Colin STETSON: Press

This needs to be said up front: Colin Stetson is an absolute master of the saxophone. He has formidable breath control and circular breathing technique, a great sense of dynamics, and extremely impressive control over multiphonics and timbral changes: he can basically do anything that can be done with a saxophone (and maybe some things that can't). Although there is just a touch of studio treatment on a couple tracks and sampled, spoken intros to a couple more, New History Warfare, Vol. 1 is essentially an album of solo saxophone performances with no overdubbing. But this is no platform for free blowing and empty showboating; these pieces are clearly through-composed. Whether the track is one minute long or eight, there is an easily discernible structure, clear logic, and a strong sense of forward momentum to each of these tunes. Stetson's ability to build separate musical lines on top of each other is nothing short of astonishing. It's something like Rahsaan Roland Kirk playing two different melodies against a drone, except Kirk did it on three horns and Stetson is doing it on one. 

"And It Fought to Escape" is a perfect encapsulation of Stetson's style. It begins almost imperceptibly as a percussive pulse is established with the saxophone keys playing against a breathy background. He then adds bits of melody on top until he is having a conversation between different registers of the saxophone while somehow maintaining the pulse. The breath control and dynamics are amazing, as are the sounds he makes with his saxophone. Switching gears, "Groundswell" almost sounds like a flute/bass duet at times. On "Nobu Take," Stetson's clarinet sounds more like a keyboard, simultaneously evoking Eastern European folk music and electronica, while "Tiger Tiger Crane" begins with what sounds like beatboxing through the sax. But Stetson's musicality far outweighs any notion of gimmicks. The pieces are deeply focused and never overstay their welcome. Not only that, but the strong structures and internal logic of the pieces make them far more listenable than many so-called avant-garde recordings.

New History Warfare, Vol. 1 is a truly impressive, fully formed, and highly individual musical statement. It's amazing from a purely technical standpoint, but Stetson's compositions and ability to tell a musical story are what make this a great album. You haven't heard saxophone music quite like this. No one else could have written this music because no one plays quite like Colin Stetson. Truly impressive. Evan Parker fans, take note: this guy is someone to watch.

Michigan native Colin Stetson is like the Roger Federer of avant-garde instrumental music. While the Swiss tennis player has changed the way we think of tennis, Stetson is redefining the possibilities of woodwind and brass instruments. Equally at home on the flute, French horn, clarinet, and saxophone, Stetson's musical innovations bring to mind the work of Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and John Zorn. The opener "And It Fought To Escape" is an eight-minute struggle of pure and terrifying beauty; "As A Bird Or Branch" is stark and powerful and "Nobu Lake" is a singular, but nevertheless swirling blend of beautiful chaos. Armed with a degree in music from the University of Michigan, Stetson hit the ground running and in ten years packed his CV by earning critical praise for his band Transmission as well as recording with everyone from Arcade Fire to Tom Waits to DJ Recloose. An intellectual and creative blend of John Coltrane and John Zorn, Stetson's compositions initially register as edgy instrumental tempests, but repeat spins reward the listener with a clarifying understanding that all of these numbers are governed by a rare and kinetic expertise. A noted circular breather, Stetson can make his instruments bend in ways not heard before. Not one to be pigeonholed in one genre, New History Warfare, Vol 1 contains elements of everything from of jazz to post-punk to twisted folk. As effective on pieces that are under two minutes ("Stand, Walk," "Quincy Had A Glandular Problem") and over ten ("Our Heartbreak Perfect"), Stetson is sublimely sophisticated and brilliantly idiosyncratic. Recorded live with no overdubs or loops, his debut asserts that as far as avant-garde composers go, Stetson may very well be the new prince.

Alone onstage with his baritone saxophone and an extensive repertoire of squeaks, growls, pops and gritty shrieks, Colin Stetson frequently alludes to avant-garde jazz. But while Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker and other reedmen fond of the unaccompanied setting have used it as a platform for heady experimentation, Stetson’s methods seem more likely to inspire booty-shaking. Despite his esoteric sonic palette, Stetson’s rhythmic sense gravitates toward boisterous, unhinged groove; for proof, check out Stetson’s contributions to Tom Waits’s 2002 albums, Alice and Blood Money.

No stranger to the rock world, the Michigan native—who came to prominence at the helm of the blistering jazz-funk unit Transmission—has also worked with indie luminaries such as Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio. Amid these commitments, Stetson has been busy honing his solo debut, New History Warfare: Volume 1, which he celebrates at these record-release shows. The disc flaunts not just the saxist’s formidable technique but the way he puts it to constructive musical use. On the remarkable extended piece “Time Is Advancing with Fitful Irregularity,” Stetson combines circular breathing with percussive key taps, yielding a bracingly poignant narrative. In the live setting, Stetson’s passion is palpable; nodding and swaying, he summons a powerful physicality to match his brawny sound.

—Hank Shteamer

Geodesic Squonk
Colin Stetson flaunts his globetrotting lips

by Buzz Poole
May 26th, 2006 4:20 PM








Few saxophone players bother with the bass sax—just wielding it is effort enough. Even fewer can say they've played nothing but in a band, often in lieu of a bass player no less. Colin Stetson is likely the only reedman to boast this; Jeremiah Lockwood's Sway Machinery is just one of the groups that keep the Greenpoint resident hustling all over town, impressing everyone who hears his genre-defying style. A practiced circular breather, Stetson's solo work ranges from fireside-warm Hungarian folk tunes to bass squonking that jackhammers the mind. "The horns won't be represented in three dimensions," he says of his imminent debut solo album. "If you think of the live thing as a geodesic dome and all the different noises as panels in the dome, the record will be that dome unfolded, placing all the sounds in the stereo field." Sound far-fetched? Just wait until you hear him make any of the reeds he puts to his lips pucker, pop, moan, bop, and sing.
Stetson also leads Transmission, a Midwest-bred, Bay Area–rooted, and now New York–franchised band of varying sizes and locales that moves with the narrative lilt of a Haruki Murakami novel as easily as it drops into singsong hecticness. The diverse plurality of their musical ideas makes singular the mix of post-bop swing, indie-rock power chords, and hip-hop breaks. Meanwhile, he also plays in the jazzed-out experimental salsa group Zemog El Gallo Bueno and Jordan Mclean's Fire of Space, specializing in an amalgam of Sun Ra tunes and Bollywood soundtracks. Stetson fuses odd time signatures to American roots music with a few incisive breaths. It stands to reason that as the world shrinks, Stetson champions multicultural music to fill the space we all share. No reason not to invite everybody on in.

Transmission play Zebulon May 31.

Slow Descent is San Francisco reed master Colin Stetson's third outing as a leader. After all the years spent studying with Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, and playing with everyone from Kenny Wollesen to Fred Frith to Tom Waits, Stetson is coming into his own as a composer. For Slow Descent is nothing if not a signature piece for a fine young composer who tests his harmonic, dynamic, and textural mettle on each of the disc's seven tracks. The band is a fine assemblage of the best the Bay Area has to offer: the group features guitar maestro Roger Riedlbauer, trombonist Tom Yoder, bassist Eric Perney, and the drum dancer himself, Tim Strand is on board. Stetson learned a lot in his woodshedding years because his compositions don't feel or read like some free jazz kid pouring everything he knows into each piece. In fact, the subtlety and elegance in these works is matched only by the restraint and masterful control used to rein in harmonics and solos -- in order to serve the spirit of group interplay and melodic invention. On "The Day I Stopped Trying," Riedlbauer and Perney usher in a spare, hypnotic phrase as a way for the them to eventually emerge, rather than to assert itself as somehow separate. When the rest of the band files in, Strand first, then Yoder, then Stetson, the tune itself is unfolding into a series of start melodics that seemingly float upon, rather that overtake the repetitive phrase. Tempo is strictly adhered to, but there are no seams between the players. When its interval changes at about two-minutes and ten-seconds in, the counterpoint appears to offer an alternate melodic universe, and it feels like the most natural thing in the world. Solos come and go, from Riedlbauer's blues-inflected phraseology to Stetson's own out blowing -- it flows. Likewise, the two-part suite, "Slow Descent Into Happiness," explores in its loping manner the interplay between pastoral melodies, folk themes, and the sonorities that exist between the trombone and the saxophones, and explores that sound world as the terrain in which the actual shape of the music comes to be. There are beautiful emotions in Stetson's music. They never assert themselves as individually dominant, but as different aspects of a complex, yet deeply moving, graceful, and sophisticated inner world that sings with mystery and aplomb. Stetson has come firmly into his own here; the marks his masters have left on him have become the strains of his own braid. Like Bill Frisell and Lester Bowie, Stetson has meditated upon the music surrounding him and created a signature style that is both warmly accessible and brilliantly challenging. It'll be difficult to wait for what comes next. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

TRANSMISSION is the avant groove jazz band fronted by sax player Colin Stetson. Colin has performed on the David Letterman show, and he and bassist Eric Perney have appeared on numerous CDs including the Tom Waits CDs "Alice" and "Blood Money".

Colin now lives in New York, so this is one of those rare semi-annual shows for the Transmission Trio. This will be their only Eastbay show this trip.

Transmission Trio and Transmission Quintet (adding guitarist Roger Riedlbauer and trumpeter Ara Anderson) will perform on this show. You've GOT to catch these guys if you want to hear some of the best jazz performers anywhere. Seriously.

Opening for Transmission is/are the BOXCAR SAINTS, a bluesy band fronted by Dave Hudson (recently profiled in a cover story in the SF Weekly) singing about hard life experiences in the Midwest. (And you think you've had it rough...)

Quotes about Transmission:

"...Theirs is a swaggering, unruly gait; a mini-Mingus band, blues and roots and lord knows what else." -- BBC

"...Transmission blows audiences away with high energy music that nearly defies description."-- The Current

"Transmission Trio's avant-garde fusion of improvisational or "free" jazz, hip hop and rock reeks of uber-cool, smoke-filled lounges where well-cocktailed cats and kittens talk art, existentialism and other such heavy things." --SF Examiner

On November 26th Slow Descent played at the Hotel Utah and many in attendance mourned the impending loss of two San Francisco gems. Sadly, the show took place during the venue’s last week and also marked Colin Stetson’s final appearance as a San Francisco resident. Just back from a UK tour with the Brooklyn based, Afro-funk band Antibalas, and on his way to New York City for the foreseeable future, an admittedly fatigued Stetson played as he always does, with innovation and passion. Special too about the evening was the fact that this marked only the second live performance of Slow Descent. Formed around the Transmission Trio, Slow Descent is a quintet assembled to record the soundtrack for Em Literary, a Bay Area magazine. Stetson penned all but one of the tracks that together evoke a narrative mood that lumbers, lilts and lazes. With regular musical partners Eric Perney on bass and Tim Strand behind the drums, Stetson, armed with his arsenal of horns, was joined onstage by Tom Yoder on trombone and Roger Riedlbauer on electric guitar. After a few moments of electric spaciness from Riedlbauer’s amp and bowed moans drawn from Perney’s bass the band launched into the album’s lead-off track, “Brick,” and for the following eighty minutes played the recording in its entirety. Stetson’s songs and Perney’s bass fit together tongue and groove, revealing not seams but a narrative arc that drew on all emotions. From guitarist Riedlbauer’s sorrowful lines of negative space and Yoder’s cozy, fireplace warmth, to the gorgeous apprehensiveness of the final song, “For Fear of What’s to Come,” every artist created a few brief minutes of musical perfection. The performance on this night was dazzling. That Stetson still possessed the energy to play his saxophones with quick, match-strike touches in light of his hectic work schedule remains one more testament to his power and talent. The notes he plays always sound right and the Em Literary soundtrack is a preview of what’s to come from Stetson as a player and a writer. San Francisco jazz fans may not fully understand the two losses suffered on this evening but for those in attendance the sorrow will lead to joy in 2004. Slow Descent plans on reconvening in the area sometime in February so there’ll be another chance to hear tremendous musicians play great music.

Saxophonist and clarinetist Colin Stetson has been busy making music on the West Coast since he left Ann Arbor in 1998, but he returns often and still performs in his native town whenever he can. Most recently he performed a stunning solo set at Kerrytown Concert House and apparently a solo disk is in the works. On his new CD, Slow Descent (Flying Tigers Music), he works with Eric Perney (bass), Tim Strand (drums), Tom Yoder (trombone), and Roger Riedlebauer (guitar). There are no liner notes, but apparently the music was composed for a poetry reading, which may help to explain the track titles and the atmosphere of the whole set. Stetson is best known here for his work with the eclectic Transmission ensemble, which includes both Perney and Riedelbauer. While the music here is quite different, the kind of blending of jazz, rock, and avant influences that are so characteristic of Transmission are also evident here. Stetson wrote all the material and there is a definite accent here on compositional structures. He does not even solo on the first tracks, but on "Slow Descent into Happiness 1" he offers a pensive, deep-toned tenor saxophone outing that starts out quite traditionally, but develops into an impassioned cry full of growls, triple tonguing, and other extended techniques before handing it over to the bass player. Part 2 of this composition features an equally spectacular solo by trombonist Yoder, who is eventually joined once again by the leader's tenor for a fast-paced duet. Stetson has an amazing command of his horns and plays with rare power and passion; he sounds like no one else, and has found a good balance between his instrumental and writing skills.

Wheel On My Back Review:

A Five Speed Transmission

So I went to the old Black Cat in San Francisco's neon sheened North Beach only now it's called the Beat Lounge, and it's open. I hadn't known that it closed, or changed names. The last time I hit the space I saw the long under-noticed Transmission Trio. I went on October 19 to hear the Bay Area debut of the now larger (sextet) Transmission. The hard-hitting, soul delving music played by reed man Colin Stetson, bassist Eric Perney, and drummer Tim Strand, the trifecta that is Transmission, augmented by Stuart Bogie on more reeds and Toby Summerfield on guitar forms the Tigers: a bigger, at times bolder sound but yet no less precise in its musical intricacy.
Nestled into an oversized arm-chair in the intimate, and as far as I could tell unchanged, basement space, Transmission played with the same ease as a group of old friends up all night shooting the shit. Their musical conversations -- explicit rants, finished sentences, inside jokes -- filled the room with their history, one of years and years of playing together, and apart.
Years ago, Bogie and Perney started the first Transmission in Chicago. At college in Ann Arbor, Michigan Bogie and Stetson discovered one another; Bogie's band mates soon crossed the flatlands and long-standing relationships began. Here in the 21st century Stetson, Perney and Strand reside in the Bay Area playing around town; Bogie has made a name for himself in New York wielding his sax in the Afro-Funk Brooklyn band Antibalas; in Chicago Summerfield works on his projects Hearing from the Gap and The Blind Spot Trio. Apart and together, these guys are players.
And play they did. Standing side by side, every breath Stetson and Bogie exhaled through their horns sounded their shared backgrounds, not in sound or voicing, but in an understanding of progress, change, of space; music created in the moment and not looked back upon because they were too busy moving forward, compelled by the rhythms laid down by Strand, Summerfield and Perney, who is capable of erecting structures -- balustrades, girders, beams of sound -- both practical and artistic. Transmission is always right there with one another, conception and completeness simultaneous. Filigreed with brass, wooden and electric notes that take on gossamer delicacy and columned strength, the band reunited and united, welcoming the audience into their conversations.

The Wheel On My Back takes a lesson from working with Tom Waits
2004-07-09
IF YOU GO
The Wheel On My Back with Noisufusion and Predicate
WHEN: 10 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: The Pilot Light, 106 E. Jackson Ave., Knoxville's Old City
HOW MUCH: $5
CALL: 524-8188
ON THE WEB: www.wheelonmyback.com
By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
If there's anything Colin Stetson learned from his days recording and performing with eclectic folk singer-songwriter Tom Waits, it's this: Think outside the box.
Waits, whose list of albums ranges from the melancholy ``Nighthawks at the Diner'' to the burlesque sounds of ``Frank's Wild Years'' to the free-ranging Americana of ``Mule Variations,'' can be classified as folk, but his music is so much more than that. So it is with Stetson's band, Transmission-- at its core is simple, free-form improvisational jazz, but a listen to the band's album, ``The Wheel on my Back,'' reveals a sonic landscape full of everything from Chicago indie rock to tribal drums.
``The bass player, Eric Perney, and I worked with Tom on multiple projects, and the biggest thing I took from that experience was something Tom has always done, and it wasn't until I worked with him that I absorbed it, and that's molding a sound out of several particular genres,'' Stetson said this week. ``Tom establishes characters for every particular song, and we took that into play with our songs.
``I think this group is the furthest we've ever gone from being rooted in one particular area of music. There's a very distinct flavor to all the songs, and they all have a distinct identity. In the end, we're just trying to utilize all the different instruments in as many varied ways as possible.''
Much of Transmission's distinct sound comes from the members' various backgrounds. Perney and Stuart Bogie formed Transmission in the early 1990s in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Stetson joined the lineup in 1994. At the time, the Transmission Trio, as it came to be known, played shows almost exclusively with the quintet Poignant Plecostomus, featuring Toby Summerfield and Josh Tillinghast -- both of whom now play guitar for Transmission.
But the guys did a bit of roaming before coming together in their current incarnation. Stetson and Perney wound up in San Francisco, where they recorded and performed with Waits; Summerfield moved to Chicago and joined the bands Larval and Crush Kill Destroy; and Bogie joined the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, which appeared on a recent Medeski, Martin and Wood album.
``All of us have played with each other in different capacities, some of us for 15 years, but we've all known each other for the past 10,'' Stetson said. ``It's the sound of a lot of bands coming together from all over, and there's no one composer for the group. We all arrange the songs together, and the composition credits are from all over the group. Everyone has their own thing going on.''
Listening to Transmission requires an open mind. There's no pigeon-holing this band; the mood shifts from the relaxing drive of the opening instrumental track, ``Alison,'' to the frenetic improv of ``Hoover Dam'' to the languid, drifting sounds of ``Tired of Winning,'' featuring guest vocals by New York songstress Mary Jordan Wood. It's definitely not mainstream, but that's OK -- it's melodic in its own way, and it's a joy for the band members to play.
``''Mainstream-wise, our music is not looked at very favorably, because the mainstream looks for a very distinct sound and a very narrow view of what the music should be,'' Stetson said. ``But I don't look at it that way. If we're going to be exploring a very sonorous space, we're going to use various sonic textures, and that's what we've come up with.
``It can go from chaotic and driving to real improvised sections, and the whole idea, the theory behind that, is that by putting those things back to back, you have a better chance of them being understood to their utmost. By reaching a level of really dense chaos and then going to something that just flows out and is very relaxing and beautiful, it draws attention to all of those qualities rather than it becoming just a study in ambient sounds.
``We've always tried to exist as part of all of these different genres, and we want an album or a set to play out like a story, with lots of hills and valleys,'' he added.
The result is a distinct style of music that appeals to music lovers and scholars, from the educated to the self-taught. The fan demographic for Transmission varies, Stetson added, from children brought along to the show by their parents to jazz lovers in their 60s and 70s.
``We've drawn on so many different influences that there's a little bit of something in what we do that people who are a little more adventurous will be able to latch onto and appreciate,'' he said. ``I tend to look at it a little more optimistically: We're not doomed because we don't cater to the mainstream; by putting it out in this format, it's almost what people are wanting even though they don't know it, because that's not what they're fed right now.
``I truly believe that what we feel passionately about is also felt by other people, and that it's just going to catch on if we bring it out into the open.''

Recloose Record Review:
On the flip side he touches Soul peaks with the sublime "Landscaping" - long percussive techno-jazz with a mystic positive flavour, accompanied by the inspired saxophone of Colin Stetson…

The Nashville Scene

Monday, July 12th 2004

TRANSMISSION The success of bands like Soulive and Medeski, Martin & Wood has spurred a proliferation of young soul-jazz acts that appeal to hipsters and hippies alike. Though Transmission exists on the periphery of this world, they put at least as much energy into composition as they do into practicing their diminished scales. The results are compelling and seductive, moving from four-on-the-floor soul grooves to tracks like "Alison," a polyrhythmic workout whose lithe melody belies its metric complexity. Echoes of everyone from Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tortoise to Morphine and Pharoah Sanders reverberate through the group's densely layered sound. Featuring musicians who've recorded and performed with Tom Waits, MMW and Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Transmission is sure to be even better live. Springwater

—Jack Silverman

Review of Tom Waits' "Alice":
(wryly tender-nostalgic-musing ballad for eloquent, ravaged male voice w/ luscious tenor sax {Colin Stetson} plus ac bass, brushes, vibes, muted
trumpet)
-the Planet, online Radio National

TOM WAITS, Record Review:
Aside from bass ace Larry Taylor, most of the musicians here are new collaborators for Mr. Waits. When Colin Stetson comes in on sax near the beginning of "Alice," he drops you back into that late night/early morning twilight, sleepy and smoky and even relaxed. Longtime fans will hear echoes of early chestnuts such as "Invitation to the Blues" and "Ruby's Arms," yet this is no mere rehash. There is too much originality in the arrangements for that.
-the Y-files

TOM WAITS, Record Review:
A string section, Colin Stetson's lush saxophone and Waits' own barroom piano form the basic canvas on which the songwriter paints his colors, giving the record a cozy, almost intimate atmosphere. Alice hides the dark heart of a misfit inside the smartly-adorned figure of a vaudeville singer.
- High Bias, may 5, 2002

TOM WAITS, Record Review:
"Everything Goes to Hell" features Colin Stetson's accomplished baritone sax to effectively convey a dark summation of humanity's bleak fate…
-Shaking Through.net

Preview: Flying Tigers @Onopa Brewing Co. in Milwaukee, WI.
Waits' sideman Stetson blows at Onopa
By OMC Staff Writers
Clarinetist and saxophonist Colin Stetson might be best known for his work as a sideman, accompanying some of the best in the music business, most notably Tom Waits, but Stetson has also got his own band.Colin Stetson's Flying Tigers come to Onopa Brewing Co. in Riverwest on Thurs., Aug. 21 at 9 p.m. Members of the band have performed with Waits, Taj Mahal, Fareed Haque, Fred Frith, Medeski, Martin & Wood and others.Stetson, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., and company -- bassist Eric Perney, guitarist Tobin Summerfield, drummer Tim Strand and fellow clarinetist/saxophonist Stuart Bogie, of Antibalas -- are currently on the road in support of Stetson's latest disc, "Tiny Beast," released last year by the Transmission Trio, which includes Perney, Stetson and drummer Andrew Kitchen. Stetson's got some new recordings soon to emerge, so expect to hear a bit of that, too.

Preview: Colin Stetson @Tuva in Oakland, CA. .
In addition, the young local solo saxophonist, COLIN STETSON will perform an opening solo set. Mr. Stetson is probably the most exciting and accomplished instrumentalists to emerge in recent years on the Bay Area scene. Drawing influence from saxophonists like Mats Gustafson and Ned Rothenberg, as well as artists like Squarepusher, Pharoah Monche, and Elvis Costello, Stetson's solo work explores the use of extended technique in various contexts. "...rythmically driving...it's a subtle blend of patience and ferocity." -Etch Magazine, Ann Arbor Mi. _________________

Slow Descent Review
the Colin Stetson CD surprised me just like his Transmission Trio did. Hard to describe the music, it reminded me of Mogwai and the 'film noir' type tunes by Vandermark 5. It's a bit less dark than Transmission Trio but still very mysterious and the tunes are elegant and graceful. There's plenty of free blowing going on, but with a certain restraint which creates space and a lot of interplay. Stetson is heard in a quintet setting here with bass/drums/trombone/guitar. Beautiful!

Transmission Trio Review:
Now the Transmission Trio CD is really something else. CDbaby.com describes it as avant/indie/jazz/rock, yeah as if that makes sense?! It features Colin Stetson (who also played on Waits' 'Blood Money') on various reeds in a trio setting with bass/drums. It's equal parts wild and intense riffs, rythms and blowing (Stetson sometimes sounds like he's aiming to blow his horn to shreds, think Brötzmann) and dreamlike soundscapes of a dark, sombre beauty. It really blew me away! And there's no record label on the cover so it seems like they put the record out themselves.

Preview Transmission
It's difficult to write about bands that defy categorization; it's best to search them out and define them for yourself. San Francisco's Transmission (aka Transmission Trio) fits firmly into the tradition of fun — yes, fun — music that can't be crammed into a particular genre. Though they occasionally describe themselves as "groove-oriented avant-jazz," it's a disservice to pigeonhole a band that cites influences from Peter Gabriel to Mr. Bungle and Ornette Coleman. (Further complicating matters, saxophonist Colin Stetson is just back from a Japanese tour with future jazzbo Recloose.) Catch Transmission at Storyville tonight and let us know if you can coin a catchphrase to describe this eclectic, energetic group. (LE)

Transmission Preview:
It's hard to find a more lively act than the Transmission Trio, a spinoff of the full Transmission combo, who turn out hardscrabble funk and bare-knuckled jazz from a bass, drums, and sax alone (ok, sometimes horn player Colin Stetson, who's recorded with Detroit future jazzbo Recloose, throws in a clarinet for good measure). Percussionist Andrew Kitchen moonlights in local funk outfit Boostamonte while bassist Eric Perney is fresh from Tom Waits' recent album Alice, but they're not the only cats with pedigrees. Their setmates tonight are the old school acid jazzers Broun Fellinis, who list slots with Ben Harper and The Roots on their decade-deep résumé. Tonight's show, celebrating the release of the Trio's new CD, is a shot in the arm for the local live music scene, and with a $5 cover, just the right price. (SB)

Colin Stetson and Slow Descent

We first encountered Colin's phenomenal music through his work with Transmission Trio, who, until recently, performed sonic wonders at Storyville in San Francsico most every Saturday evening. While we assembled Em Two, Buzz extoled Transmission until he managed to convince the lot of us to visit a gig. We were none of us disappointed.
Colin plays reedy instruments, mostly saxophones of every concievable size, but also clarinets. Aside from working with Transimission, he's also in The People's Bizarre and Boostamonte. He's the mournful, tender sound you hear on Tom Waits' last two albums, Alice and Blood Money. Like pretty much every collaborator Em's had the priviilege of working with, Colin surprised us by being not only interested, but excited about the project.
Slow Descent is a band assembled from Colin's various associations in the Bay Area music scene. The lineup:

Eric Perney - Bass
Josh Tillinghast - Percussion
Tim Strand- Drums
Tom Yoder-Trombone
Roger Reidbaur - Guitar

You can learn more about Colin and sample some more of music by visiting http://www.colinstetson.com/

Transmission Preview:
Transmission statement Eric Perney, Andrew Kitchen, and Colin Stetson make up the San Francisco-based Transmission Trio, a rare band that play avant-garde jazz that's accessible and enchanting despite its free meandering through a plethora of influences. Perney (upright bass) and Kitchen (drums) grew up together, which might explain their apparent onstage telepathy. Perney's plucking of the bass seamlessly moves from punchy funk to gentle, introspective riffs that wrap around Kitchen's shimmering, sensuous drumming. The rhythm section amplifies, as Stetson dives into intense saxophone progressions, which at times scream out shocking amounts of raw honesty. Tom Waits, connoisseur of the raw and spontaneous, invited Stetson and Perney to record on his Alice and Blood Money (Anti) albums last year. Since then, Stetson has been in high demand in New York City, so this should be an intense musical catch-up after a lengthy separation. 9 p.m., Bruno's, 2389 Mission, S.F. $6. (415) 648-7701. (Kristina Rizga)

Transmission Preview:
I have some doubts that there will ever be another Peoples Bizarre concert, I feel very fortunate to have seen them play tears in the eyes of audiences including me.
It's is just when six exceptional musicians come together and the project does not take off, it is tough to keep them together.
Tomorrow morning Colin Stetson their reed player is flying out to New York. If there weren't a word like gifted, one would have to invent it for the way he plays, for the way he puts his whole body into his instruments and the music they produce together.

Peoples Bizarre Review:
This Bay Area sextet has a collective musical pedigree that would make any ensemble jealous. From music degrees from the University of Michigan and Oberlin to playing in the undersung yet illustrious Transmission and studying and performing with Morton Subotnick, Fred Frith, Erik Friedlander, Peter Kowald, and Larval, these young people have between them a universe of modern and classical music with one deeply shared love: the passion for improvisation. The debut album by People's Bizarre is a lushly orchestrated, deliriously beautiful, and brave amalgam of folk and chamber musics, jazz, free improvisation, and melodic and harmonic invention. With a front line that consists of the saxophones and clarinets of Colin Stetson and the accordion and piano of Dan Cantrell, People's Bizarre weaves a seamless tapestry of sounds, moods, nuances, and musics from antiquity to the future into a gloriously illustrated tapestry that is not only brave but thoroughly accessible. Given the gorgeous string stylings of Sara Jo Zaharako's violin and Jessica Ivry's cello, with a solid bottom formed by drummer and percussionist Josh Tillinghast and bassist Eric Perney, People's Bizarre explores the ins and outs of Israeli and gypsy folk traditions on "Joy Fu Fritters" and "New Car Selma," and the vision of a new kind of rock & roll on "Cold, Cold Night," led by Cantrell's accordion slithering in and out of the melodic line, setting up a minor-key drone to be vamped over. His vocals, accompanied by a stinging harmony from Ivry, turn the track into a haunting and visceral aural vignette of life on the margins. And these are only the first three tracks. There are more moods and surprises and genuine mysteries here than most bands provide listeners in a lifetime. By the time Sara Jo Zaharako's lilting country-waltz "What You Need" falls sadly and sweetly from the speakers, the listener will have been taken through colors, shades, and histories both secret and sacred and left gently on the shore of return to consider what miraculous occurrence has just taken place. Highly recommended. AMG Rating : 4 Stars — Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

Peoples Bizarre Review:
The San Francisco Bay area may be as much of a musical melting pot as its rival cities on the East Coast. But one of the most impressive California groups to turn this cultural mixture into their own language is Peoples Bizarre. Sure, there are a number of jazz groups who are also conversant with Eastern Europe---whether adding rhythmic twists to klezmer or grooving to the harmonic freedom of Gypsy songs. But this sextet takes such ideas further than many of their contemporaries. The young, but consummate, string section of bassist Eric Perney, violinist Sarah Jo Zaharako, and cellist Jessica Ivry create stunning chamber soundscapes that are flexible enough to allow for such surprises as pianist Dan Cantrell's stride piano lines or clarinetist/saxophonist Colin Stetson's unique take on free improvisation. Dan's vocals on his compositions "Cold Cold Night" and "September" are evocative of the group's hometown Beat poet tradition. Although he's often understated, drummer Josh Tillinghast deserves credit for his part in making such wide-ranging ideas flow together. When Sarah's violin beautifully pours into Dan's piano at the end of the disc, it becomes clear that this is one of the rare young groups who know how much a recording should convey a narrative's sensibility. ---Aaron Cohen
Down Beat, Chicago Tribune