Thanks to the gracious generosity of George Roberts, I was able to mount 70 or so concerts at Homewood Studios over a period of 10 years (2003-2013).

Had Studio Toile d’Angles not been established, the series at Homewood would almost assuredly have continued.

Now in its 20th year, George invited me to return to Homewood for a concert as part of the month’s memorializing; the personnel being of my choosing. I immediately thought to book a group which includes George and has done a number of concerts at Studio Toile d’Angles. He and Michael Mann provide poetry/spoken word as equal participants with the improvising musicians; myself, Charles Gillett, Emerson Aagaard and Davu Seru. The concept underscores words as sounds, so, periodically if not often, overt narrative threads are lost, either by the speakers themselves, or when they’re subsumed by the other sounds. Additionally, they will opt to speak simultaneously; with one speaking “under” the other at times. (To be clear, this isn’t your mom’s poetry-with-musical-accompaniment event.)  Everyone in the group has found this interface to be invigorating; everyone save for Davu, as this will be his first appearance with this grouping. (I suggested his inclusion as he and George have a deep connection from their time at North High School where George was a teacher and, for Davu, one of his students, a lifeline.)

Additionally & unintentionally, fitting in with the theme (Passing It On) of the month-long exhibition, several generations will be represented by the musicians. Charles and Davu are a couple decades younger than myself, while Emerson is another decade + removed.

The January 12, 2020 concert was, for me, and, given the reaction of the other participants and the few friends that were there to actively listen (never mind the tourists!), extremely satisfying. A slight variation of this grouping will, barring life’s vagaries, reconvene at Studio Toile d’Angles in the spring. [Barring life’s vagaries, indeed! The onslaught of the pandemic nixed not only that concert but the entire series. As of November 2022, I am still waiting for the endemic phase to truly begin.]