In this studio visit, Nick Dunston discusses his artistic practice and how the Van Lier Fellowship has been integral to presenting his work.
Ascending bassist and composer Nick Dunston will give the first concert of his year-long Van Lier Fellowship at Roulette featuring Atlantic Extraction, a newly formed quintet, and the world premiere of The Floor is Lava!. The composition, written for five double basses, embodies its childhood game namesake, indulging imagination, obsession, devotion, and playfulness while reflecting Dunston’s high regard for asymmetry and extremity.
Atlantic Extraction brings together musicians with diverse and complex musical vocabularies, drawing from Free Jazz, No Wave, 20th Century Western Classical, and Appalachian folk. Its unique instrumentation fused with an improvisational core seeks to balance urgency with patience and familiarity with discomfort while maintaining a magnetic sound.
Atlantic Extraction:
Louna Dekker-Vargas: flute alto flute, piccolo
Ledah Finck: violin, viola
Tal Yahalom: guitar
Nick Dunston: bass, compositions
Stephen Boegehold: drums
The Floor is Lava!
Kanoa Mendenhall: bass
Almog Sharvit: bass
Eva Lawitts: bass
Lisa Hoppe: bass
Nick Dunston: bass, compositions
This video features paintings by Michael Larocca, Matt Chalk, and Monique Romney.
Nick Dunston is a Brooklyn-based composer, bassist, and scholar. His performances have spanned a variety of venues and festivals across countries in North America and Europe. While not tethered to any one community, his work often finds itself in between the spaces of jazz, Black American music, 20th-century western classical music, experimental music, No wave, and in many cases, cross-disciplinary collaborations. He’s performed professionally with artists such as Tyshawn Sorey, Vijay Iyer, Marc Ribot, Imani Uzuri, Anthony Coleman, Amirtha Kidambi, Dave Douglas, Matt Wilson, Jeff Lederer, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Darius Jones, and more. As a composer, he’s written for and collaborated for a wide range of artists, from solo instrumentalists, to his own bands, to chamber orchestras, performance artists. He’s been commissioned by entities such as the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, the Joffrey Ballet School, The Witches, violist Joanna Mattrey, the ESMAE Jazz and Chamber Orchestras, and more. His currently leads two bands: “Atlantic Extraction” and “Truffle Pig”, and is a co-leader of “Feral Children” (with Noah Becker and Lesley Mok) and “Aurelia Trio” (with Theo Walentiny and Connor Parks). As a writer, he’s contributed monthly to Hot House jazz magazine since 2016.