[VAN LIER FELLOW] Brandon Lopez + Steve Baczkowski

Thursday, July 12, 20188:00 pm

Brandon Lopez – Bass
Steve Baczkowski – Saxophone

In the second performance of his year-long Van Lier Fellowship, bassist Brandon Lopez is joined by saxophonist Steve Baczkowski in a duet that tests the limits of the musicians’ endurance and instruments. Known for the intense physicality of their performances, Lopez and Baczkowski transition between brutality and tenderness in a single show.

Brandon Lopez and Steve Baczkowski met at the fabled center for improvised and strange music in Buffalo, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts. Quick friends, they decided to test the musical waters of the Brooklyn underground. A year later, they gave a brutal performance at the Exposure Festival in Chicago, wowing listeners and critics, in a show of sonic brutality, not entirely devoid of the tenderness.

Improviser/Composer, Brandon A. Lopez, deemed the “Ubiquitous Free Improv Bass Ace” by the Village Voice and said to play with a “bruising physicality” by the Chicago Reader, was born and raised in the splendors of Northwestern New Jersey, in the shadow of NYC. It was there that he cultivated a taste for the left of center musics and subsequently, dug graves. He’s had the pleasures of working with many of the world’s luminary left of center musicians. Is a frequent collaborator (With Weasel Walter, Mette Rasmussen, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Evans, Ingrid Laubrock, Dave Rempis and many others) and has toured and played prestigious halls, DIY basements, festivals all across North America and the European Continent. He currently leads a piano trio dubbed “Mess” with Sam Yulsman and Chris Corsano. He frequently plays solo. He is also the 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Issue Project Room and was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship through Roulette this same year. He attended New England Conservatory.

Steve Baczkowski is Buffalo’s best kept secret genius Saxophonist. He’s had the pleasure of working with Chris Corsano, Bill Nace, Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker and many others. His debut trio album will be released on Relative Pitch Records sometime this year.

Photo: Peter Gannushkin

Brandon Lopez is a 2018 Roulette Van Lier Fellow. This duet is made possible by the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of the New York Community Trust.

 

Brandon Lopez & Steve Baczkowski at Roulette 2018

[VAN LIER FELLOW] Brandon Lopez + Steve Baczkowski

Thursday, July 12, 20188:00 pm

Brandon Lopez – Bass
Steve Baczkowski – Saxophone

In the second performance of his year-long Van Lier Fellowship, bassist Brandon Lopez is joined by saxophonist Steve Baczkowski in a duet that tests the limits of the musicians’ endurance and instruments. Known for the intense physicality of their performances, Lopez and Baczkowski transition between brutality and tenderness in a single show.

Brandon Lopez and Steve Baczkowski met at the fabled center for improvised and strange music in Buffalo, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts. Quick friends, they decided to test the musical waters of the Brooklyn underground. A year later, they gave a brutal performance at the Exposure Festival in Chicago, wowing listeners and critics, in a show of sonic brutality, not entirely devoid of the tenderness.

Improviser/Composer, Brandon A. Lopez, deemed the “Ubiquitous Free Improv Bass Ace” by the Village Voice and said to play with a “bruising physicality” by the Chicago Reader, was born and raised in the splendors of Northwestern New Jersey, in the shadow of NYC. It was there that he cultivated a taste for the left of center musics and subsequently, dug graves. He’s had the pleasures of working with many of the world’s luminary left of center musicians. Is a frequent collaborator (With Weasel Walter, Mette Rasmussen, Gerald Cleaver, Peter Evans, Ingrid Laubrock, Dave Rempis and many others) and has toured and played prestigious halls, DIY basements, festivals all across North America and the European Continent. He currently leads a piano trio dubbed “Mess” with Sam Yulsman and Chris Corsano. He frequently plays solo. He is also the 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Issue Project Room and was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship through Roulette this same year. He attended New England Conservatory.

Steve Baczkowski is Buffalo’s best kept secret genius Saxophonist. He’s had the pleasure of working with Chris Corsano, Bill Nace, Roscoe Mitchell, William Parker and many others. His debut trio album will be released on Relative Pitch Records sometime this year.

Photo: Peter Gannushkin

Brandon Lopez is a 2018 Roulette Van Lier Fellow. This duet is made possible by the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund of the New York Community Trust.

 

Brandon Lopez & Steve Baczkowski at Roulette 2018