photo: Ron Adelberg

The air hummed with static electricity on Saturday February 28th, the second night of Everyone Orchestra’s two-night run at Ardmore Music Hall. Performers and sold-out audience alike shared a mix of creative energy and radical openness to the present in a joyful moment of community orchestrated with the choreographic precision (and occasional whiteboard or iPad) of conductor Matt Butler. As he does for every EO show, Butler brought a deep bench of the scene’s most telepathic players, many of whom hadn’t played together before, for two “one-time-only” nights of completely improvised music.

The stage was peppered with EO regulars: drummer Cotter Ellis (Goose), keyboardist Aron Magner (The Disco Biscuits, SPAGA, Deadtronica), guitarist Cris Jacobs, bassist Rob Mercurio (Galactic), trumpeter Arnetta Johnson (Beyoncé), and guitarist Jimmy Law (Dogs In A Pile), who subbed in on short notice for Magner’s Biscuits bandmate Jon Barber. Veteran vocalists Kanika Moore and Robbie Wulfsohn (Ripe) faithfully executed their responsibilities, both musical and lyrical, and Tim Reynolds (Dave Matthews Band) joined EO for the first time during this run, bringing effects-bare acoustic six- and twelve-string guitars to the mix.

The group built the first jam of the evening around a lyrical theme about shooting stars, a fitting metaphor for the band. The interplay was nothing short of telepathic; you could see the decades of improv chops manifesting in the way Reynolds’ acoustic flourishes caught the pocket of Mercurio’s deep-seated funk. Magner, who recently has released excellent Grateful Dead-adjacent material with his SPAGA and Deadtronica projects, utilized his modest collection of keyboards to cover the vast territory between ethereal synth landscapes and the gritty, four-on-the-floor bangers that have become a hallmark of Butler’s conducted jams. Ellis rounded out the rhythm section, completely in sync with Butler and propelling jams forward one second, then quiet as a whisper the next. (You could say that Law was part of the rhythm section, though his contributions were more as a soloist.)

There were too many excellent moments to count. Wulfsohn and Moore traded vocal lines that felt like a conversation between old friends, Wulfsohn’s powerful soul serving as the perfect counterpoint to Moore’s room-shaking range. Meanwhile, Ellis anchored the complex rhythms with a “nuts and bolts” (on steroids) drumming style that allowed the rest of the band to rock hard in sync. It was a demonstration of patience, allowing a phrase to gestate until it bloomed into something transcendent before shifting direction on a dime. In many ways, the contributions of Arnetta Johnson held together much of the night. Wielding her trumpet like a lighting rod, she expertly manipulated the room’s air pressure, moving from muted, Miles Davis-esque whispers to soaring, triumphant blasts that pushed the rest of the ensemble into overdrive. It served as a reminder that in an improvisational setting, space can be just as much an instrument as anything else.

By the time end of the evening, the shit-eating grins on stage matched those in the audience. Everyone Orchestra remains a vital force because it reminds us how good it feels to lose ourselves in the magic of the moment and the freewheelery of the unknown.