John Edwards / Mike Gennaro / Alex Ward Trio + Quartet with Veryan Weston

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John Edwards / double bass Mike Gennaro / drums, percussion Alex Ward / clarinet & guitar Veryan Weston / piano While Edwards and Ward have made countless appearances at Oto, this will be the trio's debut here. They will be joined by legendary UK pianist Veryan Weston for the second set. The trio of Toronto-based drummer Mike Gennaro and UK improvisers John Edwards and Alex Ward first played together in 2023, in a meeting subsequently released as their debut cd “ACTIVITY” (Copepod Records). Following this release, the trio embarked on two tours in 2025 with concerts in Germany, Poland and the UK. Live recordings from these performances are featured on the newly released "25 LIVES" on Silver Set Records. "These three musicians don’t need any warm-up time on Activity. From a standing start, they organize an intense, lively, back-and-forth, sometimes pulsating interaction that makes use of some structural forms such as culminations and retardations, but they unfold and shape them in free communication to the exclusion of common formulas, conventions and stereotypes. The fascination of their instrumental conversation stems primarily from their openness: No melody, no meter dictates the direction here - the discourse develops freely. The wordless, direct rhetoric of this conversation, as unbound as it is coherent, also bears witness to a lightning-like grasp and extraordinary intimacy." Martin Schray, Free Jazz Blog John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Louis Moholo, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke, Jonny Greenwood and countless others. "I think John Edwards is absolutely remarkable: there’s never been anything like him before, anywhere in jazz." Richard Williams, The Blue Moment Drummer Mike Gennaro burst into improvised music circles in 1999 with the release Port Huron Picnic (Spool), a disc with lauded Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson. Then still in his early twenties, Gennaro also made two appearances at the Toronto Jazz Festival, duetting with trailblazing saxophonist John Butcher. Subsequent concert collaborations have included internationally acclaimed improvisers such as Juini Booth, Wilbert de Joode, Veryan Weston, Trevor Watts and Tobi Delius. In 2022 a short German tour saw him performing in duo settings with Eric Boeren, Frank Gratkowski, and Matthias Schubert. Later that year, a week of recording sessions in Berlin produced the newly released INITIALS with Brad Henkel on trumpet and a trio recording with bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall and bassist Ben Lehmann entitled SECOND TAKE.