Dunbar to downtown: Allison Au, Jodi Proznick & Mili Hong

Play in the studio uptown all day, then go downtown for a session to swing away the night

Dunbar to downtown: Allison Au, Jodi Proznick & Mili Hong
L-R: Jodi Proznick on bass, Mili Hong on drums, & Allison Au on soprano saxophone at Tyrant Studios on March 6, 2024.

Play in the studio uptown all day, go downtown for a session to swing away the night: this lifestyle, once common, drew my attention recently with Jocelyn Gould‘s Sonic Bouquet session. It’s also where two members of the Ostara Project found themselves on Wednesday night; Toronto saxophonist Allison Au and our own bassist Jodi Proznick, after clocking out of day two of a three-part studio session, played chordless trio with Vancouver expat drummer Mili Hong, who's now based in Montreal.

Allison, Jodi, and Mili’s two-set show at Tyrant Studios was a reunion: they had created the trio for a concert at Dunbar Heights Baptist Church last year on April 1, 2023. That show was a co-presentation by Infidels Jazz — who also co-presented this one with Tyrant — and the classical music non-profit Muzewest Concerts. I was there and can recall, from the podcast episode that Muzewest and I made about it, Jodi‘s delight in introducing Mili and Allison to each other as collaborators...