Recording: Stover/Labbé-Phelan/Furlong/Ng

Artist: Max Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng

Song: [1st set, last section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), February 17, 2026.

Max Stover/Mateos Labbé-Phelan/Andrew Furlong/Karen Ng - [1st set, last section]

Excellent two-sax action here from Karen Ng and Max Stover, moving from a frenzied gallop to some quiet exchanges with Mateos Labbé-Phelan (drums) and Andrew Furlong (double bass) pushing/pulling along the way.

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

[Karen Ng will be hosting more music at Wenona on Tuesday (March 17th) where she'll be joined by visitor Bill Harris plus locals Colin Fisher and Raf Wilcot — plus an opening duo from fossa/Bibibi.]

Recording: Ballyk/Davis/Elrod/Hunt/Ng

Artist: Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng

Song: [1st set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), December 23, 2025.

Mark Ballyk/Brandon Davis/Kayla Elrod/Will Hunt/Karen Ng - [1st set excerpt]

Some very cool improvisations with some Berlin-based guests, including Toronto expat percussionist Mark Ballyk. Brandon Davis (double bass), Will Hunt (keybs), and Karen Ng (sax) represented the local side, while it was Kayla Elrod who surprised the most. Her bespoke rig featured Freddy Krueger-esque "fingernails" each with a contact mic (and each with its own channel on the mixer from her spaghetti bundle of cables) that could be run over any surface, creating mostly-crinkly texture sounds. Carpet, walls, windows and Ballyk's drumkit were in in play for tapping and scratching. That didn't lead to indiscriminate noise, however, as there were some some excellent mellow passages over these two sets.

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

Recording: McConnell/Ng/Russouw

Artist: Aidan McConnell/Karen Ng/Adrian Russouw

Song: [2nd set, 1st section]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), October 14, 2025.

Aidan McConnell/Karen Ng/Adrian Russouw - [2nd set, 1st section]

Called together to share some music as well as some post-Thanksgiving pie, this trio saw Karen Ng (alto sax) joined by Aidan McConnell (percussion) and Adrian Russouw (double bass). Launching into a warbling groove, the trio went on some tasty-as-pie excursions over a couple sets.

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

Recording: Trapezoid

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:

Recording: Mustafa Rafiq & Friends

Artist: Mustafa Rafiq & Friends

Song: [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), August 19, 2025.

Mustafa Rafiq & Friends - [excerpt, part 1]

Mustafa Rafiq & Friends - [excerpt, part 2]

Visiting from Edmonton, Mustafa Rafiq set the stage for this group encounter with some tasty Tuareg-inspired guitar work, that infinite moving-but-staying-put melodic sensibility creating space for the local musicians to swirl around. (Those Toronto connections were: Sara Constant, flutes; Marilyn Yogarajah, trumpet and kalimba; Karen Ng, saxophone and percussion; and Lenny, voice and percussion.)

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny

Artist: Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny

Song: He is Quiet and So Am I [poem by Mahmoud Darwish]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), August 19, 2025.

Mustafa Rafiq, Marilyn Yogarajah & Lenny - He is Quiet and So Am I

This show collected together some of Edmonton experimentalist Mustafa Rafiq's Toronto connections; the whole group would play a set together, but the evening started with solo, duo, and trio mini-sets. For this trio encounter, Rafiq used Mahmoud Darwish's poem to provide a framework to improvise around.

You can check out some more from the first half's mini-sets over on youtube:

Recording: Sara Constant & Karen Ng

Artist: Sara Constant & Karen Ng

Song: [improvisation]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), August 19, 2025.

Sara Constant & Karen Ng - [improvisation]

This show collected together some of Edmonton experimentalist Mustafa Rafiq's Toronto connections; the whole group would play a set together, but the evening started with solo, duo, and trio mini-sets. This pairing saw Sara Constant (flutes) and host Karen Ng (saxophone) join together for a short excursion that closed with a burst of joyful laughter.

You can check out some more from the first half's mini-sets over on youtube:

Recording: Ng/Ting/Liu

Artist: Karen Ng/Leslie Ting/Germaine Liu

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), May 20, 2025.

Karen Ng/Leslie Ting/Germaine Liu - [1st piece, excerpt]

Bringing together some longtime friends who were playing together as a trio for the first time, this grouping found the beauty in some satisfying sputters, skrunks and scrapes and managed to move in sync to satisfying conclusions on both the pieces they essayed.

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

[Karen Ng will be hosting a trio alongside Aidan McConnell & Adrian Russouw at Wenona on Tuesday (June 17th), with an opening solo set from Arie Verheul van de Ven.]

Recording: Brodie West

Artist: Brodie West

Song: [last section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng), May 20, 2025.

Brodie West - [last section]

A rare solo outing from Brodie West, and in a set that started with a chat-with-the-crowd/Q&A sort of segment, the actual sax playing had a similar chatty quality — gabbing excitedly, testing statements, looping back to fill in ideas, and so on.

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

Recording: Many People

Artist: Many People

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng: A fundraiser show for Earlobe), February 18, 2025.

Many People - [excerpt]

This musical concept from Karen Ng continues to evolve from its origins as a massive horn section — though that's still at the heart of it, percussion and other noises are now increasingly incorporated, making the performances more akin to swelling jams than lingering zones. This particular instance of the group was convened to celebrate the launch of Earlobe, the new website/mailing list "listing experimental music and sound art events happening in Toronto", three of whose organizers were performing. The full ensemble was:

• Karen Ng - alto sax
• Maxwell Stover - tenor sax
• Marilyn Yogarajah - trumpet
• Heather Saumer - trombone
• Fahmid Nibesh - guitar
• Heraclitus Akimbo - electronics
• Kieran Maraj - bass
• %%30%30 - percussion
• Germaine Liu - percussion
• Mark Zurawinsky - percussion

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

Recording: Holger Schrool & Mark Zurawinski

Artist: Holger Schoorl & Mark Zurawinski

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Music Hosted by Karen Ng: A fundraiser show for Earlobe), February 18, 2025.

Holger Schoorl & Mark Zurawinski - unknown

This pairing opened up this night at Karen Ng's Wenona residency with surprising intensity — Holger Schoorl may not play as insistently quietly as he once did, but I don't think I've previously ever seen him rock the heck out.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: The Adjacence

Artist: The Adjacence

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), July 11, 2024.

The Adjacence - [1st piece, excerpt]

Another realignment of familiar faces, this unit saw Karen Ng (alto sax) and Lina Allemano (trumpet) backed by Nick Fraser (drumkit) and Ryan Driver (street-sweeper bristle bass). Heard with The Titillators and sundry other projects, Driver's bristle bass really stood out here for its musicality, while the horns explored further afield in realms of skronk-honk and sputter-whisper.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Windscour

Artist: Windscour

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), July 11, 2024.

Windscour - [excerpt]

Some deep digging onto their respective tools here from Joe Moffett (trumpet) and Zach Rowden (tapes), especially the latter, who needed no effects beyond his tape decks to build up some imposing sonic murk from Moffett's playing. The latter showed off a few striking tools and extended techniques, including a long narrow strip of metal sheeting that was used as a mute/resonator.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Shadow Pattern

Artist: Shadow Pattern

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), July 11, 2024.

Shadow Pattern - [excerpt]

Hailing from the Hamilton Tapes scene, Nathan Ivanco was an effective complement to the night's visiting headliners, wielding a 4-track, walkmen, zoom recorders, small modular rig and a hurricane lamp. Oh, and also a box of tiles found at the side of the road – all useful tools in creating some mysterious and murky soundfields.

Recording: Ng/Crosby/Melanson/Meeks

Artist: Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Phil Melanson with special guest D. Alex Meeks

Song: Untitled [composer: Karen Ng]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), June 25, 2024.

Karen Ng/Ted Crosby/Phil Melanson with special guest D. Alex Meeks - Untitled

This trio set saw Karen Ng and Ted Crosby (both on sax and clarinet) and percussionist Phil Melanson tackling some compositions (from Ng and Crosby, as well as some Paul Motian) and also transformed into a mini-version of Ng's "double teams" concept with pairs of paired instruments when D. Alex Meeks was called up for the last couple pieces.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

Recording: Swanherds

Artist: Swanherds

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng presents), June 25, 2024.

Swanherds - unknown

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!

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: Double Teams

Artist: Double Teams

Song: [set 2 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 23, 2023.

Double Teams - [set 2 excerpt]

Rather than working bands, the recurring associations that Karen Ng presents are slightly more nebulous concepts, usually based around core personnel and musical ideas. Double Teams, for example, sees Ng wiggling and giggling on analog synth alongside Ryan Driver, and generally flanked by a pair of (mostly quiet) percussionists — here Phil Melanson and Aidan McConnell. In this stretch, the synth noodles were complemented by double flute doodles, alongside recorder whispers from the percussionists.

[Many People, another one of those concepts-but-not-quite-bands, will be playing at The Tranzac on Friday (December 15th) with Ng joined by Marilyn Yogarajah, Jaz Tsui, Kieran Miraj, Adrian Russouw, fuZzy, Liz Lima, Nic Dourado, and Nirvana Sagar.]

Recording: Ng/Melanson/Moffett/Ewen

Artist: Karen Ng/Philippe Melanson/Joe Moffett/Sandy Ewen

Song: [1st piece, two excerpts]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng's Monthly), July 27, 2023.

Karen Ng/Philippe Melanson/Joe Moffett/Sandy Ewen - [1st piece, excerpt 1]

Karen Ng/Philippe Melanson/Joe Moffett/Sandy Ewen - [1st piece, excerpt 2]

After solo sets from visiting musicians Joe Moffett (trumpet) and Sandy Ewen (guitar), the pair were joined by Karen Ng (alto sax) and Phil Melanson (percussion) for a group encounter, with the visitors' extended techniques helping to find several new moods and zones to lounge around in.

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

Recording: Sandy Ewen

Artist: Sandy Ewen

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Karen Ng's Monthly), July 27, 2023.

Sandy Ewen - [excerpt]

It's always a treat to see guitarist/extended technique virtuoso Sandy Ewen in action. With a pan pedal spreading rattles, chimes, buzzes and clonks across the stereo field there are whole universes being explored here.