John Dikeman ACA DUO
FEATURING BEN HALL
Saturday March 28 @ 8:00 PM
“He has the most powerful voice in the Dutch jazz music of the last decade: saxophonist John Dikeman” ~Tim Sprangers, Jazzism.
“The saxophonist ... puts fire to the fuse with the Old Testament fury that Charles Gayle displays on his best trio records ... you hear übergospel: reeling with religious conviction and tortuous dynamism, with roaring pounding in the low register, split tones and a timbre that is almost torn to pieces.” ~Guy Peters, Enola
Amsterdam-based saxophonist, John Dikeman, will provide an evening of visionary improvised music in a saxophone/drums duo. Opening for them will be a trio of local improvisers – Peter Formanek, Ken Kozora and Piotr Michalowski.
John Dikeman is an American saxophonist currently residing in Amsterdam. Drawing inspiration from a wide range of sources, John’s playing runs the gamut of improvised music and techniques. With his relentless energy, big sound, expressive virtuoso saxophone technique, and broad musical knowledge, John has become a core performer on world-renowned Dutch improvising scene, since moving there in 2008.
He grew up in Wyoming and started performing professionally at the age of 16. He studied saxophone and composition at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and then attended Bennington College in Vermont to study with the percussion pioneer Milford Graves while at the same time studying privately with the late Joe Maneri. After Bennington, John moved to Boston, then New York City and Philadelphia. While on the east coast John performed extensively with many of the top musicians from the USA including Nate Wooley, Mike Pride, and Daniel Carter. In 2004 Dikeman moved to Cairo, Egypt where he worked as a professional musician and educator, leading numerous ensembles as well as freelancing in a wide range of settings. After Egypt, John moved briefly to Budapest, Hungary, then Paris, finally settling in Amsterdam in 2008.
John has been very active in the Dutch improvised music scene as both a performer and curator. He was selected for the 2012 Young VIP tour that featured the trio Cactus Truck plus guests on tour throughout the Netherlands. Most notably, he was invited to join Stichting Doek, the top collective of the Dutch improvisation scene, as a core artistic member in 2012. In the fall of 2012 Cactus Truck completed a 37-city concert tour of the USA. Their performance at Zebulon in New York City earned them a place on Andrey Henkin’s list of Best Concerts of 2012 for the New York City Jazz Record. In 2014 John had the opportunity to invite William Parker and Hamid Drake to perform with him at Doek Festival #12. He had been heavily inspired by the music of free jazz’s premier rhythm section since first discovering them on record as a teenager. The trio quickly evolved into a regular group that has toured throughout Europe and released two recordings to great critical acclaim.
Ben Hall studied West African percussion with Jumma Santos and trap set and precognition with Milford Graves at Bennington College where he also worked with Bill Dixon on his last small group recording, Weight/Counterweight. Hall plays in various small group ensembles with Joe Morris and is a member of Nate Wooley’s big band, Seven Storey Mountain. Hall is currently a research fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College.
Improvising saxophonist, multi-woodwind performer, and composer Peter Formanek grew up surrounded by world-class musicians thanks to his father, Michael Formanek, who is a world-renowned bassist and composer himself. Having been immersed in music from an early age and encouraged to listen, improvise, compose, and pursue his own musical interests, Peter quickly found his own love of music, eventually gravitating towards the same world of creative improvisational music that his father had been part of for so many years. He has been performing since the age of eleven, first in Maryland and then in Michigan, where he traveled to study with Andrew Bishop at the University of Michigan and earn a Bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. He has since become a fixture in the Southeastern Michigan music scene, working in creative projects led by MI- based luminaries such as Jon Taylor, Kirsten Carey, Will McEvoy, Andrew Bishop, Galen Bundy, and Cory Tripathy, as well as leading a number of his own projects. Peter is known for his well-rounded musicianship, and has performed and recorded chamber works by composers J. Clay Gonzalez and Grey Grant, performed as a woodwind doubler in a number of pit orchestras, and can be seen performing with more traditional jazz projects including the late James Dapogny’s P.O.R.K. and the Paul Keller Orchestra. Over the years, he has maintained and strengthened his musical relationship with his father, recently performing a series of concerts throughout the Midwest and East Coast primarily on a duo format, incorporating their own compositions. Peter has shared the stage with a number of world-renowned musicians including Tomeika Reed, Silvia Bolognesi, Tomas Fujiwara, Mary Halvorson, Tim Berne, Jim Black, Brian Settles, Salim Washington, Stephen Rush, Tim Flood, Gerald Cleaver, and Jacob Sacks.
Ken Kozora, performer, composer, educator, artist, thinker, and doer studied classical trumpet with Donald Green, Irving Sarin, and horn with R.J. Kelley and brings a wide musical perspective to his performances and compositions on an array of electronic and acoustic instruments. He has performed/collaborated, and/or recorded with many local and international musicians, artists, dance companies and film makers including Badal Roy, Summer Saha, Sikuru Adepoju, Muruga Booker, Perry Robinson, Mark Whitecage, Rossane Lavine, Piotr Michalowski, James Gurley, Airto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo, Steven Kent, Marshall Allen, Don Was, Harry Sargeous, Gayelynn McKinney, Peter MadCat Ruth, Halim El-Dabh, Michael On Fire, P-Funk, Robert Spalding Newcomb, James Aikman, Christina Sears Etter/People Dancing Co, Margaret Parker, Mike Gould, Lesie Sobel and a multitude of other Detroit Area musicians/artists over his 50 years in music and leading his own groups. His original soundscapes have been featured in films, dance works, art festivals, galleries and installations including Art Prize, Dlectricity, A2 FilmFestival, Alden B. Dow Museum, A2 Hands On Museum, LA area film fest, Detroit River Days, and 555 Gallery. Ken has also worked extensively in music education across all age groups and learning abilities. He has taught electronic music at Washtenaw Community College and has facilitated workshops, conferences, and special events. In addition, he teaches privately and helps run special needs summer camps and is active in community and environmental issues. Ken was recently invited to exhibit his original photo art, debuting at A2 Hands On Museum in November 2019.
Piotr Michalowski began to play clarinet while living in Los Angeles, studying with the late Ira Shulman. Fascinated by various woodwinds, he developed skills on most of the clarinets and saxophones, focusing in recent years on bass, contra alto and contrabass clarinets as well as sopranino and soprano saxophones. He has been playing on a regular basis in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area with artists of various generations including dancers and singers in diverse settings, participating in multidisciplinary music presentations. He has performed in Warsaw, Berkeley, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and elsewhere with musicians such as Jason Kao Hwang, Ken Filiano, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Vinny Golia, Jon Raskin, Gino Robair, Mike Khoury, Steve Swell, Michael A. T. Thomson, James Ilgenfritz, Sara Shoenbeck, Piotr Mełech, Jerzy Mazzoll, or Thollem McDonas. Recent recordings include an appearance on Jason Kao Hwang’s Voice (Innova), Thollem’s Traveling Sessions with Abigail Alwin and Piotr Michalowski (Edgetone), on she’s still preying upon his mind (White Rose) by Will Sodeberg, and this year on Live at Edgefest (Different Track Recordings) with multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee and drummer Andrew Drury, and Contradictions (Creative Resources), an album of contralto and contrabass clarinet duets with Jason Alder.
