MUSIC(in)GALLERIES 2009: Saturday 15 August

Somewhere There presents the fourth annual MUSIC(in)GALLERIES, Saturday 15 August, 1-5pm. This musical gallery crawl will once again transform the gallery district of Queen Street West, Toronto, from Trinity Bellwoods Park to Gladstone Avenue, into a focal point for the city's increasingly vibrant and renowned creative music scene.

At no cost to the public, dozens of Toronto's most creative musicians will perform in seventeen art galleries and three bars during the afternoon; the music will start in Trinity Bellwoods Park at 1pm, move into a nearby gallery, with new sets of music starting roughly every ten minutes, generating a gallery-crawl momentum. While most spaces will feature exceptional solo performers playing all manner of instruments in countless styles, MUSIC(in)GALLERIES programming will be punctuated by three special group performances:

- Christine Duncan's massive creative voice ensemble, the Element Choir, at the Edward Day Gallery
- Ryan Driver (thumb reeds) and Renée Lear (projections) performing their live video and music collaboration, "The Balloons of India," at XPACE Gallery
- The Woodchoppers Association will feature two very special guests from Mali, West Africa, Abdoulaye Koné (n'goni) and Jah Youssouf (voice & kamel n'goni) at the Gladstone Melody Bar to finish the event in danceable style.

1:00 Southwest corner of Trinity Bellwoods Park, moving into (1:05) Lausberg Contemporary, 880 Queen Street West – Nicole Rampersaud, trumpet

1:15 Angell Gallery, 890 Queen Street West – Rob Piilonen, flute

1:25 *New* Gallery, 906 Queen Street West – Ronda Rindone, bass clarinet

1:35 Clint Roenisch Gallery, 944 Queen Street West – Alex Lukashevsky, voice & guitar

1:45 Edward Day Gallery, 952 Queen Street West – Christine Duncan’s Element Choir

2:00 MOCCA, 952 Queen Street West – Kyle Brenders, saxophone

2:10 Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts, 984 Queen Street West -- Tomasz Krakowiak, percussion

2:20 Camera/Stephen Bulger, 1026 Queen Street West – Jim Lewis, trumpet

2:40 XPACE, 58 Ossington Avenue – Ryan Driver, thumb reeds & Renée Lear, projections

2:55 Lennox Contemporary, 12 Ossington Ave – Tilman Lewis, cello

3:05 Lens Factory, 1040 Queen Street West – Allison Cameron, apparatus

3:15 Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects 1082 Queen Street West – David Sait, guzheng

3:25 David Kaye Gallery, 1092 Queen Street West (entrance from Dovercourt) – Wes Neal, double bass

3:35 The Beverly Owens Project, 1140 Queen Street West – Lina Allemano, trumpet

3:45 Median Contemporary, 1142 Queen Street West – Michelangelo Iaffaldano, curio

3:55 Drake Hotel Patio, 1150 Queen Street West -- Nichol Robertson, banjo

4:05 Loop Gallery, 1174 Queen Street West – Anne Bourne, cello & voice

4:15 Akau, 1186 Queen Street West (entrance from Northcote) – Eric Chenaux, guitar

4:25 Gladstone Art Bar, 1214 Queen Street West – Jean Martin, drums & honk-trumpet

4:40 Gladstone Melody Bar, 1214 Queen Street West – The Woodchopper’s Association with Jah Youssouf & Abdoulaye Koné

5:00 Gladstone Melody Bar -- celebration, libation, conversation, no music

MUSIC(in)GALLERIES is supported by the New Music Program of the Canada Council

Somewhere There June 2009 Newsleter

As I previewed last month, the highlight this month at Somewhere There is the AIMToronto Interface Series, 5-7 June, with fabulous Swiss-born, Paris-based saxophonist, Urs Leimgruber, a regular collaborators with such talents as Barre Phillips, Fritz Hauser, Joelle Léandre, and Marilyn Crispell. See the program here. It’s interesting timing that this event comes on the heels of the series with Evan Parker, one of the few European saxophonists with to whom Leimgruber can usefully be compared.

The new residency in June is the intriguing duo of Allison Cameron on small, amplified things and Nobuo Kubota, voice and microphone. Allison had her own residency last summer, and it was terrific to hear her in so many different contexts. The programming for the series with Nobuo is not yet fixed but, at a guess, it will reflect a similar diversity.

Somewhere There also wishes to extend thanks and express enthusiasm (and relief) that the Toronto Arts Council has stepped up to our request for support for the residency program. The modest grant that’s just been awarded will subsidize about 150 shows during the 2009-2010 season of residencies, starting with Allison and Nobuo's. This will go a long way toward making viable these residencies in particular and Somewhere There in general. Thank you for supporting informal music-making!

Lastly, I’ll mention that Somewhere There’s good friend, Jack Vorvis, had his bicycle stolen from outside the studio on 24 May. Jeremy Strachan has kindly agreed to program a fundraising concert, Sunday 14 June, featuring Jack with a bunch of friends – programming is to be announced.

May 2009 Newsletter

Special-guest saxophonists are the theme of 2009, thus far. First, it was Evan Parker’s February Interface Series; check out Alan Stanbridge’s thorough review in the latest Signal to Noise. The next Interface is with an only slightly less renowned European improviser from Switzerland, Urs Leimgruber (pictured), 5-7 June (programming details to be announced). In the interim, Somewhere There has hosted excellent saxophonists and good friends from three other Canadian creative music scenes: Paul Cram from Halifax, Jean Derome from Montréal, and Coat Cooke from Vancouver. The night with Jean Derome, 25 April, was particularly fun, with a garrulous mid-sized throw-together band including Justin Haynes, Allison Cameron, Jean Martin, and Christine Duncan.

May marks the second month of trumpeter Nicole Rampersaud’s residency, featuring a set of solo trumpet followed by a set with (usually) a single guest (Evan Shaw, Germaine Liu, Kyle Brenders, Parmela Attariwala, and Matt Miller, for example). Nicole’s playing continues to mature at an incredible rate, and her solos demonstrate not only a keen moment-to-moment imagination and (of course) remarkable instrumental facility, but also a sense of formal development that is rare among solo improvisers. As austere as a set of solo trumpet may sound, it would be a shame to miss this string of shows that constitute a laboratory for someone who is quickly becoming one of Toronto’s leading musical voices.

New this month is bassist Aaron Lumley’s residency, also with a program of solo improvisation and small-group playing that will no doubt feature Aaron’s characteristically physical, gut-stringy style. Aaron has been playing a ton lately, in countless contexts – I just heard him play beautifully with David Prentice at Ron Gaskin’s VTO Festival at the Tranzac – and, like Nicole, he is honing his massive vocabulary of technical extensions toward becoming one of the more distinctive improvisers in the city. Finally, speaking of Ron Gaskin, Somewhere There once again wishes him a happy sixtieth birthday, and thanks Tim Posgate for organizing a small but festive party for Ron in conjunction with a Cluttertones date as part of Rob Clutton’s residency.

Somewhere There March 2009 Newsletter

February was simply the busiest and best month Somewhere There has seen. Odradek completed their two-month residency with tremendously creative programming that culminated with their live soundtrack to the extraordinary 1920s animated classic, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. The Element Choir also completed its residency with massive turnouts and tremendous collective music-making, with momentum and spirit generated through their Barnyard Records recording project, mid-month – we look forward to the record (and to the record release party!) A related project heard a vocal ensemble comprised primarily of choir members working with visiting composer and conductor, Sarah Weaver. And, last but not least, the Evan Parker Interface Series, February 13-15, was a wonderful musical and social exchange, by all accounts. Rumour has it that an extensive review is in the works for Signal to Noise, so keep eyes open for that. Thanks to the AIMToronto Board of Directors for running to joint so smoothly during the Interface weekend.

This month’s residencies have more to do with jazz music in general than they have pretty much at any point in Somewhere There’s history. Thursdays in March will continue to feature Drumheller drawing on the wonderful material from their expansive book of tunes by all five members. Wednesdays host a new residency by Drumhellerite, Rob Clutton, primarily with his newish band, The Cluttertones (with Lina Allemano, Tim Posgate, Anthony Michelli, Brodie West, and Ryan Driver), though other weeks will feature guests like Marilyn Lerner and Paul Cram in small groups featuring Rob. The Sunday 6pm slot has been taken on by Jeremy Strachan, and features similarly newish bands, Canaille (with Mike Smith, Nick Buligan, and Colin Fisher, and Dan Gaucher) and a duet with Mike Smith on guitars and banjos. With a record twenty-nine shows booked in March, there’s still certainly no shortage of live music at Somewhere There. We hope to see you around!

February 2009 Newsletter

January was unquestionably the busiest month that Somewhere There has seen. This fact is attributable not only to the increase to six active nights each week, but also to the surprisingly large crowds we’ve had this past month (in relative terms, of course). CoexisDance, which has been presented at Somewhere There bi-monthly for about a year, drew a record audience, for instance, and Christine Duncan’s Element Choir drew record numbers of performers during the choir’s Sunday residency with choir size at close to forty nearly every week.

February will be busy as well, with the key event being AIMToronto’s Interface Series with British saxophonist, Evan Parker, on 13, 14, and 15 February (bring your Valentine!) Nilan Perera has done curator work on this one, and has placed Parker in six thematically related groups of Toronto players that will challenge and provoke him. Simply put, it’s a great honour to have Evan at Somewhere There.

The Wednesday-night residency by Odradek continues until the end of February, and has already featured two CD release concerts. Andy Yue, Jim Bailey, and Michelangelo Iaffaldano have put together some fine programs that go from strength to strength (and, sometimes, from strange to strange), a trend that will no doubt continue this month. The Element Choir also continues their Sunday-evening romps, and I have to say that it would be a real shame if listeners miss the astonishing sound of forty voices in Somewhere There’s intimate confines!

Thursday nights in February and March feature the wonderful drummer and all-around charmer, Nick Fraser. Originally, Nick had hoped that Drumheller, the wonderful jazz quintet that he convenes, would be on hand every week but he has since intimated that schedules are making that plan next to impossible to execute. As I’m writing, I don’t know exactly what’s on tap, but hope that at least some of Nick’s Thursdays will feature the full band (with Eric Chenaux, Rob Clutton, Doug Tielli, and Brodie West).

Click here to see the entire month's programming.

January 2009 Newsletter

Somewhere There wishes you a happy new year, one filled with optimism and excellent music. We closed out the first full calendar year with a relatively light program – I took essentially two weeks off during the holidays – but still managed to squeeze in 22 shows last month. Highlights include the arrival of the Leftover Daylight Series (Fridays), bumping up activity to six nights a week; the excellent (if lightly attended) Interface Series with fabulous Montréal turntablist, Martin Tétreault; and a successful Christmas Fundraiser, with edible and monetary proceeds going to the food bank. It was also terrific to host the CCMC reunion residency, and to get to know some of the long-ago membership with whom I wasn’t acquainted like John Kamevaar, Jack Vorvis, and Al Mattes. Somewhere There wishes Al a speedy recovery from long-awaited hip surgery that kept him from the last Sunday in the residency series, and a quick return to music-making.

Looking forward to January happenings, two exciting new residencies are afoot: Odradek (Wednesdays) and the return of Christine Duncan’s Element Choir (Sundays 6pm). Odradek is typically a trio of Michelangelo Iaffaldano, Andy Yue, and Jim Bailey but, for the residency, they’ve augmented the band in some cases with special guests and some delightful and delightfully oddball concepts – see below for details. The Element Choir held one of the very first residencies at Somewhere There and, week by week, filled the place with inclusive and glad-hearted music-making by a variable cast who may not have otherwise been drawn to the studio. I am keen to have them back, to hear how they have changed musically during the last year, and to watch them gear up for new performing and recording projects that may be in the works. Pianist and guitarist Simeon Abbott continues his Thursday-night residency with (at the time of writing) mystery programming. The guest curator for the Leftover Daylight Series (booking one set every Friday) is the rangy and affable guitarist and composer, Holger Schoorl, hot on the heels of his Wednesday-night residency in November and December.

Also, please note that I’m forced to raise the base entry cost to $8 in a hell-bent effort to actually cover my rent. It’s unfortunate that I have to do so, but rest assured that nobody at Somewhere There has ever or ever will turn away listeners who cannot afford the cover. You are welcome!

Click here to see the full calendar.

News / Leftover Moves

Thanks to those of you who are based in Toronto (for the most part) and who check in readily to see if I’ve made any new postings – and sorry if my failure to post lately has prompted any mild disappointment! It’s pretty clear that I can’t sustain any kind of usefully consistent show reviews as I tried to do about a year ago. So, on some sound advice that’s come out of consultation with some key friends of Somewhere There, I want to establish a different structure.

I plan to write a couple of paragraphs every month as a kind of preview for the month to come. With live music at ST now six nights a week, there will certainly be lots to announce. As always the residency structure will be maintained, with three residencies going on at any one time (Wednesdays 8pm, Thursdays 8pm, Sundays 6pm), and I’ll surely mention whomever will be in residence. This text will be printed not only here, but also on hard-copy newsletters that will be available at ST and will include a calendar such that folks can stick it on fridges – a magnet giveaway should be in the works!

Finally, welcome to the Leftover Daylight Series, which, after five years at the Arraymusic Studio, is moving to ST this Friday, 12 December, 8pm. See the as-always-intriguing programming here, then come out if you’re able for three sets of very fine Toronto creative music.