Recording: Mike Gennaro

Artist: Mike Gennaro

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #118), July 7, 2026.

Mike Gennaro - [2nd piece]

Originally slated as a reprise of a shredtastic duo alongside Doug Tielli, circumstances modified this to a Mike Genarro solo set. Which was a loss and a small sadness, but also opened a window to a rare oportunity to hear Gennaro in solo mode. Unsurprisingly energetic, the highlight was the more restrained part heard here, with some swell resonances from small cymbals, bowls, and metal discs buzzing against each other.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend is back at Wenona on September 1st (before the long weekend!) with sets from Dave Grenon's Indistinctive Gait w/ Ayesha Lye and Caution Wet Floor Signs.]

Recording: Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro

Song: [first section]

Recorded at The Bickford Centre Quad (Ministry of Phonic Services presents), May 24, 2026.

Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro - [first section]

Back in day, Doug Tielli and Mike Gennaro were part of the Rat-Drifting scene as members of Wrist Error (although the project was never documented with an album), and have now rekindled their musical relationship in this duo. Tielli is a player of a great many talents, many of which involve a sublime delicacy that he can bring to the proceedings — which makes one forget at their peril that he can shred on guit like a mofo when it's called for. Mike Gennaro, of course, can bring cacophonous volume, providing plenty forward momentum which lead to some satisfactory splatter action as things geared up here — but there was also some tasteful restraint as Tielli brought out the singing saw.

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

[Doug Tielli & Mike Gennaro will be joining together again tonight (Tuesday, July 7th) at Track Could Bend.]

Recording: Jaap Blonk

Artist: Jaap Blonk / Jaap Blonk & Mike Gennaro

Songs: Muzikaret / [excerpt]

Recorded at The Jama (Ministry of Phonic Services presents), October 18, 2025.

Jaap Blonk - Muzikaret

Jaap Blonk & Mike Gennaro - [excerpt]

Moving inside after their month-long outdoor "Back to School" festival, Ministry of Phonic Services pulled together this night of sound poetry (and other noises) mixing international guests and local talent at The Jama (a new operation taking over the former Smiling Buddha). Pre-eminent sound-poet Jaap Blonk brought some deadpan Dutch humour and an endless capacity for noise-invention to two sets demonstrating quite different approaches to his work. His solo set was a more meticulous affair, a recital of various pieces moving from a histrorical nod to Hugo Ball to Blonk's own investigations into "encrypted proposals", fake Dutch, and rubberized gamelan sounds. The duo set with local percussionist Mike Gennaro leaned into Blonk's improvisatory skills, adding some synthbursts to the babblelogue for some pleasingly-energized back-and-forth.

Recording: Kayla Milmine & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Kayla Milmine & Mike Gennaro

Song: [second piece, edited excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #72), October 4, 2022.

Kayla Milmine & Mike Gennaro - [second piece, edited excerpt]

A genuine treat to present the first public show from this duo — although word is they've been rehearsing for a while. That showed in their communication, even if their improvisations didn't touch on any of the material they've also been working on. Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear the more subtle tones of Milmine's soprano sax pulling Gennaro — usually known as a powehouse percussionist — into some more restrained zones and contributing to some really interesting dynamics here.

You can check out some video documentation of this set of on TCB's youtube playlist:

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday, November 1st with a night of music presented by Splendid Industries.]

Recording: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Song: [3rd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Musica Universalis), September 9, 2022.

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - [3rd piece]

Having been a fair few years since seeing this pair celebrating a mutual album release, it was a treat to see them jam out in celebration of the new Tactile Stories. As always, Genenaro brought energetic volume on the drumkit, which Fisher complemented on sax and guitar. The night closed with "a little light jazz" in quartet formation with gusts Andrew Furlong and Patrick Smith, who had opened up the evening.

You can also watch some footage from this set over on youtube:

Recording: Nerve Gas

Artist: Nerve Gas

Song: Machine Gun [composer: Peter Brötzmann]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Jazz and Otherwise Improvised Musics), March 12, 2019.

Nerve Gas - Machine Gun

This ambitious evening in Andrew Furlong's JAOIM series saw saxophonist Patrick Smith assembling a band with the same lineup deployed by Peter Brötzmann for his Machine Gun session. After a first set of tunes from Furlong and Smith (as well as some Ornette), the group was ready to really take off, tackling the Machine Gun album in full.

This was a full-on blast fest with plenty of collective caterwauling clatter and the group was certainly up to the material. (And given the notoriously muddled fidelity of the album, even this field recording may be a bit cleaner to the listener's ears.) A special nod should be given to pianist Max Donaldson — one of the next wave of players emerging from U of T — for really standing out in this esteemed group.

The full Nerve Gas complement consisted of:

• Patrick Smith, Alex Manoukas, Karen Ng - saxophones
• Colin Fisher, Mike Gennaro - drums
• Max Donaldson - piano
• Andrew Furlong, Mike DeiCont - double bass

[JAOIM returns to Wenona on Tuesday (May 14th) with a solo set of microtonal guitar from Brian Abbott plus a trio of Julian Anderson-Bowes, Kayla Milmine and Luan Phung.]

Recording: The Archives of Eternity

Artist: The Archives of Eternity

Songs: two unknown songs^*

Recorded at Fatima in the Alley, November 2, 2018.

The Archives of Eternity - [track 1]

The Archives of Eternity - [track 3]

I'd been waiting a spell to catch a performance from this cross-generational quartet, mixing savvy vets Mark Hundevad (vibes) and Mark Gennaro (drums) with the younger Patrick Smith (baritone + soprano sax) and Andrew Furlong (double bass). Busy schedules all around have kept gigs a little thin on the ground, and a couple of the ones that've come around featured fill-in guests, so it was a treat to see the group at its full force, as this is really just a monster of a unit — the sort of thing that would be greeted with wide-eyed astonishment if they were a touring band on a bill and not merely a bunch of locals.

Watching Hundevad play in any capacity is a treat (I've seen him performing on drums, piano and synth) but especially so when he's behind the vibraphone, which he plays with literal blood-on-the-keys intensity. The set was performed mostly as a long suite, segueing between a series of pieces that rarely let up in intensity. Gennaro's bandcamp has a couple, er, archival recordings of the unit in a nascent duo form with himself and Hundevad, but hopefully a full-fledged band album will emerge soon, or at least in the more immediate part of eternity.

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

Recording: Fisher/Newman/Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher/Kurt Newman/Mike Gennaro

Songs: [solo tenor improvisation] + [duo improvisation] + [excerpt from a trio improvisation]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), August 27, 2018.

Colin Fisher - [solo tenor improvisation]

Kurt Newman & Mike Gennaro - [improvisation]

Colin Fisher/Kurt Newman/Mike Gennaro - [excerpt from an improvisation]

Late afternoon on a day with air like soup, cicadas singing and leaves hanging dark green and luscious from their branches saw three performers with long intertwining backstories in the Southern Cross' extra-early Monday slot. Directing the musical traffic, Mike Gennaro suggested a round of solos, short bursts from each of possible duo combinations and then a closing trio encounter. So here's a taste of all three of these things, including a de facto Wrist Error reunion between Newman and Gennaro.

[Colin Fisher is playing at The Tranzac tonight (October 12th) with Daniel Pencer. Mike Gennaro will be at The Tranzac with a trio version of The Archives of Eternity on Sunday (October 14th).]

Recording: Mike Gennaro & Jay Hay

Artist: Mike Gennaro & Jay Hay

Song: [excerpt from long piece, in two parts]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 24, 2018.

Mike Gennaro & Jay Hay - [excerpt from long piece, part 1]

Mike Gennaro & Jay Hay - [excerpt from long piece, part 2]

Ah — a good, clean blast of volume of clear out the engine valves is sometimes just the thing. As always, Mike Gennaro was ready to gallop, barely pausing to re-collect straying bits of the drumkit, while Jay Hay provided power-blasts on his variety of reeds, including bass clarinet and tenor and baritone saxophones. (It's the latter that's heard in this extract.)

Recording: Colin Fisher and Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher and Mike Gennaro - [improvisation]

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Tribute to the Life of Ken Aldcroft), October 7, 2016.

Colin Fisher and Mike Gennaro - [improvisation]

Taken shockingly suddenly and entirely too soon, Ken Aldcroft's passing left a heavy mark on many groups: family, friends, neighbours, students as well as musical collaborators and appreciators. All of these were gathered together to share their sorrow and find some joy through fellowship and music in an evening of remembrances and sounds at The Tranzac, where Aldcroft had played so often. After some fellowship over food from the heavily-laden potluck and the first of many reminiscences from the stage came this pairing, driven by drummer Mike Gennaro — a frequent duo partner with Aldcroft — and saxophonist Colin Fisher, bringing to mind in a short ascension blast the music the three had made together.

Image collaged from photographs taken by Matthew Fava.

Recording: Mike Gennaro + Mark Hundevad

Artist: Mike Gennaro + Mark Hundevad

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #18), September 6, 2016.

Mike Gennaro + Mark Hundevad - [excerpt 1]

Mike Gennaro + Mark Hundevad - [excerpt 2]

I had seen Mike Gennaro and Mark Hundevad playing together not too long before this in a trio with Colin Fisher, so this duo set gave an opportunity to see how different things could be. While power drummer Gennaro was the backbone both times out, Hundevad (a noted percussionist himself) pivoted from the marimba/piano work in the trio to some cool Moog-powered synth moves here. Suggesting funk squelch and Sun Ra soul-stabs, Hundevad shaped this set in some very cool ways while Gennaro provided pulse and drive to keep things moving along.

[The next Track Could Bend is coming up on Tuesday (October 4th) and will feature CHOBO with Strings, Goosey (The Holy Gasp's Benjamin Hackman and Karen Ng), and INCHOATE.]

Recording: Gennaro-Hundevad-Fisher

Artist: Mike Gennaro/Mark Hundevad/Colin Fisher

Songs: [three excerpts]

Recorded at Array Space, August 30, 2016.

Gennaro-Hundevad-Fisher - [excerpt 3]

Gennaro-Hundevad-Fisher - [excerpt 1]

Gennaro-Hundevad-Fisher - [excerpt 2]

Epic improvisations from this trio of heavy hitters, matching drummer Mike Gennaro with Mark Hundevad, another top-notch percussionist who came to this set ready to play the piano but ended up pulling out Array's vibes and marimba as well. Hundevad turned out to be no mean mallet player, leaning and twisting as his sticks became just as much of a blur as Gennaro's. Colin Fisher, meanwhile, brought a trio of saxophones to face off with the pair — from the get-go, one got the impression that they might blast away until someone had to stop due to exhaustion. Just as life is lived forwards and understood backwards, the quiet meditation from near the hour's end is perhaps the best entry here, before working back to a couple samples of the more frenzied interplay.

Recording: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Song: [excerpt from third piece]

Recorded at Array Space ("Somewhere There's Second Sundays"), November 8, 2015.

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - [excerpt from third piece]

No surprise that this pairing's set contained a lot of high-octane interchanges, with Fisher blasting through the walls (mostly on on tenor) and Gennaro hitting like a battering ram. (He'd eventually lean over and pull the floor tom from a nearby drumkit to augment his own.) But there were also interchanges like this where things slowed down a bit — but still pretty dense with musical ideas and energy.

Recording: Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro

Artist: Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro

Song: [third piece]

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #6), September 1, 2015.

Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro - [third piece]

Always a potent combination, drummer Mike Gennaro and guitarist Ken Aldcroft faced off to start this evening with a trio of crackling interchanges involving a complicated combination of forward lunges and sudden side-steps.

[The next Track Could Bend will be at Dundas Video on Tuesday, October 6th. This duo will be playing together again next week (Thursday, September 24th) at Musideum, sharing a bill with improv legends CCMC.]

Recording: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at Ratio, April 8, 2015.

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - [second piece]

This night at Ratio was centred around Sir Richard Bishop's set on his nineteenth-century parlour guitar, but instead of taking the easy road to match that with someone in a similar musical vein, Invocation TO's Jay Pollard instead made a smart lateral move to bring in this duo who instead related in the intensity and craftiness of their improvising spirit. For those keeping track at home, Fisher is playing tenor on this track.

[This duo will be playing again on Friday night in the cozy Musideum space.]

Recording: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro

Song: [second piece]

Recorded at Smiling Buddha ("Blü Print: An Arachnidiscs Showcase"), November 4, 2014.

Colin Fisher & Mike Gennaro - [second piece]

Drummer Mike Gennaro can bring a light touch when required, but he's known as a guy that can drive a combo with his propulsive style. When he first started playing sets with saxophonist Colin Fisher, that led to some face-melting shred-offs. That was still hinted at in this set, but what's been far more surprising as this duo has gelled is how Fisher has used Gennaro's rhythmic sensibility to push him into deeper melodic territory, crafting a new and more interestingly subtle chemistry. The development of this sound can be tracked on the new Arachnidiscs tape the pair were releasing at this gig.

Recording: Sacred Lamp

Artist: Sacred Lamp

Song: The Ark

Recorded at Grasshopper Records, August 24, 2014.

Sacred Lamp - The Ark

Full review to follow. Ayal Senior's partnership with Matt "Doc" Dunn in Sacred Lamp is pretty malleable, so it was no surprise to see them playing a casual Sunday afternoon in-store show in a cosmic quartet formation, joined by bassist Mike Smith and drummer Mike Gennaro. Their trio of languid jams shared a certain unforced (but never too abstract) feel that could have gone on drifting in a warm timeless void.

[Reminder: there'll certainly be some of that cosmic groove haze in the air when Dunn takes the stage with a different unit at the Music Gallery tomorrow night (Friday, September 26, 2014). Not to be missed!]

Recording: Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro

Artist: Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro

Song: [excerpt from first piece]

Recorded at The Imperial Pub, July 10, 2014.

Ken Aldcroft + Mike Gennaro - [excerpt from first piece]

Full review to follow. Drummer Mike Gennaro has been running a series of low-key gigs in the Imperial's back room for several months now, spurring a series of duo and trio partners into an improvising frenzy with his entertainingly committed percussion style. His foil on this night was Ken Aldcroft, as always one of the craftiest guitar players in town, building up from some nimbly-picked licks up to more abstract string-stretching noises.

Recording: Mike Gennaro + Colin Fisher

Artist: Mike Gennaro + Colin Fisher

Song: [last piece]

Recorded at Musideum, March 12, 2014.

Mike Gennaro + Colin Fisher - [last piece]

Full review to follow. This musical pairing seems to be powerful enough to evoke extreme weather whenever they join forces, whether an ice storm the last time I saw 'em or an unseasonal visit from a polar vortex this time out. Fisher brought his alto for this set, and seemed to have a lot of notes to get out. Gennarro obliged with some rapid-fire drumming, making the bulk of the set a frenetic experience, little melodies exploding like pop rocks. This short coda to the set — still rather peppy — was as restrained as they got this time out.

Recording: Simeon Abbott & Mike Gennaro

Artist: Simeon Abbott & Mike Gennaro

Song: [excerpt from an improvization]

Recorded at The Tranzac - Main Hall ("The Second Annual Somewhere There Creative Music Festival" - Show 4), February 23, 2014.

Simeon Abbott & Mike Gennaro - [excerpt]

Full review to follow. Mike Gennaro brings a strong physicality to his work behind the kit, eyes squeezed tightly shut as if he were causing the clatter around him by telekinesis. For this set, he was matched blow-for-blow by Simeon Abbott's piano work. This was aggressive stuff, sometimes sounding more like a tug-of-war than a dance, and an interesting counter to some of the festival's more genteel improvisations.