Get Free Music Series presents: Gerard Cox, with Trompeter, Gilman-Opalsky, and Larison
Schedule
Fri, 21 Nov, 2025 at 07:00 pm
UTC-06:00Location
UIS Field Station: 9 Club Area, Springfield, IL | Springfield, IL
Advertisement
Join the UIS Music program for the second Get Free Music Series event of the year. This show will feature Gerard Cox on keyboard. He will be joined by Frank Trompeter on saxophone, Richard Gilman-Opalsky on drums, and Adam Larison on guitar. Friday, November 21st at 7:00 pm, UIS Field Station, 9 Club Area, Springfield, IL.---
Gerard Cox is a pianist and multi-instrumental improviser with an avowed interest in musical surrealism and making improbable connections within his musical imagination. Piano is his primary instrument, but he also plays Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B3 organ and all manner of keyboards and synths. His playing takes in a very wide swath of influences, from blues and funk like Gene Harris and George Duke, to classic voices like Monk and McCoy Tyner, to out/avant-garde pianists like Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill. Cox improvises in a way to make improbable connections, not only between piano improvising styles but between whole genres and philosophies of improvising. Cox has played with a range of improvisers and jazz musicians, including saxophonists Rent Romus, Hasan Abdur-Razzaq, Jim Ryan and Michael Carey, vibraphonist Josh Strange, drummers Troy Kunkler and Richard Gilman-Opalsky, multi-instrumentalists Nick Weckman and Matt Lavelle, tubist Tony Zilincik, and percussionist Julie Licata. He plays in the free improv band Actual/Actual.
“A gifted and versatile musician, Cox’s piano could at once evoke the rich sonic tapestries of McCoy Tyner, only to be ripped apart with radical plunks a la Cecil Taylor.”
- Kyle Long, NUVO Weekly
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
UIS Field Station: 9 Club Area, Springfield, IL, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
