Recording: Stover/Labbé-Phelan/Furlong/Ng

Artist: Max Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng

Song: [1st set, last section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), February 17, 2026.

Max Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng - [1st set, last section]

Excellent two-sax action here from Karen Ng and Max Stover, moving from a frenzied gallop to some quiet exchanges with Mateos Labbé-Phelan (drums) and Andrew Furlong (double bass) pushing/pulling along the way.

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

[Karen Ng will be hosting more music at Wenona on Tuesday (March 17th) where she'll be joined by visitor Bill Harris plus locals Colin Fisher and Raf Wilcot — plus an opening duo from fossa/Bibibi.]

Recording: Double Trio

Artist: Double Trio

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded in the CNE Bandshell (Ministry of Phonic Services' Back to School Field Trip — Waterfront), September 23, 2025.

Double Trio - [excerpt]

This "waterfront" night out at the Field Trip festival was originally slated for Marilyn Bell Park, right on the shores of Lake Ontario. Rainy weather kept that from happening, but some organizational ingenuity meant the event still took place outside, and still lake-adjacent. Moving to the CNE Bandshell gave the night its own flavour, with performers and audience alike staying dry under the circular overhang, framing the performances from the opposite perspective one might expect. (And as an aside, let's note that this lovely heritage structure sits empty for most of the year, and ponder on what it would be like to live in a city where a really small allocation of resources could activate it in all kinds of inneresting ways.)

In a festival with its share of noisy and joyfully disruptive moments, it should be remembered that MPS' vision of experimental music includes quieter interludes as well, and this ensemble was well-placed to offer a deep listening experience. (the originally-scheduled lake sounds would have been a sweet enhancement, but as things were, the gentle backdrop of the rainy weather filled in that space nicely as well.) As the name implies, this group featured two trios, one of saxophones (Ben Rositsan, Garret Hildebrandt, and Maxwell Stover) and one of violins (Sara May, Kyla Marlena, and Audrey Mae) joining forces for some improvised chamber music.

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

Recording: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Artist: Ben Mike & The Beatles

Song: [excerpt]^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), May 25, 2025.

Ben Mike & The Beatles - [excerpt]

So, to get the obvious out of the way: no, they are not those Beatles. And while such a cheeky moniker (and the clear vibes that this was definitely a group of friends having a great time hanging out together) might connote an unseriousness of purpose, there was definitely something interesting going on here. (Also interesting was the fact that a large improvising ensemble playing mostly-drifty music filled up the Tranzac's Main Hall on a Sunday night!)

Perhaps more telling was that for the purposes of this show, the band was billed with "(Orchestra)" tagged to its name, and while Ben Mike, on keyb at the centre of everything, was mostly hidden behind pages of scores, only the other keyboardists were similarly encumbered and there was no obvious direction/conduction going on — though for all that, there was a definite sense of organization at hand, especially in the sense of restraint that was evident for most of the set (although there was some build-up bombast — in a Cage-ean minimalmist sense — as well).

Obviously these folks were familiar with each other as players — there was, for example, a heavy overlap with a different large improvising ensemble I had seen not long before this. And while this brought to mind some attempts to bring compositional order to rock'n'roll chaos I've seen from some similar local friend-orchestras in the past, it was really satisfying to see the physical and conceptual sprawl here (with hints of psych rock, spiritual jazz, and "Thursday Afternoon"-style Eno) expand at the seams yet remain able to contain itself. If you're not going out to the shows where the younger cadres are, you're missing out on something very cool emerging in our midst.

The full ensemble for this show was:

• Ray Goudy, Josh Sparks, Dylan Burrett (Guitars)
• Maxwell Stover, Ben Rositsan, Zack Goldstein (Reeds and Woodwinds)
• Lauren Dillen (Vocals)
• Steven Noronha, Ben Mike, Will Hunt (Keyboards)
• Sara May (Violin)
• Aidan McConnell (Percussion)

^* Does anyone know the title to this piece as a whole? Please leave a comment!

Recording: an action committee

Artist: an action committee

Songs: Organ [in two versions] [composer: Max Stover]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), May 18, 2025.

an action committee - Organ [version 1]

an action committee - Organ [version 2]

I feel like it's a very Toronto thing to gather large groups together and have everyone play at once. ("Everyone playing loudly and at once," is, in fact, how I've heard the "Toronto style" of improvisation described by some of its detractors.) Whether it's a consequence of the social situations performers in Toronto's creative music scenes find themselves in or some sort of atavistic impulse towards maximalism, it warms the ol' heart to see the younger cadres rediscovering these sonic scenarios.

How large groups find ways to work together and navigate structure and freedom is, of course, a key question — and Maxwell Stover's new-ish Tranzac residency is an attempt to negotiate some of these queries. For this instalment, with a dozen musicians on stage, that was achieved through Stover's conduction and distribution of some fragments of material for the musicians to share space in. That this was a relatively unprecise approach could be seen from how the same three pieces were essayed twice with rather different results — quietly and spaciously in the first set, and with shades, feedback and fuzz pedals in the second.

The musicians for this performance were:

• guitars: Bjorn Kriel, Ben Rositsan, Josh Sparks, Jesse White
• keys: Max Donaldson, Will Hunt, Ben Mike, Steven Noronha
• bass: Adrian Russouw
• drums: Keith Barstow, Colin Cudmore, Mateos Labbe-Phelan
• conduction + compositions: Maxwell Stover

Apologies for the fact that this whole ensemble was too large to fit in its entirety in the frame, but you can check out the evening's full performance over on youtube:

[an action committee take on a different form of musical organization — three trios — at its next performance on Sunday (June 15th), with performances from Steven Noronha/Keon Narinesingh/Harry Vetro, Ben Rositsan/Adrian Russouw/Cal James Adam, and Jesse White/Maxwell Stover/Keith Barstow.]

Recording: Nick Fraser's Special Topics

Artist: Nick Fraser's Special Topics

Song: Sketch #62

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser presents), March 25, 2025.

Nick Fraser's Special Topics - Sketch #62

This new-ish unit under the guidance of drummer Nick Fraser (presumably not brought together to disparage the regular topics of his other bands) sees him joined by frequent collaborator Josh Cole on double bass as well as a pair of younger horn players in Kae Murphy and Max Stover. Starting (as heard here) from the newest entry in his musical sketchbook and working through some other recent entries, there was lots of room for the performers to jab at the loose structures from different angles.