Trumpeter Ben LaMar Gay and reed player Nick Mazzarella, two mainstays of the ever expanding Chicago music scene, team up with drummer Tollef Østvang and bass player Jon Rune Strøm one of Norways most dynamic rhythm sections on this first ever Belgian date …
Rafael Toral infuses his sparkling electronics in the hard hitting Portugese Space Quartet featuring Hugo Antunes (bass), Nuno Morão (drums) and Nuno Torres (reeds, electronics).

BEN LAMAR GAY – NICK MAZZARELLA – JON RUNE STRØM – TOLLEF ØSTVANG

Norwegian drummer Tollef Østvang impressed earlier in the Oorstof series (2018) with Jaimie Branch, Dave Rempis and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. Østvang now explores the Chicago connection further with Ben LaMar Gay – a prolific cornet player that released his solo debut in 2018 on the International Anthem-label and is active in bands and collaborations like Nicole Mitchell’s EarthSeed, Mike Reed’s Flesh & Bone, Joshua Abrams’s Natural Information Society and even Bitchin Bajas. Add to this promising duo the gifted reed player Nick Mazzarella (Tomeka Reid duo, Chicago Reed Quartet)  – for the first time on a Belgian stage, and Jon Rune Strøm – the Norwegian bass player that provides Large Unit, All Incluced, SAKA and the Frode Gjerstad Trio of the necessary back bone in the lower sound regions – and we can say that this fiery quartet sets out a pretty high standard for the Oorstof concerts that will come at you this fall.

RAPHAEL TORAL’S SPACE QUARTET WITH HUGO ANTUNES, NUNO MORÃO AND NUNO TORRES

© Carlos Fernandes

Rafael Toral’s Space Quartet at first glance looks like a traditional line-up ook a jazz quartet. with drums, bass and two solo instruments. But the fact that one of the solo instruments is electronics and that in this post free context besides jazz also rock and ambient seep into the total sound adds a very welcome element  of surprise and challenge. According to Toral the Space Quartet is a concept where musicians with different musical backgrounds can find their place. The continuous evolving dynamics that this quartet generates can bring us from scorching free jazz to individual moments of stilled beauty. This already showed on the mesmerising first release of the Space Quartet (Clean Feed 2018). Toral now brings this Portugese Space Quartet to the Europeans stages looking for a challenging dialogue of his electronics with fellow Portugese and brilliant musicians like bass player Hugo Antunes, drummer Nuno Morão and reed player, electronics manipulator Nuno Torres.

Space Quartet 2019 from Rafael Toral on Vimeo.