Inspired by John Cage and Kenneth Patchen's experimental radio play The City Wears a Slouch Hat, vibraphonist Sergio Armaroli joins Elliott Sharp on guitar and soprano saxophone, Steve Piccolo on speech and electronics, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders in an episodic "audio graphic novel" of vivid verbal cues, shifting textures and freely improvised ensemble scenes.
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Sample The Album:
Sergio Armaroli-vibraphone
Elliott Sharp-guitar, soprano saxophone
Steve Piccolo-speech, electronic devices
John Edwards-double bass
Mark Sanders-drums
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
UPC: 75215671202
Label: ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd
Catalog ID: ezz-thetics 120
Squidco Product Code: 37703
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Blackstar Recording Studio, in Milan, Italy, on September 15th and 16th, 2023 by Raffaele Stefani.
Drawing inspiration from John Cage and Kenneth Patchen's 1942 experimental radio play The City Wears a Slouch Hat, Italian vibraphonist and conceptual artist Sergio Armaroli leads an international quintet through an imaginative meeting of free improvisation, spoken language, electronics and sound theater. A conceptual continuation of the companion release Introducing A Very Heavy Person, the album moves further into what its liner notes describe as the "audio equivalent of a graphic novel," using brief verbal images as points of departure for collectively constructed scenes.
Armaroli is joined by American Downtown improvisers Elliott Sharp, alternating between angular electric guitar and penetrating soprano saxophone, and Steve Piccolo, whose fragmentary speech and electronic devices introduce images of physical gestures, objects and environmental sounds. British free improvisation masters John Edwards and Mark Sanders supply a remarkably responsive foundation on double bass and drums, shifting instantly between turbulent momentum, suspended textures and sharply articulated rhythmic exchanges.
Rather than illustrating a conventional narrative, the five musicians respond to suggestive phrases and sonic images through spontaneous interaction. Vibraphone tones shimmer, repeat and fracture around Sharp's abrasive guitar attacks or sinuous soprano lines; Edwards' bass moves between resonant grounding and restless counterpoint, while Sanders shapes the music with detailed percussion and sudden surges of energy. Piccolo's spoken observations and electronics enter as another instrumental layer, prompting scenes that can appear concrete for a moment before dissolving into abstraction.
The result is an episodic but continuous sound world in which poetry, memory and improvisation intersect. Evoking Cage and Patchen without attempting to reconstruct their historic collaboration, Armaroli's quintet treats their ideas as a portal into present-tense creation, producing music that is theatrical without staging, visual without images, and held together by the alert collective instincts of five distinctive improvisers.
"Time-traveling Sergio Armaroli takes advantage of this openness. He has previously worked with Downtown legend Elliott Sharp and Steve Piccolo of Lounge Lizards fame. This session also adds two giants of the UK free improvisation scene, bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders ... Like Patchen's script for "The Voice" in The City Wears a Slouch Hat, Piccolo's utterances describe people, objects, places, and actions such as "iron scaffolding shaking in the wind," "chewing on crackers," and "scraping frosted windshield." Piccolo's verses which are the counterpart to Armaroli's Figure(s), could just as easily have been uttered in Chicago 1942. Both cue the assembled musicians to illustrate the pages of this phantasmagorical graphic novel for the listener."-Mark Corroto
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Sergio Armaroli "Sergio Armaroli is a composer, percussionist, vibraphonist, teacher and total artist. His actions resonate through various artistic and musical fields, that of jazz being, perhaps, his most practised. He declares himself to be a painter, concrete percussionist, fragmentary poet and sound artist as well as founding his work "within the language of jazz and improvisation" as an "extension of the concept of art"." ^ Hide Bio for Sergio Armaroli • Show Bio for Elliott Sharp "Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer. A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction. His collaborators have included Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; pop singer Debbie Harry; Ensemble Modern; Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Kronos String Quartet; Ensemble Resonanz; cello innovator Frances Marie Uitti; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; pipa virtuoso Min-Xiao Feng; jazz greats Jack deJohnette, Oliver Lake, and Sonny Sharrock; multimedia artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka. Sharp is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2014 Fellow at Parson's Center for Transformative Media. He received the 2015 Berlin Prize in Musical Composition from the American Academy in Berlin. He has composed scores for feature films and documentaries; created sound-design for interstitials on The Sundance Channel, MTV and Bravo networks; and has presented numerous sound installations in art galleries and museums. He is the subject of a new documentary "Doing The Don't" by filmmaker Bert Shapiro."-Elliott Sharp ^ Hide Bio for Elliott Sharp • Show Bio for Steve Piccolo "Steve Piccolo (USA, lives and works in Milan, Italy). After studying at Bard College and New York University, he began his career in the 1970s playing bass in jazz groups and doing sound/performance in New York art spaces. In 1979 he started the Lounge Lizards with the Lurie brothers, a project which continued for about five years. Active since the mid-1970s in music, theater, performance art, sound installations, video and film soundtracks. His activities as a musician, composer, artist, curator and teacher have become too numerous, frequent and varied to list them all here. He has exhibited/performed at the Kitchen, Franklin Furnace, Environ, Squat Theater, PASS, La Mama, Issue Project Room, The Stone (all in NYC, from 1979 to 2010), Zona Gallery Florence (1982), Galleria Peccolo Livorno (1982, 2006), Documenta 8 Kassel (1987), La Rada Locarno (1989, 2004), Japanese Institute of Culture Rome (2003), MAMCO Geneva (2003), Palazzo delle Papesse Siena (2003, 2005, 2007), Base Gallery Florence (2004), FRAC Bretagne (2004, 2014), Triennale Milan (2004-05-07-09), Villa Croce Genoa (2005, 2012), Berlin Jazz Festival (1981 and 2005), Technical Breakdown Copenhagen (2005-06), Swiss Cultural Center Milan (2005), Venice Art Biennale (with WPS1, 2005, and with performances in Belgian and Greek pavilions, 2015), Sant'Arcangelo Festival (2005), Itinerario Festival Cesena (2005, 2007, 2014), Galleria Mazzoli Modena (2006), Turchin Center for the Arts Boone NC (2006, with residency), Trinity College Wales (2006), Venice Music Biennial (2006), ArtBasel Miami (2006), Kettle's Yard Cambridge (2006), Babel Festival Bellinzona (2006), Moscow Biennial (2007), MiArt (2007), Swiss Cultural Institute Rome (2007), Spazio Mudima Milan (2007), SoundRes Lecce (2007), Experimenta Arts Festival Alberobello (2007), Performa New York (2007), Istanbul Biennial (2007), Body Process Arts Festival Istanbul (2007), Art Shakes Politics Messina (2007), Spazio Oberdan Milan (2008), Venice Film Festival (2008), Plektrum Festival Tallinn (2008), Venice Architecture Biennial (2008), GAM (now MAGA) Museum Gallarate (2008), City of Bergamo public art project (2008), Casino Luxembourg (2009), Metropolitan Museum New York (2009), City of Piacenza public art project (2009), Neon Bologna (2009, 2010), Parco d'Arte Vivente Turin (2010), Galleria Continua San Gimignano (2010), Loop Festival Barcelona (2010), Novara Jazz Festival (2010), (un)defined festival Merano (2010), Grrr Jamming Squeak Rotterdam (2011), TeatroStudio Scandicci (2011), group show I Miss My Enemies (collateral event Venice Art Biennial 2011), Festival of Imperial Gardens St. Petersburg Russia (2011) Isola Art Center Milan (exhibitions and local activism since 2002), Tirana Art Center (2011), Taller Seite Medellin (2011), Milano Film Festival (2011), Evento Bordeaux (2011), Auditorium Parco della Musica Rome (2012), Contemporary Locus Bergamo (2012), Festival della Filosofia, Modena (2012), MAAXI Rome (2014), Manifesta 10 St. Petersburg (2014), Vienna Secession (2014), Expo Milano (2015), Italian Cultural Institute Bratislava (2015), National Gallery of Arts Tirana, ONUFRI Prize (2016), Vienna Kunsthall (sounds for Nathalie Du Pasquier, 2016), Innsbruck International (with LF Nagler, 2016), Palazzo Reale Milan (VR project in exhibition by A. Pomodoro, with Oliver Pavicevic). Many of these projects were done in ongoing collaboration with Japanese musician/sound artist Gak Sato. Piccolo was sound curator at ArtVerona in 2008 and for the exhibition "Club 21" during Frieze 2010 in London, and curator of the project Chinatown Temporary Art Museum for Undo.net's participation at InContemporanea Milan in 2008. His collaborations on art video/performance/installation soundtracks include works with Adrian Paci, Luca Pancrazzi (including sound art group DE-ABC with Gak Sato), A Constructed World, Giancarlo Norese, Alessandro Mendini, Nathalie Du Pasquier, Gabriele Di Matteo, Marc Vincent Kalinka, Marzia Migliora, VedovaMazzei and many others. He has published many records (see discography on this website). He has taught art courses at Accademia Carrara Bergamo (2002-2014), NABA Milan (2005-13), and Politecnico di Milano (Piacenza campus). His writings have been published in many international journals, magazines and books, including 4 years of a monthly column for the magazine InSound and curating of sound art pages at the Undo.Net website. Steve was one of the active members of Isola Art Center in Milan (2001-2013), and is currently part of the magazine-collective E IL TOPO (since 2009). Projects for 2017 include a workshop at Galleria Nazionale Rome and a performance at Museo Vincenzo Vela (Ticino). He has founded and curates, together with Sergio Armaroli, a space for sound art and poetry in Milan, ERRATUM, and he is a founding member of the cultural association Città Sonora." ^ Hide Bio for Steve Piccolo • Show Bio for John Edwards "After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton. Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc. Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances." ^ Hide Bio for John Edwards • Show Bio for Mark Sanders "Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Peter Brotzmann, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Jah Wobble, Sidsel Endresen , Charles Gayle, Peter Evans and William Parker. He works with John Edwards in a duo and with groups including Evan Parker, `Foils` with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller and groups with Veryan Weston, John Tilbury, Agusti Fernandez and Mathew Shipp. Mark works in a regular improvising duo with John Butcher and also performing John`s composition `Tarab Cuts` which has played festivals in Rio de Janiero, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Glasgow, Bristol and London. In a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee, John and Mark have played in Belgium, France, England and Scotland. He also has a longstanding duo with Sarah Gail Brand which has featured on the BBC`s `The Stuart Lee Show`and in the film `Taking the dog for a Walk`. He has performed solo for a Christian Marclay exhibition at The White Cube Gallery in London, Evan Parker`s festival`Unwhitstable` in Wroclaw, Poland for `Solos Festival` The 100 Years Gallery London, an improvised music series in Derby and Cafe Oto in London. Working with Christian Marclay in his `Everyday` piece for film and live music, he has performed in Aldeburgh, Ruhr Trienalle, Vienna Bienalle, Holland festival and London`s QEH and has also collaborated with him playing for the film `Screenplay`in London and Lisbon. In situations using composition in one form or another Mark works in various projects including `13 Vices` with Brian Irvine/Jennifer Walshe, Alex Hawkins Ensemble featuring Peter Evans, Simon Fell Ensembe, groups with Hasse Poulsen and Luc Ex , Sarah Sarhandi`s `Both Universe`, Elaine Mitchener`s `Sweet Tooth` and has played in the groups of Shabaka Hutchings including`Sons of Kemet` Conceptual Artist Sam Belinfante collaborated with Mark in his piece `On the One Hand, and the Other` in two exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre, London For Conceptual artist Henrik Hakensen`s film `The End` he has performed as an improvising soloist with orchestras conductedd by Jessica Cottis, playing the music of John Coxon in Glasgow, Sydney and Monte Carlo As a guest with New York`s ICE Ensemble he has performed John Zorn`s `The Tempest` in London and at Huddersfield New Music Festival. Mark also works in the groups of Paul Dunmall including Deep Whole Trio with Paul Rogers, in duo and `Frisque Concordance` with Georg Graewe , and the ensembles of Mikolaj Trzaska, Uwe Oberg and Peter Jaquemyn. He has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Australia, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including Nickelsdorf, Riga, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, FMP, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D`hiver and Hurta Cordel." ^ Hide Bio for Mark Sanders
7/28/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
7/28/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
7/28/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
7/28/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
7/28/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Barely Hiding A Vocal Sneer 3:00
2. Suppressing A Sneeze 4:17
3. A Very Heavy Person 4:35
4. Violent Gasp 4:26
5. Puffing 4:54
6. Mallet 4:14
7. Dog Softly Barking 5:49
8. Straw 7:00
9. Squeal Of Servo 0:28
10. Sheets Of Rain 5:25
11. Loud Mother Daughter 8:45
12. Long Thin Spring 1:04
Hat Art
July 2026
Improvised Music
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Free Improvisation
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