nothin Multiplex Connects at The State House | New Haven Independent

Multiplex Connects at The State House

Karen Ponzio Photo

Elm Fiction

When I book here I want to make sure we are connecting with people who are doing similar things in other places,” said Joe Morris, musician and co-curator of Multiplex, the new improvisational music series that opened at The State House Sunday afternoon.

Along with musician and co-curator Bob Gorry, Morris has set up a series of three shows over the next three months to connect and highlight local and non-local musicians on the experimental music scene.

We’re both old New Haven guys,” joked Morris. But he also pointed out that Gorry had more local connections and he had more non-local ones, based upon his years living outside of New Haven and traveling and playing all over the world.

Both musicians are now based in New Haven and have played together and separately throughout the city. Gorry has been running the New Haven Improvisers Collective since 2005, and Morris has been back in the area since 2001 organizing and playing shows as well. Multiplex was born when they talked about organizing a show together in the newest space in town.

We wanted to bring more bands and bigger bands together in a bigger space,” said Morris. Plus, it’s new and the series and new and we thought it was a perfect fit,” added Gorry.

We now have three of the best venues in any city in America, and they’re all on the same block!” Morris said, referring to Firehouse 12, Cafe Nine, and The State House. This was another great place for us to showcase this music and for all of us to play.”

They went with the name of Multiplex to designate how many connections there are. There could be a hundred different things going on,” said Morris. It’s all improvised music, but we want to keep the impression open. Let the audience come and figure it out for themselves and define what it is.”

Gorry agreed. New Haven is a great place for music. We think they will come out and support it.”

And support it they did, as the State House slowly and steadily filled before the four-act show began. Small round tables and chairs set up on the usually empty floor in front of the stage gave the venue more of an intimate jazz club aesthetic, thought there was room to stand to the side and to the back, which many did as well. Morris and Gorry went to the stage first to welcome everyone and speak about their plans for this show as well as the next two. They also mentioned that they would be playing at all three shows because it’s kind of our gig. If it looks selfish, that’s because it is selfish,” Morris said, which garnered laughs from the audience. 

This place is awesome, right?” he asked the audience, as he thanked the State House for letting us try this.”

Gorry also spoke of his excitement to do the series with Morris and expressed his gratitude to the State House and the performers who came in to play. He then introduced the performers he would be playing with, who were the first act up.

Gorry, Jeff Cedrone, Thomas Hogan, and Adam Matlock — who have played together and recorded an album under the name Elm Fiction — began the series with a set that consisted of two pieces. The first began with fluttering flashes of sound that built up, then rose and fell as the musicians each added to the cacophony. Matlock’s accordion playing was enhanced at one point by a voice manipulation device hooked up to his phone, which he held and used to create feedback.

The second piece began with Hogan’s drums initiating the proceedings through a marching beat, with all of the instruments alternately building and then softening for the duration of the piece, though at times some of the sounds produced were such forces of nature that they seemed as though they could have been coming out of a storming sky rather than a musical instrument. Though improvisational, it was clear these performers knew how to connect and create with one another as well as their audience, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Next on the stage was musician Chris Pitsiokos, who brought the room to utter silence as he explored the limits of his alto saxophone, creating sounds one might not think a saxophone could make. Spoiler alert: in Pitsiokos’ hands and breath the alto sax has no limits. Each number brought gasps and wows from the audience (including this reporter) as they were completed. When my camera shut off on its own during the filming of one of them, I had to question whether the battery ran out or if it was just in shock from the sounds. I find it almost impossible to put into words what this set sounded like, so I will refer you to the video, but I will say this: it was a fusion of the best elements of noise, punk, and jazz, with a dash of magical realism. Pitsiokos is one to watch.

The next act was a duo consisting of Morris on guitar and Dan O’Brien alternately on clarinet, baritone saxophone and tenor saxophone. The dexterity and delicacy of Morris’s exquisite guitar playing was the perfect match for the strength and fluidity of O’Brien’s clarinet, and when he switched to the baritone sax it then invited Morris to dig even deeper and more richly into his string work. Each musician had a distinct sound that nevertheless melded with the other and created a mesmerizing flow that took the listener along with it. The audience was held enraptured by the artistry of this set as well and responded wildly.

The last group to the stage consisted of four musicians — Jeff Patz on guitar, Damon Smith on upright bass, Matt Crane on drums, and Stephen Haynes on alto horn, flugelhorn, and coronet — that Morris introduced to the audience right before once again thanking everyone for being there and reminding everyone of the next two shows scheduled. The set was the jazziest of the day, ending it all with an feverish and freaky raucous rage of sound that dipped and dived and then rose again with more than enough sweet spots to rest in and be revived from.

It was heavenly. It was hot. And it will be back on March 10 and April 28.

Tell your friends” implored Gorry. I think I just did.

For more information on the next two Multiplex shows, please visit The State House website here or the New Haven Improvisers Collective’s website here.

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