Originally from Pakistan guitarist/composer Rez discusses several of his releases including A Throw of Dice, Oasis and Unfiltered Universe. “An amazing guitarist…unique and beautiful music – and best of all – very original…I’m really impressed.” Pat Metheny

A review of the CD Unfiltered Universe, “The music grabs hold of both your imagination and heart with equal alluring power. Rez Abbasi proves again to be more than a superb guitarist; he’s a clever conceptualist, too…The compositions blossom as worlds unto themselves as Abbasi’s thick-toned guitar lines often run in unison with Rudresh Mahanthappa’s piquant also sax, the two sound like pioneers probing new music territory.” Downbeat Magazine

Joseph Celli Interviews Gustavo Matamoros – Composer, sound artist and founding director of the Subtropics Experimental Music and Sound Arts Festival. Gustavo discusses several of his electroacoustic compositions and we listen to his Seagulls Tango. He has received commissions from Adrianne Arsht Performing Arts Center, Knight Foundation, Art In State Buildings,Vizcaya Museum and is the recipient of a cultural Consortium Visual and Media Arts Fellowships. Recent projects and sound installations have been exhibited at Miami Art Museum, Bass Museum of Art, MoCA and the Hollywood Art and Culture Center.

Composer/bassist/jazz musician Mario Pavone discusses his collaborations with Anthony Braxton, Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, Wadada Leo Smith and an emerging generation of new improvisers. Mario’s various ensembles have included Matt Wilson, Gerald Cleaver, Joshua Redman, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein and Craig Taborn among others.

“His work has never been less than compelling.” (NY Times). “Mario Pavone works his strings with the force and persistence of a sculptor chipping away at granite. The sheer dynamism of his playing is matched by the lustre of his writing and arranging for small bands” (The New Yorker).

Kyoko discusses her work as an improvising vocalist, composer, band leader & Executive Director of Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation and we also listen to several of her recordings. She is a former journalist (Fuji Television Network Japan) with childhood piano training at Juilliard Pre-College, a stint as Paris-based foreign news correspondent and Gulf War reporter on her résumé working in Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabi. Kyoko Kitamura is an oddball vocalist, composer and bandleader who has worked with many distinguished musicians, most notably with the community of Tri-Centric musicians including Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum.

“…Kitamura’s voice is an amazing instrument, with great range. […] If you’re someone who likes to be challenged, who has to go back and listen until what you hear makes sense (or begins to make sense), look no further." (Hartford Courant)

Jen discusses her remarkable background and music studies around the world and we listen to six pieces of hers that have received wide critical acclaim. Jen Shyu is “…one of the most creative vocalists in contemporary improvised music…” (The Nation)

New York Times "Best Albums of 2015 by Ben Ratliff"

Improvising composer/saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock talks about her various ensembles with Tom Rainey, Kris Davis & others as well as her compositional activity. She’s worked with Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richards Abrams, Dave Douglas, Kenny Wheeler, Jason Moran, Tim Berne, William Parker, Tom Rainey, Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Luc Ex, Django Bates’ Human Chain, The Continuum Ensemble, Wet Ink and many others.

“Laubrock's yelping lines over Rainey's battering percussion, her contrasting murmurings over damped piano strings and arrhythmic tappings, windy multiphonic sounds amid cowbell chimes and ghostly chords reveal an increasingly distinctive soundscape. (The Guardian)

Today on the GM Report to the Listeners at 12noon WPKN’s GM Steve di Costanzo will offer some updates on the WPKN ‘family’ and other activities during the age of Covid-19.

Call-ins to the show are encouraged. The number is 203-336-9756. Tell us what’s on your mind? Coping mechanisms, how you are keeping busy, thoughts on social distancing, SBA loans, Face masks and getting back to work.

There will be updates from several cultural organizations from Allison Stockel, the ED of the Ridgefield Playhouse and also a quick call with John Reid at the the Fairfield Theater Company in Fairfield, CT

FOOD BANKS: we will talk with Don Miller from Island Harvest Food Bank- A Food Bank for Long Island.

For a local story on food banking initiatives we’ll talk with WPKN’s Luis Luna about a project he’s involved with out of the Westville section of New Haven.

During the broadcast Steve will drop in several short podcasts from a WPKN programmer Emma Speer. When Life Gives You Corona…. (Socially Distant, Soullularly Close) She’s done 12 episodes up on Apple Podcasts

My guest today on Digging in the Dirt is Dina Brewster. Dina is the Executive Director of The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut (CT NOFA), she owns The Hickories a one acre vegetable garden and has overseen the development of new products and new acreage as the family business has grown. Committed to connecting people with working land, Dina chose to return to her family's farm in Ridgefield and start the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program, one that still exists as the backbone of the farm's business plan.

Interviews with 350.org organizer Kendall Mackey, South Dakota rancher John Harter, and indigenous Dakota leader Faith Spotted Eagle, who all oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, which TC Energy was about to start building over the US-Canada border. (Update: after this show ran, a federal judge ruled that TC Energy must conduct a complete Environmental Impact Statement, delaying the pipeline yet again.)

In this episode:

-the Small Farms Report from Guy and Janelle Beardsley

- Caty Poole, executive director of Massaro Farm, reports on how Massaro and other local farms are preparing for the planting season in the shadow of the corona virus.

- discussion of communal and barter food production systems in times of crisis.

Host: Richard Hill