Concert: Alternating Currents Live presents Mai Sugimoto Trio

Alternating Currents Live presents Mai Sugimoto Trio featuring

Mai Sugimoto—alto saxophone and flute

Joshua Abrams—bass

Isaiah Spencer—drums

"The trio manages to channel something ineffable in the recording situation, letting feel and groove take over. This is community music that is more about connection than virtuosity—which is surely present, but never ostentatiously so. . . . It conveys that singular joy of good improvised music, when it’s not about ripping solos but group unity. Naturally, I’m advising you all to pay close attention to Sugimoto from here on out."

—from Peter Margasak, a long-time music journalist who has also programmed the weekly Frequency Series at Constellation in Chicago since 2013, on the trio’s Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024)

Mai Sugimoto is a saxophonist, composer, and active member of Chicago’s jazz and creative music scene. Born/Raised, her debut album (Asian Improv Records, 2018), explores this cultural and musical binary, juxtaposing her Japanese upbringing with the American jazz idiom. Her first solo album, monologue (Asian Improv Records, 2021), was reviewed by Brad Rose of Foxy Digitalis, who writes, “Sugimoto’s skill is boundless as she can jump between different ideas while stitching them together with a common material thread. It’s music that demands attention and must be felt to be heard.”

Joshua Abrams is a composer, bassist, and improviser. His early formative musical experiences include performing in a chamber group conducted by , and busking in Philadelphia as an original member of The Roots. Since the mid-1990s, Abrams has been a key figure in Chicago’s creative music communities and has toured with artists across genres. In 2010, he formed the project Natural Information Society (NIS), a group that creates long-form psychedelic environments. He has toured North America and Europe extensively with NIS, and recorded four albums with them on the label, and one with .

Abrams has released Excavations, a solo acoustic bass album (Feeding Tube Records, 2018), and he has appeared on over 100 recordings, including those by Bonnie “Prince” Billy, David Boykin, Hamid Drake, Nicole Mitchell, , Mike Reed, , and Town and Country. His performances include work with The Fred Anderson Trio, Peter Brötzmann, Rhys Chatham, Toumani Diabaté, Jandek, Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, Jeff Parker, William Parker, Ballaké Sissoko, and Damo Suzuki.

Isaiah Spencer was born in Chicago, and with his edgy style and innovative beats, jazz and blues drumming he has carved out a unique reputation in Chicago and beyond. Critics have called his sound propulsive, fiery, and incendiary. Since 1998, Isaiah has been an active figure in the Chicago scene, while being recognized as one of the young lions like his counterparts and childhood friends Maurice Brown, Corey Wilkes, and Kevin Nabors. His musical prowess and versatility has led him to musicians such as Fred Anderson, William Parker, Ernest Dawkins, and David Murray, as well as more traditional figures including Clark Terry, Von Freeman, Curtis Fuller, and George Freeman. Isaiah now leads the Isaiah Spencer sextet, which has become a local favorite at the Velvet Lounge where they have been performing every Sunday since the re-opening in 2006.

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