Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Song: two unknown songs*
Recorded The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 10, 2026.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - two unknown songs
This outing saw (as usual) more new songs from the book plus some deeper lore being investigated.
* Does anyone know the titles to these? Please leave a comment!
[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to The Tranzac tomorrow (June 14th) with sets from David Sait, Nathan Yell, Nick Flanagan plus Senior & Newman.]
Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Song: [2nd piece]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), March 8, 2026.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - [2nd piece]
"This is a new one, Kurt," Ayal Senior said, leaning over towards Kurt Newman between songs. "I tried it solo before."
"All right," was the reply, immediately before a seemingly-rehearsed duo arrangement sprang into being fully formed. This is why it's worth dropping in to see the songbook being developed in realtime collaboration.
Artist: Charter of the Forest
Songs: Come All Ye [Fairport Convention cover] + Big White Cloud [John Cale cover]
Recorded in The Sun Room at 918 Bathurst, January 18, 2026.
Charter of the Forest - Come All Ye
Charter of the Forest - Big White Cloud
Opening up an afternoon of investigations into folk music, this was a real all-star group, bringing together Isla Craig (voice), Karsten Stryker (acoustic guitar), Kurt Newman (low-volume electric guitar), Pete Johnston (bass), and Blake Howard (percussion). The musical approach was a jammy take on folk-rock, though more Fairport Convention (whose Liege & Lief was a primary touchstone) than Grateful Dead — though also with some bluegrass flourishes. The material also hewed towards "traditional songs of the British Isles", though in some cases the traditions reached back to more recent rolling minstrels such as those heard here.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
Artist: Trapezoid
Song: [2nd set, 1st piece, 2nd section]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), September 25, 2025.
Trapezoid - [2nd set, 1st piece, 2nd section]
When I last saw this group, they were still an unnamed four-cornered outgrowth of the Rob Clutton Trio. With more gigs together in the meantime, things feel a little more settled in — in the sense of there being a deeper awareness of where to explore, where to push, and where to complement each other. Kurt Newman was on lap rather than pedal steel, and even more integrated with his effects — using glitchy microloops as texture and punctuation, but also taking the time to glide and float alongside Karen Ng's sax/clarinet work.
You can check out some more from this evening over on youtube:
Artist: Kurt Newman
Song: Leather Britches [traditional]
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Kurt Newman Presents: Newman Guitars), April 10, 2025.
Kurt Newman - Leather Britches
The keen-eyed might note that Kurt Newman's returning Tranzac residency is now listed as "Kurt Newman Presents Post-Bluegrass Bluegrass" rather than "Cosmic Country for Communists" — probably an indication of Newman's deeper delving into the old-timey stuff (and a friendlier invite to the post-Strangetooth crowd) rather than any indication of ideological deviancy. More specifically, though, this night was billed as "Newman guitars", offering solo sets from K.N. (picking out some fiddle tunes on his guitar) as well as Montréal confrère Harris Newman.
Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Songs: Yutori + I Alone Escaped
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), January 12, 2025.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Yutori + I Alone Escaped
With a new batch of songs almost ready to hatch (see below!) Senior and Newman dug into the arrangements a little deeper, with the accompaniment moving from the most understanded of echoes to careening-off-the-rails dangerfests.
[Ayal Senior & Friends is back in the Southern Cross on Sunday (January 9th) with a special "public dress rehearsal" as they prepare to enter the studio to cut a new album.]
Artist: December Bee
Song: [first piece]*
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (CLUE NOTE: trivia and creative music (vol 3)), December 29, 2024.
This ensemble seemed purpose-built to essay this composition, bringing together twang'n'noise sounds from host/composer Mira Martin-Gray (voice, laptop, mandolin) with Niamh Girling (spring with pickup, mandolin), Marilyn Yogarajah (piano, trumpet), Erin Corbett (banjo, mandolin, piano), and Kurt Newman (lap steel). Going on a wintry nature walk, copy of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in hand, Martin-Gray's rambles considered the notion, apparently held by ancient Romans, that bees could be killed by echoes and other mysteries of the world outside our windows.
You can check out the full set over on youtube:
[CLUE NOTE will be back in its regular timeslot in the Southern Cross on Tuesday, January 28th with trivia on the theme of "the reality of fabric" and music by Mira Martin-Gray and %%30%30 performing the first live interpretation of Mira's album Stick Control for the Air Drummer.]
* Based on the content, one might surmise this piece shares its title with the ensemble's, but it wasn't called out from the stage.
Artist: Royal Jelly
Song: unknown*
Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #95), September 3, 2024.
This expanded/all-star edition of cellist Cory Harper-Latkovich's Jelly Ear project saw him joined by Kurt Newman (guitar), Allison Cameron (banjolele, melodica, synth), Sara Constant (flutes) as well as Germaine Liu and Yang Chen (percussion). It was the latter pair, with rocks and other percussive implements spread around them on the floor (à la The Titillators) that gave this a slightly different cast to the medieval (and new-but-medieval-sounding) pieces the group played, adding scrapes and other gentle clatter to mildly decenter the stately proceedings. This night was a bit of a farewell party as well, with Harper-Latkovich heading off to delve deeper into compositional studies in early music, so new/old wrinkles are sure to arise next time an ensemble like this is assembled.
You can check out the full set over on youtube:
[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona next Tuesday (October 1st) with sets from Josh Cole + Mira Martin-Gray and Laura Swankey/Brittany Pitt/Dan Pitt.]
* It's not impossible that this is the end of one piece going into another. Does anyone know the title(s)? Please leave a comment!
Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Song: Egg Yolk Slime
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), August 11, 2024.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Egg Yolk Slime
Further refinements to the latest additions to the songbook in this duo set, this time with Kurt Newman on electric six-string.
[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross with performances by Senior & Newman, Greydini, Nick Flanagan and an unnamed "special guest" next Sunday (September 8th).]
Artist: Kurt Newman
Song: [1st piece]
Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Kurt Newman presents: an evening of cool solos), July 16, 2024.
Kurt Newman assembled this night of short solo sets, mostly for guitar, and lead off with some of his own concepts, including this piece exploring contrary motion.
You can check out some more from this set (and the rest of the evening's first half) over on youtube:
Artist: You're Steel on My Mind
Song: Requiem for Tom T. Hall
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), July 14, 2024.
You're Steel on My Mind - Requiem for Tom T. Hall
Guest-hosting Ayal Senior's monthly, I decided to exercise the host's prerogative and perform in a set. It seemed natural to invite along series regular Kurt Newman — but rather than engaging in some Parmenides Obtuse-style abstraction, this set was focused on some more song-like spaces. Playing lap steel (and buoyed up by Newman's pedal steel), some folk and country standards were rubbed against — or, in the case of this piece, refracted at a slight remove. An empty bottle, a broken heart, and you're steel on my mind.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[Kurt Newman will be playing some "Clarence White instrumentals and general bluegrassness" alongside Karsten Stryker in a laid-back, 2-guitar version of The Sorry Brothers at The Tranzac tonight (August 8th). Ayal Senior & Friends will be back at The Tranzac on Sunday (August 11th) with the man himself back in charge and playing with Kurt Newman, alongside sets from David Sait, The Sympathetic String Band, and Nick Flanagan.]
Artist: Swanherds
Song: unknown*
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), June 25, 2024.
The last time rebecca bruton was in these parts was to record with her Swanherds band, which also resulted in a solo show. This visit brought with it a full group performance, pulling in vocalists Zoë Alexis-Abrams and Felicity Williams, pianist Ryan Driver, percussionist D. Alex Meeks, guitarist Kurt Newman, and double bassist Pete Johnston. There was, of course, whistling from several of those conspirators as they went on some dreamy journeys down dusty Albertan backroads and headed for stranger destinations.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Artist: Eucalyptus
Song: unknown*
Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tranzac Fundraiser II), June 14, 2024.
Eucalyptus - unknownThis set brought a different "look" from Eucalyptus than had been seen in their previous appearance in the Tranzac's Main Hall. Part of that was down to the presence of a couple last-minute fill-ins (Chris Banks on bass and Robin Buckley on percussion), but the biggest shift was hearing Aline Homzy on violin up front, occupying the role of foil and counterpart to Brodie West that has traditionally been filled by Nicole Rampersaud. The difference in timbre was felt in an accentuation of glide over thrust, which especially added an extra sheen of subtle shimmy to the slower numbers like this one.
* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Artist: Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman
Song: [1st piece, excerpt]
Recorded at Standard Time (TONE presents), May 17, 2024.
Rob Clutton Trio with Kurt Newman - [1st piece, excerpt]
Opening things up at this pre-festival night from the TONE team was this sort of Rat-Drifting all-star combo crew, with Kurt Newman (on pedal steel) augmenting bassist Rob Clutton's trio (including Karen Ng on sax and Nick Fraser on drums). Besides the immedediate differences from having Newman on board, the room (a pleasingly loft-like space a bit reminiscent of the Jam Factory, perfectly suited for seeing a Tad Michalak-curated show) also provided some different sonics, with the well-mic'ed band having a beefier sound than you might get at the Southern Cross — and keeping Clutton's bass from getting buried under other sounds. Newman used his pedalboard to find sounds that moved beyond trad pedal steel, sometimes doubling the sax and sometimes merging into Clutton's arco work.
[This quartet will be back in action at Karen Ng's monthly night at Wenona Lodge on Tuesday, June 18th.]
Artist: Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Andrew Furlong
Song: Wise Women & Virtuous Wives
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), May 12, 2024.
Ayal Senior/Kurt Newman/Andrew Furlong - Wise Women & Virtuous Wives
With Ayal Senior's Ora currently easing its way out into the world, its players were, as usual, busily working on the next chapter of the songbook. Meanwhile, a welcome return to the stage from bassist Andrew Furlong also saw a few classics being pulled out as well.
[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross this Sunday afternoon (June 9th) with sets from Senior/Newman, Drew Smith, Nick Flanagan and Michelle Breslin & Ayal Senior's Nocturnes.]
Artist: Eucalyptus
Song: UP Express
Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Joe's 50th Birthday), April 25, 2024.
Sometimes, when a Big Event beckons, you just have to seize the initiative and throw the party that you want to be a part of. Hence this little shindig, with a pretty fabulous lineup of local luminaries and a room full of well-wishers — what more could you ask for?
With so many moving parts in this band, there's a bit of flexibility with who you might see surrounding Brodie West from show to show — but it was a real treat to see the band at full strength here, three drummers on stage and crowd favourite Nicole Rampersaud up front. There were some classics tackled that got the dancefloor bumpin' as well as some newer pieces, including this jammer from the group's next album (a future classic, whether you all it the "up" express or the "you-pee" express) as well as a scintillating preview of a new collaoration with Vic Cheong (a.k.a. New Chance) bringing a tune for West to arrange.
You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:
[Eucalytus will be back on the Main Hall stage at the Tranzac's next big fundraising spectacular event, playing alongside U.S. Girls and Cots on Friday, June 14th.]
Artist: Masahiro Takahashi
Song: unknown*
Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tranzac Fundraiser I), April 20, 2024.
Masahiro Takahashi - unknownAs part of an effort to find and maintain a stable financial footing, The Tranzac has announced a series of quarterly fundraising concerts, drawing on the starpower of some its regular denizens to fill the Main Hall. Leading off this first event, producer/electronicist Masahiro Takahashi took the opportunity to draw on the Tranzac community to expand his sounds with a backing trio that included Kurt Newman (lap steel), Ryan Driver (piano) and Michael Davidson (vibes). That put his "bedroom producer" aesthetic on a bigger canvas, with mostly-gentle grooves that moved somewhere in cozy amble-along/bubble bath sonic zones.
[Masahiro Takahashi's Cha-no-yu residency ("a gathering of music producers, improvisers, and listeners") begins on Friday (May 17th) with performances from C.R. Gillespie and Nick Storring & Masahiro Takahashi — and will continue on every third Friday of the month. The second Tranzac fundraiser will be taking place on Friday, June 14th with sets from U.S. Girls, Eucalyptus, and Cots.]
* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!
Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Song: E is for Ear
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), April 14, 2024.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - E is for Ear
You might have heard that Ayal Senior's Ora album is going to be making its way into the world next month, but frequenters of his monthly Tranzac residency know that the songbook is already being worked out for the next one. Grab ahold of the future!
[Ayal Senior & Friends returns to the Southern Cross tomorrow (May 10th) with sets from Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, William Davison, Karsten Stryker, and Nick Flanagan.]
Artist: Dun-Dun Band
Song: Pandemo 3*
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Dun-Dun Land: Slight Return), April 9, 2024.
Dun-Dun Band - unknownEssentially a warm-up show for the forthcoming full-on album release celebration (see details below), this night saw most of the Dun-Dun Band gathered together (but with "only" two sax players). Digging into tracks from Pita Parka, Pt. I (as well as its in-the-can sequel) the players were in sync through Craig Dunsmuir's fragment-suites, moving from rollicking lockgroove tumbles to some considered stately rumbles.
[That release celebration will be happening in The Tranzac's Main Hall next week (Thursday, May 16th), with an opening set from Allison Cameron, Mira Martin-Gray and Josh Cole.]
* Thanks to Josh for passing along the title to this one!
Artist: Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman
Song: Nor the Moon by Night
Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior & Friends), February 11, 2024.
Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman - Nor the Moon by Night
It's pretty amazing to watch in real time when Ayal Senior starts playing a new piece that even guitarist Kurt Newman hasn't heard yet. Somehow, the arrangement falls into place immediately and the ending is nailed with precision.
[Ayal Senior & Friends will be back in the Tranzac on Sunday (March 10th), with sounds from Ayal and Kurt Newman, Blake Howard, and Andrew Furlong plus Eye-Duh Kho, Jonathan Adjemian, and Nick Flanagan.]
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