Monday Roundup #192

Community notes:

• The next Frequency Freaks synth workshop will be held at Array Space on Saturday (September 21st). "As always, everyone is invited to perform regardless of their level of expertise. We are a safe and welcoming space ideal for first time performers. Bring your favourite instrument to play or present, or just come to enjoy the performances and the community."

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Concert announcements:

Lori Freedman [solo] (Trio Davidson Ng Freedman) / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-24 (Tuesday) [more info]

Raphael Weinroth-Browne / Burdock Music Hall 2024-09-27 (Friday). $20. [FB event]

Continuum & Quatuor Bozzini [performing works by Martin Smolka, Cassandra Miller, Tanya Tagaq, Linda Catlin Smith, Laurence Crane] / St. George by the Grange Anglican Church 2024-09-27 (Friday). $20 (advance), $25 (door). [more info]

Ancient Egypt [Climb Every Mountain record release] / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-29 (Sunday) [FB event]

Track Could Bend #96 (feat. Josh Cole + Mira Martin-Gray / Laura Swankey/Brittany Pitt/Dan Pitt) / Wenona Lodge 2024-10-01 (Tuesday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Mdou Moctar (The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis) / The Concert Hall 2024-10-09 (Wednesday). $42.24, 19+. [FB event]

Quivers (Curtis Bowman / Triples) / Monarch Tavern 2024-10-11 (Friday). $22.70, 19+. [FB event]

BA Johnston (Wax Mannequin / Block Parent) / Bovine Sex Club 2024-10-25 (Friday). $17.31. [FB event]

Zoobombs (Pretty / Scooter Jay) / Monarch Tavern 2024-11-28 (Thursday). $18.50, 19+. [FB event]

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

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Shows this week:

Mike Donovan (New Orthodox / The JDAC) / The Baby G 2024-09-16 (Monday). $23.57 advance, 19+. [FB event]

Ministry of Phonic Services presents: Back to School Field Trip 2024 – "the stadium" (feat. Brian Ruryk & %%30%30 / Louis Pino / Em Wright / Owen Kurtz) / "location details will be revealed day-of" 2024-09-19 (Thursday). $pwyc, outdoors. [more info]

Makam Nights (feat. Arjang Seyfizadeh) / The Tranzac (Living Room) 2024-09-19 (Thursday). $pwyc. [FB event]

Tilman Lewis/Nilan Perera/Laura Swankey / The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge) 2024-09-20 (Friday – early). $pwyc. [FB event]

Safe Sounds Presents: Geary Art Crawl (feat. Animal Party / Forming / Gag) / Body Shop Studios 2024-09-21 (Saturday – 4 p.m.). $free. [FB event]

Art of Improv Salon Series (feat. Margaret Maria/Michael Palumbo/Bill Gilliam / Kye Marshall/Bill McBirnie/Eugene Martynec) / Kensington Sound 2024-09-22 (Sunday – 3 p.m.). $20/PWYC, BYOB. [FB event]

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It happened this week...

• ...on September 19, 2018 at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge).

Matthew Pencer & Chris Willes - [excerpt from first piece]

• ... on September 21, 2018 at The Music Gallery @ 918 Bathurst.

The Brodie West Quintet - First Wave

[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: The Brodie West Quintet

Artist: The Brodie West Quintet

Song: Entrainment

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (TONE Festival), June 24, 2022.

The Brodie West Quintet - Entrainment

Another night at the TONE Festival mixing some of the best local acts with visiting headliners, hopefully once more blowing some minds amongst those who might not come out to see the locals so often when it's not an "event". This was also the first chance for a lot of folks to catch up with this unit since the release of Meadow of Dreams earlier this year, and the group drew from that for a good chunk of the set. Even with the stalwart Phil Melanson subbing in for Evan Cartwright on one of the drumkits, the intricate rhythmic division of labour with Nick Fraser was maintained as the group had a joyful time exploring meadows and bouncing through other landscapes.

Recording: Brodie West Quintet

Artist: Brodie West Quintet

Songs: Coda + Tumbling In

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 9, 2018.

Brodie West Quintet - Coda + Tumbling In

Despite some blizzard-y weather to slog through, there was a full complement of musicians on hand and a full Southern Cross out to hear some tunes (and also dig through the stack of used records for sale in a new twist on the band's "merch table"). As always, there were some amazing in-and-out-of-phase sounds from dual druimmers Evan Cartwright and Nick Fraser — you can hear some of that on "Coda" here where the tension built up on those just-out-of-sync cymbal taps is resolved with explosive joy as the group flips over into "Tumbling In" to close out the set.

Recording: Brodie West Quintet -1

Artist: Brodie West Quintet -1

Songs: C.T. [composer: Nick Fraser] + They Call This Everything [composer: Ryan Driver] + Possesional [composer: Rob Clutton]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 12, 2018.

Brodie West Quintet -1 - C.T.

Brodie West Quintet -1 - They Call This Everything

Brodie West Quintet -1 - Possesional

Playing as a quartet sans percussionist Evan Cartwright left Brodie West (alto), Tania Gill (piano), Josh Cole (double bass) and Nick Fraser (drums) a bit of space to play around in — and one leg of this group's rhythmical foundation removed. They did manage to tackle a few pieces from the group's current set ("Tumbling In" perhaps had more rolling than tumbling, but "Prel and Fug" bounced nicely) but for the bulk of the night the group instead reached beyond the regular repertoire to play some pieces from members and friends. Gill and Cole offered charts, but perhaps the most intriguing voyages were on a couple classic Drumheller¹ tunes, and there was also this beautifully-lyrical reading of a song from Ryan Driver's latest, tackled in the best jazz tradition of transforming pop tunes into standards.

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¹ This is as good a place as any to remind you that the four albums by Drumheller — all essential Toronto weird-jazz documents, besides just being groovy-good listens — are online at Nick Fraser's bandcamp.

Recording: The Brodie West Quintet

Artist: The Brodie West Quintet

Songs: First Wave + Prel and Fug

Recorded at The Music Gallery @ 918 Bathurst, September 21, 2018.

The Brodie West Quintet - First Wave

The Brodie West Quintet - Prel and Fug

An exciting night of celebration, marking the release of the Quintet's Clips album. Things weren't too different than a typical night for the group at the Tranzac — a nicer shirt here, a fancier piano there — but it's important every once in a while to bring things out of that laboratory to a bigger audience. In the spirit of the night the group basically played the album top to bottom, showing off the variety of smaller encounters (interlocking dual drummers, piano/sax mind-melds, etc.) within the pieces.

[Following up from a West Coast swing, The Brodie West Quintet will be in residence at The Rex, playing every Tuesday in November.]

Recording: The Brodie West Quintet

Artist: The Brodie West Quintet

Song: Tumbling In + Dirty Vampires^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), February 11, 2018.

The Brodie West Quintet - Tumbling In

The Brodie West Quintet - Dirty Vampires

On the cusp of heading into the studio to record the compositions he's been developing for this quintet, Brodie West and co. (which would be Tania Gill on piano and Josh Cole on double bass plus double percussionists Evan Cartwright and Nick Fraser) were in that sweet spot of being right in sync with each other but less than mechanically familiar with the material, leaving lots of room for moments of on-the-fly rearrangement and creative exploration.

^* Thanks to Brodie for confirming the titles to these.

Recording: Brodie West Quintet

Artist: Brodie West Quintet

Songs: Lemon Time + Clips

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 14, 2016.

Brodie West Quintet - Lemon Time

Brodie West Quintet - Clips

A night of new, not-even-named-yet pieces were explored on this night, with Brodie West joined by regulars Tania Gill (piano), Josh Cole (bass and Phil Melanson (percussion) — plus Dave Clark sitting in at the second percussion chair. That double-drummer dynamic is central to what's going on here, with several of West's new pieces incorporating counterpoint percussion, which sees the drummers sometimes sharing and co-deconstrcting rhythmic patterns (and sometimes working meticulously independently of each other). The bass and piano often work together to give a trampoline floor underneath West, who happily darts around the beat(s) with his alto.

[The Brodie West Quintet — with Evan Cartwright back as Phil Melanson's percussive foil — returns for another Nacho Wednesday at The Tranzac next week (January 11th).]

Recording: Brodie West Quintet

Artist: Brodie West Quintet

Songs: Untitled #4 + Afro Blue [composed by Mongo Santamaría, arr. John Coltrane]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Wolf's Nacho Wednesdays), June 22, 2016.

Brodie West Quintet - Untitled #4

Brodie West Quintet - Afro Blue

Once again reinforcing his recent fascination with rhythm, this newly-formulated quintet saw saxophonist Brodie West flanked by a pair of percussionists: Phil Melanson (heard here on the left) and Nico Dann (on the right). A quartet of new (and yet-untitled) pieces gave them plenty of chances to explore the sonic possibilities, whether creating a languid mood in the first piece with hypnotic in-phase/out-of-phase cymbal washes or starting off the last of them (as heard here) like a chase scene in a cartoon. Tania Gill (piano) and Josh Cole (double bass) provided the musical grounding while West would sometimes close his eyes and nod to the rhythms and at others climb on top of them to play like a log roller at work. The set closed out with a nod to Coltrane at Birdland in a rollicking run through "Afro Blue".