05/18/2026
Shows in June to make you swoon!
1) Sunday 6/7 at The MAAS Building Composer, bassist, and improviser Max Johnson presents his brand new sextet in the premiere of “Without Fear,” with Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Yuma Uesaka (soprano saxophone, clarinet), Nate Wooley (trumpet), Lester St. Louis (cello), Max Johnson (double bass), and Jeff Davis (drumset, vibraphone). Thomas Kraines performs a short work of Max's to open.
2) Tuesday 6/9 at The Rotunda. Sardinian musician Paolo Angeli created his own instrument: an 18-stringed hybrid of guitar, baritone, violoncello, and drums, adorned with hammers, pedals, and even propellers operating at various speeds that enables an altogether new type of performance combining, referencing, and transcending free jazz, folk noise, and minimal pop.
3) Friday 6/12 at The Perch. Shiraz Ensemble is a contemporary music group that unites Iranian musicians performing traditional instruments in the United States. They deconstruct and reconstruct the rich traditions of Iranian classical music, For this performance they will be joined by Bahar Badieitabar on oud.
4 & 5) Wednesday 6/24 at The Perch. Fred Frith is a pioneer of the extended electric guitar. He learned to compose in Henry Cow, developed his song-writing skills in Art Bears, explored his multi- instrumentalism in Skeleton Crew, rocked the house with Massacre and is still doing all of those things, having been in one band or another continuously since 1964!
Openers Walnut Brain, the duo of Alina Josan and Steve Heise, mess around with a custom-made diddley bow and an electric guitar to make decidedly earthbound sounds that reach for the clouds or the stars or whatever’s out there. A diddley bow is an instrument whose single string, when struck and bowed by a sensitive player, emits sounds that both scrape and sing.
Tickets and more info at the link in comments, tickets going fast for Fred Frith on the 24th.
See you there!
