The Squid's Ear online magazine is speedily and readily pleased to present Chris Abrahams, pianist for the acclaimed Australian improvising trio The Necks, in a rare New York appearance. Abrahams will play solo, and will be joined for a trio set with Australian bassist Clayton Thomas and New Zealander David Watson on guitar and bagpipes.

One of the most distinctive keyboardists Australia has produced, Chris Abrahams was born in 1961 in New Zealand but came to Sydney by way of Nigeria at an early age. He first came to public attention as pianist and chief composer for The Benders. With them he recorded three albums and toured overseas to India, Cuba, the UK and Europe. In 1993 he toured the world for nine months as keyboard player with Midnight Oil. Currently he performs and composes with Melanie Oxley and The Hunting Party as well as the groundbreaking acoustic trio The Necks, who have released eleven records on their own Fish of Milk label which, with next to no publicity, have sold in the thousands.

Abrahams has released three highly-acclaimed solo piano albums and has appeared on more than 50 albums as a sideman and has recorded over 60 of his own compositions or co-compositions> He has been voted Best Keyboardist for two years running in the Rolling Stone Critics' Awards.

David Watson moved to New York City in 1987, from his native New Zealand, where he was already well known as a guitarist and improviser. As well as performing and recording extensively, Watson has organized national festivals of experimental/improvised music and founded Braille Records, creating a lasting influence in the scene there. While in New York, he started a project to use the highland bagpipe as a vehicle for contemporary music exploration. Watson has performed with Sonic Youth guitarists Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, Ikue Mori, Shelley Hirsch, Mark Stewart, Christain Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Eugene Chadbourne, Elliott Sharp, Gunter Mueller, Jon Rose, Tony Buck, Zeena Parkins and others, and released a record of pieces for bagpipe ensemble on John Zorn's Avant records.

Bassist Clayton Thomas remains active both in Australia and in New York. He has played and recorded in New York in the trio MAP with guitarist Mary Halvorson and drummer Tatsuya Nakatani an in Australia with Abrahams and violinist explorer Jon Rose, with whom he recorded the album "Artery" on his own Now NOW records. Thomas uses found objects and both traditional and extended techniques to broaden the language of the bass. In the last three years he has performed around the world with musicians such as Sonny Simmons, Axel Dorner, Thomas Lehn, Makagami Koichi, Cooper-Moore and Jim Denley.

The Squid's Ear is an online magazine devoted to insightful coverage of unusual music. In the six months since it was launched by journalist Kurt Gottschalk and web developer Phil Zampino, SQE has featured articles about Susie Ibarra, Peter Kowald, Fred Frith, Phil Kline, Ikue Mori and Butch Morris, has run original essays written by Eugene Chadbourne, Jon Rose, Gary Lucas, Anthony Coleman, Ron Anderson and Carla Kihlstedt and Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and has run over 130 cd and concert reviews. SQE can be seen at http://www.squidsear.com. It is published by Squidco LLC, which also operates the online CD store Squidco, http://www.squidco.com.

We know it's short notice, but any help you can provide in publicizing this special concert would be appreciated. See you Saturday.