Orchid (clockwise from top left: Seth Andrew Davis, Vinny Golia, Dan Clucas, Kevin Cheli)
Matt Riggen (photo by Vivian Delgadillo)
Tonight’s Improvised Music Series hosts the coast-crossing Orchid as part of their album release tour! Matt Riggen opens with his quartet, bringing the folk and protest dimensions of free jazz to the forefront.
8:30 pm - Matt Riggen Quartet
Matt Riggen - trumpet
Jacob Delgado - alto sax
Owen Frankel - bass
Adam Shead - drumset
9:30 pm - Orchid
Vinny Golia - bass clarinet, A clarinet, baritone saxophone, sopranino saxophone, alto flute
Dan Clucas - cornet, violin
Seth Andrew Davis - electric guitar, laptop/electronics
Kevin Cheli - percussion, objects
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
About The Artists
Matt Riggen (he/him) is a musician from Indianapolis, IN who is currently based in Chicago, IL. Matt performs and records on multiple instruments, but mainly focuses on trumpet in his own groups. A huge part of his practice is centered in and around Marquette Park, where Matt serves as the full-time Director of Music at Marquette Park—fostering a musical community from ages 8 to 80 and from complete beginners to professional players, all with a focus on jazz and improvised music. In his own Quartet, Matt distills that further. Drawing on the strong South Side free jazz tradition, the candor of Sacred Harp, and a long personal history of protest and political action, the Matt Riggen Quartet presents an unmistakable commitment to direct expression—and aims to create an image of the togetherness that happens when people work together for the same end.
Orchid is the new release from the quartet of Los Angeles improvisers Vinny Golia and Dan Clucas with Seth Andrew Davis from Kansas City and Kevin Cheli from St. Louis now living in Philadelphia.
Vinny Golia is an acclaimed American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and improviser, renowned for his contributions to avant-garde jazz, experimental music, and contemporary classical genres. Known for his mastery of a wide array of wind instruments, including all the saxophones, clarinets, flutes, especially bass clarinet, contrabass flute and bass saxophone. Golia has performed and recorded with numerous innovative ensembles and artists. His work often explores complex textures and improvisational structures, making him a distinctive voice in the contemporary music scene.
Dan Clucas began playing trumpet at age ten and started playing in school jazz groups a couple of years later, becoming a devotee of the music upon first hearing An Electrifying Evening With the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet at fifteen. Later forays into the music of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and the Art Ensemble of Chicago led to an appreciation of a diverse array of artists in the African-American music continuum, as well as an abiding commitment to sound improvisation. Primarily a cornetist, he has recently added violin to his sound palette. Clucas studied with cornetist Bobby Bradford and trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith, and has performed and recorded extensively with his own bands as well as in long-standing collaborative units such as Dead Air Trio, DO TELL, and Brainchildren of Xenog. He has also performed and/or recorded with guitarists Nels Cline, Eugene Chadbourne and Joe Baiza, bassist Steuart Liebig, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich, hornist Tom Varner and saxophonist Vinny Golia.
Kevin Cheli is a percussionist who has performed and recorded improvised and experimental music across the United States in a wide variety of ensembles. His work often explores sound combinations using percussion instruments, everyday objects, and idiophones. Since 2018, he has contributed sounds, engineering, and artwork to dozens of releases of improvised and experimental music.
Seth Andrew Davis is a performer, composer, improviser, technologist, scholar and educator from the Kansas City area. Davis is involved in the improvised music/free improvisation, experimental, and electronic music scenes in Kansas City. Davis’ music runs the gamut of compositions for orchestral and chamber ensembles, performances with free-jazz/free improvised music ensembles and large groups, solo performance, collaborations with dancers and video artists, and the design and collaboration of autonomous and interactive artificial life agents and 3D environments. In 2020, Davis co-founded Mother Brain Records with saxophonist & composer Michael Eaton. Mother Brain Records is a Midwest based label focused on releasing the works of artists in the experimental & improvised music scenes. In 2021, Davis co-founded EMAS (Extemporaneous Music & Arts Society) along with Evan Verploegh. EMAS is an improvised music & arts collective based in Kansas City that is dedicated to advancing creative work in Kansas City. Davis currently is an adjunct instructor at the University of Central Missouri teaching Applied Music Technology and at the Kansas City Art Institute teaching music technology courses.