Friday August 29 * 7pm * $15-25

Bark Culture is a Philadelphia-based trio led by vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco, featuring Joey Sullivan on drums and John Moran on bass. The group released their first album “Warm Wisdom” on Vieira-Branco’s label Temperphantom in September of 2024 with an accompanying 20 date tour through the United States. Warm Wisdom was included on Bandcamp’s “Best Jazz of September 2024”, and acclaimed jazz writer and critic Hank Shteamer listed the album as his Debut Release of 2024.

Victor Vieira-Branco is a Brazilian/American vibraphonist, having spent the 2010s in the vibrant São Paulo music scene. While Bark Culture is Vieira-Branco’s primary vehicle as a leader, his performances include work with Rob Mazurek’s Exploding Star Orchestra, the Chad Taylor Quintet, Daniel Villarreal Trio, as well as a new duo with pianist Sam Yulsman.

No Trick Pony is a Washington, DC power-trio. Consisting of seasoned DC veterans Amy K. Bormet (piano, voice), Keith Butler Jr. (drums), and Brian Settles (tenor saxophone), the group presents a unique sound that most often finds Bormet constructing song, poetry, and harmony, above a quiet tornado of exploration from Settles and Butler underneath. Though each member is steeped in streams of traditionally defined music — jazz, popular music, punk, and classical, to name a few — the group tends to focus on a deconstruction of the strict barriers of jazz, exploring instead on the transitional points between composition and improvisation. Groove abounds as a way to moor the listener in these explorations, which have the uncanny ability to present as both song and not-song. No Trick Pony has appeared at The Duck Pond in Georgetown, Rhizome DC in Takoma Park, and was a featured billing as part of the 2022 Capital Fringe Festival.