The Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet

The Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet is a collaborative sextet featuring woodwinds (Alex Coke), guitar (Carl Michel), concert harp (Elaine Barber), pedal steel (Bob Hoffnar), upright bass (James Suter) and vibes (Carolyn Trowbridge). The sextet explores the boundaries of jazz, classical, new music, folk, improvisation and extended techniques. They have two recordings out on PlayOn Records, “The Emissary” produced during the summer of 2021 and “Emergence” released in 2023. The recordings feature compositions by John Coltrane, Paul Motian, Hildegard, Huddie Ledbetter, Valentin Silvestrov, Camille Saint-Saëns, Ottorino Respighi and original compositions by members of the sextet.