Recording: Sick Boss & Co.

Artist: Sick Boss with Peggy Lee, Josh Zubot & JP Carter

Song: Useless Genius 2

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival), June 16, 2022.

Sick Boss with Peggy Lee, Josh Zubot & JP Carter - Useless Genius 2

This superb evening at the TONE Festival saw Sick Boss expanded from its core trio (Cole Schmidt, guitar; James Meger, bass; and Dan Gaucher, percussion) to include friends Peggy Lee (viola), Josh Zubot (violin), and JP Carter (trumpet) — a true Vancouver all-star troupe. The extra hands allowed the group to explore a lot of new terrain over a bunch of new music (including the three-part suite heard in part here) that moved from shifty prog-rock rhythms to sweeping GYBE-esque swells. Big band, big sounds.

Sunday Playlist #48

Sunday Playlist #48: In memoriam Ron Gaskin

We lost one of the good 'uns this week with the passing of Ron Gaskin, a sender of sounds and a listener of note. Under his Rough Idea banner, RG was a huge part of this city's out-music history, specializing in bringing musicians to town who were too creative or adventurous for the more conservative institutional presenters. As a storyteller and conversational improviser, RG could make strangers feel like friends and as a presenter and host, his generosity of spirit and freewheeling associational logic encouraged audiences to enter into a dialogue with musicians earnestly and wholeheartedly. His presence will be missed by so many.

These selections from my archives are from shows where my memories of my encounters with RG are as vivid and precious as the actual music. (It's certainly not meant to be comprehensive in any way!) I also did a bit of a digging to find some moments from a couple of those famous intros — and we get to hear his voice as well, in character, playing the part of William S. Burroughs in the multimedia presentation of "Rub Out The Word".

The Swyves - Arc-Eye

• Recorded at Lee's Palace, May 18, 2011.

Matthew Shipp Trio - Psychic Counterpoint

• Recorded at Lula Lounge, March 10, 2013.

Peggy Lee - [excerpt 1]

• Recorded at Ratio, December 18, 2016.

Perch Hen Brock & Rain - RG intro

Perch Hen Brock & Rain - [first piece, first section]

• Recorded at Array Space (TONE Festival – Show #4), June 20, 2017.

Cactus Truck - RG intro

Cactus Truck - [excerpt]

• Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (TONE Festival 3.6: Peter Gough Presents), June 27, 2019.

Rub Out The Word - The Penny Arcade Peep Show

• Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #9), December 1, 2015.

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Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Recording: Peggy Lee Octet

Artist: Peggy Lee Octet

Song: two unknown pieces^*

Recorded at Array Space, September 16, 2017.

Peggy Lee Octet - unknown #1

Peggy Lee Octet - unknown #2

I have seen Vancouverite Peggy Lee's intense improvised virtuosity as a solo performer, but didn't know as much about her work as a composer and ensemble leader, something I intended to rectify in checking out this group filled with West Coast heavyweights. (I dug the the slightly-idiosyncratic instrumentation, like having an electric bass and a double bass in the same group.) The whole ensemble included Meredith Bates (violin), Kevin Elaschuk (trumpet), Chris Gestrin (piano), Ron Samworth (guitar), Torsten Müller (double bass), André Lachance (electric bass), and Dylan Van Der Schyff (drums) — I knew some of them by reputation, and just watching the others gave a quick indication of the calibre of musicianship here.

Originally conceived as a sort of "imaginary soundtrack" ensemble, the group was celebrating their recent Tell Tale album, which was first conceived a few years back as a project called "Film in Music". More than the sort of sweeping widescreen-evoking sounds that often get tagged as "cinematic", the connection here was more narrative, with each instrument acting as a character, and getting its own share of improvised monologues and pared-down conversations alongside the full-group sections.

^* Does anyone know the titles to these sections? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Peggy Lee

Artist: Peggy Lee

Song: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Ratio, December 18, 2016.

Peggy Lee - [excerpt 1]

Peggy Lee - [excerpt 2]

This particularly thoughtfully-assembled Rough Idea production brought together three different sonic explorers for a night of deep-listening vibes. Although cellist Peggy Lee has been based in Vancouver for quite awhile now, she got her start in Toronto and still has many connections here. Matching well with headliner Susan Alcorn's effortless virtuosity, Lee's set featured a steady stream of astonishing musical ideas, flitting from drones to string-scrapes — sudden outbursts punctuating subtle explorations. This unamplified set was pushing the limits of my microphones, so here's a couple shorter excerpts to give the general idea.