By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
David Bixler’s Trio Incognito has its roots in the dark days of the pandemic.
Inside with his family in their New York City home, he needed to get out and play for his sanity and that of his family.
So he joined other musicians in backyards and parks.
And he hooked up with the Soapbox Gallery, a venue that was doing live stream concerts.
He and his wife, Heather, a violinist, did one on being married musicians.
Bixler arranged for his Trio Incognito to play a show.
The pandemic was hard on everyone in the scene. In an email, he explained the situation and how the trio got its name: “When I started to make a push to play again before the pandemic, I was getting some gigs where the presenters wanted to make sure that I wasn’t playing the same week or even the same month in NYC, so I removed my name from the listing at the time just to play.
“After things started opening up, I wanted to play out and took some gigs that weren’t desirable, places where you don’t want people to necessarily know that you would work for such little bread, so I would call people to play saying if you are free and want to play come on down, your name won’t be used.”
This resulted in Bixler’s most recent release “Inside the Grief,” musical reflection on 2020, a year traumatic in so many ways – a highly partisan election, the pandemic, social unrest, and on the personal level, his son’s Sean’s ongoing medical issues.
[RELATED: Composer-saxophonist David Bixler probes ‘Inside the Grief’ of 2020 on new recording]
Times have changed just enough, for Bixler to be able to take the trio that recorded “Beyond the Grief” on the road.
Bassist Dan Loomis and percussion at Fabio Rojas will join Bixler for a series of road gigs, including two locally.
Trio Incognito will perform at Arlyn’s Good Beer, 520 Hankey Ave., in BG, Friday, May 6, from 7 to 10 p.m.
On Saturday, May 7, from 8 to 10:15 p.m., the trio will perform at Toledo’s new jazz club, Lucille’s Jazz Lounge, 1447 N Summit St Suite C, Toledo.
The trio winds up this weeklong Midwest swing with shows in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
In addition to the music from “Inside the Grief” Bixler reports he’s working up some new charts.
Bixler, who directs the Jazz Studies Program at BGSU, splits his time between campus and his home in Washington Heights.
