Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), December 15, 2023.

Many People - [set 1 excerpt]

Many People is another of Karen Ng's occasional concepts-not-bands, and while I've associated this one with a room-full-of-horns soundbath, the concept is plainly more malleable than that. That said, there was a formidable (fourmidable?) wind quartet up front, with Ng joined by Nic Dourado (a.k.a. bUDi), Nirvana Sagar, and Ted Crosby. But this time there was an equal presence of non-horn players, including Kieran Maraj (bass), fuZzy (guitar), %%30%30 (found percussion) and Jaz Tsui (percussion and melodica). Especially with the latter pair, that meant the means of propulsion was less magic capret ride and more clattering wagon, as the ebb and flow of the horns was bumped along by the other elements.

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Karen Ng's Monthly), April 18, 2023.

Many People - [excerpt 1]

Many People - [excerpt 2]

A return apearance from this... well, call it more of a "concept" than a "band", with Karen Ng gathering together as many horn players as can be wrangled. The twist here was some extra spacialization, with the crew (on this night: Ng plus Leland Whitty, Kae Murphy, Brodie West, Jay Hay and Ted Crosby) spreading along the length of the room, giving some incredible in-person surround-sound vibes. (The stereoification on the recording here can only give a taste of how lovely it was!)

You can also check out some footage of the (nearly) full set from Many Penguins People over on youtube (though do note it was impossible to get more than half the group in the frame at any given time!):

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Songs: [excerpts from two sets]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), October 27, 2022.

Many People - [set 1 excerpt]

Many People - [set 2 excerpt]

I think "Many People" was at first merely meant as a description of this agglomeration of friends assembled by Karen Ng, but we might as well treat it as a de facto band name. (It turns out that every once in a while, everyone you invite out for a gig is able to make it, when you were only expecting some fraction of them to be able!)

With eight (and later nine) musicians playing, it was unsurprising that there were some crowded honk'n'squeak blastoffs, but for the most part, folks gave each other space, stepping back to let shifting smaller sub-groups stand out and letting the ensemble sections work as texture-knitting rather than volume competition.

The full group consisted of:

• Mark Ballyk - drums
• Ted Crosby - reeds
• Madeleine Ertel - trumpet
• Colin Fisher - guitar
• Andrew Furlong - double bass
• Naomi McCarroll-Butler - sax/flute
• Kaelin Murphy - trumpet/contra-alto clarinet
• Karen Ng - reeds
• Jay Hay - sax/flute (2nd set)