Edition Redux: OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival, Shenzhen, China, October 2025

Screenshot

12/23/25: On the 26th and 27th of December I’ll be playing my last concerts of the year, as always with the DKV Trio at Elastic Arts.  Exactly two months ago I was in China, performing with Edition Redux at the incredible OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival in Shenzhen.  That was the final concert for the quartet in 2025, the culmination of a Chicago residency at the Hungry Brain during September (with a performance at the Sound & Gravity Festival), and a tour in Europe in October (that concluded with a recording session for our next album, at Shenk Studio in Amsterdam)- an amazing period of collaboration with Erez Dessel, Lily Finnegan, and Beth McDonald. 

It was my first visit to mainland China, and it is hard to put into words just how phenomenal the experience was.  Everything- from the organization of logistics and generous hosting by the OCT-LOFT crew; to the enthusiasm and curiosity of the hundreds of listeners, many who were under 20 years old and who came from all over China to attend (venues for the screening of the “Musician” documentary by Dan Kraus and Q&A with me following the film, and Peter Margasak’s lecture, “Coming Together: The Collision of Free Jazz, Post-Rock, and Experimental Music in Chicago 1992-2002”, were standing room only); to the conversations with musicians, organizers, and audience- was extraordinary.  After the set by Edition Redux, the group signed autographs for almost an hour as one fan after a number came up to me with albums and tour posters from throughout my career.  I have no idea how they were able to get ahold of so many documents but all of them knew the music and its history very, very well.

In addition to getting the opportunity to play with Edition Redux to a cheering crowd of more than 700, I was honored to get asked to help assist Fei Tu with programming the closing “Improvising Unit(s)” concert of the OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival.  The lineup included: Rodrigo Amado, Neil Charles, Lao Dan, Stephen Davis, Erez Dessel, Lily Finnegan, Joe Fonda, Alexander Hawkins, Beth McDonald, Ken Vandermark, and Michael Zerang.  Truly excellent to have these audiovisual materials available to catch a slice of what took place.

Link to Edition Redux OCT-LOFT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcSNnKmQl5A

Link to Improvisation Unit(s) OCT-LOFT video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TRBalbecw8