Improvised Music Series: Matt Blair Trio + Erik Sowa/Robbie Lynn Hunsinger
Advertisement
We welcome Matt Blair from Madison, WI as he brings his trio. Erik Sowa and Robbie Lynn Hunsinger improvise as a duo.
8:30 pm: Erik Sowa/Robbie Lynn Hunsinger
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger - alto and soprano saxophones, oboe, whistle, fiddle, piano Erik Sowa - drums, percussion
9:30 pm: Matt Blair Trio
Matt Blair - piano
Brian Courage - upright bass
Devin Drobka - drum set
Matt Blair is a pianist, composer, multimedia artist, and educator living in Madison, Wisconsin. His work draws upon diverse musical traditions such as jazz and improvisation, sound art, minimalism, and electronic music.
Since 2018, Matt has been releasing music on his label, Scribbled Fang Records. Recent releases have included Shadow Sets, a collection of compositions for solo piano that was produced by Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Post Rock Lately, the debut record of Collector, an improvising trio featuring Jakob Heinemann on bass and Devin Drobka on drums and electronics, and Flights and Poor Health Good Spirits, both releases by Big Thanks, a Minneapolis-based Trash House trio featuring Miles Allen on saxophone and clarinet and Jack Lussenden on drums. Other recent releases have included After Party (out on Dinzu Artefacts), the debut record of Yins, an electronic duo with Devin Drobka, and Resorts (out on Shifting Paradigm Records), a piano trio featuring Devin Drobka’s compositions with Aaron Darrell on bass.
Devin Drobka has been creating original music in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of Albert Ayler, Paul Motian, and Ornette Coleman. Devin’s music has been described as “sounding like nothing else in midwestern jazz” and “gorgerous, innovative.”
" Devin was a former student of mine at Berklee and one of my best. He was and remains, a serious, inquisitive, committed student, firmly grounded in the tradition, but open to what might be possible as the tradition evolves and changes with each generation... not only is Devin a catalyst of that change... he is " the next generation..."
Jon Hazilla - Drum Professor at the Berklee College of Music
Originally from Long Island, NY, bassist Brian Courage has spent the last decade as an integral part of the creative music scenes in Minneapolis, Brooklyn, and now Chicago, where he currently resides. He has performed alongside an extensive array of nationally acclaimed improvisers, including Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, Lew Tabackin, David Hazeltine, Jason Stein, Weasel Walter, Michael Lewis, Erik Fratzke, Russ Johnson, JT Bates, and Billy Mintz. Brian is adept at a wide range of styles and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, renowned vocal quartet The Four Freshmen, the Chicago Tap Theater, and the New York based Americana / blues rock band Hollis Brown, with whom he toured the US and Europe extensively. His most recent creative endeavor is Abhorrent Expanse, a fully improvised metal band. Their debut album "Gateways to Resplendence" has been featured in prominent outlets including Decibel, Metal Injection, Burning Ambulance, and Wire Magazine.
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger and Erik Sowa first began playing as duo in the fall of 2024. Their improvizations frequently shift between metered and non-metered time with an emphasis on listening, subtle textures, and controlled dynamics. This duo is currently in the process of finishing their first full length album.
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger came to improvised and creative media performance after decades as a classical oboist touring and recording with the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony and performing with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Recent free jazz releases include 2 projects with Tim Daisy and a duet album with Tatsu Aoki. She led the highly regarded Trio project with Tatsu and Art Ensemble of Chicago's Joseph Jarman and ran the XoinX Series. After moving back to Chicago in 2024 she was one of 8 artists selected for the Chicago Int'l Puppet Festival Lab program and was also awarded a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs grant to produce a concert of her intermedia chamber music works - scheduled for Aug 21 at Hairpin Arts Center. She is a proud member of the LGBTQ community and Founder of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors program.
Erik Sowa is a Chicago-based drummer/percussionist whose musical directions are informed by free improvization, jazz, ambient/noise, post rock, and afro-beat traditions. In recent years, Erik has collaborated with a wide range of performers of varied musical genres including Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Jeb Bishop, Mai Sugimoto, Thomas Comerford, and Snek Trio. In 2022, Erik released a self-titled solo album of instrumental compositions titled "Cedar Lake Recordings Vol. 1" which was reviewed in Dusted Magazine. Erik Sowa is a Chicago based drummer/percussionist whose musical directions are informed by free improvization, jazz, ambient/noise, post rock, and afro-beat traditions. In recent years, Erik has collaborated with a wide range of performers of varied musical genres including Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Jeb Bishop, Mai Sugimoto, Thomas Comerford, and Snek Trio. In 2022, Erik released a self-titled solo album of instrumental compositions titled "Cedar Lake Recordings Vol. 1" which was reviewed in Dusted Magazine. Erik also has a solo drum set/percussion album titled "Mossy Alchemy" set to be released on the label Sliptoh Recordings in June of 2026.
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
8:30 pm: Erik Sowa/Robbie Lynn Hunsinger
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger - alto and soprano saxophones, oboe, whistle, fiddle, piano Erik Sowa - drums, percussion
9:30 pm: Matt Blair Trio
Matt Blair - piano
Brian Courage - upright bass
Devin Drobka - drum set
Matt Blair is a pianist, composer, multimedia artist, and educator living in Madison, Wisconsin. His work draws upon diverse musical traditions such as jazz and improvisation, sound art, minimalism, and electronic music.
Since 2018, Matt has been releasing music on his label, Scribbled Fang Records. Recent releases have included Shadow Sets, a collection of compositions for solo piano that was produced by Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Post Rock Lately, the debut record of Collector, an improvising trio featuring Jakob Heinemann on bass and Devin Drobka on drums and electronics, and Flights and Poor Health Good Spirits, both releases by Big Thanks, a Minneapolis-based Trash House trio featuring Miles Allen on saxophone and clarinet and Jack Lussenden on drums. Other recent releases have included After Party (out on Dinzu Artefacts), the debut record of Yins, an electronic duo with Devin Drobka, and Resorts (out on Shifting Paradigm Records), a piano trio featuring Devin Drobka’s compositions with Aaron Darrell on bass.
Devin Drobka has been creating original music in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of Albert Ayler, Paul Motian, and Ornette Coleman. Devin’s music has been described as “sounding like nothing else in midwestern jazz” and “gorgerous, innovative.”
" Devin was a former student of mine at Berklee and one of my best. He was and remains, a serious, inquisitive, committed student, firmly grounded in the tradition, but open to what might be possible as the tradition evolves and changes with each generation... not only is Devin a catalyst of that change... he is " the next generation..."
Jon Hazilla - Drum Professor at the Berklee College of Music
Originally from Long Island, NY, bassist Brian Courage has spent the last decade as an integral part of the creative music scenes in Minneapolis, Brooklyn, and now Chicago, where he currently resides. He has performed alongside an extensive array of nationally acclaimed improvisers, including Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, Lew Tabackin, David Hazeltine, Jason Stein, Weasel Walter, Michael Lewis, Erik Fratzke, Russ Johnson, JT Bates, and Billy Mintz. Brian is adept at a wide range of styles and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, renowned vocal quartet The Four Freshmen, the Chicago Tap Theater, and the New York based Americana / blues rock band Hollis Brown, with whom he toured the US and Europe extensively. His most recent creative endeavor is Abhorrent Expanse, a fully improvised metal band. Their debut album "Gateways to Resplendence" has been featured in prominent outlets including Decibel, Metal Injection, Burning Ambulance, and Wire Magazine.
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger and Erik Sowa first began playing as duo in the fall of 2024. Their improvizations frequently shift between metered and non-metered time with an emphasis on listening, subtle textures, and controlled dynamics. This duo is currently in the process of finishing their first full length album.
Robbie Lynn Hunsinger came to improvised and creative media performance after decades as a classical oboist touring and recording with the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony and performing with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Recent free jazz releases include 2 projects with Tim Daisy and a duet album with Tatsu Aoki. She led the highly regarded Trio project with Tatsu and Art Ensemble of Chicago's Joseph Jarman and ran the XoinX Series. After moving back to Chicago in 2024 she was one of 8 artists selected for the Chicago Int'l Puppet Festival Lab program and was also awarded a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs grant to produce a concert of her intermedia chamber music works - scheduled for Aug 21 at Hairpin Arts Center. She is a proud member of the LGBTQ community and Founder of the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors program.
Erik Sowa is a Chicago-based drummer/percussionist whose musical directions are informed by free improvization, jazz, ambient/noise, post rock, and afro-beat traditions. In recent years, Erik has collaborated with a wide range of performers of varied musical genres including Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Jeb Bishop, Mai Sugimoto, Thomas Comerford, and Snek Trio. In 2022, Erik released a self-titled solo album of instrumental compositions titled "Cedar Lake Recordings Vol. 1" which was reviewed in Dusted Magazine. Erik Sowa is a Chicago based drummer/percussionist whose musical directions are informed by free improvization, jazz, ambient/noise, post rock, and afro-beat traditions. In recent years, Erik has collaborated with a wide range of performers of varied musical genres including Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Jeb Bishop, Mai Sugimoto, Thomas Comerford, and Snek Trio. In 2022, Erik released a self-titled solo album of instrumental compositions titled "Cedar Lake Recordings Vol. 1" which was reviewed in Dusted Magazine. Erik also has a solo drum set/percussion album titled "Mossy Alchemy" set to be released on the label Sliptoh Recordings in June of 2026.
$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
3429 W Diversey #208, Chicago, IL, United States, Illinois 60647
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherElastic Arts
