Tri-Centric Experiencer’s Unit (L-R: Mark Nagy, Ben Zucker, Fred Jackson, with overlay of Composition No 436 by Anthony Braxton)

Cover image of Lion’s Head debut EP (listen here)

Two trios paying homage to the legacies of 70s avant-garde jazz: The Tri-Centric Experiencer’s Unit plays a landmark Anthony Braxton composition; Lion’s Head, named after mentor Richard Davis, interpolates free improvisation with hard-swinging classic repertoire.

8:30 pm: Composition No. 76 by Anthony Braxton, performed by the Tri-Centric Experiencer’s Unit
Fred Jackson Jr. - saxophones, flute
Mark Nagy - clarinets, saxophones
Ben Zucker - vibraphone, trumpet
All musicians on voice & little instruments

9:30: Lion’s Head
Maggie Cousin - alto saxophone/bass clarinet
Henry Ptacek - drums
Aden Stier - bass

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

About The Artists

The Tri-Centric Experiencers Unit is an evolving collective of Chicago musicians exploring the creative work of the groundbreaking composer-performer Anthony Braxton. First convened by Ben Zucker for an ensemble performance in 2024 featuring a multilayered rendition of Braxton’s modular, ’trans-idiomatic’ works, for this performance the focus is brought to a single piece: Composition 76, a landmark hybrid of notation, graphics, and improvisation featured on the historic 1977 Arista record For Trio. Expect the unexpected as multi-instrumentalists Fred Jackson Jr., Mark Nagy, and Zucker bring a multitude of instruments big and small to realize the provocative score, in which trace of every dynamic, experimental music from bebop to Cagean silence to sound poetry might be heard.

A collaboration between longtime friends Maggie Cousin, Aden Stier, and Henry Ptacek, Lion's Head seeks to make new improvised music rooted in the language of the jazz avant-garde of the late 60s and early 70s. Lion's Head treats the tradition as a living, urgent material, using the wisdom of their predecessors to navigate our shared here and now.