AKLM Fo- Tet-

an evening of improvisation, sonic gesture, and immersion

Alexis Marcelo, piano
Kirk Knuffke, cornet
Luke Stewart, bass
Michael Wimberly, drums

Tickets can be purchased at the door.
Admission is $20. (CASH ONLY)
All proceeds go to the artists.

At Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Michael Wimberly 
For decades, drummer Michael Wimberly has been a cornerstone of the improvised music landscape. An anchor of the downtown New York avant-garde jazz scene, he’s performed alongside figures ranging from Wilco’s Nels Cline, saxophonist Charles Gayle, and pianist Thollem. His music bridges the spiritual uplift of free jazz with shapeshifting West African rhythms, a deep-thinking, yet incendiary approach which helped galvanize records such as Radical Empathy and Reality and Other Imaginary Places by Radical Empathy Trio and Gayle’s Look Up. Wimberly’s pro-community cred can’t be denied, either. He’s a fixture of Arts for Art, the East Village-based nonprofit committed to the advancement and promotion of cutting-edge music, poetry, visual art, and dance. 

Kirk Knuffke 
“One of modern jazz’s most skilled navigators of the divide between inside and outside, freedom and swing," Cornetist and Composer Kirk Knuffke has “full command of his most demanding instrument” (All About Jazz). Accolades for Knuffke include NPR’s Best Jazz Album of the Year for 2017’s Cherryco (SteepleChase),winner of DownBeat Magazine’s “Rising Star” critics poll in 2015, and recipient of the Jerome Foundation Composers grant. In 2016, he placed 2nd in the European El Intruso Critics poll for trumpet.  
Knuffke has released 18 recordings as leader or co-leader and is featured as a sideman on over 50 recordings with leaders Matt Wilson, Allison Miller, Butch Morris, Uri Caine, Pierre Dorge and Michael Formanek to name a few. It’s no wonder the New York Times tagged Knuffke as “one of New York City’s Busiest Musicians.”

 Alexis Marcelo is a pianist who uses sound to communicate with the listener with the hopes of creating a soulful experience. Alexis’s sound is embedded in the creative and forward thinking traditions of African-American Music. Alexis’s current sound can be greatly attributed to his time with Dr. Yusef. Alexis began to deeply listen and study harmonies, melodies, intervals without prejudice and in truth. Seeking knowledge in order to be free and convey music from the heart. In purity and clarity. A never ending search that requires intense levels of introspection and thought. The hope is to have a deeper communication with the listener in the audience and on stage. Alexis is an ambassador of Autophysiopsychic music. He has been featured on multiple albums with his mentor Yusef Lateef and can be heard on recordings with percussionist Adam Rudolph, poet/vocalist and Malcolm Mooney.

Luke Stewart is a DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of important musical presentations, and has a strong presence in the national and international Improvised Music community. He is noted in Downbeat Magazine in 2020 as one of “25 most influential jazz artists” of his generation. He was profiled in the Washington Post in early 2017 as “holding down the jazz scene,” selected as “Best Musical Omnivore” in the Washington City Paper’s 2017 “Best of DC,” chosen as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2017 in the District Now, and in the 2014 People Issue of the Washington City Paper as a “Jazz Revolutionary,” citing his multi-faceted cultural activities throughout DC.
In New York City, Luke collaborated with Arts for Art in hosting the first ever “Free Jazz Convention” to share resources and strategies among the community. He has also performed in a myriad of collaborations and performances in venues such as the Kitchen, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pioneer Works, Roulette, and Issue Project Room.