Jessica Elizabeth Ackerley, Tim Daisy & Josh Berman

Just in from Bluestem: saxophonist great “Mots Gudstafononom” will open for this show! BIG HONOR – RARE TREAT !

Jessica Ackerley is a Canadian guitarist, improviser and composer based in Honolulu and a current PhD candidate at University of Hawai’i after a decade of living in New York City. Ackerley continually develops a hybrid musical language drawing on the influences of Black American Music and avant-garde improvisers, as well as the culture of the thriving New York City rock and noise scenes. Since 2017, Ackerley has released seventeen albums to much critical acclaim with features in Wire Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Radio, and Bandcamp. They have been commissioned by Adult Swim, Mutual Mentorship, and New Music USA as well as received funding from Canada Council for the Arts and Foundation for Contemporary Arts. As an active performer, Ackerley has toured extensively throughout North America, performing at noteworthy venues like The Met Breuer, The Stone, Something Else! Festival, Coastal Jazz Festival, and countless underground venues ranging from the basements of houses to record shops.

Tim Daisy is an American drummer and composer working in the fields of improvised and composed music. Tim moved to Chicago in 1997 and since that time has performed, recorded, and toured with many national and international improvised musicians and ensembles. He was a member of the Vandermark 5 from 2002 to 2010.

He has also performed with Dave Rempis, Jeb Bishop, Mars Williams, Steve Swell, Jaimie Branch, Katherine Young, Fred Lonberg-Holm, James Falzone, Russ Johnson, Katinka Kleijn, Elizabeth Harnik, Christof Kurzmann, Ikue Mori, Rafael Toral, Mikolaj Trzaska, Per Ake Holmlander, Darren Johnston, Havard Wiik, Jason Stein and Michael Zerang.

In 2011 he received the New Music America Composers Assistance Award and in 2011, 2012 and 2017 the ASCAP Plus Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers . He has recorded over one hundred and thirty albums as a sideman or leader for labels including Relay, (which he owns and operates), Not Two, Clean Feed, Astral Spirits, Aerophonic, Audiographic, Sonorus, Trost, Utech, New World, and Okka Disk.

Tim co-curates the weekly OPTION series at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago. The programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a ‘salon’ format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform.

Josh Berman, cornetist and improviser, composer, as well as a music presenter, has been a key contributor to Chicago’s vibrant improvised music scene for more than ten year. His work includes both creating opportunities and forums to present improvised music. He is co-founder of Umbrella Music Group, vice president and cocurator of Emerging Improvisers Organization, and performing in a variety highly collaborative formats. Berman and his band Old Idea released their debut full-length album on Delmark Records in June 2009. It was awarded four stars by Downbeat Magazine. Ben Ratliff of The New York Times said, “I like Old Idea’s stylish cleanness… It’s an album with generous learning and no big attitude.” It has space, harmonic mobility, and gentle humor. from www.oldtownschool.org