Fearless improviser, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Anaïs Maviel presents a special solo set and an extended collaboration with acclaimed bassist, Michael Bisio, for her debut performance at ISSUE Project Room.
Maviel first performs a solo vocal set, accompanying herself on the surdo (Brazilian drum) and n’goni (West African harp). In a review of her recent album, Jazz Tokyo praises Maviel’s vocal performance, which "easily navigates various scales and song ideas, then at the very moment when her voice freely steps ‘outside' of any of those intelligible realms of sound, listeners encounter the irresistible thrill of her music.”
Anaïs Maviel is a vocalist, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and bursting creative mind. The swelling waves of Maviel’s voice and the hybrid flow of her improvised sound cycles recall her French & Haitian origins. Creatively involved with William Parker, Aruán Ortiz, Larkin Grimm, Mara Rosenbloom, Matt Lavelle, Michael Bisio, Jen Baker, the Commons Choir and other mentors in the music, dance, theater, and performance worlds, she is dedicated to solo and cross-disciplinary ensembles, and to expanding the power of music as a healing and transformative act. Her solo album, hOUle, was recently released on Gold Bolus Records.
Michael Bisio is one of the most virtuostic and imaginative performers on the double bass. Nat Chinen writes in The New York Times: "The physicality of Mr. Bisio's bass playing puts him in touch with numerous predecessors in the avant-garde, but his expressive touch is distinctive." He has over a hundred recordings in his discography, two dozen as leader or co-leader as well as a dozen more documenting his extraordinary association with piano icon, Matthew Shipp. Jazz Times describes Michael as a performer who resonates with "intelligence, emotional depth and probing virtuosity." Signal to Noise writes: "Bisio is one of the few musicians who has managed to meld this high concept of physicality with the soulful charge of jazz. His fiddle-high, scraped overtones create a tangled choir that is impossible to resist; his expressiveness with the bow is unmatched." Michael's current project as a leader is Accortet (Relative Pitch Records) featuring Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Art Bailey (accordion) and Michael Wimberly (drums).
Program Guest Curator: Lauren Rosati