Thu 4/28 @ 7PM
Jazz guitarist/composer/educator Dan Bruce is a transplant to northeast Ohio. He spent ten years as part of Chicago’s vibrant jazz scene where he released a couple of albums and performed on a couple of dozen as a sideman, before moving to Ohio just a couple of years ago. Since then he’s taught at Tri-C and Youngstown State University and had his pieces performed by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra.
He formed a new lineup here to push some boundaries, which he calls Dan Bruce’s :beta collective. It features a bunch of noted local players — Chris Coles on alto and tenor sax and vocals/vocoder, Chris Anderson on trombone, Brad Wagner on tenor and soprano sax and bass clarinet, Caleb Smith on trombone, Will Wedmedyk on vibraphone, Theron Brown on piano, Fender Rhodes and Melodica, Joel Negus on synthesizers, Aidan Plank on bass and Anthony Taddeo on drums and percussion. Bruce himself plays electric and acoustic guitars, and does electronic programming.
The ensemble is now releasing its second album Time to Mind the Mystics, on Shifting Paradigm Records, the follow-up to 2017’s Earthshine. It features a significantly expanded lineup from the first album, to “expand the textural palette, he says.
Bruce calls the album “a collection of thought experiments on the intertwined future of humanity and technology.” He says, “At the core is the idea that our embrace of technological innovation cannot come at the sacrifice of generational knowledge and ancient wisdom. Our humanity needs to be celebrated, and technology should play a supporting role.”
The band will celebrate the release with a concert at the Negative Space Galley on the second floor of Asian Town Center. They’re augmenting the concert with projected animations; drinks will be available for donations.