This show has been made possible through a grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council

The legendary ICP makes its first appearance in Portland in over a decade! Formed in 1967, the ICP helped create free jazz and free improvisation and remain a vibrant voice in avant music.

Han Bennink (drums) is a co-founder of the ICP, long-time associate of Misha Mengelberg, and one of the most in-demand drummers in Europe. He has performed and recorded with jazz musicians such as Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, as well as European improvisers such as Peter Brotzman, Derek Bailey, and Willem Breuker. He trained as a graphic artist and has exhibited work in several media, including sculptures from found objects that can include broken drum heads and drumsticks; he also designs many of his own LP and CD sleeves. More: www.hanbennink.com. Photo: Francesca Patella.

In addition to playing solo concerts and his own trio, Ab Baars (clarinet, tenorsax) is a regular guest with the EX, Cor Fuhler, Michael Moore, and Michiel Scheen. Since 1990, his main focus has been on the Ab Baars Trio, which led to tours with Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd; a collaboration with the Nieuw Ensemble, shakuhachi player Iwamoto and conductor Butch Morris at the festival Improvisations. Baars has also worked with Francois Houle, John Carter, Roger Turner, Sunny Murray, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, and Gerry Hemingway among others. More: www.stichtingwig.com. Photo: John R. Fowler.

Tobias Delius was born in Oxford, England but grew up playing tenor saxophone in Germany and Mexico. In 1984 he moved to Amsterdam where he studied briefly at the Sweelinck Conservatorium. Since 1990 Delius leads his own 4tet with Tristan Honsinger, Joe Williamson, and Han Bennink; APA INI is currently a quartet with Hilary Jeffery, Wilbert de Joode & Serigne Gueye. He can also be heard in Available Jelly, Sean Bergin’s MOB, Cor Fuhler’s Corkestra, and Georg Graewe Quintet. In 2004 Delius was awarded the Boy Edgar Prize, the Netherlands’ most prestigious award in improvised music. More: www.doek.org. Photo: Peter Gannushkin.

Ernst Glerum studied classical double-bass at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. During his studies he joined contemporary music ensembles (ASKO ensemble) as well as improvised music groups (Curtis Clark, Hans Dulfer, JC Tans, Theo Loevendie). He frequently performed with such artists as Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Uri Caine, Teddy Edwards, Benny Maupin, Jimmy Knepper, Jamaladeen Tacuma, John Zorn, Bud Shank, Art Hodes, Don Byron and many others. Besides ICP and the Amsterdam String Trio he performs in the Guus Janssen Trio, Michiel Scheen Quartet, Trio Continuo, Trio Bennink-Borstlap-Glerum and Available Jelly. He doubles on piano in Glerum Omnibus with Clemens van der Feen and Owen Hart. More: www.ernstglerum.nl. Photo: Peter Gannushkin.

Thomas Heberer (trumpet) was born in 1965 in Schleswig, Germany, and studied at the Conservatory in Cologne until 1987. Since then he has performed with musicians such as Muhal Richard Abrams, Pina Bausch, Dave Douglas, Maria Joao, Howard Johnson, Bob Moses, David Moss, Evan Parker, E. L. Petrowsky, Enrico Rava, Alex Schlippenbach, Elliott Sharp, Tomasz Stanko and Attila Zoller. Thomas is member of several ensembles such as the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, European Jazz Ensemble, Aki Takase Quintet, Tome XX and of course has a duo with bassist Dieter Manderscheid. www.thomasheberer.com. Photo: Mara Tomanek.

Born in New England, the cellist Tristan Honsinger studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. By the ’70s, the Trans-American had moved to Amsterdam. Since a memorable set of concerts in Berlin in 1988, released on the much sought-after FMP box set, Honsinger has been a fairly regular member of Cecil Taylor’s groups, including the now-disbanded European Quartet with Harri Sjöström and Paul Lovens, including an unusual combination that performed at the Total Music Meeting in November 1999: the Cecil Taylor Ensemble with Franky Douglas, Tristan Honsinger and Andrew Cyrille.

Michael Moore was born in Arcata, California, where he played in clubs and attended school before moving to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory of Music. There he worked with Joseph Allard, Jaki Byard, Joe Maneri, Gunther Schuller, George Russell and others. After spending two years in NYC he moved to Amsterdam, where he has lived since 1984. He currently works with Available Jelly, Jewels & Binoculars, Franky Douglas, Achim Kaufmann, Dave Douglas, Fred Hersch, Benoit Delbecq, Eric Boeren, Paul Berner and others. His own projects include the White Widow Quartet, the Monitor Trio w/ Cor Fuhler and Tristan Honsinger and the Michael Moore Quintet. More: www.ramboyrecordings.com. Photo: Francesca Patella.

Mary Oliver was born in La Jolla, California, and studied at San Francisco State University (Bachelor of Music), Mills College (MFA) and the University of California, San Diego where she received her PhD in 1993 for her research in the theory and practice of improvised music. Her work as a soloist encompasses both composed and improvised contemporary music; she has premiered works by Richard Barrett, John Cage, Chaya Czernowin, Morton Feldman, Brian Ferneyhough, George Lewis and Iannis Xenakis among others and worked alongside improvising musicians such as Ab Baars, FURT, Tristan Honsinger, Joelle Leandre, George Lewis, Phil Minton and Evan Parker. Photo: Andy Moor.

Wolter Wierbos can be heard on more than 100 CD’s and LP’s. Like many Dutch brass players Wierbos started out in a ‘fanfare’ (brass band), switching from trumpet to trombone when he was 17. Since 1979 he has performed with with Henry Threadgill, The Ex, The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (led by Alexander von Schlippenbach), the European Big Band (led by Cecil Taylor), Sonic Youth, the John Carter Project, Mingus Big Band (Epitaph, directed by Gunther Schuller) and many others. He is currently active with Gerry Hemingway Quintet, Franky Douglas’ Sunchild, Bik Bent Braam, Albrecht Maurer Trio Works, Nocando, Carl Ludwig Hübsch’s Longrun Development of the Universe, Frank Gratkowski Quartet, Available Jelly and Sean Bergin’s MOB. More: www.wolterwierbos.nl. Photo: Francesca Patella.