by Allyson Lipkin

Epistrophy Arts is a new production company in town. Welcome. Everybody say it: e-PIS-tro-PHY. Then think Jazz giant Thelonious Monk, from whom the name is derived. P.G. Morino, the founder of Epistrophy Arts, has recently brought some jazz giants to town and produced some really cool shows. He started his company over the Internet in January, and since then he has brought acts like Susie Ibarra, Yseef Sahar, Arthur Doyle, Joe McPhee, and Wadada Leo Smith. Most recently he brought Sunny Murray and Sonny Simmons, a duo of Drums and Sax, to Thirty Three Degrees record store.

Many of you haven't heard of these musicians? That's because some of these guys are obscure -- down here. Why? Maybe because Austin doesn't get to see much avant garde jazz, or because we like mainstream music so much that there is no room for something "experimental."

Luckily, that's not true. Recently we've seen Steve Lacy at the Continental Club (a duo with Coltrane...that would have been nice), Jason Marsalis (my personal '98 Austin Jazz Festival favorite at the Victory Grill), and of course those crazy American exiles Sunny and Sonny. All of these names represent what is cutting edge...like masta' saxman David Murray, at the Performing Arts Center. (Check him out in Downbeat magazine with James Carter this month).

And so yeah, Austin is finally seeing some of this, and it's about time. What's better is that Epistrophy is doing something. It's a grassroots organization, not Ticketron. P.G. is dedicated to "presenting the finest in creative or improvised music or avant garde jazz." And with that in mind, he will present Marshall Allen of "The Arkestra" with Lukeman Ali, a sax and drums combo in the fall. There is also a show October 1st with Wilber Morris, a bass player who toured with Murray in their infamous '84 appearance at the Ritz here in Austin as an octet.

P.G. explains, "Originally the trio was going to feature legendary drummer Dennis Charles, who played with Cecil Taylor and Steve Lacy, a bunch of people. Unfortunately he died last year, so they are performing the tour as a tribute to him. They replaced him with Reggie Nickelson, who comes out of Chicago's AACM organization. The reed player that is coming is Thomas Borgman. He represents sort of the European improvisational community. He has played with Peter Brotzmann and Anthony Braxton -- that's exciting. And Sam Rivers is interested in coming, hopefully we can work out a solo show or with his regular trio in the fall."

I asked PG some questions about how he got Epistrophy rolling. He replied, "I just sent a bunch of proposals to folks and saw what came back. From there we just talked on the phone and worked something out. Our first show with Susie Ibarra and Yseef Lahar [William Parker]. We were just very lucky that they were driving down to Houston. It just happened to be that it was the same weekend that we had arranged for Joe McPhee and Arthur Doyle to come. A friend of mine in Houston is involved in Diverse Works, an art gallery. They gave him a small budget to put on the show. We used that money to fly them down and we added the show in Austin to sweeten the deal. With Leo Smith, I received an e-mail from someone at A&M who I had been in contact with. They wanted to present some avant garde music for an aesthetics seminar; a multi-disciplinary event involving the English department, the Art department, and a couple of other academic departments. They paid for his flight to Texas, and that show was very successful. With Sunny and Sonny it so happened that the proprietors [of Thirty-Three Degrees] were in Chicago to see a number of concerts. They caught the duo at the Hot House; incidentally Robert Plant was at that show. So afterwards they chatted and said that someone in Texas was presenting this kind of music so the next day they called me up. We immediately charged their plane tickets because we knew there would be a good following. We weren't sure, but everyone seemed to know their names." Ultimately, Epistrophy Arts would like to bring fuller acts to town. Trios, quartets, quintets. Showcasing is a problem in Austin, and that is linked to funding.

"Our chief problem is venues. To do it at a more traditional venue would be more expensive. We would like to look into funding and underwriting to possibly bolster our future efforts...Ideally, comparing to other cities our size, there seems to be a museum or some kind of art space; with a single stage, sound equipment...that could feature other kinds of music. Shows at certain bars seems fine; but for other kinds of music that demands a lot of attention it sometimes is not a great environment. While the record store Thirty-Three Degrees has been good, we have sort of outgrown it. Ideally, a museum or public space, park, maybe a rock club for certain things."

It is true. At a rock club you've got all of those wonderful things -- tons of cigarette smoke, no profits for the touring artist, loud frat boys, a dumpy dive. To appreciate music, especially jazz, one wants to get up close, squeeze up to the front, listen to the intricacies of the motion -- hear the details.

P.G. was on his way after the interview to Atlanta to hear more free jazz. "While Epistrophy is on break I will take a trip to see a three day concert series sponsored by the Gherta institute. That is the German Cultural Arts Council, [sponsoring] part of the National Black Arts Festival. For a week Atlanta will be inundated with people from all over the world. Abby Lincoln, Regina Carter. But the series is going to be at the Museum, the National Hill Museum of Art. There is an auditorium there. Some of the leading figures of European free improvised music will be there. A lot of people influenced by Coltrane, Aylers, Ornette Coleman. The liberation of jazz in the '60s. They have been pursuing that music for 20 years now and they will be playing in Atlanta with some of the leading American improvisors, like Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Andrew Surreal who was just here with David Murray. Fred Hopkins, Leo Smith, Rosko Mitchell, and George Lewis, along with Europeans like Peter Brotzmann, Alexander Van Shlippenbach, and Peter Cowalt. The idea of the International Black Arts Festival is that it draws from all of the arts. Movies, dance, performance art, all sorts."

So, there you have it. Look for upcoming shows from Epistrophy Arts -- you might want to step off the beaten path...for a while.