shudder + Mimmo/Blunt Duo

“A wonderful collaboration … both of them switching between lyricism and extended noise-making fluidly, echoing each other and taking time out to listen. I spent half of their set in a semi-conscious mystical state.”
— This Place at This Time blog
The Bay Area welcomes the extraordinary duo of Italian soprano saxophonist Gianni Mimmo and UK violinist Alison Blunt for a concert of improvised chamber and electro-acoustic music rooted in deep chemistry and dynamic ensemble interplay. Mimmo, “one of the most inventive and virtuosic soprano saxophonists on the scene today,” (All About Jazz), was once a student of Steve Lacy, and shares that master’s proclivities for angular, architectural lyricism, enriched by a rich palette of timbral effects and extended techniques. Among Europe’s most acclaimed improvising string players, Blunt has collaborated with Viv Corringham, Gino Robair, Elisabeth Harnik, Tristan Honsinger and Tony Marsh, among others, and has performed with the Berlin Improvisers Orchestra and the London Improvisers Orchestra. Their first duo CD, Lasting Ephemerals, was released this spring on Mimmo’s Amirani Records, and documents their unique improvisational approach – an elegant, immersive blend of chamber music and jazz-inflected improvisation, lyrical and abstract at once.

The Bay Area ensemble shudder, comprised of some of the scene’s most singular improvisers and restless creative spirits, opens the night in a rare performance. For more than ten years, shudder has cultivated a highly specific, intensely focused ensemble sound, expiring textural sonic landscapes through the compelling instrumentation of reeds and electronics.
shudder
Kyle Bruckmann – oboe, English horn
Lance Grabmiller – laptop, analog synthesizer
Phillip Greenlief – tenor saxophone, Bb clarinet