Kirk Knuffke/Joe McPhee/Michael Bisio Trio

Kirk Knuffke (cornet), Joe McPhee (sax, trumpet), Michael Bisio (bass)

“Rhythmically precise, New Orleans funky and full of grace, Kirk Knuffke’s music is a reflection of his multifaceted personality: part musical sage, part jazz philosopher, a self-taught musician with wide interests, endless curiosity and an abundance of good humor,” writes DownBeat. Reflecting on his guiding artistic impulse,cornetist Kirk Knuffke says: “I’m concerned with making beautiful music. Even when the music is free and avant-garde, I want it to reach into people’s hearts. I like to play fast and loud and high, but beauty is always first, though not in a precious way. It can be in a rough way, too.” A prolific, lauded record-maker, the cornetist-composer has made some 20 albums as a leader or co-leader over the past two decades. Knuffke’s 2022 release as a leader — Gravity Without Airs (TAO Forms/AUM Fidelity), featuring pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Michael Bisio — fulfilled his poetic aims as well as any recording he has made to date, earning a review of 4 ½ stars from DownBeat magazine as well as a critic’s playlist pick in The New York Times. As an in-demand sideman, Knuffke also records and tours the world with some of today’s leading jazz musicians, from vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant and guitarist Mary Halvorson to drummer Matt Wilson and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. Knuffke was a standout front-line foil for Lewis on the tenor man’s hit Red Lily Quintet disc Jesup Wagon, which JazzTimes named the top album of 2021. All About Jazz has aptly extolled Knuffke as “one of modern jazz’s most skilled navigators of the divide between inside and outside, freedom and swing.”

Now 84 years old, trumpeter and saxophonist Joe McPhee has been a deeply emotional composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist since his emergence on the creative jazz and new music scenes in the late ‘’60s. Inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he taught himself the saxophone and proceeded to cut two records that remain defining monuments to the civil rights movement: the outré free jazz of Underground Railroad (Bo’Weavil Recordings, 1969) and avant-funk of Nation Time (CjRecord Productions, 1971). In 1975, Werner Uehlinger started the Swiss record label Hathut with the specific intent of showcasing McPhee’s music. His odyssey since has taken McPhee through Deep Listening collaborations with Pauline Oliveros, Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker and countless left-field improv sessions both within and way outside of the jazz tradition.

Michael Bisio is bassist in the Matthew Shipp Trio with numerous jazz recordings to his credit. His first international release, In Seattle (Silkheart), was chosen as one of the “Best Jazz Records of the 1980s” in The Village Voice. In 2010 he released Session at 475 Kent (Mutable Music) with Connie Crothers. Bisio’s first solo effort Travel Music (MJB) and the first Matthew Shipp Trio recording, Art of the Improviser (Thirsty Ear) were released in 2011. He released Row for William O. (Relative Pitch), duets with Kirk Knuffke in 2016. Early tenure with trumpeter Barbara Donald and saxophonist Carter Jefferson left an indelible mark on Bisio’s music and spirit. Another major influence is Joe McPhee; he and Joe have created a body of work that includes two duo CDs, Finger Wigglers and Zebulon (CIMP), in addition to more than a dozen other releases. Over his 45 year career, Bisio has collaborated with Wayne Horvitz, Charles Gayle, Sunny Murray, Pauline Oliveros, Vinny Golia, Julian Priester, Eyvind Kang, Diedre Murray, Rashied Ali, Saadet Turkoz, Dominic Duval, Oluyemi Thomas, Karl Berger, Warren Smith,Sonny Simmons, Jay Rosen, Avram Fefer, and Stephen Gauci.