The Colin Bragg Quartet explores the intersection of experimental jazz, improvisation, and visual art, creating adventurous soundscapes that challenge traditional approaches to composition and performance. Featuring Alexandria Smith (trumpet), Jeff Albert (trombone), Colin Bragg (bass), and Blake Helton (drums), the quartet embraces spontaneity, collaboration, and unconventional musical structures.
While rooted in the avant-garde spirit of Ornette Coleman, the quartet’s music can also evoke the conceptual playfulness of artists like Marcel Duchamp, revealing unexpected connections between sound, structure, and visual art. Through original graphic scores and inventive compositional approaches, the quartet builds intricate textures from recurring fragments, shifting patterns, and layered melodies.
Works such as Ramblin’ (Down a Staircase) and Happening #1 exemplify the ensemble’s exploratory approach, blurring the boundaries between composition and improvisation. With an emphasis on attentive interplay and collective discovery, the Colin Bragg Quartet invites listeners into a world where music unfolds as an evolving, unpredictable artistic experience.
About the members
Alexandria Smith — Trumpet, Electronics
Trumpeter, composer, multimedia artist, and educator Alexandria Smith works at the intersection of improvisation, experimental music, and technology. Her expressive playing and inventive use of electronic effects have drawn praise from The New York Times. Combining instrumental performance with interactive media and sound design, she moves fluidly between contemporary composition, free improvisation, and interdisciplinary sound art.
Jeff Albert — Trombone, Electronics
Jeff Albert is a trombonist, improviser, music technologist, and educator whose work bridges creative jazz, experimental music, and electronic sound. A longtime participant in the New Orleans music scene, he has performed and recorded with an extensive range of artists, including Hamid Drake, George Porter Jr., and The Meters. His compositions and performances explore the possibilities of improvisation, live electronics, and the intersection of acoustic and digital instruments.
Colin Bragg — Bass Guitar, Composition
Bassist and composer Colin Bragg works across jazz, progressive music, and experimental sound, bringing together diverse musical traditions through improvisation and composition. Centering on the fretless bass, he explores its warm, enveloping tone as a vehicle for lyrical expression, rhythmic exploration, and improvisation. His compositions bring together the spontaneous interplay of adventurous jazz, the spare structures of minimalism, and the hypnotic repetition of ritual trance music. At the heart of Colin’s work is an interest in balancing musical freedom with compositional form.
Blake Helton — Drums
Under the name Visitor, Blake Helton explores the atmospheric possibilities of electronic music, drawing on the traditions of ambient, progressive, and cinematic soundtrack music. A drummer as well as an electronic composer, he brings an interest in rhythmic experimentation, synthesizer textures, and expansive sonic landscapes to his work. His musical outlook encompasses improvisation, rock, and experimental electronic composition.
