Wednesday January 17 * 7pm * MASKS REQUIRED * TICKETS

Jack Wright is a saxophonist in the Philadelphia area, one of the originals of American free improvisation. Now 81, he has lived some diverse lives, as activist and academic, until settling into music full-time in 1979--free playing is all he's done since then. He tours Europe (April 2023) and the US, where he acquired the moniker the "Johnny Appleseed of Free Improvisation" in the 80s. He started out in the free jazz direction, but by the late 90's found that boring and conventional; shifting gears a few times he is now playing sounds that few have heard before--distorted pitches, precise timing, intrusive multiphonics, sudden changes of direction, obscene animalistic sounds, and occasional "real" notes. He partners mostly with Zach Darrup, Ben Bennett, Evan Lipson, and Ron Stabinsky. He published a book in 2017, The Free Musics, sold to most of the free players in the US and many in Europe. He also released a book of mostly political critique, drawing on his background, Shaky Ground. For info on books, sounds, and more bio go to Spring Garden Music.

Of all the wide-ranging music groups in which Ron Stabinsky has participated, probably best known are the notorious band Mostly Other People Do The Killing (now a trio with Moppa Elliott and Kevin Shea) and the reunited rock band Meat Puppets, which he joined in 2018. In 2016 Ron released his first solo album, "Free for One," which received four stars in DownBeat Magazine and tied for number one debut of the year in the 2016 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll. His appetite for playing diverse forms of music has led him to perform extensively as a classical pianist, a straight-ahead jazz musician, occasionally a rock musician, and as an accomplished free improviser. He is a "born musician," having received his first musical lessons at the age of five from his grandfather, played concerts as a prodigy, and became a professional musician at an early age. His mentors in the art of free improvisation have included Bill Dixon, Joel Futterman, and Jack Wright. In the past few years "keyboard" includes the Nord Lead 4 Synthesizer, and free improvisation extends his range to trumpet, various objects inside the piano, including dental floss and a load of objects that seem to serve no purpose..video of Ron solo with Mostly Other People and with Meat Puppets.

John Hoegberg & Mickey Lusk - To perform a duet for keys and harp in the Romantic Chord from La Monte Young's 'The Well Tuned Piano'.

Ivan Liptak & Sarah Hughes - Ivan Liptak is a guitarist, improviser, and composer. He was born in New York City where he became enamored of punk and no wave music. When he moved to DC in 2007 he began to study jazz and also to perform noise and drone music. Proudly defying categorization, Ivan draws on influences such as Elklink, Eric Dolphy, and Ectoslavia. Sarah Hughes is a performing and visual artist currently living in Washington, DC. She has 26 years of experience playing the alto saxophone and also doubles on the soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet. She received training in classical saxophone performance from Dale Underwood at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education in 2008. In 2015, Hughes earned a master’s degree in jazz saxophone performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where she studied with Jerry Bergonzi, Ran Blake, Anthony Coleman, and Donny McCaslin. Hughes’ music is intuitive and genre-liberated while displaying an unquestionable command of her instrument and musical vocabulary. Her improvisations and compositions are infused with knowledge of both traditional and contemporary approaches and combine a love for “The Greats” with a drive to innovate.