Mike Reed’s Separatist Party ft. Ben LaMar Gay, Bitchin Bajas & Marvin Tate (US)

From Sun Ra’s cosmic tones and the motorik rhythms of Krautrock to the hypnotic, angular soul of vintage Ethiopia: this is not just a concert, it’s an odyssey. Don’t miss Mike Reed’s Separatist Party ft. Marvin Tate, Ben LaMar Gay and Bitchin Bajas at De Studio during this short European tour!

Mike Reed’s The Separatist Party overwhelmed audiences at the Summer Bummer Festival in 2023 with an extraordinary performance, and raised the bar even higher in 2024 with electrifying sets at Het Bos and the AB Club. Now Reed returns for a handful of European concerts with his all-star ensemble, with De Studio as the first stop. Alongside Reed on drums, percussion and electronics, the lineup features poet/vocalist Marvin Tate, Ben LaMar Gay on cornet, and the minimalist psych trio Bitchin Bajas (Cooper Crain, Dan Quinlivan and Rob Frye).

The music of Mike Reed’s The Separatist Party draws from a vast arsenal of influences, weaving together diverse traditions and practices into a deeply grooving new whole. You might catch glimpses of Don Cherry’s Organic Music concept, the ecstatic fire of Pharoah Sanders, the cyclical minimalism of Terry Riley, the motorik rhythms of Krautrock, and the cosmic sounds of Sun Ra, but no element is adopted wholesale. Instead, the musicians fuse ideas from across the world and across decades into a driving melting pot that speaks volumes about the turbulent era we live in, calling on the healing power of music to bring us together, if only for a moment.

Their self-titled debut album was released in October on We Jazz Records and was quickly recognized as one of the jazz highlights of 2023 by outlets such as The New York Times, the Chicago Reader, and London Jazz News. The singles “Your Soul” and “Floating With An Intimate Stranger” were featured by Gilles Peterson on his Worldwide FM radio show. A new release is scheduled for October 2026 on Thrill Jockey.