Thomas Milovac (b. 1997 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) was born into a musical family and found a lifelong passion for performing and composing from an early age. He performed throughout middle school and high school band programs on various instruments including tenor saxophone, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, timpani, and the instruments closest to his heart, the double bass and bass guitar. Upon graduating high school in 2016, Thomas went on to study at the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville, FL. At UNF, he studied under composer Gary Smart, pianist Lynne Arriale, and bassists Dennis Marks, Jason Lindsay, and Doug Wieland. Thomas also performed with UNF's Jazz Ensemble One, Jazz Combo One, the UNF Orchestra, the UNF Concert Band, and UNF Chamber Ensemble. He received the award of "Most Outstanding Musician" from the school of music every academic year. Thomas graduated from the school of music at UNF in the summer of 2020 with his B.M in Jazz Studies. In 2018, Thomas Milovac created and curated the Backroom Series in Jacksonville, Florida. The series presented concerts of improvised and creative music in Thomas's home and various venues around Jacksonville. The series played hosts to artists such as Jack Wright and Ron Stabnisky, B|_ank, Zach Rowden, Majid Araim, and Adam Goodwin. The Backroom Series ceased in 2020 with a large archive of concerts on their YouTube page. Thomas founded the Cosmo Sonic Collective in 2021 upon his move to his current home base of Orlando, Florida. Cosmo Sonic is a platform for artists around the world to present their vanguard work. The Cosmo Sonic Collective record label has focused on releasing works of improvised music. Artists that have released music on Cosmo Sonic include Paul* Hermansen, Syoma Klochko, and Taylor Rouss.
Aaron Kaufman-Levine is a Chicago based saxophonist, composer and improviser. Aaron is an active performer in the Chicago-area, and has led his group at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Constellation, Fulton Street Collective, and more. He has also played at Chicago Symphony Hall, Pritzker Pavilion, Andy’s Jazz Club, Chicago Jazz Showcase, Hungry Brain, The LilyPad, Distler Hall (Tufts), Killian Hall (MIT) and the historic Jordan Hall (NEC). He leads the Aaron Kaufman-Levine Quartet, co-leads “Bearduo” and “Banana Acid” and is a member of the 2023 New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble “Blind Glass” Aaron is passionate about artistic collaboration and bringing new forms of creative expression to the community, especially his hometown of Oak Park, IL where he co-runs his own interdisciplinary Music Festival “Music in the Garden”.
Tonight’s Improvised Music Series features two groups of virtuosic young improvisers from Chicago and afar! Julián Pujols Quall convenes a trio with Aaron Kaufman-Levine and Thomas Milovac from Orlando; Voluntary Logic is a new quartet bringing together a unique blend of young improvisers from Norway and Chicago.
8:30 pm:
Julián Pujols Quall - piano
Aaron Kaufman-Levine - saxophones
Thomas Milovac - bass
9:30 pm: Voluntary Logic
Lily Glick Finnegan – drums
”Linasco Liartreux” – doublebass
”Rygo Gwale” - trombone
”Vatu Sonlo” - trumpet
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
About the artists
A Dominican-American pianist and composer from Chicago, Julián Pujol Quall´s journey started with the Caribbean rhythms of their childhood. A classically trained artist, their work found a home in jazz performance, improvisation, and collaboration. Julián is a recent Jazz Performance graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where they studied with Warren Wolf as a recipient of the Merit School of Music's Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory Blue Ribbon Scholarship. As a solo pianist they have studied at the Aspen Music Festival, Gijón Piano Festival, Brevard Music Festival and Colburn Piano Festival. As a founding member of the Peabody Improvisers Collective Julián developed experimental collaborative programs and has been creating and performing improvisational music for ballet, modern and West-African dance programs in Baltimore and Chicago for the last three years. In addition to Julián and Friends, they formed Mamey, a music project that seeks to deepen the understanding of the influence the Caribbean arts have had in their musical creative journey and to honor beautiful Dominican traditions and cultural resilience, as they strive to promote new and vibrant art.
Voluntary Logic is a brand new quartet bringing together a unique blend of young improvisers from Chicago and Norway. The ensemble consists of Chicago drummer Lily Finnegan, and Norwegians Linasco Liartreux, Rygo Gwale, and Vatu Sonlo. Their debut promises a fresh musical experience, honoring the universal language of music and improvisation.
The musicians have collaborated with artists including Mars Williams, Mette Rasmussen, Paal Nilsen-Love, Hedvig Mollestad, Ken Vandermark, Mats Gustafsson, Jon Rune Strøm, and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, among others.