Events Calendar

1601 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9

Saba Amrei, Lisa Cay Miller & Adrian Avendaño

A master of extended improv technique and ardently cerebral composition, the ever-investigative pianist Lisa Cay Miller coaxes out sounds from where few would imagine searching. Rising Iranian-Canadian vocalist Saba Amrei left Tehran at age 19 to study music at Capilano University’s award-winning program. A sublime improviser, she also leads the Saba Amrei Iranian Quartet, a dynamic group that focuses on jazz and Latin-influenced Iranian art music from before the 1979 revolution. Sound artist and drummer Adrian Avendaño is one of the city’s most intriguing and creatively omnivorous emerging musicians. His improvisation approach is informed by experimental electronic music, free jazz, soundscape composition, and deep listening.

A meeting of three of the West Coast’s most attuned improvisers, each as notable for their impressive musicality as their ability to bridge diverse genres, disciplines, and communities.

Emad Armoush, Josh Zubot & Parmela Attariwala

Syrian/Canadian multi-instrumentalist/singer Emad Armoush (Haram) melds traditional Arabic music, free improv, and electronic manipulations alongside some of Canada’s finest creative musicians. In 2023, Drip Audio released Emad Armoush’s Duos, five creative dialogues with Francois Houle, Jesse Zubot, Kenton Loewen, JP Carter, and Marina Hasselberg. His quintet Rayhan’s sophomore album comes out this fall. Violinist Josh Zubot’s adventuresome talent alights on jazz, classical, folk, and the avant-garde’s back-40. A veteran of Montréal’s vibrant music scene (Patrick Watson, Land of Kush), he’s found a perfect home in the genre-defying West Coast improv community since 2017, working with Tony Wilson, SICK BOSS, and Dálava, and international artists like Darius Jones and Gerald Cleaver. Rhythm Changes called the new album from Zubot’s Strings project “one of the most active and energetic albums without drums that you’ll ever hear.” Violist Parmela Attariwala interweaves performance, creation, and academia. She’s released three critically-acclaimed Attar Project albums of works for violin and tabla, collaborated extensively with visual artists and choreographers—both as a composer and a movement artist—and created music for film and opera. Active in genre-bending sound since 1994, Attariwala has worked with Carla Bley, Ravi Naimpally, Anthony Braxton, Don Thompson, and Vancouver New Music. In 2022, she co-founded Understory, an online creation network for Canadian improvising artists.

Doors open at 4:30pm. “Pay What You Can” or PWYC encourages donations upon entry. Cash, debit, credit card and Apple pay will be accepted. Money raised goes to support Coastal Jazz. Please note – no one will be turned away for insufficient funds.