Artifactual String Unit plays Elliott Street Deli & Pub Oct. 25
Chamber-jazz trio featuring members of Faun and A Pan Flute and 4th Ward AKO shows off material from new album
“We’re something of a classical trio, albeit with non-standard instrumentation (violin, cello, bass), taking a garage band approach to our music,” says Chip Epsten, violinist for the Artifactual String Unit, who is performing two sets selections from their forthcoming self-titled debut CD Oct. 25 upstairs at Elliott Street Deli & Pub.
Epsten (Oy Klezmer, 4th Ward Afro-Klezmer Orchestra) and his ASU bandmates Ben Shirley (Faun & A Pan Flute) on cello and Gabe Monticello (Space Mirrors, Chamber Cartel) on double bass, draw upon years of classical training and countless gigs in bands and settings of every stripe to create an eclectic, thoroughly engaging blend of acoustic chamber jazz tinged with rock, folk, and blues inflections. “It’s chamber music for a bar,” says Epsten, “but, when the CD production company made us choose a genre, we picked ‘World,’ which just about covers it.”
Artifactual String Unit is exploring a world not completely of its own design, but close enough to avoid easy labelling.
Free. 9 p.m. Wed., Oct. 25. Elliott Street Deli & Pub. 51 Elliott St. www.elliottstreet.com. 404-523-2174.