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Tag: Stephan Haluska

Tim Daisy Returns To Cleveland for the World Premiere of New Ensemble Vox 4

Vox 4

There are many reasons to pursue the life of a professional musician, but doing a van tour of the Great Lakes in January is not one of them. Yet Chicago percussionist Tim Daisy could barely conceal his delight at piling in the van and driving across I-90 for a concert with his longtime pal Ken Vandermark at Convivium 33 (I previewed it here).

“t was the first time I started driving around the country since the—quote/unquote–end of the pandemic,” Daisy said by phone from Virginia where he was vacationing. “We show up, there’s a nice audience, the music goes well, there’s a beautiful vibe, and I kind of had the sense of like, “Ha! We’re back to touring. We’re back.”

The experience was so positive that on Friday, Daisy will be back at Convivium 33 for another concert presented by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, this time with his exploratory chamber ensemble Vox 4.

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For CUSP’s ‘Torch Songs,’ Where There’s Fire, There’s No Smoke

In the popular imagination, an evening of torch songs inevitably takes place in a smoky basement club where a singer in a velvet gown purrs songbook standards while perched on a stool as her cigarette smolders in a nearby ashtray. A half-filled rocks glass is not far away.

It’s an appealingly nostalgic image, but don’t expect anything like that Friday at Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project‘s (CUSP) Torch Songs program.

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Blowing In From Chicago: Tim Daisy and Ken Vandermark Friday at Convivium 33

Tim Daisy Ken Vandermark
Tim Daisy, Ken Vandermark

Being a creative musician in Chicago almost demands a willingness to play anything, everywhere with everybody. Percussionist Tim Daisy and saxophonist Ken Vandermark, who will appear at Convivium 33 Friday, Jan. 13, embody that imperative as well as anyone, having collaborated with hundreds of musicians, movement and visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic. Yet despite lengthy resumes that suggest an affinity with musical speed dating, the two are just as committed to long-term relationships, especially their own.

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Chestnuts Roasting When They Open Fire: A Togishi Seasonal Spectacular Returns

TogishiIn Japan the togishi is the skilled craftsman who polishes and sharpens the nihonto, the deadly sword used by samurai warriors to cut their enemies to pieces.

In Cleveland, Togishi is a trio of saxophonist Dan Wenninger, Mike Sopko on guitar and electronics, and Joe Tomino on drums and electronics whose improvised music cuts to pieces various genres including jazz, rock, contemporary classical and noise and reassembles them in a glorious freewheeling clatter.

Togishi will bring their usual sonic maelstrom to the Bop Stop stage Tuesday, December 21, but the trio will drop down the Hingetown club’s chimney with a surprise in their sack: tunes–and not just tunes, but some of the most recognizable, widely loved and, yes, even sentimental tunes.

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