The Palms Playhouse

Live music venue in Winters, CA

Sunday Afternoon Jazz: John Schott Actual Trio and Thin Air Ensemble – Sunday, May 26 2019

3:00pm, doors at 2:30PM

$20

Eventbrite - Sunday Afternoon Jazz: John Schott Actual Trio and Thin Air Ensemble

The latest show in our occasional Sunday Afternoon Jazz series features two titans of improvisational music and their groups: John Schott’s Actual Trio and Tony Passarell’s Thin Air Ensemble.

The Actual Trio is a vehicle for the compositions of iconoclastic Bay Area guitarist John Schott (Junk Genius, T.J. Kirk). Bassist Dan Seamans (New Klezmer Trio, Lost Trio), and drummer John Hanes (Henry Kaiser, Victor Krummenacher) provide the foundation for Schott’s adventurous-but-accessible compositions. In his compositions, written especially for this trio and refined through countless rehearsals and gigs, Schott marries deep pockets of groove and joyful swing to wayward harmonies and spontaneous excursions. The trio’s improvisational playing owes much to John’s mentors Gary Peacock and Jerry Granelli, and through them to many great trios they’ve been a part of.

The brainchild of saxophonist Tony Passarell, Thin Air Ensemble is a group of hand-picked musicians playing mostly improvised music. Using a form of “conduction” pioneered by composers such as Butch Morris and John Zorn, hand signals are conveyed to the musicians to direct the spontaneous creative sounds coming from the ensemble. It is a magical, in-the-moment musical experience for player and listener alike. The seven-piece ensemble is: Tony Passarell – sax and conductor, Phillip Greenlief – sax and clarinet, Cliff Childers – trombone, Alan Ernst – piano, Keith Cary – cello, Heath Proskin – acoustic bass, and Jenn Schaaf – drums.

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