Weasel Walter – Drums
Tyshawn Sorey – Trombone
Matt Nelson – Saxophone
Chris Pitsiokos – Saxophone
Michael Foster – Saxophone
Jaimie Branch – Trumpet
Forbes Graham – Trumpet
Steve Swell – Trombone
Tim Dahl – Bass
Brandon Lopez – Bass
Brandon Seabrook – Guitar
Leila Bordreuil – Cello
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Weasel Walter presents a longform work for large ensemble harnessing free jazz virtuosity with deliberate structural control and variation. The 12-piece group (featuring multiple reeds, brass, guitars, double basses, and Walter himself on drums) delivers an outrageous assault of ceaseless momentum and musical surprise with orchestration ranging from unaccompanied solos to the full-bore apocalypse of the full orchestra, and everything in between. Building off the traditions of John Coltrane’s legendary Ascension, Globe Unity Orchestra’s various works, and the complex sonics of modern composers like Xenakis, Penderecki, and Stockhausen, the Weasel Walter Large Ensemble conjures a high-energy atmosphere where instrumental extremity is paramount. Previous soloists in the group have included Henry Kaiser, Elliott Sharp and Peter Evans.
Weasel Walter founded the band The Flying Luttenbachers in Chicago in 1991 and currently performs as part of Cellular Chaos and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus. A major contributor to the Chicago no-wave/noise/improvised music underground during the 1990s and early 2000s, Walter has performed with The Flying Luttenbachers, Miss High Heel (with Jim O’Rourke and Azita of The Scissor Girls), Lake of Dracula (with Marlon Magas and Heather M. of the Scissor Girls), To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, 7000 Dying Rats and Hatewave (replacing founder Nandor Nevai) among others. Collaborators include Evan Parker, Elliott Sharp, Marshall Allen, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Jim O’Rourke, as well as influential underground rock bands including Lair of the Minotaur, Bobby Conn, U.S. Maple, Harry Pussy, and more. Walter has produced albums by Lydia Lunch, Glenn Branca, Coachwhips, and more.