DATE: THURSDay, DECEMBER 5
TIME: 7:30 P.M.
TICKETS: $15 ($12 students/seniors)

Ever-evolving drummer-composer Devin Gray – who played the second show in the Sound It Out series back in 2012 and has come back many times since as a leader and sideman – returns to the Greenwich House stage to celebrate the release of the first album with his trio featuring saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos and bassist Luke Stewart. About Devin’s art, Jazzwise magazine has said: “A musician-drummer rather than a drummer-drummer, Gray is interested in making music that is deeply evocative… shaped by a fizzing, often restless push-pull energy.”

Reflecting on his new trio, Devin says: “When I think about Chris and Luke as players and improvisers, I’m drawn to the energy of life that they bring to each of their deeply personal sounds. The trio recording we’ve made – due out via my Rataplan label at the end of November – is something that I’ve been working toward for years, in terms of the dynamic between the three of us. To me, it sounds very much like music of today, like the modern life we all live, that odd mix of the comfortable and the uncomfortable, if you know what I mean. These guys are totally real – and that’s the sort of energy that I, as a drummer and composer, always strive to channel. I’m excited to share our music – not only with the new record but what we do live, which always feels special to me.”

Devin’s hand-picked solo opener for the show is guitarist Wendy Eisenberg. Billboard magazine has said that Wendy can play “with the ferocity of a cobra,” as well as disarm with the poetically contemplative. She has performed with the likes of Matt Mitchell, Trevor Dunn, Ches Smith and Joe Morris, as well as premiered works by John Zorn and Maria Schneider. About the guitarist, Devin says: “Wendy Eisenberg is a musician I admire – she’s one of the striking young American voices on the guitar, a player you can just feel growing in all the right directions for the music. Her unique approach to improvising is something that New York audiences really need to hear more and more of – that’s why I’m so glad that she is on this Sound It Out bill with us. I hope she joins our trio for an encore at Greenwich House!”