Vol 4 of This Music series:

Evan Palmer, bass, oboe, English horn,
Hidemi Akaiwa, piano, synthesizer,
Fall Raye, multi-saxophones,

The fourth installment of This Music features improviser and multi-instrumentalist Evan Palmer’s new project where they’ll be joined by Hidemi Akaiwa on piano and synths and Fall Raye on reeds and percussion. This trio will perform two sets of avant-garde, experimental music including free improvisations and compositions by Evan. Join us for this truly unique performance, where you’ll experience group synergy, high-energy improvising, moments of quiet beauty, and never-heard-before sounds. Bios: Evan Palmer Evan Palmer (they/he) is an improviser, bassist, oboist, English hornist, composer and educator based in Boston, Massachusetts. He specializes in music in the Black American tradition, particularly improvised music. Evan is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, where he received a Bachelor of Music in Bass Performance, studying with John Lockwood, Billy Kilson, Bruno Räberg and many more. He has performed and recorded with many artists including Francisco Mela, Phil Grenadier, Jim Robitaille, Leo Blanco, Shinya Lin, Mark Walker, and John Dalton. Evan's band performs their own improvisations and compositions as well as music by Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy, and other great composers. Evan is currently a private lesson instructor for the Hopkinton Music Association, Note-Worthy Experiences and Karen Amlaw Music. Hidemi Akaiwa Hidemi Akaiwa is a Japanese pianist/composer/microjammer. She started on piano at the age of three and as a youth won many classical music competitions. At the age of 30, she shifted from a successful, corporate career to jazz music. She was awarded a full scholarship to attend Berklee College where she participated in Global Jazz Institute, Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, Planet MicroJam Institute, and Interdisciplinary Arts Institute. While at Berklee, she received the prestigious Toshiko Akiyoshi Composition Award. She had had the privilege to study with world-class musicians David Fiuczynski, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Billy Childs, Ben Street, Adam Cruz and many others. Her passion is to create a new art form infusing the tenets of Japanese Zen with the sounds of jazz and contemporary classical music. She combines Japanese microtonal techniques with Western theoretical constructs using synthesizers and acoustic instruments that utilize microtonal vocabularies. In 2021, she was invited to Vermont Jazz Center Solo Piano Festival as an emerging artist. In 2022, she was invited as one of the first residency artists in the “Sounds Of Freedom” project in Italy by 577 Records to perform free jazz/improvised music for a month. Her message to the universe is that “it is never too late to chase dreams that emanate from your soul.” Fall Raye "Fall Raye is an avant garde saxophonist and drummer from Las Vegas, NV. They grew up studying music in the Vegas area, then went on to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. where they are now based. Fall's music is inspired by and calls to radical change in our social systems, environmentalism, trans and non binary rights, equity, and community. Their music tries to embody a spiritualistic freedom that comes from the human experience. Many incredible mentors have helped to guide Fall on finding their artistic voice, such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Godwin Louis, and Francisco Mela. Expect to experience a very vulnerable, intimate, unique showcase of original music."