Episodes

  • Wendy Eisenberg: Quasi-Mystical

    Wendy Eisenberg: Quasi-Mystical
    Jan 31 2026
    The guitarist Wendy Eisenberg profiles Squanderers, the collaborative, improvising trio of Eisenberg with David Grubbs (gastr del sol) on electric guitars, and Bonner Kramer (Shimmy Disc) on bass ukulele. Eisenberg’s commentary reveals the roots and flowers of this multi-generational exploration heard alongside excerpts from their 2025 performance at the Roulette concert hall in Brooklyn.
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    28 mins
  • Aruán Ortiz: The Keys of Inspiration

    Aruán Ortiz: The Keys of Inspiration
    Dec 31 2025
    Pianist/composer Aruán Ortiz, classically trained in Cuba and influenced by jazz musicians from Chick Corea to Muhal Richard Abrams, narrates his journey over excerpts from his 2025 concert at Roulette pushing the boundaries of musical Afro-diasporic traditions and storytelling. A 2024 Guggenheim Fellow, we'll hear solos and ensemble works with clarinetist Don Byron, flutist Nicole Mitchell, and percussionist Mauricio Herrera alongside strings and vocalists.
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    28 mins
  • Pauline Oliveros: Sonic Religion

    Pauline Oliveros: Sonic Religion
    Nov 29 2025
    The sonic world and career of composer Pauline Oliveros (1936-2016) featuring a 2008 interview with the artist conducted by David Weinstein for the radio station of the Clocktower Gallery in support of an exhibition at PS1 Contemporary Art Center (now MoMA PS1) entitled WACK: Art of the Feminist Revolution. We also hear solos and collaborative works recorded for the Roulette concert series dating from 1984 to 2014 including excerpts with the Deep Listening Band (Stuart Dempster, trombone, didjeridu and David Gamper (piano, "toys"), and a trio with David Arner (piano) and Doug Van Nort (custom electronics). The influence of Dr. Oliveros on contemporary music is unrivaled, from electronic innovations, sonic meditations, ceremonial works, the Deep Listening paradigm, her Expanded Instrument System (processing time and space), hot-wired accordion, and merging a social conscience with sound.
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    55 mins
  • Patricia Brennan: Celestial Vibes

    Patricia Brennan: Celestial Vibes
    Oct 31 2025
    Vibraphonist, marimbist, and composer Patricia Brennan in conversation with excerpts from performances at the Roulette Concert Hall in Brooklyn. Raised in Mexico and now in Brooklyn and honoree of many awards, Brennan's work as a bandleader and side person includes projects with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, and her ensembles More Touch and Patricia Brennan Septet. Brennan celebrates a new album, Of The Near And Far on Pyroclastic Records, at Roulette on December 1, 2025, inspired by celestial configurations.
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    28 mins
  • “Blue” Gene Tyranny: Myths & Memory

    “Blue” Gene Tyranny: Myths & Memory
    Sep 30 2025
    The music of composer, pianist, and cultural explorer “Blue” Gene Tyranny (1945-2020) in solos and collaborations recorded by Roulette from 2004-10 including archival commentary by the artist and a 2025 introduction by friend and colleague, the writer/producer Mary Griffin. We’ll hear excerpts from pieces including A Letter From Home (2004 version) and Flipside (2008) with vocalists The Smithereens. “Blue” Gene Tyranny contributed to projects from Robert Ashley, Laurie Andersen, John Cage, and Leroy Jenkins to Carla Bley and Iggy Pop. Pianists Sarah Cahill and Joseph Kubera present a two-piano celebration of his work at Roulette on Nov. 20, 2025.
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    28 mins
  • Vicky Chow: The Piano Journey

    Vicky Chow: The Piano Journey
    Aug 31 2025
    Virtuoso pianist Vicky Chow in musical excerpts and commentary from the artist. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, now in Brooklyn, Chow has put a personal touch on multitudes of contemporary music, engaged commissions, and explored experimental forms expanding the piano repertoire. We hear bits from performances of works by Philip Glass, David Lang, Cassie Wieland, Jane Antonia Cornish, and Tristan Perich whose piece Surface Image the pianist will perform in a free concert in Bryant Park in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2025 to open Roulette's 47th season. Image: Kaitlin Jane Photography
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    28 mins
  • Kenny Wollesen: The Wollesonic Affair

    Kenny Wollesen: The Wollesonic Affair
    Aug 1 2025
    The musical works of drummer, percussionist, and instrument builder Kenny Wollesen and his Wollesonic project. We'll hear excerpts from two multimedia, theatrical, large ensemble pieces recorded at Roulette in 2006 and 2008 plus his contribution to a trio led by pianist/composer Sylvie Courvoisier with bassist Drew Gress. Wollesonic is a band, a laboratory, a record label, an archive, and a collection of hundreds of hand-made "noise" instruments. Featuring the artist's commentary and an amazing story about his grandmother's music which Wollesen debuts at The Stone in Manhattan on August 20-23, 2025
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    28 mins
  • Wadada Leo Smith: Tradition & Transition

    Wadada Leo Smith: Tradition & Transition
    Jun 29 2025
    Composer and trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith in commentary and concert excerpts recorded at Roulette including a duo with keyboardist Amina Claudine Myers (Central Park Mosaics, 2024), passages from his Pulitzer-nominated Ten Freedom Summers (Golden Quartet and the Pacifica Coral Reef Ensemble, 2013), and a Rastafarian ceremonial ritual with vocalist Jeanne Lee (1989) An early member and proponent of the AACM and the Chicago “creative music” paradigm, Wadada taught for years at Cal Arts and has an enduring connection with Wesleyan University. Over the years his bands and collaborators have included Leroy Jenkins, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis, Oliver Lake, Derek Bailey, and many more.
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    28 mins