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Performers

The Trio: Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell, George E. Lewis (USA)

Each member of The Trio has been an honoured guest in Guelph at previous festivals, and their presence has contributed to the sustained attention the festival has paid to the legacy of the Chicago musicians' collective, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Though each member of The Trio is an accomplished composer, this group is committed to collective improvisation, a wonderful context in which to hear these incredible instrumentalists.

Trombonist and computer musician George Lewis authored the American Book Award-winning history of the AACM, A Power Stronger Than Itself. The sustained leadership and vision of pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams within that organization holds a central place in Lewis's narrative.

Roscoe Mitchell has been featured in Guelph in previous years as part of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, of which he was a founding member, and with Pauline Oliveros.  Lewis has also been a regular visitor to Guelph; his rambunctious contributions to Steve Lacy's Quartet, for instance, demonstrated the range of his brilliance on trombone.