Trombonist Steve Swell brings together a new trio with pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn and electronic improviser Tom Hamilton. Drummer John Truscinski and guitarist Steve Gunn have played together over a span of years in various formations and projects, influenced by the blues, raga, and the New York underground scene.
Tom Hamilton has composed and performed electronic music for over 30 years, and his work with electronic music originated in the late-60s era of analog synthesis. His ongoing series of concerts, installations and recordings contrast structure with improvisation and textural electronics with acoustic instruments. Rather than addressing traditional modes of expression, presentation and observation, Hamilton often explores the interaction of many simultaneous layers of activity, prompting the use of “present-time listening” on the part of both performer and listener.
Susan Alcorn is a composer, improviser, and pedal steel guitarist active in contemporary music and free improvisation. She combines the techniques of country-western pedal steel with her own extended techniques to form a personal style influenced by free jazz, avant-garde classical music, Indian ragas, Indigenous traditions, and various folk musics of the world. Though mostly a solo performer, she has collaborated with numerous artists including Pauline Oliveros, Eugene Chadbourne, Peter Kowald, Chris Cutler, Joe Giardullo, Caroline Kraabel, Le Quan Ninh, Sean Meehan, Joe McPhee, LaDonna Smith, Mike Cooper, Misha Feigin, Ellen Fullman, and Johanna Varner. She currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland.
Steve Swell, born in Newark, New Jersey, has been living, working and performing in New York City his entire adult life. In the mid-seventies he studied with Roswell Rudd, Grachan Moncur III and Jimmy Knepper after attending Jersey City State Teacher’s College. He has toured and recorded with such diverse jazz personalities as mainstreamers Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich, to so-called outsiders like Anthony Braxton and Jemeel Moondoc. Swell has 30 recordings as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artist on more than ninety other releases. He received grants from USArtists International in 2006, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, an MCAF award (LMCC) in 2008 and was commissioned for the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006.
Gunn-Truscinski Duo
John Truscinski and Steve Gunn have played together over a span of years in various formations and projects. This duo strips it all down and pays homage to some of the masters from generations before. Steve’s improvisational mix of blues-raga guitar and John’s fluid style drumming melds together, rolling out the door towards the stratosphere.
Native Philadelphian Steve Gunn has been a stalwart of the American experimental scene for nearly a decade. He is one half of the core duo behind GHQ (with Marcia Bassett) as and regularly works with Tom Carter, the Magik Markers, and Marc Orleans. Gunn has slowly cultivated his own solo work alongside his other obligations and involvements. After a few early CD-R and cassette releases under the moniker “moongang,” Gunn gravitated towards performing and releasing music in his own name, culminating in the album Sundowner (Digitalis Industries, 2008).