Brooklyn Meets Ann Arbor: New Music & Improvisation Tropos + Fortune Teller Trio (feat. Yuma Uesaka & Kenji Lee)

Brooklyn-based improviser-composer collective Tropos—featuring University of Michigan ’14 alum Yuma Uesaka—returns to Ann Arbor for a double bill with Kenji Lee’s Fortune Teller Trio. Rooted in the improvisational spirit of jazz and creative music while embracing the formal rigor and timbral curiosity of contemporary concert music, Tropos brings what critic Nate Chinen describes as an “engaging balance of precision and daring.” The set will feature new works alongside selections from Switches, developed through a workshop process with mentor Darius Jones. Fortune Teller Trio’s music similarly balances craft and spontaneity, making for an evening of thoughtfully composed forms, audacious improvisation, and shared musical values. Fortune Teller Trio features Kenji Lee (tenor saxophone), Andy Peck (double bass), and Jonathan Barahal Taylor (drums).

Set 1 – Fortune Teller Trio
Set 2 – Tropos

Tropos:

Yuma Uesaka – clarinet & bass clarinet
Phillip Golub – piano
Ledah Finck – violin
Aaron Edgcomb – drums & percussions

Fortune Teller Trio:

Kenji Lee – winds
Andy Peck – bass
Jonathan Barahal Taylor – drums