Luke Leavitt (album release) with Ari Smith & Devin Drobka

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courtesy Luke Leavitt

A collage of images of Devin Drobka, Luke Leavitt and Ari Smith (from left).

Devin Drobka, Luke Leavitt and Ari Smith (from left).

During his time studying sound geography at UW-Madison, keyboardist and composer Luke Leavitt also kept very busy playing in a musically diverse array of bands (Cop Circles, Feestet, Laminal Animil and more) along with recording solo projects. Two long-awaited recordings featuring Leavitt are set to emerge this week as both streaming and physical releases. Cruel Optimism, a jazz-ambient-free music collaboration by Leavitt, bassist Ari Smith and drummer Devin Drobka, will be celebrated with a release party on Sept. 1 at the North Street Cabaret. And Sept. 5 at the Rigby, The Levitations unveil the new album Hold Me, featuring more music demolishing genre boundaries. Opening is earmuffs for strangers.

media release: September 1 at North Street Cabaret: Pianist Luke Leavitt will present original compositions and covers in collaboration with Ari Smith (bass) and Devin Drobka (drums) to mark the release of their album Cruel Optimism. A mix of free music, ambient, bop and jazz, the trio's music draws on the legacies of Paul Bley, Marilyn Crispell and Craig Taborn. $15, two sets at 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm.

Luke Leavitt is a musician and graduate student studying sound geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has played with international and national figures in improvised music, including Arun Luthra, Isaiah Collier and Devin Drobka.

Ari Smith is a bassist, improviser, and composer spanning genres of jazz, experimental, and contemporary classical music, currently based in Madison, Wisconsin, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at UW Madison. In the Wisconsin area, Ari has been a particularly active member of the free jazz and free improvisation scenes, having shared the stage with artists such as Hanah Jon Taylor, Vincent Davis, Jim Baker, Isaiah Collier, Justin Dillard, Emma Dayhuff, and Tatsuya Nakatani. In his through-composed work, Ari strives to explore scores as boundary objects/“power tools” that redistribute agencies across humans and nonhumans, and the potentialities of academic citation styles as a demonstration of dedication to others as well as a creative-expressive practice, within pieces that are underpinned by deeply interdisciplinary conceptual webs.

Devin Drobka is one of the most in-demand and creative musicians in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of Albert Ayler, Paul Motian, and Ornette Coleman. Devin’s music has been described as “sounding like nothing else in midwestern jazz” and “gorgerous, innovative.”