Joining maestro Evan Parker is special guest drummer, Avreeayl Ra, straight out of Chicago, and our regular favourite bass player John Edwards.
Avreeayl’s history is steeped in the Chicago jazz culture – his father, Arthur ‘Swinglee’ O’Neil, was a prominent tenor player in Chicago and Avreeayl is considered to be one of the foremost torchbearers of the Chicago improvised jazz tradition. He has played and/or recorded with, just to name a few, Sun Ra, Fontella Bass, Pharoah Sanders, Henry Grimes, Lester Bowie, Ari Brown, Marshall Allen, and Nicole Mitchell. Howard Reich, music critic at the Chicago Tribune, writes: “An indispensable Chicago innovator, Avreeayl Ra shapes the music-making swirling around him with remarkable precision and poise… extraordinarily sensitive percussion.” Another critic, John Kelman, describes Avreeayl’s playing as “part Tony Williams, part Elvin Jones, and all Avreeayl Ra.”
Having last played at the Vortex as part of Marshall Allen’s Double Spiral Infinity Quartet, we are delighted to welcome Avreeayl back for a first-time performance with Evan Parker and John Edwards. Avreeayl’s appearance has been made possible by the generous support of the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation.