Late Night Cool Hangs and Vegan Pizza (Maybe)

This year we have three venues in trundling distance of one another – Ironworks, Imperial, and the China Cloud. And, depending on how early you like to get started, the party begins at 5pm, for the afternoon sessions at Ironworks, with plenty of new and great collaborations not to be missed. If you are interested in some new musical adventures this might be the zone for you.

The bar was lifted pretty high last night with a memorable midnight improv set by the Talking Pictures with special guest, Berlin based collaborator of 20 years, Achim Kaufmann.

Ironworks is hosting the late night hangs on the weekends with THUS OWLS tonight, LSD Trio on Sunday, Gordon Grdina Septet featuring Jon Irabagon next Friday, and a debut improv formation to close this year’s festival on the Sunday, with Gerry Hemingway, Tony Wilson, and new-to-the-Vancouver-scene-saxophonist, John Gross.

If you’re worried about turning into a free-jazz pumpkin with these midnight sets, let it be known that all these performances will provide you with the energy to keep your slumber boats afloat. Also, allow me to remind you that these are the times to soak up some hours at the coolest venue in Vancouver, which only seems to host music like this for a dozen or so days a year.

Speaking of some of the coolest venues in Vancouver, we are thrilled to plug back in the late night shows for the entirety of the festival by adding for extra nights at the China Cloud starting at 11pm on the Monday and ending on Thursday – with a secret underground jazz fest performance by the Inhabitants on the Friday.

Broken Merchandise

June 26, 11pm, China Cloud
A brand new project helmed by Tony Wilson, think of it as a supergroup of local heroes—JP Carter, Kenton Loewen, and Joshua Zubot—who are all playing in other shows during the festival. You can expect some smashy, thorny riffs and the best of noisy improv.

SICK BOSS with special guest Joe Williamson (solo bass)

June 27, 11pm, China Cloud
Bassist Joe Williamson hails from Burnaby. He moved to Europe in 1992 and currently lives in Stockholm with his family. Since the demise of his exotic cat breeding operation, he can be found watching mountaineering disaster videos on the Internet. Recent recordings include Booklet – The 100% Rabbit (featuring Tobias Delius), Receptacles – Freedom From Error and The Ägg – Machines.

Led by JUNO Award-winning blog writer, Cole Schmidt, SICK BOSS draws influence from creative improvisation, folk, and Jimi Hendrix. Schmidt’s sweeping, beautiful, and cerebral originals are taken to new and unexpected places by a cherry-picked cast of Vancouver all-stars, all of whom are composers and leaders in their own right. With Peggy Lee cello, JP Carter trumpet, James Meger bass, Dan Gaucher drums, and Jeremy Page saxophone. They recently released their debut album on Jesse Zubot’s DripAudio.

Invisible Taste with Jesse and Josh Zubot

June 28, 11pm, China Cloud
Colin Cowan and Daniel Gaucher play a very different sort of DJ set, incorporating electronic, Califone phonographs, hand percussion, and toys with some drums and bass thrown in for good measure, and special guests, the Zubot brothers on violin.

East Van Strings with Colin Cowan & Tommy Babin Duo

June 29, 11pm, China Cloud
The first of two nights featuring maverick oud player Gordon Grdina, this quintet will change any preconceived notion you have of a string ensemble—fusing free jazz, Arabic taqsim, Indian rhythmic cycles, and new music minimalism. With special guest Jon Irabagon, named one of Time Out New York’s 25 Jazz Icons.

Happy festivallin’ and may you all be spared any improvised music hangovers until July 2!