Event

Penn Sound Collective: Max Johnson

Music in the Stacks Performance Series

November 6, 2024 (Wednesday) — 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Van Pelt Library - Main Lobby
3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia

Third-year PhD Music Composition candidate Max Johnson presents his jazz trio in a concert at Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. Advance registration is required for non-PennCard-holders: Please Register Here

Described as “an intrepid composer, architect of sound and beast of the bass…” (Brad Cohan, NYC Jazz Record) composer, bassist, and improviser Max Johnson is one of the most prolific music makers in the jazz, bluegrass, improvised music, and contemporary classical worlds. Johnson has released nearly 20 albums and performed over three thousand concerts internationally with artists like Anthony Braxton, Geri Allen, Mary Halvorson, David Grisman, Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, Henry Grimes, Candido Camero, Sam Bush, Nels Cline, and many more.  He has composed commissions for the Jerome Foundation, Society of Composers Inc, University of Glasgow, has been featured on over seventy albums, and can be heard in Spike Lee’s Academy Award winning film, “The BlacKkKlansman”. 

For this concert, Max Johnson presents his incredible new trio with Neta Raanan on tenor saxophone and Eliza Salem on drumset, celebrating their 2024 album, "I'll See You Again". This trio explores Johnson’s more traditional jazz compositions inspired by innovators Charles Mingus, Mal Waldron, and Thelonious Monk, while always featuring Johnson's unique energetic and chaotic soundworld.

ABOUT MUSIC IN THE STACKS

A collaboration between the Albrecht Music Library and the Department of Music, "Music in the Stacks" brings Penn musicians into library spaces for drop-in, public performances throughout the semester.