Osgood x DADA Jazz Festival

This two day festival features four seperate concerts showcasing the highest level of expressive improvisation in new and groundbreaking collaborations between Danish drummer, composer and music mastermind Kresten Osgood and 8 world renowned musicians including; Cooper-Moore, William Parker, Trevor Dunn, Michael Blake, Charlie Burnham, Marcus Rojas, Karen Borca, & Daniel Carter.
Kresten Osgood
Kresten Osgood is one of these people who at the same time defies and totally owns categories. An extraordinary drummer and improviser who with the fullest respect to tradition, challenges it at any given moment of his creative endeavors. He has about a 100 albums to his credit, toured practically everywhere, has been performing and/or recording with legends like Paul Bley, Lee Scratch Perry, Masabumi Kikuchi, Derek Bailey, Wadada Leo Smith, Justin Vernon, Eugene Chadbourne, Billy Preston, Alan Silva, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Sam Rivers, Henry Grimes, Dr. Yusef Lateef, and many many others. But even that doesn't really cover the full spectrum of this kaleidoscopic renaissance man: A successful rapper (check out Ikscheltaschel), composer, pianist, vocalist, saxophonist and trumpeter- a true multi-instrumentalist. As co‑founder of the ILK Music collective, he helped build one of Denmark’s most adventurous platforms for creative music. Osgood also created the acclaimed 8 part podcast series “Dangerous sounds" which traces 100 years of Danish jazz history. It is available on WRTI https://www.wrti.org/dangerous-sounds.

Trevor Dunn
Trevor Dunn is a pioneering bassist and composer whose work bridges experimental rock, avant‑garde jazz and contemporary classical music. First widely recognized as co‑founder and bassist of Mr. Bungle, he helped define the band’s genre‑smashing sound before becoming a key collaborator for John Zorn in projects such as Electric Masada and numerous studio ensembles. Dunn’s discography spans more than 150 recordings, including work with Fantômas, Secret Chiefs 3, the Melvins and his own Trio‑Convulsant, which fuses chamber‑jazz writing with heavy guitar textures. Based in Brooklyn since 2000, he is celebrated for his versatility on both electric and acoustic bass, his wide‑ranging compositional voice and his ability to move fluently between underground rock venues, jazz stages and contemporary music festivals.

Michael Blake
Michael Blake is a Canadian‑American saxophonist and composer who has been a distinct voice in New York’s creative jazz community for more than three decades. He gained international attention in the 1990s as a member of John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards, appearing on albums, soundtracks and tours that helped redefine downtown jazz aesthetics. Blake’s own projects—on labels including Intakt, Sunnyside and his P&M Records imprint—highlight his sharp compositional sense and textural imagination, often drawing on blues, folk and global influences. Praised by The New York Times as an “endlessly engaging and inquisitive improviser,” he has collaborated widely with artists such as Charlie Hunter, Ben Allison, Henry Butler, Steven Bernstein and Ray LaMontagne, balancing inside‑outside risk with strong melodic identity.

Charlie Burnham
Charlie Burnham is a highly inventive American violinist and composer whose work spans free jazz, blues, folk, chamber music and beyond. He became widely known through his collaborations with guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer, contributing a raw, vocal violin sound—often processed through wah‑wah and effects—to Ulmer’s groundbreaking free‑jazz and harmolodic groups. Burnham later joined the String Trio of New York and played a key role on Cassandra Wilson’s acclaimed Blue Note albums, including “Blue Light ’til Dawn,” which helped reshape jazz vocal aesthetics in the 1990s. A sought‑after collaborator, he has worked with Henry Threadgill, Steven Bernstein, Peter Apfelbaum and many others, bringing a lyrical, exploratory edge to the jazz violin that is both deeply rooted and forward‑looking.

Marcus Rojas
Marcus Rojas is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and accomplished tubists in the world, equally at home in orchestral, jazz and experimental settings. A graduate of New England Conservatory and New York’s High School of Music & Art, he has performed with institutions including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre while also becoming a central low‑brass voice in creative music. Rojas has been a key member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus and Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy, and he frequently collaborates with John Zorn and other boundary‑pushing composers. As an educator, he serves on the faculties of Bard College, NYU and Brooklyn College, shaping the next generation of tuba players and improvisers.

Cooper‑Moore
Cooper‑Moore (born Gene Y. Ashton) is a revered pianist, composer, instrument builder and educator whose work bridges gospel, blues, folk traditions and free jazz. Emerging from the New York loft‑jazz scene, he co‑founded and supported key performance spaces, later running the cooperative venue 501 Canal and helping foster a community for experimental improvisers. Beyond his powerful piano playing, he is known for designing and building his own instruments—from diddley‑bows to ashimba and handcrafted flutes—expanding the sound palette of improvised music. Cooper‑Moore has been a core collaborator with William Parker, David S. Ware and many downtown New York artists, and is widely respected as a storyteller and mentor, emphasizing music as a tool for service, resistance and spiritual connection.

William Parker
William Parker is one of the most influential bassists and bandleaders in modern free jazz, celebrated for his powerful sound, prolific output and deep spiritual and political engagement. Rising from New York’s loft‑jazz scene, he spent over a decade as a key member of pianist Cecil Taylor’s ensembles, helping shape the language of high‑energy improvisation. Since the 1980s, Parker has led numerous groups, including his Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra and the William Parker Quartet, releasing an extensive catalog that fuses avant‑garde improvisation with blues, folk and global traditions. The Village Voice has called him “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time,” and he is also an author and organizer, contributing essays, poetry and community‑based arts initiatives.

Karen Borca
Karen Borca is a pioneering bassoonist and improviser who expanded the instrument’s role far beyond classical orchestras into free jazz and avant‑garde music. After classical training at the University of Wisconsin, she immersed herself in New York’s experimental circles and became closely associated with pianist Cecil Taylor, whose ensembles pushed her bassoon into fiercely expressive, non‑traditional territory. Borca has led her own groups and performed with many cutting‑edge improvisers, bringing a raw, vocal intensity to the double‑reed palette. Her work has been crucial in proving that bassoon can function as a frontline voice in improvised music, inspiring subsequent generations of adventurous woodwind players and helping to broaden the sound world of free jazz.

Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter is a quietly legendary multi‑instrumentalist and composer, central to New York’s free‑jazz and creative‑music scenes since the 1970s. Known for his work on alto and tenor saxophones, trumpet, flute and clarinet, he is admired for a lyrical, conversational improvising style that balances melodic clarity with openness and risk. Carter is a founding member of cooperative groups such as Test and Other Dimensions In Music, ensembles that emphasize collective improvisation and egalitarian band structures. His long‑running collaborations with William Parker, Matthew Shipp, the 577 Records community and various genre‑crossing projects with DJs and rock musicians have produced a large, varied discography, making him a touchstone figure for musicians seeking a deeply inclusive, community‑oriented approach to improvisation.

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