On May 15, 2025 I will be performing at Berlin, Minneapolis with world-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of short solos and duets and a full-length trio set. For my part I will be playing the house Steinway though a modular skiff that I have setup to sample/resample and process the piano.
That skiff has changed slightly from what I’ve been using for the first few examples, but it is still yielding satisfying textures for me. More about the event is below or visit berlinmpls.com/calendar/cox-keston-singh. In addition a radio piece by Philip Nusbaum was aired on Jazz88 (KBEM 88.5), Minneapolis and archived here.
World-renowned jazz/genre-spanning artist Anthony Cox will team up with award-winning music technologist John C.S. Keston on piano/modular synth and Suwal Singh on tabla for an evening of discovery. Short solos and duets from the musicians will evolve into a full-length trio set of creative collaboration.
Anthony Cox is an internationally renowned arranger, composer, performer, recording artist, and educator. His career has spanned over 30 years of music education, composition, and performance, encompassing an extensive list of collaborations, performances, and recordings with notable artists in the field of jazz. The list includes Sam Rivers, Joe Lovano, Geri Allen, Kenny Wheeler, Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins, John Scofield, The NDR Big Band, Dino Saluzzi, and Henry Threadgill.
John C.S. Keston’s background in music technology, software development, and improvisation leads him toward unconventional compositions that convey a spirit of discovery through the use of graphic scores, generative techniques, sound synthesis, experimental sound design, signal processing, and acoustic piano. Originally from the United Kingdom, he currently resides in Minneapolis, where he is a professor of digital media arts at the University of St. Thomas. He founded the sound design resource AudioCookbook.org, where you can learn more about his projects and performances.
Suwal Singh (tabla, guitar, sarangi) has contributed to the Minnesota music scene as part of projects such as SitarTabla (Eastern classical), Yeti Steady (avant-garde soundscapes), MoMoSauce (Nepali music), and Jest (pop rock). He has also worked as a session musician with Nathan Hanson, Brian Roessler, Eric Carranza, Colleen Buckman, and Dave Mehling and has appeared at Icehouse, the Varsity Theater, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, Bedlam Theatre, St. Paul Art Crawl, AZ Gallery, KFAI, the Capri Theater, MN Yoga Conference, and Jazz Central Studios.
This segment from the piece Ostracon by Keston and Westdal was recorded on June 21, 2009 at the Kitty Cat Klub with Graham O’Brien on drums. This was toward the end of the piece and the laptops weren’t doing anything except providing a click for Graham. All of the obligations to the arrangement had been met, so with a small, but dedicated audience we let ourselves wander into an extended improvisational outro. 
This section of Spring in December by Keston and Westdal with Graham O’Brien on drums was recorded at the Kitty Cat Klub on Sunday, June 21, 2009. As an ensemble we have been improvising more and more within the arrangements of our current material. This is a result of our comfort with the material, but also the monotony of playing mostly the same repertoire for over a year. Recently we’ve been making an effort to change this by scheduling rehearsals to refine new material for recording and performances.
This segment of Ultraviolet Amphibian was recorded during a live performance at the