A night of amazing duos! Danny Kamins is an improvising saxophonist based out of Houston, TX. His current musical endeavors include playing in the Houston based groups Relative Dissonance, CARL, El Mantis, and Etched in the Eye as well as directing the jazz program at Rice University. He has also been booking shows in Houston that specialize in experimental/avant-garde music since 2016. Musicians he has presented include Peter Brotzmann, Jaime Branch, Claire Rousay, Michael Foster, Chris Pitsiokos, Brandon Lopez, Lisa Cameron, Illicit Relationship, and Gaute Granli. In addition, he maintains a studio of private saxophone students from the Houston and Cypress, TX areas. He holds his B.M. in Jazz Saxophone Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, and is a graduate of Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.Musicians he has performed/recorded with include Tatsuya Nakatani, Alvin Fielder, Ra Kalam Bob Moses, Aaron Gonzalez, Stefan Gonzalez, Susan Alcorn, Thomas Helton, Lisa Cameron, Adam Goodwin, Vinny Golia, Antonio Borghini, David Leon, Jeb Bishop, Sandy Ewen, Damon Smith, Luke Stewart, Kamila Drabek, Marc Edwards, Natan Kryszk, Paulina Owczarek, Wiktoria Zakubowska and NewMusic groups Le Train Bleu, Loop 38, and Transitory Sound and Movement Collective. “Kamins’ ‘cyclical’ style is filled with guttural multiphonics, piercing altissimo, and lightning fast runs that span the entire register of the saxophone.” -Juan Olivo, Byline Houston “Danny Kamins is awesome!” -Ruth Underwood https://dannykamins.com
A fearless and charismatic presence, Simone Baron is a concert pianist, accordionist and composer of infectious energy. She engages with a broad range of musical languages, traditions, and art forms, and has performed throughout Europe, Israel and North America (Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center). While finishing her formal studies in piano and conducting at the Buchmann-Mehta School (Tel Aviv University) and Oberlin Conservatory, she fell in love with the accordion. Its vibrant sounds and pulsing bellows breathed new life into her musical world which opened the door to multidisciplinary collaborations with dancers, puppeteers, visual artists. In 2016, she founded the ensemble Arco Belo, leading them in performances of compositions and arrangements that reveal a gargantuan musical appetite which pulls language from the jazz, world and contemporary chamber music idioms orchestrated for strings, percussion, bass and piano/accordion. Recently an artist in residence at the Banff Centre, Strathmore and the Washington Jewish Music Festival, Simone's work focuses on experimenting, reimagining and forging a sound at the junction of the familiar and the avant-garde. https://simonebaron.bandcamp.com/releases
Saxophonist and composer Brian Settles has established himself as a rising force with a long-term artistic vision. Settles blends the outwardly engaging with the deeply personal, reconciling his intimate command of the jazz lineage with a commitment to his own experimental voice. He performs regularly with some of modern jazz's leading groups, including Tomas Fujiwara and The Hook Up, Michael Formanek's Cheating Heart and Big Band Kolossus, and bands led by Jonathan Finlayson. Settles has also accompanied the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, Jason Moran and Marc Cary. To anyone who’s heard it, Settles’ warbling, viscous tone is immediately recognizable, and his solos are never too quick with their emotional payoff. Inky and warm, his playing can seem to hover weightlessly while simultaneously boring down. Critic Michael J. West calls Settles “absolutely heart-stopping on the bandstand … known for his versatility, expressiveness, and dizzying imagination” (Washington City Paper). https://www.briansettles.com
Keith Butler Jr is a drummer and composer based in Washington, DC. He stays busy as a sideman and is also a member/contributer of several bands including FIASCO, Keith Butler Trio, and Cal Rifkin. https://keithbutlermusic.bandcamp.com
