ESS Presents: Kalia Vandever with Maria Chávez

About Kalia Vandever:

Kalia Vandever is an American trombonist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by her sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice, allowing patience and melody to guide her process.

Vandever received her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School. She has toured and performed internationally with her quartet, performing at the Winter Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. She has performed with Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, and Fay Victor, as well as popular artists Harry Styles, Lizzo, Japanese Breakfast, Moses Sumney, Jennifer Hudson, and Demi Lovato. She has appeared on Saturday Night Live, as well as Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. 

Vandever is an awardee of the 2022 Next Jazz Legacy, a program founded by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. 

About Maria Chávez:

Born in Lima, Peru and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist and DJ. Coincidence, chance and failures are themes that unite her work across mediums, including improvised performance, sound and marble sculpture, visual art, and book objects. Her approach is rooted in Deep Listening, a form of embodied listening developed by her late mentor Pauline Oliveros.

Maria is the only abstract turntablist in the world who performs with a rare needle known as the RAKE Double Needle. This special device contains two needles on one head, allowing it to read two different segments of a single record at the same time. Paired with her inimitable ability to create unforgettable sonic experiences from shards of broken records, each performance is truly unique.

Maria’s practice is profoundly expansive, responsive and curious. Her work has been featured and supported by a myriad of institutions over the past decades including Rewire Festival, Counterflows Festival, Donau Festival, The Guggenheim Museum, The Getty, The Wire, MOCA Jacksonville, Black Mountain College Museum and many, many more. Chavez’s 2012 book, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable has garnered a reputation as both an academic resource on turntablism and a foundational text for a new generation of turntablists.