Carlo Costa has played a transformative role on the New York improvised music scene since he moved here in 2005. Originally from Rome, he studied at Berklee College of Music before moving to the city and studying with master percussionist Susie Ibarra through CUNY-City College. Since arriving in New York, Costa has been a major
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Anna Webber has emerged as a major force since arriving in New York in 2008. She has released a series of innovative records including her trio, Simple (2014) and Binary (2016), both on Skirl Records, and most recently, her septet, Clockwise, just released in February. Her performances and recordings bristle with compositional ideas and sophisticated
Since pianist and composer Eli Wallace moved to Brooklyn in 2015, he has been a steadily growing presence on the music scene. On March 1, he released his debut solo record, Barriers, and I had the opportunity to speak with him about his work. Cisco Bradley: You just released a solo piano record, Barriers. Has that been
In January, I had the opportunity to ask Sarah Bernstein (violin, electronics, poetry, composer) about her new record, Crazy Lights Shining, released in 2018 on the Phase Frame Music label. Bernstein is a singular player on the New York scene, with more than two decades of work, numerous records, and a number of key projects
Originally from Maine, drummer Devin Gray has been active in New York City for over a dozen years. His two main projects as a leader have been Dirigo Rataplan, a quartet with saxophonist Ellery Eskelin, trumpeter Dave Ballou, and bassist Michael Formanek, and RelativE ResonancE, a quartet with reedist Chris Speed, pianist Kris Davis, and
Jessica Ackerley is a leading guitarist in her generation of improvisers and experimentalists in Brooklyn today. Originally from Alberta, and having trained at Grant MacEwan and Rutgers, she has played with many contemporary figures since arriving in New York City in 2013. Her debut record as a leader, Coalesce, was one of the underground surprises of
In February, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chad Taylor and discuss his recent solo record release and his duo record with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as well as the many bands and records he has been a part of throughout his prolific career. Cisco Bradley: Chad, it’s wonderful to have you here.
Interview with violist Liliana Rodriguez Alvarado via email, January 8-February 1, 2018 CB: What were your formative musical experiences growing up in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico, and other places that you have lived? LRA: In Torreón, I started playing viola at the age of 13 at the Instituto de Arte Integral de la Laguna with my professor
Spoken word artist Samantha Riott has emerged over the past few years as a unique and powerful figure on New York’s experimental music scene. Having developed a reputation as an iconoclast in the poetry world, she turned to fierce experimental music as her medium of self-expression. Her deeply personal, biting lyrics delivered with such raw
Interview with Jacob Wick via Email, January 10-February 20, 2018 This is the third in a series of interviews that I have been conducting with musicians active in Mexico City. I had heard considerable praise of Wick by his contemporaries in New York prior to meeting him for the first time in Mexico City, where I
