Violinist, improviser, composer, educator and Roulette 2023 Resident Artist gabby fluke-mogul debuts their power duo electric guitar and violin music with Ava Mendoza. fluke-mogul and Mendoza meet at the crossroads of tradition and extremity. Avant jazz, blues, and noise alchemize in their song forms and free improvisations. The duo sometimes honors, sometimes uproots and upends old time tunes, spirituals, and other folk forms as well as playing their own incendiary compositions. From the beaches of Miami and DIY basements in Oakland, to their current home of Brooklyn, Mendoza and fluke-mogul carry intersecting lines of experimental music past, present, and future.
gabby fluke-mogul violin
Ava Mendoza electric guitar
A livestream will be available free of charge at 6pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.
GABBY FLUKE-MOGUL is a New York based violinist, improviser, composer, educator, organizer, & doula. fluke-mogul weaves within the threads of avant & free jazz with deep roots in improvised & experimental music. Their playing has been described as “embodied, visceral, & virtuosic” & “the most striking sound in improvised music in years…” gabby is humbled to have collaborated with Nava Dunkelman, Joanna Mattrey, Ava Mendoza, Fred Frith, Luke Stewart, Zeena Parkins, Tcheser Holmes, Mara Rosenbloom, William Parker, & Pauline Oliveros among many other musicians, poets, dancers, & visual artists. fluke-mogul is a Roulette 2023 Jerome Artist in Residence. “The way they construct sound with their violin is ageless. They are sounds built from the ancient geology beneath us; from shards of broken cosmic glass; from hidden corners within their heart and mind…fluke-mogul plays the moment to its fullest amplitude” (Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis).
AVA MENDOZA is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. Born in 1983, she started performing her own music, and as a sidewoman and collaborator in many different projects, as soon as she was legally allowed into venues. As a guitarist, Mendoza has received acclaim for her technique and viscerality. Her most ongoing work is as leader of experimental rock band Unnatural Ways, and as a solo performer. In any context she is committed to bringing expressivity, energy and a wide sonic range to the music. Mendoza has toured throughout the U.S. and Europe and recorded/performed with musicians including Carla Bozulich, Malcolm Mooney (CAN), Steve Shelley, Mike Watt, Adele Bertei, Mick Barr, William Hooker, Nels Cline, Matana Roberts, John Zorn, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Fred Frith, William Parker, Hamid Drake, ROVA, Negativland, the Violent Femmes, and members of Caroliner. Recordings are available on labels Tzadik, Astral Spirits, Weird Forest, Clean Feed, Resipiscent, and New Atlantis. She was featured as one of Guitar World‘s “10 Female Guitarists You Should Know”. “It’s… Ava Mendoza’s deconstructing of blues and punk into brutal shredfests that’s causing a ruckus in NYC’s DIY hubs” (Brad Cohan, Noisey.Vice). “A wizard on a semi-circle of effects pedals, but… equally adept with FX-less technique,” (Lars Gotrich, NPR). “A beautiful, powerful and highly original solo electric guitar record – not just another record but a new sound, a new voice”. (Marc Ribot on New Spells, Mendoza’s 2022 solo release) “Mendoza plays these songs. She makes them sing. Her technique is impeccable, but her playing is astonishingly expressive. She doesn’t just bend blue notes; she wads them up into a ball and throws them up against a wall… Mendoza knows what she does better than almost anyone else on the planet, which is tell stories with her guitar.” (Aiding & Abetting).
