Recording: Poached Roses

Artist: Poached Roses

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #107), August 5, 2025.

Poached Roses - [excerpt]

Naomi McCarroll-Butler convened this ensemble (alongside Mira Martin-Gray, Niamh Girling, and Fahmid Nibesh) for the express purpose of "dredging up their longest strings, their screamiest reeds and their gutteralest kazoo sounds from the depths of their transeggjwal gutz to deliver the heaviest blown-out transcendental drone set your ear holes have ever seen." And it was a total success. Rumours of recording sessions have been circulating; keep an ear out for possible further dispatches.

You can check out the full set over on youtube:

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona on Tuesday (September 2nd) with sets from Brian Abbott and Allison Cameron.]

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble with Âriâ Mohâfez

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble with Âriâ Mohâfez

Song: Tasnif-e Parastu [composer: Habibollah Badiei]

Recorded at the Aga Khan Museum, May 3, 2025.

Labyrinth Ensemble with Âriâ Mohâfez - Tasnif-e Parastu

Another excellent night at the Aga Khan with the Labyrinth Ensemble, this time hosting Iranian santur player Âriâ Mohâfez. Although the concert followed the template that Labyrinth has been developing for the past couple years (an intensive rehearsal and teaching process leading up to the show, followed by a concert with suites of pieces punctuated by solo spots for the ensemble members) this had a different vibe than the previous shows — certainly a different sonic feel in how the strings related to the rest of the ensemble, but more strikingly, there was a shape to the presentation that saw the show's end eschew the "big finale" to instead close on a morally-resolute and solemn note with Mohâfez's pieces "Shokufan/Abloom" and "Nika", dedicated, respectively, to Iran's womens' movement and Nika Shakarami.

Recording: Dan Pitt Quintet

Artist: Dan Pitt Quintet

Song: 27 Hours

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Nick Fraser Presents), November 25, 2024.

Dan Pitt Quintet - 27 Hours

Back from tour and in fine form after fighting the elements across Western Canada, guitarist Dan Pitt and company (Alex Fournier on bass, Nick Fraser on drums plus Patrick Smith and Naomi McCarroll-Butler on woodwinds) tore it out in this homecoming romp. Celebrating the rease of Horizontal Depths, the group's second album, the ensemble moved through most of the album's pieces, exploring moody zones and blistering rockers like this set-opener.

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

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble with Maliheh Moradi

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble with Maliheh Moradi

Song: Dar deyr-e moghan [composer: Arshad Tahmasebi]

Recorded at the Aga Khan Museum, November 2, 2024.

Labyrinth Ensemble with Maliheh Moradi - Dar deyr-e moghan

The latest in the Labyrinth Ensemble's series of group intensives/public concerts saw them working with Iranian vocalist Maliheh Moradi and exploring a mix of classic makam pieces and new sounds that emerged during the workshop process. And as usual, in between the graniose sweep of the full ensemble, some of the most striking moments came when that pulled back to duos and solos, showing off the diverse array of sounds that the ensemble contains.

[Labyrinth's Makam Nights series will not have a November edition, but will return on December 19th to the Tranzac's Living Room — and before that, some members of the ensemble (Roa Lee, Marta Solek and Sasan Salaseli) will be performing at Drom Taberna on Sunday, December 1st.]

Recording: Paul Newman

Artist: Paul Newman feat. Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Song: Copernicus [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Living Room), December 21, 2023.

Paul Newman feat. Naomi McCarroll-Butler - Copernicus [excerpt]

Paul Newman marked the shortest day with the debut of "Copernicus", a "very large new piece" composed to be played on the winter solstice and lasting from sunrise 'til sunset. A table filled with computer equipment was used for a hitherto-unrevealed electroacoustic side to Newman's work, adding minimal synthscapes and a reoccurring narration, reading Copernicus' observations ushering in the heliocentric consensus. Throughout the length of the day, Newman was joined by several musicians (including Brian Abbott, Sara Constant, and Jamie Thompson) in extended duets; during the afternoon time I spent with the piece, Naomi McCarroll-Butler joined for this beautiful interlude, with the pair sliding in and out of sync on a minimal melodic line.

Recording: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Artist: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Song: [first section]

Recorded at Yonge-Dundas Square (Intersection – Day 2), September 2, 2023.

Naomi McCarroll-Butler - [first section]

That particular Labour Day tradition returned once more this year — the Intersection Festival filling up the concrete plains of Yonge-Dundas Square with creative and adventurous music. As with last year's return from the pandemic pause, this was more stripped-back than in the "old days", with all of the music constrained to the big stage, which itself was a bit more cut off from the square by metal barricades. The square as a whole felt a little less, ah, pulsating than in the past — while there's still all sorts of random passers-by and carryings-on, the space felt a little more restrained overall. But on a mostly-beautiful day for standing around outside (with just one minor cloudburst to take the edge off the heat) the programming was mostly on-point, distracting a few people, chasing some away, and calling in a few in to take in the sounds.

Fully half of this year's performances were solo sets — but in one sense, you can never play a solo set at Yonge-Dundas Square, as there's just too much environment filling in the edges. Beyond the sirens and shouts, the most sympathetic supplemental sound in Naomi McCarroll-Butler's set for bass clarinet and electronics was a lone bird, chirping away in one of the scraggly trees at the Square's perimeter.

Recording: Farahbakhsh/Ganesh/McCarroll-Butler/Ng

Artist: Isaiah Farahbakhsh/Ananya Ganesh/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Karen Ng

Song: [1st piece, excerpt]

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

Isaiah Farahbakhsh/Ananya Ganesh/Naomi-McCarroll Butler/Karen Ng - [1st piece, excerpt]

After some duo explorations, cellist Isaiah Farahbakhsh and pianist Ananya Ganesh added a wind section, with Naomi McCarroll-Butler (fipple flute, bass clarinet, alto sax) and Karen Ng (clarinet, alto sax) adding extra textures.

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

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble

Songs: Makam Ussak [excerpt]^* + Makam Toronto

Recorded at Aga Khan Museum, April 15, 2023.

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Ussak [excerpt]

Labyrinth Ensemble - Makam Toronto

It's always a delight to be able to catch the Labyrinth Ensemble in full flight. Once more, this concert was based on the principle of bringing in a world-class expert (in this case, Greek mandolinist Evgenios Voulgaris) to spend some intensive rehearsal time with the group before presenting what they've learned to the public. Voulgaris brought a selection of 17th-century works collected by Romanian prince Dimitrie Cantemir, showcasing the cultural connections being forged in the court of the Ottoman Empire. The show was presented as a pair of suites, each united by a particular makam, or mode, with the ensemble seguing from one piece to the next by honing in on individual members, giving everyone space in the foreground before showing how their sound is woven into the larger perspective. The first piece here highlights MFS fave Naomi McCarroll-Butler's saxophone work while the latter is a brand new piece (in the combiniation-of-things "Toronto mode") that Voulgaris wrote for the group while in the city.

The full ensemble for this show was: Evgenios Voulgaris – oud and yaylı tambur; Sadaf Amini – santur; Yang Chen – riqq, bendir; Burak Ekmekci – baglama; Michael K. Harrist – yayli tanbur; Pedram Khavarzamini – tombak; Roa Lee – gayageum; Naomi McCarroll-Butler – saxophone, clarinet, and bass clarinet; John McKinnon – electric bass; Scott Peterson – upright bass; Araz Salek – tar; Marta Solek – cello and greek lyra; Tev Stevig – tanbur and oud; Aysel Taghi-Zada – violin; Amely Zhou – erhu.

[Labyrinth Ontario will be hosting an instrument library at City Hall as part of Doors Open Toronto next weekend (May 27th + 28th). Visitors are welcome to come by all weekend and explore the space and hear demonstrations!]

^* As mentioned above, this is a segment of the set-long suite of ussak music. Please leave a comment in you know the name(s) of the partricular piece(s)!

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)

Recording: Jelly Ear

Artist: Jelly Ear

Song: O Strength of Wisdom [composer: Hildegard von Bingen]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #71), September 6, 2022.

Jelly Ear - O Strength of Wisdom

Taking up the rebec as a pandemic downtime project, cellist Cory Harper-Latkovich has pressed it into action in this new medieval ensemble. Performing works by Machaut and others and performed with on-the-fly arrangements for a flexible lineup, this isn't overly beholden to "period" purity — and as the lilting minimal drones of this piece indicate, some of it sounds downright contemporary.

You can see some more of this set over in the TCB playlist on youtube:

[Track Could Bend will be back at Wenona next week (Tuesday, October 4th) with a special appearance from Denmark's Jonas Olesen as well as awesome locals Kayla Milmine & Mike Gennaro and Stranger Still.]

Recording: West/McCarroll-Butler/O'Reilly

Artist: Brodie West/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Patrick O'Reilly

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Humber Loop (A More Beautiful Journey Launch Event), September 1, 2022.

Brodie West/Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Patrick O'Reilly - unknown

Returning after a couple pandemic hiatus years, the Intersection Festival also interfaced once more with the TTC — this time helping to celebrate the launch of the "A More Beautiful Journey" mobile app. With simultaneous concerts at both ends of the Queen streetcar line (and beyond), there was more than one person could take in, so I settled in and managed to see most of the performances at the Humber Loop. Streetcar-free on this day (to the consternation of west-end commuters, I'm sure), bus grumbles and coughs can be heard in the background here, as well as the occasionally-bemused passers-by.

Brodie West brought some new compositions for this trio — Naomi McCarroll-Butler also brought a piece, along with an ebowed homemade stringed instrument heard in this recording.

You can check out some visual documentation from all of the sets I managed to catch that day over on youtube:

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

Thanks to Fahmid Nibesh for technical assistance with this recording.

Recording: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Artist: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Songs: Solo Tubulum, in two parts

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Dark Matter Presents), August 23, 2022.

Naomi McCarroll-Butler - Solo Tubulum, Part 1

Naomi McCarroll-Butler - Solo Tubulum, Part 2

This solo set from Naomi McCarroll-Butler saw a variety of intruiging musical approaches, including a long-note meditation for ebowed homemade banjo as well as overtone flutes and mouth harp. But the star attraction was the tubulum, a 15-note just intonation percussion instrument of McCarroll-Butler's creation, offering a variety of resonances mixing together on four layers of metal pipes. Slightly impractical to bring out to a gig, it was a treat to hear it close up in an attentive crowd.

Recording: Colin Fisher Quartet

Artist: Colin Fisher Quartet

Song: #5

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Musica Universalis), August 12, 2022.

Colin Fisher Quartet - #5

Bringing a set of new (and not yet named) compositions, Colin Fisher (on tenor sax and guitar) lead this imposing grouping through two sets of fiery unburdening. Mark Hundevad (percussion) and Andrew Furlong (double bass) drove things along, but the night's real hero was Naomi McCarroll-Butler (alto and clarinet) who was fully inspired throughout.

Recording: evelyn charlotte-joe + Friends

Artist: evelyn charlotte-joe + Friends

Song: Rock Paper Scissors

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #69), July 5, 2022.

evelyn charlotte-joe + Friends - Rock Paper Scissors

With musicians and audience gathering together in Wenona's basement for the first time since March 2020, this was not precisely like old times, mostly because as a safety precauution we kept the room from getting too crowded and not all the peeps that could have been there were sitting in the room. But it's a start, and a reminder that there's something magical about being in a cozy space and hearing people trying out new sounds.

So what do you do when you have a bunch a friends that you know, but who don't know each other? While passing through town, evelyn charlotte-joe (formerly of Hamilton, currently Montréal-based) decided to decompartmentalize by gathering folks from different musical silos into one improvising group. To get folks on the same page, crowdsourced decisions were solicited and games were played to provide structure (this one decided the starting players through a round of RPS, for example) and quickly the players found new connections with each other. The players here were evelyn charlotte-joe on piano and suggestive direction, Cliff Rutherford the 4th on drums, Shanika Maria and Patrice Rose on vocals, and Naomi McCaroll-Butler on woodwinds.

To try and make up for the limited realtime access, I'm going to keep documenting TCB's performances on video, so you can check out the vibe on youtube:

Recording: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Artist: Naomi McCarroll-Butler

Songs: Chrysalis [two sections]^*

Recorded at Toronto Jazz Festival, [corporate brand name] Main Stage – [corporate brand name] Grove, July 2, 2022.

Naomi McCarroll-Butler - Chrysalis [section 4]

Naomi McCarroll-Butler - Chrysalis [section 10]

The local jazz festival doesn't tend to get a tonne of favourable glances from this direction, but they should be praised when they do something cool and ambitious. Named as the inaugural "Jazz Festival Immersive Artist-in-Residence", Naomi McCarroll-Butler was given some resources to put together a programme of new work to present at the festival, which emerged as Chrysalis, "a project born out of my first years of transitioning: songs of hope for holding on, cries of joy and grief for the love of a suffering community, trance tapestries of woven sound accompanying the alignment of the physical body with the luminant body."

This live presentation (played in the pleasant Festival zone in the Victoria College quad) saw McCarroll-Butler backed by a dozen musicians, segueing from spiritual jazz blastoffs to modern compositional latticeworks — and including some sounds on DIY microtonal pipes along the way, as well as plenty individual spotlights for the members of the group. The band sounded lush and lively (despite playing with a fairly minimal soundcheck) and one can hope that this music gets a chance to live on beyond this performance.

The ensemble at this show was:

• Anh Phung: flutes
• Kae Murphy: trumpet, sousaphone
• Nebyu Yohannes: trombone
• Colin Fisher: tenor saxophone, drums
• Naomi McCarroll-Butler: alto saxophone, bass clarinet
• Aysel Taghi-Zada: violin
• Aline Homzy: violin
• Amahl Arulanandam: cello
• Adrian Russouw: double bass
• Roa Lee: gayageum
• Yang Chen: percussion, tubulum
• Racha Moukalled: piano
• Stefan Hegerat: drums, percussion

^* I'm not sure if the individual pieces within the suite have separate titles or noy; please leave a comment if you have info!

Recording: Houle/Sorbara/Gill/McCarrol-Butler

Artist: François Houle/Joe Sorbara/Tania Gill/Naomi McCarrol-Butler

Song: [set 1 excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Most Popular Mic Touching Sounds), June 14, 2022.

François Houle/Joe Sorbara/Tania Gill/Naomi McCarrol-Butler - [set 1 excerpt]

Amongst the things that I didn't really notice I was missing was a night like this, where a visiting musician is given a chance to mix things up with some local faves. Unlike last time I saw him, Vancouverite clarinetist François Houle was playing without his cool effects rig, but there were still plenty of sounds to be wrung from his instrument as he was joined by Naomi McCarroll-Butler on sax, Tania Gill on piano and Joe Sorbara on percussion, stretching out through a spontaneous suite of ideas.

[François Houle will be playing a free and outdoor show with his quartet (including Gord Grdina, Mark Helias, and Gerry Hemingway) at the Jazz Festival, Sunday afternoon, July 3rd.]

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared

Song: Layali el wasl

Recorded at the Aga Kham Museum, November 13, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble with Lamia Yared - Layali el wasl

An auspicious beginning to this new phase from Labyrinth Ontario, debuting their full ensemble for the first time. This concert (and the ones slated to follow) expand on Labyrinth's mandate to foster cultural exchanges and musical education, bringing in an esteemed artist-in-residence — in this case vocalist/oudist Lamia Yared — for a period of extended rehearsals to give the musicians a chance to really dig into the material. The results were excellent across the board as the group stretched out in a series of traditional Turkish and Arabic musical styles, finding space to give each of the members a chance for their own instrument to stand out.

The full ensemble for this show was: Sadaf Amini (santur), Yang Chen (percussion/hand drums), Burak Ekmekci (baglama), Michael K. Harrist (yayli tanbur), Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak), Roa Lee (gayageum), Naomi McCarroll-Butler (saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, sallow flute/konvovka), John McKinnon (bass), Scott Peterson (bass), Araz Salek (tar), Marta Solek (cello, Greek lyra, plock fiddle), Tev Stevig (tanbur, oud), Aysel Taghi-Zada (violin), and Amely Zhou (erhu).

If you have access to facebook you can (at this writing) still watch the excellent-sounding archived webstream.

screenshot from Aga Khan webstream.

Recording: Labyrinth Ensemble

Artist: Labyrinth Ensemble (I) [Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Pedram Khavarzamini/Scott Peterson]

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Music Gallery (X Avant XVI – Night 3), October 16, 2021.

Labyrinth Ensemble (I) - [excerpt]

The Music Gallery's annual X Avant Festival felt like a return and a renewal in all the right ways. Although these weren't the first events presented by new-ish Artistic Director Sanjeet Takhar, they were the first ones in person, with performers and audience sharing space — a long-awaited return from all sides. Each of the nights played off the festival theme "You in Mind", looking for ways to amplify and support the overlapping communities being drawn together. Day Three ("Process") was "dedicated to the global thread of sustained tone as a healing modality" — by way of an eight-hour drone zone, letting the audience lay back on 918 Bathurst's sanctuary floor and watch projections planetarium-style on the high-arched ceiling.

The day was bookended by a pair of trios drawn from the larger Labyrinth Ensemble, joining musicians of different backgrounds together in deepening their understanding of modal traditions. This first grouping saw Naomi McCarroll-Butler (reeds), Pedram Khavarzamini (tombak) and Scott Peterson (double bass) ease the crowd into the dronespace, taking a steady pulse and slowing it down in smaller solo/duo explorations.

Recording: McCarroll-Butler/Shortt/Falls

Artist: Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Olivia Shortt/Lauren Falls

Song: Is this a tomb or am I in love? [excerpt] [composer: Lieke Van Der Voort]

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 6, 2020.

Naomi McCarroll-Butler/Olivia Shortt/Lauren Falls - Is this a tomb or am I in love? [excerpt]

It's generally acknowledged that the key to a successful sequel is in making things bigger and more explosive while staying true whatever it was that made the original feel special and unique. The second annual Women From Space Festival applied that maxim to great effect, cosmically expanding in all directions while nourishing its core ideal of creating Space for a diverse range of women-centred creative expressions. This set was one manifestation of the increased ambition of primary organizers Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, assembling this trio and commissioning a pair of compositions for them to perform. One piece was from ensemble member Naomi McCarroll-Butler, but there was also this new work from Lieke Van Der Voort, which included her electronics adding drones and disembodied voices.

Recording: joe-naomi-reknee

Artist: joe-naomi-reknee

Song: Dancing Through [intro] + excerpts from two unknown pieces^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 8, 2020.

joe-naomi-reknee - Dancing Through [intro]

joe-naomi-reknee - [1st set, 2nd piece, excerpt]

joe-naomi-reknee - [2nd set, 2nd piece, excerpt]

This regular quartet with Joe Sorbara, Reknee Harrett, and Naomi McCarroll-Butler was missing usual fourth member Madeleine Ertel, giving the others a bit more space to play around with different sounds and ideas with a bit less adherence to the book of tunes they're building. McCarroll-Butler brought the most variety here, not only switching between clarinet and sax, but also deploying the drone generator phone app seen before.

[The full quartet will be back in action next Wednesday (February 12th), launching the next phase of their residency by bringing in local guest performer/composers — in this case the great Lina Allemano — to explore thier work and incorporate some of it into their repertoire.]

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