Tephra Sound

In 2016, after experiencing some profound losses in her personal life and deciding to take a break from the road, Gillet began a new campaign of inviting some of her favorite musical collaborators to her beloved adopted city of New Orleans. For the 2016 New Orleans Jazz Fest season, Gillet decided to form a quartet with drummer Nikki Glaspie (NYC), saxophonist Skerik (Seattle) and keyboardist Brian Haas (Santa Fe). They ended up playing their first show the night Prince died. The combination of instrumentation and collective compositional ideas was strong and this group’s concept was born. On the last day of the busy festival season, Gillet and Haas who had been performing a series of duo house concerts in her living room (using her microbiologist grandmother’s baby grand piano), invited Nikki Glaspie and multi-instrumentalist Jessica Lurie (NYC) to sit in. This was the moment Gillet decided to turn this concept into a collective improvisational group later named Tephra Sound. She recorded the band’s first album “Tephra Horizon” in March 2017 in her living room with additional guest improvisers Alex Mazza on trumpet, Rex Gregory on reeds and flute and Weedie Braimah on djembe. Tephra is a volcanic term referring to the combination of gases, minerals and rock found in the ash cloud after an eruption. With power house drummer Nikki Glaspie and seasoned improvisers Gillet, Lurie and Haas, the overarching sound embraces phase shifting groove and wide dynamic and stylistic contrast.

Nikki Glaspie – drums
Jessica Lurie – reeds, flute, toys, electronics, vocals
Brian Haas – keys
Helen Gillet – cello, electronics, vocals

“Helen Gillet is a restless musician always seeking out new musical partners and new sounds”. Jay Mazza – Vinyl District

tephrasound.com