Joe McPhee + Michael Foster's The Ghost @ Tubby's Kingston (NY) 5/5/2024

[clifford_thornton]

Posting this here for interested parties:

In just a few weeks, on Sunday May 5, SWDYT? returns with a powerhouse meeting of minds/limbs/breath: saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee, a hometown hero of sorts since he's been active in nearby Poughkeepsie & worldwide since the tail end of the '60s, will be joining The Ghost, a NYC/Philly trio featuring saxophonist Michael Foster, bassist John Moran, and drummer Joey Sullivan (the latter two are also in Bark Culture with vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco, more on them another time). A few additional words on The Ghost from the ol' Bandcamp:

The Ghost was formed by saxophonist Michael Foster as both a tribute to his disparate influences in free jazz, harsh noise, and the gay underground community, and as a middle finger to the suffocating heteronormative establishment of improvised music. Their new CD "Vanished Pleasures" stands as a new direction for this project, utilizing overt compositional frameworks to convey the anxieties of aging, sexual freedom, and the power relations inherent in the sax-bass-drums format.

And for further context, here is an interview I did with Joe back in 2012: https://www.cliffordallen.me/interviews/an-interview-with-multi-instrumentalist-joe-mcphee

McPhee has played Tubby's on a couple of occasions, once with Ballister (Dave Rempis/Fred Lonberg-Holm/Paal Nilssen-Love), and also joining Detroit post-punk outfit Protomartyr for their sold-out shows. Wild, right? I've had the distinct pleasure of presenting Foster at Tubby's and in NYC: Queer Trash/The New York Review Of Cocksucking; in a trio with Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Matt Weston; and in trio with cellist Leila Bordreuil and drummer Weasel Walter.

The deal: The Ghost + Joe McPhee, Sunday May 5, doors at 7 music at 8. DJ set by a super special guest (musician-artist-composer of note) before and after. $20 at the door and $15 in advance. Advance ticket sales really help us a lot in terms of gauging the vibe so if you know you want to go, buy now! Please pass this email along to any of your contacts you feel may be interested as well.

[T.D.]

Most excellent, thanks for posting this. I thought about last night's program at Tubby's, but too late given a busy Monday at work. Also missed yesterday's Lace Mill event due to conflict with an Indian music series I attend.

Joe McPhee appears in Poughkeepsie quite often, but that's a bit far for me. 

[clifford_thornton]

Understood! Both shows were excellent but sometimes there are other things one has to do!

[Steve Reynolds]

I will be there

Michael Foster is an incredible saxophonist 

[T.D.]

Intending to be there.

And just announced today: Joe McPhee also at the Lace Mill (Kingston) 5/19. Music and spoken word w. McPhee, Fred Lonborg-Holm and Michael Bisio.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, Juma is on that Lace Mill gig too. I am looking forward to it. See some of y'all this weekend I hope!

[cliffpeterson]

Plan to be at both concerts

[T.D.]

21 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Yeah, Juma is on that Lace Mill gig too. I am looking forward to it. See some of y'all this weekend I hope!

The original announcement (Lace Mill Facebook) didn't include Juma, but was revised 9 days later!

[Steve Reynolds]

I’ll be there tonight. Doors at 7:00? Show around 8:00?

[T.D.]

Hope it was good.

Would have run too late for me given work schedule, so I chickened out. Will definitely be at Lace Mill the 19th.

[Steve Reynolds]

It was great. McPhee strong on tenor. Dual tenor stuff was very exciting. Very deep listening by both saxophonists. 

Michael Foster towards the end played one if the best soprano saxophone improvisations I’ve ever seen

young drums & bass of Joey Sullivan & John Moran shined with Moran really coming on towards the end. Joey better every time I see him. 

[cliffpeterson]

Generally echo Steve's comments

[clifford_thornton]

thanks for coming out, folks! Yeah, I thought it was superb as well. I've never seen Foster and McPhee together in one group, though I know they've played together before. Sullivan and Moran are both excellent musicians indeed and seem to have loosened up from when I first caught them live. Pretty sure their trio with vibraphonist Victor Vieiera-Branco, Bark Culture, will be at Tubby's later in the year.

[T.D.]

A nearby Kingston McPhee event coming up. I just found out about it.

Sunday, June 9: Joe McPhee / James Ilgenfritz / Sean Meehan/ Zoots Houston /  Catherine Sikora / David Menestres at the Old Dutch Church (Kingston, NY), 7:30pm. 

 

https://kingstonhappenings.org/events/joe-mcphee-james-ilgenfritz-sean-meehan-zoots-houston-catherine-sikora-david-menestres/

[Chuck Nessa]

Just a bit far for me right now. Dang.

[Steve Reynolds]

7 hours ago, T.D. said:

A nearby Kingston McPhee event coming up. I just found out about it.

Sunday, June 9: Joe McPhee / James Ilgenfritz / Sean Meehan/ Zoots Houston /  Catherine Sikora / David Menestres at the Old Dutch Church (Kingston, NY), 7:30pm. 

 

https://kingstonhappenings.org/events/joe-mcphee-james-ilgenfritz-sean-meehan-zoots-houston-catherine-sikora-david-menestres/

I have shows on both Friday & Saturday night in Brooklyn. I’ll try to make this as well if possible. Catherine Sikora is an amazing saxophonist, fwiw 

[T.D.]

This slipped under the radar and I just noticed it. [Tubby's Kingston]

Tashi Dorji / Dave Rempis + MATCHESS (feat HALEY FOHR & LULA ASPLUND)

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

7:00 PM  11:00 PM

In anticipation of alter ego albums Hav/Stena to be released on Drag City in September 2024, Matchess (AKA Whitney Johnson) enlists Haley Fohr (AKA Circuit des Yeux) and Lula Asplund to turn down the energetic temperature and settle into a mellow expansion of sound. With three marimbas, sine waves, viola, voices, and electronics, the trio will invite us to experience sonic doubles in our bodies and minds. Their individual practices in experimental music, sound art, and performance will invoke the “two against three” principle to alchemize a fresh collaboration on this tour of the American East.

Saxophonist, improviser, and composer Dave Rempis has been an integral part of the thriving Chicago jazz and improvised music scene since 1997.  With a background in ethnomusicology and African studies at Northwestern University, including a year spent at the University of Ghana, Rempis burst onto the creative music scene at the age of 22 when he was asked to join the now-legendary Chicago jazz outfit The Vandermark Five. This opportunity catapulted him to notoriety as he began to tour regularly throughout the US and Europe, an active schedule that he still maintains to the present day. 

Joining Dave is Tashi Dorji a Bhutanese guitarist and improvisational musician known for his avant-garde and experimental (read: deeply gnarly, finely arty) approach to music. Tashi’s idiosyncratic take on the instrument, one defined by movement and profound openness to technique, adds up to a post-colonial disembowelment of guitar traditions that stands Tashi next de- and re-constructionist giants as various as Derek Bailey, John Fahey and Bill Orcutt.