Guelph Jazz Festival 2017, Day Two Preview

Day Two of the Guelph Jazz Festival features a second full day of activity at the Colloquium, University of Guelph, convened by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) including a keynote address by Prof. Eric Lewis; several panels; a live interview of festival artists John Butcher (UK), Thomas Lehn (Germany), and Matthew Shipp (USA) by esteemed Toronto music writer, Stuart Broomer; and a concert by the Iranian-Canadian duo, Araz Salek (tar) and Pedram Khavarzamini (dombak), a partnership with the College of Arts ‘Thursday at Noon’ Series. All colloquium events are free, and listed on the schedule here.

The 8pm concert features a first-time collaboration by some of Toronto’s finest creative improvising musicians. Artistic director Scott Thomson first presented Rob Clutton’s otherworldly chamber music quartet, Cluttertones, a decade ago at his West-end Toronto artist-run space, Somewhere There, and is thrilled to be able to do so again. The group mixes deft composition and songwriting by Clutton that can evoke folk-music simplicity and directness, and is animated by the exceptional improvisations by Lina Allemano (trumpet), Ryan Driver (analogue synthesizer, piano, voice), Tim Posgate (guitar, banjo), and Clutton himself (double bass). This concert, however, features not only this quartet, but also a first-time collaboration with pianist Lee Pui Ming, a long-time friend of the festival who will perform solo, in small groups with members of Cluttertones, and then a new suite of pieces by Clutton for the quintet. Overall, this mixed program, featuring different combinations of these superb players, will range through approaches to composition, improvisation, and their fully-wrought, captivating synthesis.

Cluttertones with Lee Pui Ming, Co-operators Hall, River Run Centre, Thursday 14 September, 8pm (two sets), $25 general / $20 students, seniors, and the under-waged