FRIDAY, APRIL 26th 2019
7PM
GREG KELLEY / JESSIKA KENNEY DUO
ROB NOYES
WILSON SHOOKHUMAN RESOURCES
First time meeting of a surely astounding duo of two key figures in
sound: Trumpet player Greg Kelley – on tour from Seattle – and Jessika
Kenney – a whose multivalent voice thankfully spectralizes here in Los
Angeles – as it will Friday night with a light touch of electronic
accompaniment. Acquainted from their years proximate in Seattle, and
having found a rapport collaborating in a larger group context, they
choose to join together on the occasion of the L.A. stop on Greg
Kelley’s (and Rob Noyes’) Spring tour of the West Coast.
Deep listeners have witnessed Greg Kelley deconstruct the trumpet's timbre down to the thinnest splinter; He's blown a lexicon of clicks and whispers in radical 'micro' projects nmperign and The BSC. The heaviest of heads have heard his horn push thresholds amidst seas of guitar squall in Heathen Shame. Hep jazzies have long dug his flourishes of freedom alongside such figures as Joe McPhee, Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, and Bill Nace. Greg can extend to the fullest to be sure, and – quite literally – brings a bag of tricks to each set. As a collaborator, he ever explores dialogue and dynamics, is at ease abstracting in delicate sound fields, and resilient at full throttle.
Whether singing amidst gamelan tones, classical Persian music, the heaviest metal, or the noisiest fuzz, Jessika Kenney keenly considers the play of frequencies, and how song acts as a conduit for words and meaning. Her solo works – as well as projects with her core collaborator Eyvind Kang – offer an audio syncretism that draws from established forms while conjuring new expressions. Her sense of the spectral has been heard in the ensemble of Persian ney master Hossein Omoumi, as well as at the helm of the Austrian Choir on Sunn O)))'s Monoliths and Dimensions. Though her practice includes many a studied approach, she finds a continued freedom in musics of rebellion; her brushes with the Indonesian punk scene resonate.
First solo Los Angeles performance from Rob Noyes a standout 12-string acoustic player from Boston. Rob certainly fits in the recommended-if-you-like Robbie Basho or John Fahey category, but so simple a move would belie the creative depths he plums weaving a tapestry of sound only possible in the present day, and only possible where the weaver is an astute listener of records (and practicer of playing) and mad creative. Byron Coley describes his debut LP The Feudal Spirit on the rarefied Poon Village label thusly: “On the way to developing his own compositional/performance approach, Noyes sometimes seems to have absorbed an almost infinite reservoir of influences... Mr. Noyes hits a vast array of sub-genres on this album, and he hits them all pretty damn hard. Rob's playing carries the weight of many possibly-imaginary forebears, but the way he smears them all together shows a holistic mastery of touch and imagination…”
With a range of avant-moves Saxophonist Wilson Shook plays free and fluid. Whether blipping and bursting, laying out textural feels, or blowing asymmetries circular and smooth, Shook averts the obvious – his heightened-awareness flows direct attention to the very now of sound, and whet anticipation for what’s next. After more than a decade in Seattle as an improvisor and activist, he’s now home in Los Angeles where his playing has already gripped a few lucky rooms, and hopefully many more. Heads, ears – perk!
Deep listeners have witnessed Greg Kelley deconstruct the trumpet's timbre down to the thinnest splinter; He's blown a lexicon of clicks and whispers in radical 'micro' projects nmperign and The BSC. The heaviest of heads have heard his horn push thresholds amidst seas of guitar squall in Heathen Shame. Hep jazzies have long dug his flourishes of freedom alongside such figures as Joe McPhee, Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, and Bill Nace. Greg can extend to the fullest to be sure, and – quite literally – brings a bag of tricks to each set. As a collaborator, he ever explores dialogue and dynamics, is at ease abstracting in delicate sound fields, and resilient at full throttle.
Whether singing amidst gamelan tones, classical Persian music, the heaviest metal, or the noisiest fuzz, Jessika Kenney keenly considers the play of frequencies, and how song acts as a conduit for words and meaning. Her solo works – as well as projects with her core collaborator Eyvind Kang – offer an audio syncretism that draws from established forms while conjuring new expressions. Her sense of the spectral has been heard in the ensemble of Persian ney master Hossein Omoumi, as well as at the helm of the Austrian Choir on Sunn O)))'s Monoliths and Dimensions. Though her practice includes many a studied approach, she finds a continued freedom in musics of rebellion; her brushes with the Indonesian punk scene resonate.
First solo Los Angeles performance from Rob Noyes a standout 12-string acoustic player from Boston. Rob certainly fits in the recommended-if-you-like Robbie Basho or John Fahey category, but so simple a move would belie the creative depths he plums weaving a tapestry of sound only possible in the present day, and only possible where the weaver is an astute listener of records (and practicer of playing) and mad creative. Byron Coley describes his debut LP The Feudal Spirit on the rarefied Poon Village label thusly: “On the way to developing his own compositional/performance approach, Noyes sometimes seems to have absorbed an almost infinite reservoir of influences... Mr. Noyes hits a vast array of sub-genres on this album, and he hits them all pretty damn hard. Rob's playing carries the weight of many possibly-imaginary forebears, but the way he smears them all together shows a holistic mastery of touch and imagination…”
With a range of avant-moves Saxophonist Wilson Shook plays free and fluid. Whether blipping and bursting, laying out textural feels, or blowing asymmetries circular and smooth, Shook averts the obvious – his heightened-awareness flows direct attention to the very now of sound, and whet anticipation for what’s next. After more than a decade in Seattle as an improvisor and activist, he’s now home in Los Angeles where his playing has already gripped a few lucky rooms, and hopefully many more. Heads, ears – perk!