Jake Wark & Mike Mcneill Duo

About

Jake Wark is a saxophonist and composer based in Rochester, New York. His work blurs distinctions between jazz, free improvisation, and electronic music. Jake has released three albums as a leader, most recently Rejoinders, a collection of improvisations for solo saxophone and electronics released on Passerine Records in 2024. Jake’s solo work consists of heavily manipulated live saxophone, distorted through layered effects, looping, and sampling. Michael McNeill is a pianist, improviser, and composer from Western New York. He performs in jazz settings with John Bacon, Griff Kazmierczak, Dave Phillips, and the Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop, and in chamber music settings with Tediyra Barton-Harris, Evan Courtin, Megan Kyle, Katie Weissman, and Wooden Cities. In 2024 Infrasonic Press released his album Barcode Poetry, featuring the late pedal-steel guitar innovator Susan Alcorn, trumpeter Dave Ballou, and vibraphonist/percussionist Shelly Purdy. Critics have found in the music "a natural, almost telepathic flow that allows each composition to breathe patiently and find its organic equilibrium" (Eyal Hareuveni, Percorsi Musicali), calling it "finely crafted without the need for raucous passages… striking chamber improv" (Ken Waxman, JazzWord).