Progessive Nights

From the days of her Spruce Street Forum to the current Fresh Sound series, concert promoter, record label Exec., and San Diegan Bonnie Wright has a passion for exploring and sharing experimental & avant-garde music with her community. Bonnie plays a vital part with keeping the creative-music flame burning here in San Diego by bringing in cutting-edge artists from around the world. Her Fresh Sound series wraps up this month with a performance from the Rez Abbasi Trio, the #2 Rising Star Guitarist winner in a recent Down Beat magazine poll.

I sat down for a Progressive Nights interview with Bonnie where we talked about her passion for music, the local music scene, the upcoming Fresh Sound performance this weekend, and the great line-up of some upcoming concerts too. Enjoy.

I was fortunate enough to sit down for a Progressive Nights interview with one of the most well respected bandleaders in jazz today: saxophonist and former San Diegan Jason Robinson. Jason lent a helping-hand for creative musicians, particularly here in San Diego. He provided the opportunity to have their music heard on the artist-run independent record label he founded in the 90’s called Circumvention Music. He now has a new album out titled Tiresian Symmetry, and since his move from San Diego, he’s been tearing up the east coast jazz scene with a sound steeped in free-jazz, avant-garde, acoustical, electronic, experimental and improvisation. There was way too much to cover in the time we had together, but basically: Jason is a really busy man these days! Not only is he a musician and composer managing multiple groups, but Jason is also an Assistant Professor of Music at Amherst College. Nonetheless, we covered a good bit of ground, so sit back and enjoy.