New Ghosts and BOP STOP are excited to present the latest endeavor from violinist Mike Khoury, his group Spite of Darkness. Tickets for tonight are $20 each (plus a $2 per ticket processing fee).

This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP's Youtube Channel at showtime. Accessing the stream is free but donations are encouraged and directly support the band.

------------------

Beginning as an experiment, Spite of Darkness consists of two violins and two drummers performing Khoury’s compositions. Their forthcoming debut on Entropy Stereo Recordings features Khoury along with veteran loft era violinist, Jason Hwang, drummer and former student of Ed Blackwell, Andrew Drury, and drummer Ben Hall, a longstanding partner of Khoury’s known for his work with Bill Dixon.

The music is challenging with Khoury and Hwang soaring over the bed of percussion with razor sharp lines. The drums pummel the listener. There are few valid comparisons besides Leroy Jenkins and Rashid Ali’s groundbreaking record, “Swift are the Winds of Life” or Ornette Coleman’s double quartet experiments if Bela Bartok was writing for them.

Palestinian-American composer Khoury has focused his work on redefining the balance of composition and improvisation blurring the lines. His Detroit version of Spite of Darkness includes Indira Edwards on violin, again Ben Hall on drums, and Ali Allen Colding on drums. Edwards is an accomplished violist and violinist who is in high demand in the Detroit scene today, performing also in Ben Hall’s group, Field Kitchen. Ben Hall, cut his teeth performing with Bill Dixon and works today with his own group Field Kitchen, and performs in duet, trio and ensembles with Ken Vandermark and Griot Galaxy bassist Jaribu Shahid. Ali Allen Colding is a wizened elder of the group having performed with Dorothy Ashby, Sam Sanders, and Phil Ranelin.