Friday, October 17, 2025 at 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, Los Angeles
The Angel City Jazz Festival presents a double bill of inspired jazz experimentalists – the duet of guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, plus a quartet led by percussionist Ches Smith (featuring Halvorson and Liberty Ellman on guitars, and Nick Dunston on bass and electronics). ∆ Guitarist, composer, and MacArthur fellow **Mary Halvorson** has been described as “a singular talent” (Lloyd Sachs, JazzTimes), ”NYC’s least-predictable improviser” (Howard Mandel, City Arts), “one of the most original jazz guitarists of our time” (Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily), and “one of today’s most formidable bandleaders” (Francis Davis, Village Voice). In recent DownBeat Critics Polls, she has been celebrated as guitarist, rising star jazz artist, and rising star composer of the year. Over the past two decades, she has worked with such diverse musicians as Tim Berne, Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, John Dieterich, Trevor Dunn, Bill Frisell, Ingrid Laubrock, Myra Melford, Jason Moran, Joe Morris, Tom Rainey, Jessica Pavone, Tomeka Reid, Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, and John Zorn. ∆ Brooklyn-based **Tomas Fujiwara** is an active player in some of the most exciting music of the current generation. He leads the bands Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up; has a collaborative duo with Taylor Ho Bynum; is a member of the collective trio Thumbscrew (with Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek); and engages in a diversity of creative work with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts, Nicole Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, Amir ElSaffar, Benoit Delbecq, and many others. ∆ Originally from Sacramento, California, **Ches Smith** is a drummer, percussionist, and composer based in New York. He has collaborated with a host of artists on many scenes since the early 2000s, including Marc Ribot, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Darius Jones, David Torn, John Tchicai, Nels Cline, Mary Halvorson, Trevor Dunn, Terry Riley, Kris Davis, Dave Holland, Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Good for Cows, Theory of Ruin, and Mr. Bungle, among others. **Clone Row** is used by Smith as a vehicle to display and showcase a talent at the height of its powers, demonstrating not only his own superlative musicianship but also his strengths as a composer.