CHRIS CORSANO (solo)

As a solo performer, Chris Corsano certainly drops jaws with his physical abilities and aesthetic agilities behind the drum kit. But along with the rolls and flurry of percussion are other angles of invention and expression; perhaps a circular breathe through a melodica or reed, and most definitely metallic klang and ring. And dig this, he can go even further inward, using the kit itself as a matrix for expanding the palette, bridging strings atop and pressing winds against skins, bowing and blowing waaay beyond a drum solo into a sort of “ensemble of one.” This sensibility is no surprise, as his path over two decades has been couched in duo exchange and group action. Corsano is a singular and dynamic figure in improvised music, continually gigging internationally with a epic list of comrades, moving fluidly from fiery collaborations that continue to unfurl the Free Jazz flag – such as his core duos with Paul Flaherty and Joe McPhee – to latter-day post-genre articulations and obliterations – as with his projects with Okkyung Lee, Bill Nace, and Bill Orcutt.