Nico Soffiato – Zach Layton – Hamir Atwal Trio!

Three improvisers whose music moves fluidly between spacious Americana, experimental and free jazz, ambient electronics, and dense, immersive sound. Featuring Nico Soffiato on guitar, Zach Layton on 17-string electric bass and electronics, and Hamir Atwal on drums.

The trio of Nico Soffiato, Zach Layton, and Hamir Atwal brings together three improvisers whose music moves fluidly between spacious Americana, experimental and free jazz, ambient electronics, and dense, immersive sound. With Soffiato on guitar, Layton on 17-string electric bass and electronics, and Atwal on drums, the trio can move from Bill Frisell-inspired lyricism and luminous open harmonies into abstract collective improvisation, slowly evolving electronic textures, and massive walls of sound.

What holds these different territories together is the trio’s attention to space, resonance, and spontaneous interaction. Melody can gradually dissolve into texture; a quiet harmonic landscape can fracture into free improvisation; and atmospheric electronics can accumulate into something visceral and heavy. Layton’s 17-string bass moves between deep foundation, harmonic resonance, and orchestral mass, while Soffiato’s guitar shifts between melody, atmosphere, and abstraction, and Atwal’s responsive drumming continually transforms the music’s pulse, density, and sense of space. The result is an elastic music–at times intimate and stark, at others expansive, turbulent, and enveloping

Nico Soffiato is an Italian guitarist, composer and educator. After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2007, he made his home in Brooklyn and he moved to the Hudson Valley in 2021. A versatile player, Nico finds himself playing in various jazz and experimental groups such as his Redshift Trio with Grammy-winning trumpet player Josh Deutsch, whose rotating drummers are: David King, Allison Miller, Rudy Royston, Dan Weiss, and others. He leads the improvised music group Paradigm Refrain, , and Dogwood duo. As a member of the New York music scene for 15 years, Nico has been part of the collective Out Of your Head Brooklyn, whose members included Gerald Cleaver, Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, Kirk Knuffke, and many others. He also plays in Innocent When You Dream, Aaron Schragge’s ensemble that reimagines the music of Tom Waits.

He had played nationally and internationally, presenting his music at renowned festivals like Dave Douglas’s FONT Festival, Sile Jazz Festival, Padova Jazz Festival and more.

Nico is also music for media composer and producer. He’s a staff composer for the international music house Overcoast and has worked on movies and commercials.

Zach Layton is a composer, improviser, bassist, guitarist, curator, and educator whose work explores psychoacoustics, tuning systems, brainwaves, quantum computing, modular synthesis, sonification and visualization. Performing on a rare 17-string electric bass, he has developed a distinctive musical language rooted in harmonic overtones, extended techniques, and experimental electronics. His work has been presented at venues including the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, Roulette, ISSUE Project Room, EMPAC, Experimental Intermedia, and festivals throughout North America and Europe. His compositions have been performed by the String Orchestra of Brooklyn and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and he has collaborated with a wide range of artists including Pauline Oliveros, Elliott Sharp, Vito Acconci, Tony Conrad, Frances-Marie Uitti, Bobby Previte, Bradford Reed, Ryan Sawyer, Alex Waterman, Henry Fraser, Ben Vida, Claire Chase and many more. His curatorial work for ISSUE Project Room, PS1/MoMa’s WarmUp, and the Guggenheim Museum has been described as “vital…audacious…essential….long-time pillar of NYC’s new music scene,” and through his Darmstadt NYC series he hosts annual performances of Terry Riley’s In C with Nick Hallett for more than two decades, working to foster a vibrant community around experimental music and improvisation.

Hamir Atwal, active for a long-time within the Bay Area’s improvised music community, has performed with musicians including Myra Melford, Miya Masaoka, Merrill Garbus, Matt Nelson, Kenny Wolleson, and numerous other exploratory artists working between composition and free improvisation. Atwal draws from a diverse range of musical styles, Atwal studied at Berklee College of Music, where he immersed himself in jazz, improvisation, and discovered ways to adapt his drumming to various genres. Critics describe Atwal’s style as “fresh and conscientious,” and he is known for giving any music he plays a unique touch and sensitivity. Atwal is an active educator and has given clinics/classes at notable music schools including the California Institute of the Arts, Peabody Conservatory, Music Academy International, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and Jazz Camp West.