Jack Wright and Andrew Drury have been musical partners for a dozen years, often joining with others and playing regularly in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and elsewhere in the Eastern U.S. In 2007 they toured the former Yugoslavia together, performing and giving workshops in Zagreb (N.O. Jazz Festival), Ljubljana (Metelkova), Sarajevo (Collegium Musicum), Mostar, and Travnik. In 2012 they toured in Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Germany. Their Southeast tour in March 2014 was their first in the US. On that tour they joined up with Patrick Crossland in Washington DC.
Andrew Drury works promethean magic on a floor tom, using it as a stage for a theater of small objects that he charms into producing amazing sounds. Scraping the drum head, bowing metal on it, blowing directly with his lips on the shell of the floor tom, he turns the drum into an acoustic amplifier and filter, a string or wind instrument, often producing sounds associated more with electronics than percussion. And yet because of his physicality and the everyday character of the objects—dustpans, faucet parts, shish kabob skewers, etc.—and the speed and precision with which introduces and discards objects to his stage there is a theatrical quality (even humorous) to his performances. For more information go to www.andrewdrury.com/
Trombonist Patrick Crossland was born in Jackson, Mississippi and began playing trombone at age 10. His musical study continued at the University of Southern Mississippi, the Manhattan School of Music, the Royal College of Music, the University of Minnesota, and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik –Trossingen. He has worked closely with several European composers including Vinko Globokar and Marco Stroppa. Prominent solo performances include the Walker Art Center’s “Festival Dancing In Your Head” (2001, 2002, 2005), the Darmstadt Course for New Music (2004, 2006, 2008), where he was awarded a Solo Performance Prize, and the “Utopia Jetzt!” Festival (Germany) where he performed his acclaimed “V for Grock” multimedia recital. In 2009 he premiered his “Krieg dem Krieg” multimedia solo project.
Patrick Crossland is the recipient of a stipendium from the Landesgraduiertenförderungsgesetz of BadenbWürttemberg and a prize winner at the Sparda Classic Trombone Competition (2008). In addition to his activities as a soloist and chamber musician, he is an avid improviser, working with a wide range of musicians including Günter Christmann, Alexander Frangenheim, and Jack Wright . He is a member of the Composers Slide Quartet, Ensemble Laboratorium, and Zinc & Copper Works. Recently relocated to the Baltimore area, he holds a teaching position at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Described twenty years ago as an “undergrounder by design,” Jack Wright has been a saxophone improviser traveling through the US and Europe since the early 80s in search of interesting partners and playing situations. Now at 71 he is still the “Johnny Appleseed of Free Improvisation,” as guitarist Davey Williams called him. His range is from fiery, breathless free jazz to quiet, breath-filled, and often animalistic sounds. Sometimes he even makes saxophone sounds. A reviewer for the Washington Post said, “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation, saxophonist Jack Wright is king”. For more info go to www.springgardenmusic.com , for sounds https://soundcloud.com/#jackwright and writings jackiswright
