Improvisations Now at Real Art Ways

Press release

HARTFORD, CONN. On Sunday, December 10 at 2:30pm, Real Art Ways will host Reggie Nicholson on drums, Ivo Perelman on tenor saxophone, Ray Anderson on trombone, and Joe Morris on bass in Improvisations Now, where musicians come together to create unrehearsed and innovative music in real time. Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for Real Art Ways members, and $5 for full time students. Real Art Ways is located at 56 Arbor Street in Hartford.

Reggie Nicholson is one of the most distinctive, inventive and inspirational drummer/percussionist of his generation. Nicholson first gained a reputation as a drummer and percussionist in his hometown of Chicago. During his early days before moving to NYC, Nicholson worked around Chicago with many great musicians, and performed regularly at the famous organ club, The Other Place.

Nicholson has performed and recorded with a wide variety of jazz and new music luminaries including Jon Logan, Larry Frazier, Mendai, Vince Willis, Phil Cohran, Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Claudine Myers, Henry Threadgill, Ernest Dawkins, Leroy Jenkins, Edward Wilkerson, Hanah Jon Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Sam Newsome, Myra Melford, Wilber Morris, Elektra Kurtis, Billy Bang, Butch Morris, Yuko Fujiyama, Oliver Lake, Fay Victor, Roy Campbell, and more.

As a composer, he was nominated twice for the Cal Arts Composition Award in 1993/1994. Concerts of his compositions have been presented at Roulette, Interpretations, Jazz Shares, Firehouse 12, Constellations, Vision Festival, and AACM concert series. Nicholson has also toured throughout USA, Europe, and Japan.

For more information, please visit Nicholson's website.

Ivo Perelman is a Brazilian free jazz saxophonist born in Saō Paulo. In his youth, Perelman learned to play guitar, cello, clarinet, trombone, and piano, concentrating on tenor sax since age 19. Perelman released his first album in 1989, which featured Peter Erskine, John Patitucci, Airto Moreira, Eliane Elias, and Flora Purim as guests. After the release of his first album he moved to New York City. Perelman has released many albums since then for a number of different labels, and has played with Dominic Duval, Borah Bergman, Rashied Ali, Jay Rosen, Marilyn Crispell, Matthew Shipp, Paul Bley, Don Pullen, Fred Hopkins, Andrew Cyrille, Joanne Brackeen, Mark Helias, Billy Hart, Mino Cinelu, Nana Vasconcelos, Reggie Workman, William Parker, Louis Sclavis, John Wolf Brennan, Elton Dean, and Joe Morris. He founded Ibeji Records in 1994 to record his own work.

Ray Anderson is an American jazz trombonist based in New York. He started playing trombone when he was eight, and moved to New York City in 1972. Trained by the Chicago Symphony trombonists, he is regarded as someone who pushes the limits of the instrument, including performing on alto trombone and slide trumpet. He is a colleague of trombonist George E. Lewis. Anderson also plays sousaphone and sings.[2] He was frequently chosen in DownBeat magazine's Critics Poll as best trombonist throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. He picked up a wide variety of musical experience, played in the booming loft scene and spent important periods with Barry Altschul's trio and Anthony Braxtons' quartet. These bands have included the wild funk unit Slickaphonics and a trio with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Gerry Hemingway called BassDrumBone. Now Anderson can be heard leading his quartet (piano or guitar, upright bass and drums), his Wishbone Ensemble (which adds percussion and violin to the quartet), his Alligatory Band (electric bass and guitar, drums, percussion and trumpet) his Bonified Big Band (classic big band instrumentation) and Ray's latest incarnation, The Pocket Brass Band featuring Jack Walrath on Trumpet, Bob Stewart on Tuba and Charli Persip on Drums. Ray is also a member of Slideride, a four trombone cooperative featuring Craig Harris, George Lewis and Gary Valente.

Joe Morris is a composer/improviser multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, double bass, mandolin, banjo, banjouke, electric bass and drums.

Morris has performed and/or recorded with many of the most important contemporary artists in improvised music including Braxton, Evan Parker, John Zorn, Ken Vandermark, Tomeka Reid, Fay Victor, Tim Berne, William Parker, Sylvie Courvoisier, Peter Evans, David S. Ware, Joe Maneri, Dewey Redman, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Marshall Allen, Barre Phillips, Barry Guy, Matthew Shipp, Gerald Cleaver, and many others. He has been curating Improvisations Now at Real Art Ways for many years.

To learn more about Joe Morris, please visit his website.

Improvisations Now is a monthly series of concerts programmed by Joe Morris. Joe invites a diverse group of dynamic, innovative musicians, all important members of the global improvised music scene, and performs with them. The music is completely improvised. Every concert is different. Funded by Lisa and Jerome Deupree.

The 2021-22 Improvisations Now series included Mary Halvorson, William Parker, Tyshawn Sorey, Joe McPhee, Rob Brown, Jerome Deupree, Fay Victor, Sam Newsome, Reggie Nicholson, Patricia Brennan, James Brandon Lewis, Tomeka Reid, Taylor Ho Bynum. Kyoko Kitamura, Stephen Haynes, Mat Maneri, and Peter Evans.

The 2022-23 season included Ken Vandermark, Matthew Shipp, Anna Webber, Angelica Sanchez, Hery Paz, Juan Pablo Carletti, Kenneth Jimenez, Matana Roberts, and Melanie Dyer, Daniel Carter, Michael Wimberly, Jamie Saft, Ingrid Laubrock, Tom Rainey, Brandon Lopez, Tony Malaby, and Nasheet Waits.

The upcoming 2023-24 Season is as follows:
Sunday 12/10/23 at 2:30pm: Joe Morris, Ivo Perelman, Ray Anderson and Reggie Nicholson
Sunday 1/7/24 at 2:30pm: Mark Helias, Angela Morris, and Joe Morris
Sunday 2/4/24 at 2:30pm: Matthew Shipp, Jerome Deupree, Joe Morris
Sunday 3/17/24 at 2:30pm: Sam Newsome, Taylor Ho Bynum, Francisco Mela, Joe Morris
Sunday 5/12/24 at 2:30pm: Tomeka Reid, Melanie Dyer, and Joe Morris.