IMPROV SPACES FALL 2025 SEASON IS HERE
December!
PUBLIC WORKSHOP / EVENT
December 11, 2025
Illusions of Time
Finding your place in the challenge of continuity
Pheeroan akLaff
Participants will engage with a purview of the social, political, and heightened sensitivity of jazz pedagogy, its impact, and meaning in American life. They will advance cognizance of pre-colonial and African diaspora art practices that fostered jazz as a response to Euro-centric performance art practices.
Workshop
This workshop is approximately 75 minutes in duration and is driven by the interaction of the participants. It will explore rhythm in music, poetry, and world events, as well as the impressions the cycles have on our immediate and recorded histories. We will listen to ancient sounds, modern sounds, and reflect upon their significance in our daily lives. We will engage in playful challenge and record our reactions to what is demanded of us in protocols. There is no need for musical training for these exercises. Our goal will be to gain a new perspective from an unexpected source and refresh our sense of curiosity.
Topics covered will include:
From Full Circle To Whole Cylinder
Finding Voice Wrestling with Homeostasis
Shepherding the Metamorphosis
This will be followed by a solo by akLaff
The program is open to percussionists and non-percussionists and will also expose participants to discussions probing the spiritual, stylistic, political, and economic environments within 19th and 20th Century Jazz creators. Reference Authors may include Psyche Loui, Robert Palmer, Gary Giddins, Giovanni Rosellini, Jon Parales, Bill Cole, Ben Sidran, Oliver Sachs, Ingrid Monson, Stanley Crouch, Roger Riggins, Chip Stern, and Jose Arguelles, alongside Reference Musician Biographies such as Blind Tom, Willie Ruff, Thelonius Monk, Cannonball Adderley, Art Taylor, and Yusef Lateef.
Participants may be asked to bring a few simple materials to support the workshop activities, including a plastic bucket of any kind (preferably in the large Lowe’s, Home Depot, or joint-compound size), any colors of magic markers, and a notebook. A Swiss Army knife or screwdriver may also be brought if available, though it is not necessary.
THURSDAY, DEC 11, 2025
TIME 7-9PM
LOCATION Arts Letters & Numbers, 1548 Burden Lake Road, Averill Park, NY
ADMISSION Free to the public with suggested donation $20
Artist Bio
Pheeroan akLaff’s signature drumming with adventuresome composers has been voluminously documented. His studies with “Pistol” Allen (Motown) and Randall Hicks (NJSO), was broadened by living and working in Abidjan, Cote D’ivoire, with the African ballet company of Marie Rose Guiraud, and by meeting Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and Steve Rhodes in Lagos Nigeria. He participated in U.S. State Department tours of nine African nations, the Near East, and India. He has toured Japan and Korea with national treasure artist Yamashita Yosuke since 1988. He made groundbreaking collaborations with Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Davis, Henry Threadgill, Liu Sola, Tom Pierson, Andrew Hill, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, and has interdisciplinary work with Dr. Psyche Loui and Dr. Julian F. Thayer. Through Seed Artists, a New York City and Montclair, New Jersey based non-profit, akLaff presents and expands the terrain of creative music. https://pheeroanaklaff.com/home
In collaboration with Arts Letters & Numbers
Images courtesy of Pheeroan akLaff. All rights reserved by the artist.
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Please Consider to Donate to Improv Spaces in 2025!
This year Improv Spaces has been able to:
Support 7 Live Performances at Local Performance Venues
Run the Improv Sessions for Improvising Musicians and Collaborators
Debut the Improv Spaces Ensemble
Present the 2nd annual Improv Spaces Music Festival
Supporting more than 96 artists for Live Performances since we started
in Saratoga and the Greater Capital Region!
Donate Now
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Thanks for attending the 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival!
The 2025 IMPROV SPACES MUSIC FESTIVAL
took place on June 7th, 2025 —
at the Round Lake Auditorium
We are so happy to have been able to host more than 30 musicians as a part of the 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival
that took place at the Round Lake Auditorium on Saturday, June 7th, 2025
with festival highlights that featured new work from the Human Rites Trio with renown musicians
Jason Kao Hwang (composer, violin, viola), Andrew Drury (drum set), Ken Filiano (string bass);
the premiere of Sonic Explorations in Troy, an incubator project with the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
with the Rock City Falls Trio and Manuel J. Perez III; and the debut of the Improv Spaces Ensemble;
along with an impressive roster of additional talented improvisers
hailing from the Capital Region and beyond!
Thanks to our sponsors!
Media Sponsors
Email improvspaces@gmail.com about sponsorship and volunteer opportunities for 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival
Please watch this video on our 2024 Improv Spaces Music Festival and
Considering Supporting Improv Spaces for More Great Programs in 2025
For information about donating to Improv Spaces or sponsoring the 2025 festival, please visit us here.
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It was great to see you at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Febrary 25th for this special performance and discussion for
SONIC EXPLORATIONS IN TROY!
Photos by Kylie Spinelli Photography
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our mission
IMPROV SPACES is based in Saratoga County in upstate NY and provides space and opportunities for performance, practice and workshops for musicians involved in improvisation. We support work with artists in interdisciplinary improvisation including with music, performance, poetry, and visual arts, among them.
IMPROV SPACES introduces the public to the broad range of improvised music including folk, jazz, classical, and pop music and through sounds and textures, expanding beyond traditional musical concepts like harmony and form.
Improvisation allows for open dialogue through practice and audience interaction and feeling beyond the self. Improv Spaces invites collaborators and the public to be a part of the embodied performances and artsmaking process through the practice and tenets of improvisation.
ALEX CHANG
Co-Director
Joseph Bruchac
Board Member
ADAM FORMAN
Co-Director
JONATHAN LO
Board Member
MARK MCBRIDE
Board Member
- With gratitude, and looking ahead to the new yearDear friends, As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for being part of the Improv Spaces community. This year has been one of listening, experimentation, and continued commitment to artist-led work. Since our founding, Improv Spaces has presented live performances by more than 96 artists, supporting… Read more: With gratitude, and looking ahead to the new year
- We’re official and we’re inviting you in…We’re official — and we’re inviting you in… This year, Improv Spaces gathered artists and audiences in living rooms, galleries, and concert halls — listening closely, taking risks, and creating space for improvisation and collaboration. We’re excited to share that Improv Spaces is now an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This means your support can directly… Read more: We’re official and we’re inviting you in…
- Tomorrow Evening! Pheeroan akLaff Percussion ImmersiveA reminder to come out tomorrow evening after today’s snowy day to welcome renown percussionist Pheeroan akLaff to the Capital Region in a collaboration with Arts Numbers & Letters for a special percussion immersive workshop/performance that will be open to percussionists and non-percussionists! PUBLIC WORKSHOP / EVENT Thursday, Dec. 11th 2025 Illusions of Time Finding your place in the… Read more: Tomorrow Evening! Pheeroan akLaff Percussion Immersive
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