Set 10:30PM - Jam Session 11:30 - 1:00AM 

LESLEY MOK - Drums
Micah Thomas - Piano
Ryoma Takenaga - Bass

 

 

Lesley Mok is a New York City-based percussionist and sound artist. Their work is guided by a continual search for the connection between the mundane and the divine, the experience and manipulation of time, and a desire to capture emotional dissonance and complexity. Lesley is inspired by American experimental music as informed by the lineage of the AACM, sounds and textures from the natural environment, Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions,  songwriters and composers like Arthur Russell and Ryuichi Sakamoto and, and drumline.

Lesley’s ongoing explorations with composition and improvisation are most notably documented in their debut album The Living Collection (released May 2023 on American Dreams Records). The album, described as “an exquisite and stimulating work” by All About Jazz and “a singularly personal statement” by Jazz Trail Magazine, was named International Debut Album of the Year at the 2024 Deutscher Jazz Preis. 

Other work include stilled leaf-chatter (2022), bird in its chest (2022), pooling light (2021), but I forced to mind my vision of a sky (2020), and she smashed the enclosure (2020).

Lesley is a recipient of the 2024 ASCAP Fred Ho Award, 2022 Resident Artist at Roulette Intermedium, 2021 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, Hermitage Fellow, and the 2021 Van Lier Artist at the Asian American Arts Alliance. Their work has been commissioned and performed by International Contemporary Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and JACK Quartet. 

In addition to their own practice, Lesley is a part of collaborative ensembles vehicle / passenger, dream brigade, and History Dog. They can also be heard in Myra Melford’s Fire and Water, David Leon: Bird’s Eye, and Anna Webber’s Shimmer Wince.

As a percussionist, Lesley has collaborated with Tomeka Reid, William Parker, Ingrid Laubrock, Craig Taborn, Mary Malvorson, Kenny Barron, Cory Smythe, Jen Shyu, Kalia Vandever, Fay Victor, Rafiq Bhatia, and James Brandon Lewis. They have performed throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe, including the Met Museum, Roulette Intermedium, SF Jazz, The Boston Museum of Fine Art, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Unerhört Festival, Jazzowa Jesien, Cologne Jazz Festival, moers festival, Panama Jazz Festival, and Dominican Republic Jazz Festival. 

This event is All Ages 

Seating is first-come, first-served; the last 10 spots in the room are standing room. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCOMMODATE SWITCHING SETS OR DAYS.