The popular Nu Sounds series returns this winter for its sixth season. The series runs from December to May at The Park Theatre.

On December 11, Nu Sounds kicks off with a performance by The Bert Johnson Quintet. The pianist's new project highlights the free-word poetry of Winnipeg's T'ai Pu and the jazz stylings of his quintet.

T'ai Pu is a veteran of the local poetry and music scene and was featured in the 2009 Thin Air Writer's Festival. Much like Herbie Hancock's partnering with Leonard Cohen to inspire new music based on poetic verse (such as the track "Jungle Line" off of Herbie Hancock's River album), this project will feature new music compositions that will be anchored to the idea of jazz and poetry, but with a more progressive edge.

Johnson's performance will also include a video component, with visuals projected in the background to compliment each composition. T'ai Pu will not only read out poetry, but engage with the band by improvising on his theme through rap and singing.

The series returns on Sunday, January 22 with a unique performance by local visual artist, lyricist and animator Murray Toews entitled Reactive. Joining Toews on stage are conceptual audio-artists Random Interference, and Mc Louds.

Reactive's performance is guided by Toews' words and images, generated live on stage. Together, Random Interference and Mc Louds respond and react by employing audio devices, tape recordings - sound makers' folly to the visual and auditory markers - generating a complex series of loose narratives formed from the intense juxtaposition of on-stage controlled chaos.

On Saturday, March 24, the Park Theatre plays host to The Tight Fits. The Tight Fits are a brand new collaborative effort of musical growth from Canadian musicians Mitch Dorge, Ariel Posen, and Alasdair Dunlop. They blur the lines of folk, blues, R&B, and whatever other genres they feel like while championing the improvisational soul of modern jazz.
Initially conceived as a vehicle for the members' more left-of-centre jazz compositions, collaboration has found The Tight Fits putting aside traditional constraints of form in favour of a more personal aesthetic.

Finally on Friday, May 4, local musician Jeff Presslaff pays tribute to Miles Davis' landmark album, The Birth Of The Cool, with a project called The Complete Rebirth Of The Cool.
Presslaff has long wanted to transcribe and recreate that album, but that's not what he will be doing for his Nu Sounds performance. Rather, Presslaff has assembled a nonet of that same instrumentation and has written completely new music. A nod to the spirit of the Miles' mid-century band, but still taking into account the 60 years since, and reflecting the directions we're going in now.

Nu Sounds season tickets go on sale Friday , October 21 and are $40.00. Individual tickets are $12 adv./$15 door and are available online at jazzwinnipeg.com, by phone at 989-4656 or in person at the Jazz Winnipeg office or the Park Theatre.