After taking a break last year, the Whatyouwill festival devoted to improvised and experimental music in the Midwest returns this weekend for its 7th installment. While Saturday is the focal point of the schedule, Whatyouwill 7 offers performances (and camping) over 3 days, Friday, September 28th through Sunday, September 30th, at its traditional location, Old World Stone Carving, located at 4820 Beard Rd, Sunbury, Ohio 43074. Promoter and organizer Gerard Cox has scheduled a wide array of talented musicians performing a variety of styles “that includes everything from progressive modern jazz to electronic music to free jazz” on two stages. Cox was kind enough to provide few thoughts on this year’s festival, including featured artist Dave Stone, and the full lineup. Keep reading to learn more from Cox, and visit the Facebook event page for further details and updates in case of severe weather.
Gerard Cox: “The main addition this year is that we’ve added a listening room space inside the house. There were a lot of requests to do solo and duo sets and they deserve a more intimate listening environment.
This is the first Whatyouwill since a hiatus in 2017 and we’ve really tried to refresh the program. While there are familiar names and some overlap, we’ve tried to give it a slightly different feel. The listening room is actually key because we’d really like for Whatyouwill to become more of a wanderer’s festival. Instead of just parking it in a seat in front of a stage, for festival-goers to be able to walk around and stumble into very cool things.
This year we’re chosen to bring in St. Louis musician Dave Stone as our featured artist. Dave is a really outstanding saxophonist and a down-to-earth fellow we’re happy to embrace. We’re also proud to have more young musicians involved than in any previous Whatyouwill festival this year. It should be a fantastic weekend; we’re hoping people will camp out and stay for the full 2 nights and 2 days. Friday is the jam to end all jams that opens the weekend, Saturday is the main day of sets, and Sunday is a more relaxed day with sets in the early afternoon from 1-4. We ask for a $10-20 donation to help pay toward artist expenses incurred in travelling and to help cover our overhead. Food is potluck with some basics provided. We hope to see a lot of friends old and new this weekend; Whatyouwill is not a music showcase so much as it’s just a time to share who you are in how you play for people who actually care.”
Whatyouwill 7 Full Schedule
Friday, September 28th:
8 pm- Winchester Howse: Dale Johnson- piano, vox, with Gerard Cox- drums.
9 pm- JAM til close
Saturday, September 29th:
GARAGE STAGE (bands and louder things…)
12:30 pm- Jasimine Agape Pennywell- vox, with rhythm section. “Dedication to Henry”
1 pm- Stan Smith- guitar, w/bass and drums TBA.
2 pm- L.A. Jenkins- electric guitar, and Phil Maneri- upright bass.
3 pm- Kurt Prisbe (Detroit)- drums, with Mario Bosca- bass, Owen Hopper- guitar, and special guests TBA.
4 pm- Volenik / Abdur-Razzaq / Hallahan / Clayton (Akron + Columbus). Don Volenik- trumpet, Hasan Abdur-Razzaq- saxophones, Ed Hallahan- bass, Rasuul Rollin Clayton- drums.
5 pm- Night Terrors (Cleveland): Paul Stranahan (drums), Tim Mirth (guitar)
6 pm- Haneef Smart and Reincarnation Movement (Cincinnati). Haneef Smart- flute, with Ethan Marsh – Rhodes, Tyler Marsh- bass, and Avery Green (drums)
7 pm- Drake and Henry. (Cleveland) Bbob Drake- electronics + Alex Henry.
8 pm- Dave Stone (St. Louis) with Mario Bosca- bass, Josh Strange- vibraphone, Troy Kunkler – drums
9 pm- Chatoyant (Detroit). Matthew Smith- guitar, trumpet, Marco Novachkoff- alto & baritone saxophone, bass flute, Joel Peterson- bass, “Crazy Jim” Baljo- drums
10 pm- Kline-Buckley Duo (Cincinnati). Josh Kline- tenor saxophone, Tom Buckley- drums.
HOUSE LISTENING ROOM (solo, duo, quieter things)
3:30 pm- Tom Orange- saxophone with percussion loops.
4:30 pm- Squid Thrasher (Gerard Cox solo piano/percussion) a blindfolded set with guests who are a mystery to the player.
5:30 pm- Mario Bosca- solo bass
6:30 pm- Andrew Kovaleski / Owen Hopper. Solo saxophone (Kovaleski), Solo guitar (Hopper) and duo improvisations.
8:30 pm- Sineqube: Kevin Holland + Jennifer Dutiel. Holland- guitar, Dutiel- vox, synth
9:30 pm- Reon Moebius- electric violin
Sunday, September 30th:
Solo and ensemble sets starting at noon by Dave Stone (St. Louis), JayVe Montgomery (Nashville), and Ritwik Banerji (Cincinnati).