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Saturday May 9th, 2015 at 8 PM
Admission $20, Seniors $15, Students and Arts Workers $10
Being in the present can be interesting if we pay attention.
Being in the now can be transcendent if we know what to do.
Exploration through performance could be the difference…
This show explores “What is Now?” through performances by Toronto poets – spoken word artists Brent Peers and Tanya Neumeyer rooted in the poetry slam community, alongside improvised music created by Bill Gilliam (piano), Glen Hall (Kyma X, electroacoustic sounds, saxophone, flutes, and bass clarinet) and Ambrose Pottie (percussion).
Bill Gilliam (piano)
Bill Gilliam (piano)Bill Gilliam is a Toronto based composer / pianist who improvises new music compositions blending influences of contemporary harmony and jazz idioms into his unique style of playing.
“Bill Gilliam’s experience and his output since the mid-80s has spanned formal composition, jazz and jazz-oriented improvisation as well as electro-acoustic music and music-visual media. Gilliam has aimed to bring his composer’s sense of form and continuity to the improvisational process so that each of the pieces in the recording has its own distinct character. His harmonies blend 20th century classical and jazz sounds in a convincing, comfortable modal-chromatic style” “Ensorcell” – The WholeNote CD review Sept 2012.
Bill has written music for film, dance and theatre and new music chamber ensembles as well for his jazz projects. His recordings include “Ensorcell” for solo piano, “Signposts” – a CD created in collaboration with percussionist Charlie Ringas with improvised piano, percussion and spoken word as well as “Memory Vision” DVD of Bill’s electro-acoustic music with multi-media art created by different visual artists. In addition to composing and performing solo piano Bill
continues to perform with Toronto Improvisor’s Orchestra and Audiopollination and collaborate with artists using spoken word and improvisation. www.bill-gilliam.com
Tanya Neumeyer (poet)
Tanya is a queer poet and educator. As a member of the League of Canadian Poets and the Toronto Poetry Project, Tanya performs poetry and offers workshops at festivals, conferences, events and schools across Canada. Tanya was a member of the bronze medal winning 2012 Toronto Poetry Slam team.
Brent Peers (poet)
Brent Peers (poet)Brent Peers is a lifelong Torontonian who has been active in the GTA arts scene for the better part of that life. His love of poetry is challenged only by his passion for music. A staunch proponent of DIY culture, he hopes beyond hope to see creative minds flourish and proudly represent his hometown. He himself has represented the WE FLIP TABLES! spoken word collective at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Sasktaoon in 2012 and Montréal in 2013, as well as the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam and the Verses Festival of Words in Vancouver in 2014 and 2015.
Glen Hall (Kyma X, cataRT, electroacoustic sounds, saxophone, flutes, and bass clarinet)
Glen Hall has an international reputation as a composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist. Hall has been an agent provocateur on the Canadian creative music scene for decades. He was the first Canadian jazz musician to independently record and release a free jazz album (“The Book of the Heart” with Joanne Brackeen, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart). He is one the very few musicians besides Miles Davis to collaborate and record with legendary composer/arranger Gil Evans (“The Mother of the Book”). His “Hallucinations: Music and Words for William S. Burroughs” featured one of the founding fathers of free jazz, trombonist Roswell Rudd. Hall played the Guelph Jazz Festival with Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo. He’s studied jazz at Berklee College of Music and composition with Gyorgy Ligeti and Mauricio Kagel in Germany, did artistic residencies in live electronics at STEIM in Amsterdam and Kyma Symbolic Sound at the Electronic Music Foundation in New York, and recently was a featured artist at the Siberian Jazz Games festival in Novosibirsk, Russia. Hall is also the founder and artistic director of the 416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival.
Ambrose Pottie (percussion)
Ambrose Pottie (percussion)Ambrose Pottie is musician, audio artist and graphic designer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ambrose has recorded and/or performed with Eugene Martynec, Bob Becker, Bill Bissett, Anne Bourne, Eugene Chadbourne, Crash Vegas, Andrew Cyrille, Fred Frith, Bill Grove, Guy Klucevsek, Evan Lurie,The Polka Dogs, Mary-Margaret O’Hara, Tom Walsh, Richard Sacks and Andrew Staniland. He is currently one of the curator’s of the Toronto Improvisor’s Orchestra. His field recording based work has been included in the 60X60 Contemporary Music project performances in Toronto, Montreal, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Mexico City, Denver, and New York City. He lives in Toronto.
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