ARCHIVE

The German contrabass player Peter Kowald (1944-2002) in an improvising quartet with Zeena Parkins (harp), Jason Kao Hwang (violin) and Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet/flute) recorded at Roulette in 1989. Kowald dedicated his career to free and open improvisation which eliminates barriers of style, genre, form, instrumentation, media, and even time between collaborators. A longtime member of the London Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, Kowald's performances and recordings feature an international who's who of masters of the method--such as Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Sainkho Namtchylak, and Hamid Drake--and many duets with fellow bass players including Joëlle Léandre, Barre Phillips, and William Parker.

"Tracking The Odds: The Roulette Concert Archive" is a monthly hour-long radio special produced by Roulette Intermedium (roulette.org) and broadcast in partnership with Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM and Standing Wave Radio. The broadcasts feature selected highlights from Roulette’s New York experimental music space dating from the early 1980s to the present. Thousands of rare, formative, and often unheard recordings by innovators and adventurous musicians populate the archive. "Tracking The Odds" airs the fourth Monday of the month from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and is archived at wavefarm.org.

Founded in 1978, Roulette operates a 400-seat concert hall on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn with a focus on experimental and unorthodox music and performance across all genres and media. Its archive of thousands of audio and video recordings is currently being restored.

Pictured: A screening, reading, and performance for Henry Hills' film "Money" at Roulette (1985) with dancer Pooh Kaye surrounded by (L-R) John Zorn, Tom Cora, Ciro Baptiste, (obstructed, possibly Sally Silvers), Abigail Child, Diane Ward, Susie Timmons, Alan Davies, Bruce Andrews, Ikue Mori, Jim Staley, Butch Morris. Photo: Lona Foote.