Recording: Cole/Storring/Allemano/Kurtz/Oswald

Artist: Josh Cole/Nick Storring/Lina Allemano/Owen Kurtz/John Oswald

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

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents: new works for improvising musicians), August 10, 2026.

Josh Cole/Nick Storring/Lina Allemano/Owen Kurtz/John Oswald - [set 1 excerpt]

Josh Cole/Nick Storring/Lina Allemano/Owen Kurtz/John Oswald - [set 2 excerpt]

This evening was originally slated as a variation on Josh Cole's "and strings" concept, but things slid sideways a bit when a last-minute switch saw saxophonist John Oswald appearing in the place of scheduled violinist Jarron Freeman-Fox. But the real sonic centre here was Owen Kurtz, bringing some tasty realtime sample granulation. There was an inneresting feedback loop where Kurtz's skittering microloops encouraged the other players to respond with similarly small/repetitive gestures, although he left enough space that there was still room to appreciate some delicate playing from Nick Storring (cello) and Lina Allemano (trumpet) alongside Cole's bass.

You can check out both sets over on youtube:

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: Kind Mind

Artist: Kind Mind

Song: The Bar

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole Presents), May 14, 2024.

Kind Mind - The Bar

Interesting work here from Josh Cole's Kind Mind, this time with Ted Crosby holding down the sax chair. His effects rig added some additional textures to the proceeding, like the ones you can hear in the intro to this piece.

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

[Josh Cole will be back at The Tranzac on Tuesday (June 11th), presenting music from Josh Cole and Friends, including John Oswald.]

Recording: Clutton/Cole/Fraser/Fisher

Artist: Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/Colin Fisher

Song: [improvisation]

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

Rob Clutton/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/Colin Fisher - [improvisation]

With John Oswald needing to depart a little early after the main part of this set, the remaining musicians decided they had a little left in the tank and called up Colin Fisher (who had played in the earlier set) from the audience. Bringing his customary energy, it was intruiging to note how much different this sounded from what had become before in a delightful ten-minute rager.

You can check out footage of the full piece 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: 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: Cole/Clutton/Driver/Melanson

Artist: Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/Ryan Driver/Phil Melanson

Song: [2nd set, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole Presents), July 11, 2023.

Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/Ryan Driver/Phil Melanson - [2nd set, part 1]

Josh Cole/Rob Clutton/Ryan Driver/Phil Melanson - [2nd set, part 2]

Joined for the evening by Rob Clutton, Josh Cole has experimented with the double-double bass format before, though this outing saw the pair joined by some different collaborators, including Ryan Driver (on analog synth) and Phil Melanson (on percussion). Those two left plenty of room to hear the various ways that Cole and Clutton found to complement and contrast each other.

You can check out some sounds from the first set over on youtube:

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: A Josh Cole Quartet

Artist: A Josh Cole Quartet

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), December 21, 2022.

A Josh Cole Quartet - [2nd set, 1st piece excerpt]

A Josh Cole Quartet - [2nd set, 2nd piece]

Another of those indefinite-article groupings that occasionally pop up at Josh Cole's residency shows, this combo offered both a chance to catch trumpeter Lina Allemano (back once more from Berlin) as well as Rob Clutton joining in for a rare double-double bass outing. Percussionist Blake Howard rounded things out in this celebration of the year's shortest day (in fact, Howard was doubly-celebrating, arriving from opening with Eucalyptus at Jennifer Castle's solstice celebration).

You can check out some footage from the first set here:

[Josh Cole will be holding the fort at Colin Fisher's regular Tranzac night on Friday (January 13th) with the return of another of his irregular quartets featuring Brodie West, Phil Melanson and Andrew Zukerman.]

Recording: Dun-Dun Band

Artist: Dun-Dun Band

Song: Triplet C

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole presents), September 21, 2022

Dun-Dun Band - Triplet C

There are visible signs of forward progress with Craig Dunsmuir's beloved precision groove bigglyup band — rumours of intense rehearsal schedules, plus whispers of recording and mixing sessions — all of which has culminated in a three-month takeover of Josh Cole's Tranzac residency. This night saw a possibly-unprecedented turonout (on stage) with ten musicians on hand. (There's a certain flexibility in the lineup given that any of these busy musicians could be unavailable on any given day.) There's also a sense that the jams are being formalized into "songs" — where once they were identified by strings of numbered fragments, now titles are taking their place (even if some are perhaps still just placeholders, often taking a name from the venue where the piece was first performed).

The full lineup for this night was:

• Craig Dunsmuir
• Mike Smith
• Blake Howard
• Jay Anderson
• Josh Cole
• Kurt Newman
• Ted Crosby
• Karen Ng
• Colin Fisher
• Brodie West

[The Dun-Dun Band will be completing their three-month stay at The Tranzac next Wednesday (October 19th) in the late slot.]

Recording: A Josh Cole Quartet

Artist: A Josh Cole Quartet

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 20, 2022.

A Josh Cole Quartet - [set 1 excerpt]

A Josh Cole Quartet - [set 2 edited excerpt]

Another of those ad hoc indefinite article groupings from bassist Josh Cole, this time joined by Brodie West (saxophone/clarinet), Phil Melanson (percussion) and Andrew Zukerman (buchla easel). Although the latter has had a longstanding duo with Brodie West, it's rarer to see him in full-group improvisation like this, though he really left an imprint on the proceedings — acting as something of a texture-trickster whooshing around the edges in the first set, but really setting the table in the second where he provided a bowed-note-like dronewave that underpinned the whole thing.

You can check out some footage from the first set over on youtube:

Recording: Abbott/Cole/Fraser/Lerner

Artist: Titus Abbott/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/Marilyn Lerner

Song: [1st set, 2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Josh Cole Presents), June 15, 2022.

Titus Abbott/Josh Cole/Nick Fraser/Marilyn Lerner - [1st set, 2nd piece]

This special one-off in Josh Cole's regular Kind Mind timeslot saw reeds player Titus Abbott (visiting from Maine) joined by Cole, Nick Fraser, and Marilyn Lerner. Abbott, moving from soprano and tenor sax to bass clarinet, brought one loosely-structured scored piece, but otherwise the group fell into place with some sweet improvisations.