DESCRIPTION:
Ars Nova Workshop presents:
Ches Smith & These Arches
-Tim Berne, alto saxophone
-Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone
-Mary Halvorson, guitar
-Andrea Parkins, accordion + electronics
-Ches Smith, drums

Ars Nova Workshop is pleased to present Ches Smith & These Arches. Led by the drummer Ches Smith, the group includes the saxophonists Tim Berne and Tony Malaby, the guitarist Mary Halvorson and the accordionist Andrea Parkins. About These Arches, The New York Times writes, "The group presents a volatile compound of attributes: deft and boomy, ragged and precise."

Ches Smith is one of the most versatile drummers working in experimental music today. He has played with Xiu Xiu, John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, John Tchicai, Marc Ribot, Iggy Pop, Terry Riley and many others. For These Arches, initially formed as a quartet, Smith united several impressive voices in contemporary jazz and experimental music: the saxophonist Tony Malaby, the guitarist Mary Halvorson and the accordionist Andrea Parkins.

This quartet appears on These Arches' debut album, Finally Out Of My Hands, released in 2010 on Chris Speed's Skirl label. Since then, Smith has brought the alto saxophonist Tim Berne onboard. The two have worked together in the past, most recently in Berne's group Snakeoil, which released an album in 2012 on ECM. In 2013, this new quintet version of These Arches will release Hammered, which Smith calls "a concise and hard-hitting album that explores collective improvisation in the context of expanded song forms."