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McColm, Testa, Uesaka Trio + Anne Rhodes

  • The Lilypad 1353 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA, 02139 (map)

$20 Cover ($15 Students/Seniors) / Start 7:30pm / Doors 7pm / Seated Show

At the intersection of improvisation, electronics, experimental music, new media, the musicians will be performing with the latest iterations of interactive electronic music systems.

First Set:

Anne Rhodes –  from New Haven -- voice, electronics

Second Set:

Carl Testa – from New Haven -- bass, electronics

Yuma Uesaka from NYC  -- woodwinds and electronics

Ian McColm from New Haven -- percussion and electronics

Carl Testa

"Carl Testa's 'Ultraviolet' subtly blended acoustic and electronic noises as well as notated and improvised materials to conjure a splendidly successful piece, a sort of glacial minimalism expanded and subverted by the electronic overtones." - John Sharpe, New York City Jazz Record, 

A boundary-pushing saxophonist and clarinetist “Uesaka] has arrived with a mature conception, and the tools to execute it…” All About Jazz

Carl Testa (b. 1984, Chicago, IL), residing in New Haven, CT now, is a multi-instrumentalist and composer at the intersection of improvised, electronic, experimental music, and new media. As a performer/improviser, he is equally comfortable on string bass, electronics, lighting, and combinations thereof. As a composer, he has written acoustic and electronic music for configurations ranging from solo to chamber orchestra, including multimedia pieces that incorporate electronics, lighting, dance, and theater. His work has been performed throughout the US and Europe, and is documented on many recordings, most recently "Iris (for solo bass and electronics)" (Lockstep Records 2013), and "Sⁿ (for prepared guitar and electronics)", a collaboration with guitarist Christopher Riggs (Gold Bolus Records 2015).

In addition to his work as a leader/collaborator, he performs regularly with composer Anthony Braxton's ensembles and bassist Mario Pavone's ensembles. He serves as the Director of Publishing and Creative Technology for Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation where he manages all facets of the production of digital and print scores for the organization. He is the production manager for noted jazz venue and record label Firehouse 12. He also organized The Uncertainty Music Series from 2007-2017, which was a monthly concert series in New Haven, CT featuring improvised, electronic.

Yuma Uesaka

Uesaka started on the saxophone at age ten and added clarinet two years later. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan, and he earned bachelor’s degrees in both Jazz Studies and Computer Science Engineering. He also studied at the prestigious Banff Jazz and Creative Music Workshop, where he worked with performers like Vijay Iyer, Nicole Mitchell, and Tyshawn Sorey. Based in New York City, Uesaka has performed with a bevy of forward-thinking artists, including Anna Webber, Adam O’Farrill, Jeff Lederer, Nick Dunston, among others. He regularly performs at venues such as The Jazz Gallery, Roulette, and National Sawdust.

In 2021, Yuma had received honorable mention from the ASCAP Herb Albert Young Jazz Composer Award and composition commissions from Metropolis Ensemble and Either/Or Ensemble. Yuma is a member of Polyfold Musical Arts Collective, a grassroots, artist-led non-profit organization that helps create opportunities for improvising musicians to present creative works.

Ian G. McColm

Ian McColm “Uncompromising, raw and beyond otherworldly, The Power of Water is without a doubt one of the most essential free improv records of 2021.” Record Crates United

Ian G. McColm is a multi-instrumentalist and composer residing in New Haven, CT. He currently performs internationally with a variety of ensembles including Washington D.C. free-music trio Heart of the Ghost, Figured (with bassist Zach Rowden), New Haven’s Center, as well as with an array of solo artists.

McColm has performed at Moogfest, Hopscotch Music Festival, Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, Elastic Arts' Exposure Series, The DC Jazz Festival, Black Mountain College's Interlude AVL Festival, Catalytic Sound Festival, and as a part of Experimental Sound Studio’s The Quarantine Concerts. 

Anne Rhodes

Anne "Rhodes explores a range of modern vocal techniques, frequently quite delicately...[her] voice offers a magical, almost elvish ambiance to roiling whorls of the rest of the ensemble."  - Nick Ostrum The Squid's Ear, February 2020

Anne Rhodes combines coloratura agility and bel canto lyricism with extended vocal techniques and a warm chest voice to sing a broad range of experimental, classical, and improvised music. Drawing heavily upon her classical training, Rhodes also incorporates her knowledge of jazz, South Indian voice, overtone singing, and shape-note singing into creative improvisation, ensemble work, and collaboration with composers. Based in New Haven, she performs regularly in Connecticut, Boston, and New York City.

While studying voice at Boston University's School for the Arts in the late nineties, Rhodes met Third Stream pianist and New England Conservatory professor Ran Blake, and her interest in new music and improvisation was piqued. She began regularly attending and participating in performances associated with NEC's Contemporary Improvisation program and, not long after graduating from BU with a B.Mus. in Voice Performance in 1999, she decided to pursue experimental music and collaboration with composers as her main focus.  In 2004, she began her graduate studies at Wesleyan University, where she honed her musicianship by singing complex instrumental parts in Anthony Braxton's Large Ensemble, studying South Indian voice with B. Balasubramanian, and studying the interpretation of jazz standards with Jay Hoggard.

Anne also performs as part of the duo Bruxism, with composer/multi-instumentalist Carl Testa, and with the chamber trio Broadcloth, with Nathan Bontrager, cello, and Adam Matlock, accordion, for which she embroiders original graphic scores. 

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Earlier Event: April 15
The Lyle Brewer Quartet