Kou presents the second evening of Oren Ambarchi's two night residency with a first-ever trio encounter between Oren Ambarchi, master percussionist Andrew Cyrille, and Brazilian percussionist and vocalist Cyro Baptista. Two sets, three distinct musical worlds.

Presented by Kou Arts, the presenting arm of Kou Records and founding affiliate-in-residence at Blank Forms.

7PM doors / 8PM show
$25 general / $15 student (valid ID required)

Oren Ambarchi is an Australian multi-instrumentalist whose practice centers on the extended possibilities of the guitar. A prolific solo artist and consummate collaborator, he has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists across three decades — notably with the Ghosted trio alongside Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin, and his ongoing trio with Keiji Haino and Jim O'Rourke. His output ranges from Suspension (2002) to Shebang (2022), each record demonstrating a slippery capacity for stylistic shapeshifting while retaining his singular musical language. This fall he releases Prophetic Perfect Tense on Kou Records. Since 2009 he has run Black Truffle Records, an Australian label for experimental, improvised, and unclassifiable music, with over 150 releases to date.

Andrew Cyrille is one of the foremost drummers and composers in jazz history. His eleven-year collaboration with Cecil Taylor beginning in 1964 defined the category of free jazz drumming and established him at the vanguard of the form. Since then he has worked with an extraordinary range of artists including David Murray, Muhal Richard Abrams, Peter Brötzmann, Bill Frisell, and Wadada Leo Smith, and has led his own groups in configurations ranging from duo to big band.

A recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition, and a Vision Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, Cyrille continues to record prolifically. Recent works include Breaking the Shell (2024) with Bill Frisell and Kit Downes and a solo record, Music Delivery/Percussion (2023). He is currently on faculty at The New School — School of Jazz & Contemporary Music.

Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian percussionist whose career spans decades of innovation across jazz, rock, avant-garde, world music, and contemporary classical. Born in São Paulo, he moved to New York City in 1980 and became a fixture of its vibrant musical scene, collaborating with Paul Simon, Yo-Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock, John Zorn, Laurie Anderson, and Wynton Marsalis among many others.

Baptista formed the percussion ensemble Beat the Donkey in the mid-1990s, blending Brazilian rhythms with global influences, followed by the quartet Banquet of the Spirits. His most recent release CHAMA weaves ancient Brazilian percussion with cutting-edge contemporary sounds. He has also contributed to numerous film soundtracks, most recently Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.

Oren Ambarchi, Andrew Cyrille, Cyro Baptista

Oren Ambarchi, Andrew Cyrille, Cyro Baptista