Entangled Pathways (released Oct 2017) is a collection of original music performed by this acoustic trio with Bill Gilliam (piano, prepared piano), Kayla Milmine (soprano sax) and Ambrose Pottie (drum set) who met through the Toronto Improvisor’s Orchestra (TIO). Some pieces are composed using free floating melodies, jazz idioms and modal-chromatic tonalities while others are freely improvised creations. This music offers reflections on the rapidly changing and entangled terrains we live in and the many imagined pathways we could take.
Media Comments
“Three important contributors to Toronto’s improvised music community – Bill Gilliam (piano), Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone) and Ambrose Pottie (drums) – combine in this trio. While their exploration of free improvisation is impressive, what hooked me was the composing – their interesting melodies always create a home base from which the soloing departs and, ultimately, returns” – Josh Grossman, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2017 artistic director, June 2017
“Although perhaps gestated by different processes, the 12 impressive tracks all seem to lead to a central concept of connectedness, alternate realities and divergent pathways that may yet resonate together like strands in a web; in other words, musical quantum entanglement.”
Lesley Mitchell-Clarke, The WholeNote Listening Room review, Nov 28, 2017
“Pick of the week” – Avant Music News (AMN), Nov 17, 2017
“Bringing together three highly-flexible improvisers, this trio can show hints of melodic tunefulness alongside a collective will to derail those same instincts and head for thornier ground” – Joe Strutt, Mechanical Forest, Oct 2017.
The Players
The Gilliam, Milmine, Pottie trio was formed in 2015 after meeting in the Toronto Improvisors Orchestra. Bill Gilliam is a Toronto based composer / pianist originally from London, England. Bill creates and improvises jazz and new music compositions blending contemporary harmony and jazz idioms with his unique style of piano and prepared piano playing. He has released his own CDs and recorded and played with musicians such as Ernie Tollar, Kevin Turcotte, Duncan Hopkins, Ben Riley, Lina Allemano, Dave Young, Howard Gaul, Lori Freedman, Rick Sacks, Glen Hall, Joe Sorbara, Bill McBirnie, Penn Kemp, Kayla Milmine, Ambrose Pottie and other artists.
Kayla Milmine’s musical journey with the soprano saxophone is a familiar one amongst fellow straight-hornists: Having started out on the clarinet, then the tenor saxophone, soon finding herself falling in love with the new and under-explored sonic possibilities that only the soprano saxophone can offer. Since beginning her soprano centric journey she has developed a unique approach to the instrument that at times has the edginess and brashness of Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell, yet the warmth and thoughtfulness that’s reminiscent of Steve Lacy.
Kayla’s chamber-rock duo FASTERthat she co-leads with guitarist Brian Abbott won the Freebie Award at the Montreal Fringe Festival in 2013 for their dance-cabaret-circus-music show called The Elephant in the Room featuring dancer/choreographer Allison Burns. FASTERreleased their fifth album this year called Nuclear Fishin’which has proven to be their most challenging and intriguing music yet.
Kayla is currently involved in several artistic projects including Gilliam/Milmine/Pottie trio, Phalanges (Elizabeth Lima and Karen Ng), Wow & Flutter (Bea Labikova and Sarah Peebles), the Toronto Improvisors Orchestra and others. She is releasing a double solo soprano saxophone album this summer featuring her own original compositions, as well as improvisation.
Ambrose Pottie is a musician, phonographer and electroacoustic performer/composer, with recordings featured on Quiet American.com and Webbed Hand Records. He is a founding member of the Toronto Improvisor’s Orchestra, and has recorded and/or performed with: Fred Frith workshop orchestra, Andrew Cyrille, Eugene Chadbourne, The Polka Dogs, Bill Grove, Blue Rodeo, Flaming Dono Drum and Dance Ensemble, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Thin Men and Bill Bissett. Ambrose was a founding member of Toronto band Crash Vegas, recording three albums and touring Canada and U.S. extensively.