Multiplex was an afternoon of regional jazz improvisers convening for a skronk fest. First up was New Haven Improv stalwarts Bob Gorry and Jeff Cedrone guitars, Adam Matlock on accordion, and Tom Hogan on drums. The quartet careened through their set, Cedrone squiggled and Gorry squaggled. Matlock, coming off a stint performing in Anthony Braxton's recent "opera", was a focal point. The accordion brings to mind the circus and Tom Waits, Matlock intervalled between speedy runs and slow screeches, his expression looked like a serial killer on Thorazine.
The second set was a young solo alto sax player named Chris Pitsiokos. The first tune unfolded like a Russian doll of sax improv with a layer of John Zorn giving way to a layer of Pharoah Sanders further unfolding to a juicy center of Roland Kirk. Pitsiokos was adept at the technique of circular breathing, the second tune was an avalanche of notes that had Chris playing for ten minutes without coming up for a breath. The dizzying pace and onslaught of noise was difficult to assess to just one musician. A frenetic staccato piece sounded like what I can only imagine to be what a pileated woodpecker connecting with ones eardrum would sound like, the woodpecker gave way to a repeated phrase of a car leaving a crime scene. Chris had this odd technique of snuffing out sound by moving the sax bell into his crossed knee.
The third group was local guru Joe Morris on guitar with Dan O'brien on clarinet and saxes. Morris, largely responsible for this outing spidered up and down the guitar neck while O'brien moved from clarinet to baritone sax...
The final group was Damon Smith on double bass, Jeff Platz on guitar, Matt Crane on drums, and extra-terrestrial cornet player Stephen Haynes. Haynes used a variety of flower pots and pans to bend his sound. Happy to see this crew of like-minded jazzbos move this event from Real Art Ways to the local State House, a sandbox for musical outsiders to get together and wow with sound
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