A history of the first two years

1/2/99  Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #1

      The Alterknit Theater, Knitting Factory

David Pleasant, Toby Kasavan, David C. Gross, Tor Snyder

I wanted to go full throttle with a very aggressive and electric ensemble. Backing me up was the amazing David Pleasant on "multi-percussion Densimetrix" as well as his vocals and harmonica. Toby Kasavan played piano, and David Gross was all over the place on his six string fretless bass. We opened with a thirty minute version of "Machine Gun" followed by a thirty minute version of the Sonny Sharrock classic "Many Mansions". We ended with an ambient jam into "Voodoo Chile". It was my first time playing both of these Hendrix classic's in concert and was a milestone for me. With over 50 friends cramped into the Alterknit Theater, it was a night I will never forget. 

5/1/99 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #2

The Alterknit Theater, Knitting Factory

Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, Raphe Malik, Daniel Carter, Andrew Bemkey, Ravish Momin, Mathew Heyner, Tor Snyder

This was an attempt to pull together all of the most amazing musicians I could. While everyone performed brilliantly. Ra-Kalam had never before played with any of these musicians, and just thinking about this unique assembly of artistry, gave me goose bumps. The show was recorded, but I haven't heard it, and I'm not sure if the tape still exists.... 

5/8/99 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #3 

      Raqib Hassan, David Pleasant, David Gross, Toby Kasavan, Tor Snyder

This time I brought the first group back, but added Raqib Hassan on saxophone and reeds. Raqib and I go back to 1986. When he would perform with the legendary Boston based "Underground Voice Band". Additionally Toby brought his electric keyboards. For this show, we reprised Many Mansions and Machine Gun. It was awesome to play these songs with this group. We also included "Afro-Blue" and what I had been calling "Prayer for Peace": a twenty minute plus jam that began with ambient loops on the guitar and bass.

7/31/99 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #5

      Knitting Factory, Alterknit Theater

      W/ Raphe Malik, Kid Lucky, David Pleasant, David Gross, Toby Kasavan, Tor Snyder

Ever expanding, I invited Raphe down from Vermont, and added Kid Lucky on "voicestrumentals". At this point I had been working quite a bit with Kid Lucky and he added a whole new wonderful dimension to the affair. 

9/11/99 Tor Snyder's Irrepressible Spirit #6

      Black Rock Coalition/911 Mumia Awareness Day Celebration

      W/ Flip Barnes, David Pleasant, David Gross, Tor Snyder

Performing for the first time at a Black Rock Coalition event, I really wanted to make a statement. With Flip playing some amazing trumpet, and bringing along his delay pedal, we rocked the audience with another extended version of Machine Gun, and Many Mansions. 

This was one of my favorite performances. David does some amazing things with his boomerang. Flip conjured up shades of Agharta..

9/26/99 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #7

      The Knitting Factory.

      W/ Miles Griffith, Sabir Mateen, David Pleasant, David Gross, Toby Kasavan, Kid Lucky

Sabir was one of two musicians I knew upon my arrival in NYC (1997). Through him I met at least half of the musicians that I've been blessed to work with. I met Miles through David Pleasant and he David and Kid have worked together extensively. Zany, wild, explosive, dramatic... this was quite a show. 

1/15/00 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #8

      The Gallery at CBGB's 9 pm

Sabir Mateen, Josh Roseman (trombone), Jonathan LeMaster (violin), Dennis Warren (drums), Avram Fefer (reeds) , Kid Lucky, David C. Gross, Thom Patterson (live painting), Tor Snyder

What a way to start the year. I had my long time partner Dennis Warren come down from Boston. Josh Roseman is another long time Mass. connection. Jonathan and I had met only recently, but he was also coming from up East. This was my first gig with Avram. I was also delighted to find another improvising painter to collaborate with.

1/22/00 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #9

      The Knit Active Sound Stage

      David Warren, David Pleasant, Ed Chang, Motoko Schimizu, Monique Jarvis, Michael Dwyer,

      Thom Patterson, Tor Snyder.

Just a week later and I had Dennis' brother David down from Boston. The brothers and I had first performed together up at Bennington College in May of 1982 (I was 18 at the time). This concert also featured my friend Monique Jarvis who came down from Hartford (just as the show was beginning). 

2/22/00 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #10

The Pink Pony

Ravish Momin, Danny Zanker, Tor Snyder,

Shifting gears, I scaled down. Ravish had been a steady musical companion of mine, since my first NY session (with Sabir, Daniel Carter and Matt Heyner). Danny typically plays acoustic, but he had his electric for this gig. No tape exists. 

Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #11 Lonely Women

The Knit Active Sound Stage

Raphe Malik, Daniel Carter, Jackson Krall, Ken Filiano, Tor Snyder

Way back when, the Knit had devised a "deconstruction" project. Each month they would select a song, and various bands would come in and interpret the material in their own fashion. Each concert would be web-cast. The Knitting Factory contacted me and offered me the Ornette Coleman ballad "Lonely Women". I wanted to treat the song with delicacy, and yet provide some burning passion. Again, I selected a stellar band. Jackson had been working with Ken and suggested he come aboard. I had seen Ken previously and I was aware of his prowess. As a bonus, we went on just after David Torn and Will Calhoun. David Torn has long been one of my favorite guitar players and was a factor in my purchasing my "Klein" electric guitar. Will I had seen in the band Living Color, but had never met. Those two did a wild version of "Lonely Women" just prior to our rendition.

4/16/00 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #12

ABC No Rio

Ravish Momin, Danny Zanker, Tor Snyder

This was the second show with Ravish and Danny. A better set. Danny was on upright, the atmosphere was low key. My sister was in the audience, as well as my long lost buddy Jon Goldberger. 

5-27-00 Tor Snyder and Irrepressible Spirit #13

The Knitting Factory's Old Office

Raqib Hassan, Ravish Momin, Raki Danzinger, Danny Zanker, Tor Snyder

This was the first of three nights at the Old Office. A whirlwind of promotion and logistics. I had just moved back to Manhattan and my new landlord was willing to let me slide on the rent so that I could come up with the dough to pay all of the musicians. Special thanks to Aunt Elaine and Uncle Bob who graciously came through with the funding to record all three nights. I knew Raqib would be a great match with Ravish and Danny. Raki is a dumbek player who I had recently gotten to befriend. She plays many traditional Middle Eastern gigs, but not many freely improvised performances. Just as I imagined, the music was awesome. . 

5-28-00 Irrepressible Spirit #14

The Knitting Factory's Old Office 

Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, Raqib Hassan, Daniel Carter, Don Pate, Tor Snyder

Night number two.... This was only my third time performing with Ra-Kalam. On the cd, the track "Invocation" is the first ensemble music that night. Don Pate- what a phenomenal bassist! He had never met anyone in the group, other than Ra-Kalam, before arriving at the club. 

5-29-00 Irrepressible Spirit #15

The Knitting Factory's Old Office

David Pleasant, Raqib Hassan, Vattel Cherry, Hill Greene, Kid Lucky, Miles Griffith, Tor Snyder

I'm really proud of this inspired line-up. Vattel and Hill I met through David Pleasant. They are two awesome bassists, who hadn't played in tandem very often. Kid and Miles- a natural pairing. Raqib just sounded extraordinary no matter what the setting. It turns out that Raqib and Hill go back many years and this gig was a reunion. This was my third night playing on the same stage, I had a good feel for the room, I was on a roll, and I wanted to let everything out of my system. What better drummer to work with than David Pleasant. His Densimetrix concept of rhythm is a force of nature. Thank goodness this was recorded!

8-18-00 Irrepressible Spirit #16

The Knitting Factory's Alterknit Theater

Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, Raqib Hassan, Daniel Carter, Don Pate, Tor Snyder

This was our follow up gig. The vibe was different but, no surprise, everyone played brilliantly. We explored musical areas that we didn't have time to get to the first time around. 

8-25-00 Irrepressible Spirit # 17

The Knitting Factory's Alterknit Theater

Josh Roseman, Christopher Meeder, Raphe Malik, Daniel Carter, Ken Filiano, Jackson Krall, Tor Snyder

Another inspired line-up. Josh Roseman (trombone) is an old friend from Boston. Back in... Um,... let's see... the winter of 1985 I used to play on Monday nights down at Charlie's Tap. It snowed every Monday night that winter. And there would be Josh, on his bike, in the snow, with his trombone, ready to sit in. Christopher Meeder is a great tuba player. I had been gigging with his "Good Time Ensemble" and was eager to bring him aboard. It was so great to hear Raphe and Daniel alongside these two players for the first time. This was my second time playing with Ken. He and Jackson, however, have a long history together. 

10-28-00 Irrepressible Spirit #18

The Knitting Factory Alterknit Theater

Ra-Kalam Bob Moses, Raphe Malik, Don Pate, Daniel Carter, Raqib Hassan, Tor Snyder

This was the third concert with this line-up. Significantly I invited Raphe back to join us. All of the tracks on the cd which feature Raphe come from this performance. I also recall that Rashied Ali was in the audience!