Recording: bUDi

Artist: bUDi

Song: [piano excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Ayal Senior Presents), August 14, 2022.

bUDi - [piano excerpt]

Guest-hosting Ayal Senior's casual Sunday series at The Tranzac, I was thrilled to be able to present Nick Dourado (who I had recorded a few months back for a virtual Track Could Bend set), who sat down at the piano and let a river of songs, rags and blues flow forth with intense joy and freedom. That'd be followed by some considerations on soprano sax.

You can check out the sax segment of this set over on youtube:

[Ayal returns to host his monthly on Sunday, September 11th, promising a packed afternoon featuring Ayal Senior & Kurt Newman, The Sympathetic String Band, Nick Flanagan, and Floatation Device.]

Recording: ADO + BUDi + Special Costello

Artist: ADO + BUDi + Special Costello

Songs: Structured Improvisation + [excerpt from second piece]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge, February 18, 2020.

ADO + BUDi + Special Costello - Structured Improvisation

ADO + BUDi + Special Costello - [excerpt from second piece]

Covering Karen Ng's regular night in her absence, Jeremy Costello + co. put together this evening of improvised sounds, playing first separately and then as a trio. Together, they explored a lot of terrain, starting with the first piece here which was based around a backing track prepared by drummer Nathan Doucet and previously unheard by the others. Sounding like some debased M-Base (or maybe Prime Time going for a ride on Sun Ra's spaceship) this turned into some fiery outsider funk, with Nick Dourado spraying soprano sax notes around. He'd move up to his bigger horn for the second selection here, leaning into some Coltrane riffs.

Recording: BUDi

Artist: BUDi

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge, February 18, 2020.

BUDi - [excerpt]

Covering Karen Ng's regular night in her absence, Jeremy Costello + co. put together this evening of improvised sounds, playing first separately and then as a trio. Nick Dourado would later play sax during the trio segment of the night but started things off on piano, unfurling some more of the infinite music that seems to flow effortlessly from his mind and fingertips.

Recording: Nick Dourado

Artist: Nick Dourado

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (Team Building), January 5, 2020.

Nick Dourado - unknown

What is music. Heck: what is life? Nick Dourado has questions without answers, but he also had access to a grand piano where he could wrestle with them. Recently shifting his base of operations to T.O., locals might recognize Dourado from his work with Special Costello (or also playing alongside Beverly Glenn-Copeland or Fiver) but there are hopefully going to be more chances to see him working out his own sounds in the near future.

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

Recording: Fiver

Artist: Fiver

Songs: Sick Gladiola + It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You) [Johnny Paycheck cover]

Recorded at Workman Arts, April 20, 2019.

Fiver - Sick Gladiola

Fiver - It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You)

Previewing the next phase of her Fiver project, Simone Schmidt unveiled both some new songs (although a few of the "new" tunes have been kickin' around for a little while) and a new set of collaborators, basically bringing in Special Costello's Jeremy Costello, Nick Dourado, and Bianca Palmer. This is a backing band where any of the members have the skills and charisma to grab the spotlight (and Costello, indeed, got a vocal spotlight of his own with the Johnny Paycheck song heard here) and slip seamlessly from smooth countrypolitan to wall-of-sound ballads to funky rolls. Although geographically separated, expect more to come from this new alignment.

[Meanwhile, Schmidt will be revisiting her Audible Songs from Rockwood material in a theatre-friendly format at the upcoming SummerWorks Festival. There will be five shows between August 10th and 18th, with tickets going on sale next week.]

Recording: Special Costello, Budi & Bonka

Artist: Special Costello, Budi & Bonka

Songs: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), April 16, 2018.

Special Costello with Budi & Bonka - unknown

Bonka with Special Costello & Budi - unknown

Budi with Special Costello & Bonka - unknown

Hot on the heels of manifesting as the backbone of Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Indigo Rising, three of the group's east-cost core reconvened at the Tranzac for this late afternoon gathering. A sort of round-robin approach to collaborative soundscape pop, Jeremy Costello, Nick Dourado (a.k.a. Budi), and Bianca Palmer (a.k.a. Bonka) each took turns backing the others as they sketched out their complementary musical ideas, the mellow hang-out-in-the-den kinda vibe suiting the material most excellently.

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

Recording: Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Indigo Rising

Artist: Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Indigo Rising

Songs: Ever New + Sunset Village

Recorded at the Jam Factory, April 15, 2018.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Indigo Rising - Ever New

Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Indigo Rising - Sunset Village

On the heels of some recent re-issues, there has been a re-appraisal of sorts for Beverly Glenn-Copeland, who is perhaps as well remembered by a couple generations of Canadians as an occasional performer on Mr. Dressup as a Yorkville folkie-turned-synth-explorer. For his part, in an emotion-filled performance, Copeland confessed that while originally making his music he could sense that his true audience (and musical peers) were not yet born.

Fortunately, this crew, dominated by east coast soft-rockers Jeremy Costello, Nick Dourado, Bianca Palmer and Kurt Inder (plus local Thom Gill) has the tenderness and tenacity to bring Copeland's intricately-layered sounds to life and a love for the same sort of goopy showtune softness and electronic new-age textures that were resolutely unfashionable for so long, returning Glenn-Copeland to the cannon as an icon and influence. Filled with heatfelt spoken passages that stirred the audience as much as the songs, this felt like a special (and cathartic) night for audience and performer alike, and served as a reminder that new chapters, new partners and new songs could be just around the corner for any of us.