Recording: Toronto Improvisers Orchestra

Artist: Toronto Improvisers Orchestra

Songs: [two pieces]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), January 11, 2026.

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - [1st set, short piece]

Toronto Improvisers Orchestra - [2nd set, last piece]

I entered into the room with this set already in progress — which involved, in this case, Rod Campbell engaged in a discussion with his fellow musicians on possible ways to musically interpret a photograph of a snow-covered tree. Later, there would be some conduction (from Campbell as well as Susanne Farkas) which also involved discussion of how the group used their repertoire of hand signals. Otherwise, as with the second selection here, there were some freely-improvised sounds.

[The TIO is back in action tomorrow (Sunday, February 8th) starting at noon in the Southern Cross.]

Recording: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra

Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra

Song: [2nd set excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), July 13, 2025.

Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set excerpt]

An air-conditioning failure sent the day's sets in the Southern Cross over into the Tranzac's Main Hall, giving some extra legroom for the TIO's monthly gathering. The crew were out eight-deep on this occasion, with a pair of saxophones adding embellishments to the proceedings, as Rod Campbell directed the proceedings. (He added some spoken word elements as well, which you can hear a little bit in the backgound here, though the microphones were more interested in the guitar and bass vi.)

[The TIO will be back in their usual Tranzac timeslot (and presumably back in the Southern Cross!) at noon on Sunday, August 10th.]

Recording: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra

Artist: Toronto Improvisors Orchestra

Song: [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), November 10, 2024.

Toronto Improvisors Orchestra - [2nd set, 2nd piece excerpt]

Although the TIO will play freely when the numbers are low (or when the mood otherwise strikes), when there's a larger group the use of conduction leads the sounds to interesting places. Here, Eugene Martynec was having some computer trouble and took a break from troubleshooting to wrangle the ensemble, pulling things together to move from long tones to pointillistic daubs.

Recording: Bailey/Farkas/Yogarajah

Artist: James Bailey/Susanne Farkas/Marilyn Yogarajah

Song: [first piece]

Recorded at Array Space (Audiopollination), April 7, 2023.

James Bailey/Susanne Farkas/Marilyn Yogarajah - [first piece]

As is sometimes the case at Audiopollination, there can be last-minute lineup changes and substitutions, so it was no surprise to surpise on the faces of James Bailey (amplified crutch) and Susanne Farkas (bells, kalimba, snare, flute, voice) as Marilyn Yogarajah sat down at the piano at the set's beginning. Turns out her subtle playing provided the glue that really held things together and buoyed this set up.

As usual, Audiopollination did an excellent job at documenting the show, so you can watch some high-quality footage of this whole set over on youtube:

[Audiopollination is back at Array Space on Friday (May 12th) with sets from Diane Roblin/Andrew Kay/FuZzy, Adam Golding/Kyle Skillman/Saba Saneinejad, Patrick O’Reilly/Paul Newman/Jaz Tsui, and Tegan Dietsch & Annie Elgie.]