Between improvisation and experimental soundscapes: Ava Mendoza and ITOE in a double concert.

The guitar god is dead—long live the guitar goddess. Or: Curtain up for Ava Mendoza! 

Over the past 20 years, the American string virtuoso has established herself as one of the most exciting experimental musicians on the international improvisation scene. Her influences are wide-ranging, spanning blues and rock to free jazz and avant-garde elements.

Since 2007, Mendoza has been involved in numerous studio productions, collaborating with renowned musicians such as Fred Frith, Nels Cline, William Parker, and Carla Bozulich. Her focus has always been on unexplored musical territory. This is also true of her most recent solo album to date, *The Circular Train* (2024), her most personal work to date. Apart from two tracks in which she sings, it consists solely of her single-track guitar lines. In an era of rampant overdubbing, this is a truly radical approach!

It is precisely this connection that links her to theLeipzig-based band I T O E,with whom Mendoza will share the stage on this special evening. For attentive listeners, the name will ring a bell—and for good reason. Five years ago, the quartet performed as part of the 45th Leipzig Jazz Days, leaving the audience both amazed and incredulous. The sound of this mysterious band—of which no photo exists to this day—blends noise, experimental soundscapes, and jazzy elements into a monstrous, literally incomprehensible sonic cosmos. If you don’t believe it, you have to experience it.