Nick Dunston

Nick Dunston is an acoustic and electroacoustic composer, improviser, and multi-instrumentalist. Called an “indispensable player on the New York avant-garde” (New York Times), his performances have spanned a variety of venues and festivals across North America and Europe. His work explores notions of ancestral memory, materiality, embodiment, decolonization, and Afro-surrealism. As a collaborator he has worked with artists such as Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey, Moor Mother, JACK Quartet, Son Lux, Ingrid Laubrock, Wet Ink Ensemble, Craig Taborn, Dave Douglas, Allison Miller, Wendy Eisenberg, Lotte Anker, Darius Jones, Mette Rasmussen, Elliott Sharp, Sofia Jernberg, Jim Black, Achim Kaufmann, Lucrecia Dalt, Joy Guidry, Imani Uzuri, Anna Webber, and Amirtha Kidambi. In addition to seven albums released under his name, as a composer Dunston has been commissioned by artists and organizations such as Wet Ink Ensemble, Bang on a Can, JACK Quartet, A L’ARME! Festival, Ex-Aequo, Bass Players for Black Composers, Tenth Intervention, Johnny Gandelsman, T R O M P O, Gaudeamus Festival, PULSE String Quartet, and Ekmeles. In 2019 he was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette, which supported the creation of the trans-media song cycle La Operación, the double bass quintet piece The Floor is Lava!, and his debut studio album, Atlantic Extraction, which was referred to as “the debut of 2019” (JazzTimes Magazine). In 2020 in collaboration with Dogbotic Labs, he co-created “Ear Re-training”, a music composition course focusing on media-bending experimental techniques and concepts.

Nick Dunston is an artist of the SHAPE+ platform for innovative music and interdisciplinary art, co-funded by the European Union and Pro Helvetia.

Broadcast description:

“I am informally referring to this mixtape as Colla Voce, or 'with the voice' in Italian. This is a nod to the instruction often seen in European classical vocal music, where an instrumentalist is instructed to simply follow the voice. It is also a nod to my most recent album, COLLA VOCE, which has a track that can be heard on this mixtape (OXYGEN). To narrow my admiration for this instrument down to an hour is an insurmountable task, but nonetheless, here are some of my favorite pieces of music using the voice in one way or another. All of these artists are active, and I  encourage you to explore their powerful bodies of work.”

Les Filles de Illighadad: Surbajo, At Pioneer Works, Sahel Sounds, (5:12) 

Moor Mother: LIVERPOOL WINS (feat. Kyle Kidd), The Great Bailout, Anti-, (4:18) 

Wendy Eisenberg: Viewfinder, Viewfinder, American Dreams (4:52) 

Fay Victor: Talk Talk (pt 2), Barn Songs, Northern Spy Records, (3:12) 

Jasmina Al-Qaisi: On Repetition, leaning (on) parenthesis, independent, (1:44)

Amirtha Kidambi and Luke Stewart: Premonition, Zenith/Nadir, Tripticks Tapes, (3:31) 

Cansu Tanrıkulu and Lucy Railton: Three, live at Fri resonans festival 2023, independent, (2:19)  

Ashenspire: Tragic Heroin, Tragic Heroin, Aural Music, (3:15) 

Elaine Mitchener: Their Naked Descent, Solo Throat, OTOROKU, (2:42)

Kamilya Jubran and Sara Murcia: Laïtani, Nhaoul’, Accords Croisés, (4:48)

Darius Jones and The Elizabeth-Caroline Unit: •••••,The Oversoul Manual, AUM Fidelity,  (3:15)

Nick Dunston: OXYGEN, COLLA VOCE, Out Of Your Head Records, (1:22)

GORZ: sala de espera, GORZ, Numeral, (2:32)

MeoW: Juice in my Fur, MICE!, independent, (3:12)

Sara Serpa: For You I Must Become A Tree, Intimate Strangers, Biophilia Records, (3:58)

Mopcut: Motor City Fries, JITTER, OPAL, (1:11) 

Blasé: Killing the Process, 1, independent, (4:34)

Quartabê: A onda do mar leva, Repescagem, RISCO, (2:02)