Weasel Walter Ensemble

Comments (0) By Steve Jansen Wednesday, Aug 3 2011

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AvantGarden

411 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77006

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With The Weird Weeds and Lucas Gorham, 8 p.m. Sunday, August 7, at Super Happy Fun Land, 3801 Polk Street, 713-880-2100 or www.superhappyfunland.com. 7 p.m. Monday, August 8, at AvantGarden, 411 Westheimer, 832-519-1429 or www.avantgardenhouston.com.

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John Zorn is indeed amazing, but the saxophonist/composer/record-label owner tends to be the token name that's thrown out when talking about modern avant-garde or so-called improvised weirdo music. Weasel Walter, even though there's nothing token about him, arguably needs to be included in this discussion. A former Chicago and Oakland resident who currently lives in New York City, Walter co-founded the spazztastic (and sadly defunct) The Flying Luttenbachers before moving on to collaborations with a ridiculous amount of fellow uncompromisers, ranging from Marshall Allen and Henry Kaiser to Mary Halvorson and Jim O'Rourke. On top of that, Walter has been, for years, releasing some of the most far-leaning left-field albums out there on his ugEXPLODE Records. (A newbie to the label? Start with the quartet and double-trio effort Firestorm, where Walter writes "With this music, I am attempting to express highly articulated violence and fury" in the liner notes.) For his Super Happy gig, drummer Walter will be joined by an all-star cast of local improvisers, including Sandy Ewen (guitar), Seth Paynter (woodwinds), David Dove (trombone), Nick Hennies (vibes), Thomas Helton (tuba) and, last but not least, Damon Smith (bass), a recent Houston transplant who has appeared on countless recordings with Walter, and is the person responsible for bringing this sonic madman to town.