Joys and Concerns #8
At Bar Bayeux with the Choir Invisible and Threes Brewing with Sean Moran. Ember in Brooklyn, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, Ann Arbor, Detroit.
Musicians learn to thrive when things are good, but also learn to remain creative and productive when they are not. In fact, during the good times, the musicians on my end of the musical spectrum tend to reinvest their earnings back into their own creative work, even if this work lacks the chance at being profitable. Outside of music, to even consider this as a possibility, could be viewed as a folly. But such is the life of an artist; passion over reason.
—Michael Formanek, 2021.
Bassist and composer Michael Formanek, now residing in Lisbon, Portugal, is in town this weekend to play with pianist Angelica Sanchez at the Jazz Gallery, recording live with the master, Billy Hart, in a follow-up to their wonderful Sparkle Beings (Sunnyside) from 2023.
Michael’s absolute commitment to follow his own musical impulses, while staying a strong and active part of the community, has been a big influence on me. Yesterday, Michael, saxophonist/clarinetist Chet Doxas, and I met up at Chet’s home studio for an afternoon session. We’ve been a band— the Michael Formanek Drome Trio— since the pandemic lockdown summer of 2020, with one album to our name, Were We Where We Were (Circular File, 2022), of which I’m hugely proud. Judging by the magic of yesterday’s session, I think we’ll be a band one way or another for a long time to come.
Afterwards, we went to Lowlands to hear Tim Berne’s quartet with bassist John Hebert, guitarist Greg Belisle-Chi, and the great Tom Rainey on drums. Berne is a leader of our community, and, of course, Michael Formanek’s been playing with Tim since about 1991. The show was wonderful— Belisle-Chi, Hebert, and Rainey are a semi-regular Berne quartet, and have a deep understanding of Tim’s music, bringing out nuance and detail in the writing and improvising.
As I sat listening, feeling all that past, present, and future, Sonny Rollins’s great phrase— “Jazz goes on and on”— seemed to emanate from the walls. When we come together, it just happens.
Starting tomorrow, I’m playing shows in Brooklyn with three different bands, then heading on the road for a week with Ember. I just love this.
Saturday, June 21: The Choir Invisible at Bar Bayeux, Brooklyn NY. The co-operative trio of Charlotte Greve, Chris Tordini, and myself play our first show together since our spring 2024 European tour. Town Of Two Faces, our most recent album on Intakt, can be purchased here.
Sunday, June 22: Sean Moran Sun Tiger at Threes Brewing, Brooklyn, NY. Guitarist and composer Sean Moran’s Sun Tiger, a trio featuring Moran, myself, and cellist Christopher Hoffman should be more widely heard— his music nods to chamber music and the blues. Here’s our record from 2016.
Monday, June 23: Ember with special guest Tim Berne, Ibeam, Brooklyn, NY.
On Tuesday morning, Ember gets in the car for a trip to the Midwest. With three albums out, 2025 is shaping up to be Ember’s busiest year yet. More than ever, we believe in what we’re doing:
As intractable conflicts deepen, musicians and music lovers quietly strengthen their connections to music and to each other. No matter what, music finds a way.