The trombonist (and didjeridu-er) with Bill Frisell on electric guitar and Ikue Mori on drum machine and drums in a mumbo jumbovian* trio. Solo, duo, and trio improvisations.
*Staley’s 1987 album with an assortment of improvising collaborators is called Mumbo Jumbo.
Jim Staley occupies a unique position among trombonists, crossing genres freely between post-modern classical music and avant-garde jazz. He boasts spectacular technique, including the ability to spit forth clusters of notes at rapid speed. Usually concentrating in the mid-to-lower registers of the trombone, his big, gruff tone hearkens to an earlier era, though his wondrous abilities and style plant him firmly in the free music world. Raised in Illinois, Staley served in the armed forces as a member of a U.S. Army Band in Berlin, before receiving Bachelor and Masters degrees in music from the University of Illinois in the late 1970s. In 1978, he moved to New York City, where he co-founded Roulette. Since then, Staley has lived in lower Manhattan, where he has actively performed and recorded with many cutting edge innovators, including composer/alto saxophonist John Zorn, guitarist Elliott Sharp, and vocalist Shelley Hirsch. In addition to recordings under his leadership, he appears on several of Zorn’s CDs. He also performs and records with a classical ensemble, the Tone Road Ramblers. –Bio as of 2019
Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 35 years, expanding from small loft performances, including Roulette’s Tribeca location in the early 1980s (where he played his first-ever solo show), to international tours and large concert halls. His performance and recording collaborators include Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, Ginger Baker, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III, Van Dyke Parks, Vic Chesnutt, Rickie Lee Jones, Ron Sexsmith, Vinicius Cantuária, Marc Johnson, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Melvin Gibbs, Marianne Faithfull, John Scofield, Jan Garbarek, Lyle Mays, Vernon Reid, Julius Hemphill, Paul Bley, Wayne Horvitz, Hal Willner, Robin Holcomb, Rinde Eckert, The Frankfurt Ballet, Gus Van Sant, David Sanborn, David Sylvian, Petra Haden, Bono, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell, and numerous others. Frisell has a long and rich history with ECM, making his debut on the label in 1983 with the critically acclaimed In Line. The guitarist’s history with the label also includes multiple recordings by his iconic cooperative trio with Paul Motian and Joe Lovano, culminating in Time and Time Again in 2007. His catalog has been cited by Downbeat as “the best recorded output of the decade,” and he was the recipient of an inaugural Doris Duke Artist grant in 2012. –Bio as of 2019
Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal No Wave band DNA with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. After becoming involved with the city’s flourishing improvisational scene via John Zorn, she began experimenting with drum machines, and in recent years utilizes the laptop as her primary instrument. –Bio as of 2019
