Preview of Improvisations Now at Real Art Ways

Press release

Improvisations Now at Real Art Ways
Featuring: Sam Newsome, Taylor Ho Bynum, Francisco Jose Mela and Joe Morris

Sunday, March 17 | 2:30pm

HARTFORD, CONN. On Sunday, March 17 at 2:30pm, Real Art Ways will host four improvisers as part of the Improvisations Now series. Improvisations Now is where musicians come together to create unrehearsed and innovative music in real time. This performance will feature Sam Newsome on soprano saxophone, Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet/brass, Francisco Jose Mela on drums, and Joe Morris on bass.

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.

Sam Newsome: Soprano Saxophone
“Newsome expands the sound of a single soprano into a one-man band.” – All About Jazz

Sam Newsome is a saxophonist, music professor, and accomplished writer. Newsome’s avant-garde approach, particularly in the realm of prepared saxophone, has positioned him as a sought-after player in New York’s improvised music scene. His innovative voice has resonated in collaborations with notable artists such as Elliot Sharpe, William Parker, Fay Victor, Daniel Carter, Joe Morris, and Dave Liebman. For more information, please visit his website.

Taylor Ho Bynum: Cornet, Brass
Taylor Ho Bynum is a musician, teacher, and writer, with a background including work in composition, performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, production, organizing, and advocacy. Bynum plays in collective ensembles like his duo with Tomas Fujiwara, Illegal Crowns (with Fujiwara, Benoit Delbecq, and Mary Halvorson), and Geometry (with Kyoko Kitamura, Tomeka Reid, and Joe Morris).
Bynum has worked for two decades with Anthony Braxton. This partnership is recognized as one of the most generative partnerships of that legendary composer’s career, with projects ranging from duos to orchestras and everything in between. For more information, please visit his website.

Francisco Jose Mela: Drums
“Mela also has one of the most mercurial and quickest-thinking brains in music and can be both powerful and lucid, turning on a dime from an almost other-worldly, hallucinatory voice to a musician with a painterly, patrician demeanor.” – Latinjazznet.com

Francisco Jose Mela is a Cuban drummer and percussionist who has performed with a wide array of prominent international Latin and jazz artists including Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, JoAnne Brackeen, Jane Bunnett, Regina Carter, Anat Cohen, Paquito D’Rivera, George Garzone, Larry Grenadier, Stefon Harris, Lionel Loueke, Joe Lovano, Jason Moran, John Patitucci, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Mark Turner, McCoy Tyner, Chucho Valdés, Kenny Werner, and many others. He also leads his own group, The Crash Trio.

Joe Morris: Bass
“One of the most profound improvisers at work in the U.S.” – WIRE Magazine

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 Anthony 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.

About Improvisations Now
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 2024 Season is as follows:
Sunday 3/17/24 at 2:30pm: Sam Newsome, Taylor Ho Bynum, Francisco Mela,
Joe Morris
Sunday, 4/14/24 2:30pm: William Parker and Joe Morris.
Sunday 5/12/24 at 2:30pm: Tomeka Reid, Melanie Dyer, and Joe Morris.