Outside the Spotlight/Event 222: Chris Corsano

WRFL 88.1FM presents Outside the Spotlight/Event 222: Chris Corsano. Chris is a New York-based drummer who’s been working at the intersections of free jazz, avant-rock, and experimental music since the late 1990s. Appearing on over 180 albums and touring in an ultra-wide array of collaborations, he’s a renowned solo performer in his own right, with a new solo record due out next year on the Drag City label. He’s built a highly inventive musical language through ecstatic free improvisation, extended percussion techniques, and the augmentation of his kit with circular-breathed reeds and bowed strings that coax new resonances out of the drums’ heads.

He’s a rim-batterer of choice for some of the greatest contemporary purveyors of “jazz” (Joe McPhee, Mette Rasmussen, Zoh Amba) and “rock” (Sir Richard Bishop, Bill Orcutt, Jim O’Rourke), as well as artists beyond categorization (Björk for her Volta album and world tour, Michael Flower, Okkyung Lee). Corsano’s been called “one of the world’s great drummers” by The Guardian, an “ace of the avant-garde” by The New York Times, a “powerhouse drummer” by Rolling Stone, and “arguably the most riotously energetic and creative drummer in contemporary free jazz” by Wire Magazine.