Pérez / Johnson / Dougherty / Dixon
An evening of free-form improvisation brings together New York-based artists Gían Pérez and Selendis S. A. Johnson with Washington-area musicians Nelson Dougherty and Zach Dixon. The program features solo and duo performances that explore extended guitar, vibraphone, trombone, tenor saxophone, and electroacoustic sound, presented by Transparent Production.
Pérez, a Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist, improviser, and composer based in Brooklyn, pushes the electric guitar beyond its conventional identity, treating the instrument as a physical material and investigating how musical forms can be reshaped or undone. Johnson is a New York-based vibraphonist and trombonist who performs, organizes, and leads ensembles devoted to Black American improvisational music. Her work also incorporates the megaphone, and she released *The Vanguard Exists to End Itself in the Arriven Crowd, over and over: Live at Roulette*.
The DMV artists bring their own expansive approaches. Washington, DC guitarist, composer, and educator Nelson Dougherty has worked across genres for more than two decades and uses pedals to build wide-ranging sonic environments. He co-leads the jazz group ¡FIASCO!, whose albums include *Arson* (2020), *Post-Truth* (2021), and *Anger Artist* (2024). Saxophonist, composer, and improviser Zach Dixon draws inspiration from Sun Ra and Ryuichi Sakamoto, creating atmospheric musical spaces shaped by storytelling and experimentation. Dixon’s releases include *The Monster Manual Suite* (2022), inspired by creatures from *Dungeons & Dragons*, and *Exodus* (2023), a collection of spoken-word and improvised pieces focused on rural flight.
When: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Schedule: Doors open at 6:30 PM; music begins at 7:00 PM.
Tickets: $20–$30
Lineup: Gían Pérez, guitar; Selendis S. A. Johnson, vibraphone and trombone; Nelson Dougherty, guitar; Zach Dixon, tenor saxophone.
Venue: Rhizome DC
Presented by: Transparent Production
Run time: Not specified.
Ages: Not specified.
Accessibility: Not specified.