Alex Coke Carl Michel 6tet
Performing compelling music with origins in jazz, classical, folk,
extended technique, and improvisation, The Alex Coke Carl Michel
Sextet features musician/composers Alex Coke on woodwinds
and guitarist Carl Michel. Together with Austin Symphony’s
principal harpist Elaine Barber, Liminal Sound Series producer
Bob Hoffnar on pedal steel, first call jazz bassist Dr. James Suter,
and multi talented Austin percussionist Carolyn Trowbridge on vibes,
the sextet will perform at the Draylen Mason Studio at KMFA on
Thursday June 9, 2022 at 7:30pm.
This unique ensemble is an outgrowth of Coke and Barber’s
popular weekly Driveway Concert Series that ran from April 2020
through June 2021 in response to music gigs and gatherings
being curtailed as a result of the pandemic. The duo performed
outdoors, socially distanced, with each member of the sextet
individually in turn, appearing as special guests. Playing music as a
gift to their local neighbourhood at first, the project took shape as the
possibilities for meetings indoors returned.
The Monday night concerts made way for rehearsals, new
composition, and the formation of an unusual and very accomplished
performing and recording ensemble. They released their first CD
together, The Emissary, in October 2021 to good reviews and now a
year after the final driveway concert, a second CD is in the works.
For the upcoming performance and live recording, works will include
new arrangements of music by Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane,
Valentyn Silvestrov, and Paul Motian with some new compositions by
Coke and Michel in the mix .
One of the first jazz ensembles to perform at
KMFA’s Draylen Mason Studio, the concert on June 9 is for an all
ages audience. Presale Tickets are now on sale and will also be
available at the door.
Tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/alex-coke-carl-michel-6tet-tickets-338447083337
For more info and sound samples please visit:
https://alexcokecarlmichelsextet.bandcamp.com/releases
This performance is made possible in part thanks to The Liminal Sound Series, dedicated to the commissioning of new works and collaborations between visionary composers
and Austin, TX. based musicians and performers.
“They can drift with meditative beauty or roar with passion… their collective sound lingers in the memory.”
– Jerome Wilson on The Emissary at All About Jazz