Although civilization’s oldest instruments were percussion, the full investigation of its potential as generators of non-rhythmic textures is a more recent phenomenon. The Japanese-born and Pennsylvania-resident Tatsuya Nakatani, among today’s most exciting performers, has distinguished himself as a constant leader in innovative approaches to percussion. Often surrounded by a battery of gongs, cymbals, bells, and singing bowls, Nakatani commands a universe of sounds with both athletic poise and painterly delicacy. For this performance, Nakatani will be joined by two Houston-based musicians:

David Dove and Jawwaad Taylor, both making their first ever Bowerbird appearances. David Dove’s trombone improvisations can be described as the sound of lips, breath, voice, and tongue, amplified through a brass tube. He is the director of Nameless Sound (formerly the Deep Listening Institute Houston), a ground-breaking non-profit program that teaches improvised music and listening skills to youth. It was at Nameless Sound where Jawwaad Taylor, a former student of Dove’s, first began to formally develop his childhood interest in the spontaneity of free improvisation. Taylor, also an active hip-hop artist, uses trumpet, voice, and electronics when performing in a free improv setting.