What do you call three great acts for the price of one? A fucking good deal, that’s what. Tonight at The Blind Pig, for the first time on the same bill, three of the most compelling musical groups in Ann Arbor will ratchet up the heat and melt faces with increasing levels of smoking hot grooves.
- Jessica Boullion
- Music School junior Theo Katzman will bring the passion tonight at the Pig. (Courtesy of Samantha Jean Strand)
School of Music and RC professor Mark Kirschenmann will open up the affair with a display of his considerable trumpet chops. Kirschenmann is not your average Miles Davis wannabe – he’s taken an entirely fresh approach to an instrument familiar to many by running his axe through a variety of pedals before it’s fully electrified glory reaches the ears of listeners. His excellent This Electric Trumpet recently dropped on M-Block Records, and it’s garnered critical acclaim for its above-the-middle-zone forays into experimental electronic jazz.
Following Kirschenmann will be another band traversing musical territory thus far unexplored: Toolbox. The group is comprised of a virtual who’s who of stand out student musicians. At the core of the group is the rhythm section comprised of hunky, mowhawked junior Aaron Gold on percussion and blond, gorgeous and often shirtless Christian Carpenter on bass. The two Music School juniors’ propulsive hullabaloo is enhanced by the guitar/effects of the incredibly versatile and talented Music School senior Robert Lester and the Derek Trucks meets Robbie Robertson six string stylings of lead guitarist and Music School junior Theo Katzman. Usually this musical menagerie is led by virtuosic pipist and tenor saxophonist Tyler Duncan, another Music School junior, but due to previous engagements he’ll be replaced by perhaps the only musician capable of filling his enormous shoes – Music School junior Yosef Dosik.
“First of all, I’m Toolbox’s No. 1 fan. Second of all learning all of Tyler’s parts has been an honor. Transcribing his beautiful pipe lines to the soprano saxophone has exposed his musical roots to me in a really dope, articulate and sexy way,” Yosef said. The group is excited to have him on board as well.
Katzman expressed his boundless joy, saying, “As always its one of my greatest pleasures to play with Yosef. What he’s done is taken a potential void and just filled it the fuck up and made it his own.”
Expect Toolbox’s righteous refrains to get people moving and grooving before Ann Arbor’s main musical export Nomo tears the walls down. No strangers to the Pig, Nomo is the surest bet in town to get everyone on the dance floor.
It’s almost impossible to over-hype Elliot Bergman’s funk/jazz/afro/soul/machine, but coming off months of touring, the band is tighter than ever. Their latest, New Tones, was released on the ultra-hip Ubiquity Records to rave reviews (4 bunny ears in Playboy!) and every hometown performance to date has been nothing short of revelatory.
All three of these artists on one bill make this a ridiculously easy way to get acquainted with some of the most important music being made by your peers, and the Pig is the perfect venue to soak up their respective beautiful noise.
Nomo, Toolbox and Mark Kirschenmann
Tonight at 8 p.m.
$8
$11 if under 21