The world-renowned improviser and composer Taylor Ho Bynum’s Acoustic Bicycle Tour is a five week, 1800-mile journey that is equal parts performance art piece, philosophical statement, celebration of musical community, and exercise in extreme physicality. He joins the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble in a concert to perform his music, as well as newly commissioned works by Douglas Detrick, Ben Darwish and Thomas Barber.

Taylor Ho Bynum (b. 1975) is a composer, cornet player, bandleader and interdisciplinary collaborator. Critics have called him “a singular and thrilling artist” (All About Jazz), “a major force on the outward-bound side of the jazz continuum” (The Boston Globe) and “a provocateur in the guise of a consensus builder” (The New York Times). Bynum currently leads his Sextet and 7-tette, and works with many collective ensembles including a duo with drummer Tomas Fujiwara, the improv trio Book of Three, the UK/US collaborative Convergence Quartet, the dance/music interdisciplinary ensemble Quartet Collective, and the trans-idiomatic little big band Positive Catastrophe.

His endeavors include his Acoustic Bicycle Tours (where he travels to concerts solely by bike across expansive regions like New England or the West Coast) and his stewardship of artist-driven non-profit organizations like Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation. Bynum’s ongoing association with Braxton is recognized as one of the most fruitful partnerships of that iconic composer’s career, and his work with Bill Dixon produced some of the departed trumpet innovator’s late masterpieces. He has collaborated with other legendary figures including Cecil Taylor and Wadada Leo Smith and performs with many forward-thinking peers, and has toured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent awards include a 2013 Performing Arts Grant from Creative Capital and a 2013 Artist Fellowship in Music Composition from the Connecticut Office of the Arts.

This performance is presented by Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble and co-presented by Creative Music Guild.