quietly-minimalist percussion, that left Hall and John Oswald's reed work to compete with Christine Duncan's vocal adventures. In the second set there was increased competition for the audience's eyeballs when the freeform music was accompanied by some equally abstract tap dancing.

Recording: CCMC

Artist: CCMC

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at The Great Hall (Long Winter 4.5 – Night 2), March 19, 2016.

CCMC - [excerpt from first piece]

You can't fault Long Winter for being ambitious and for wanting to close out the season by cramming in as much music and art into the Great Hall as possible, but their plan to close the year out with a two-night stand didn't entirely pay off. Giving patrons the choice of two nights (and holding them at the end of Spring Break) seemed to especially cut into the younger crowd and both nights (especially Friday) lacked that "about to burst" feeling that makes LW unique. But even if the crowd was at less than maximum strength, there was no certainly no lack of music spread throughout the building.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary as a vital cultural institution, The Music Gallery was invited to present a handful of acts at this final outing of the season — a gesture that made even more sense to anyone who knew that the Great Hall's basement was the Music Gallery's home from 1984 to 1991. CCMC played there nearly every Tuesday in those years, so they were a natural pick to play LW — and hopefully their clamour reached a few new ears in the process. Their adventurousness could serve as a beacon to anyone hearing that clomping piano, wailing saxophone, screaming harmonica — and then a voice breaking through: "I DON'T KNOW WHY IT WENT THE WAY IT DID, IT WASN'T THE WAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO."

Recording: Cameron/Oswald/Pencer/Segger/Buligan

Artist: Allison Cameron/John Oswald/Dan Pencer/Mark Segger/Nicholas Buligan

Song: [third piece] [edit]

Recorded at Array Space (Acoustic Laptop Music), February 16, 2016.

Allison Cameron/John Oswald/Dan Pencer/Mark Segger/Nicholas Buligan - [third piece] [edit]

This night's somewhat-counterintuitive title represents a new experiment from Mark Segger to deploy computers for improvisers not for music-making per se but as a communication tool. Plugged into a LAN hub together, each of the musicians has access to a MAX patch that allows them not only to exchange messages, but also to vote on a temporary leader for the ensemble who can send one-way directives to the players. That makes it a little easier for a larger group to stay on the same page, figure out sonic shifts on the fly, and to know when to end. It's an interestingly transparent tool, as how that plays out depends very much on the personalities of the players.

The first of the evening's two quintets settled into a relatively-spare musical space, exploring subtle textures while exchanging blats and honks that were occasionally sewn together by Allison Cameron's quiet feedback squeals.

Recording: CCMC

Artist: CCMC

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery ("X Avant X"), October 15, 2015.

CCMC - [excerpt]

This year's X Avant not only celebrated the festival's tenth anniversary, but also the Music Gallery's 40th season. No surprise, then, that the festival incorporated various methods to look back at the MG's legacy. After a duet with Casey Sokol, Michael Snow was joined by John Oswald, Paul Dutton, and John Kamevaar — the current incarnation of CCMC, the improvising collective that founded the Music Gallery forty years ago. Filled with energy, the group brought a bit more "noise" to the table than the last couple times I saw 'em, with Dutton in fine sound-shoutin' form and the others following suit. Accompanied by improvised visuals by John Creson and Adam Rosen, the set ended with a visual cue, the lights slowly fading until they were fully off — "I guess that means it's over," Oswald could be heard to mutter in the dark room.

Recording: Music in the Barns with #1000Strings

Artist: Music in the Barns with #1000Strings

Song: Spectre [composer: John Oswald]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection 2015), September 5, 2015.

Music in the Barns with #1000Strings - Spectre

You can read my general notes on the festival here. This piece for "string quartet and string multitude" was originally composed by John Oswald to be played by the Kronos Quartet and accompanied by a backing track of overdubbed layers upon layers of strings augmenting the live performance. For this "one time only participatory performance", Music in The Barns turned to the community to crowdsource a multitude — there weren't a thousand string players on hand, but all corners of the square felt quite full with groupings of violins, violas, cellos and basses, with a wonderful mix of ages and skill levels playing next to each other. Under the guidance of group leaders and timekeepers, the assembled throng did a couple runthroughs of the piece (which mostly stayed on A, moving from a single note to tremolo and then increasingly-wider glissandi). Standing in the middle of it all created quite a surround-sound experience, which is hard to reproduce here — as is the visual experience of seeing the mass of players slowly lift their bows from the strings to bow the air above them. As with the original performance, this included the use of the backing track, so the large numbers sound even more immense here. The loudest section sounds like a cloud of white noise — and a bit like a more genteel version of what Knurl unveiled in the square earlier in the day.