BASSOON TRANSFORMATIONS: Paul Hanson–Improbable Territory

Solo Electric Bassoon with Loops/Effects; Duo with pianist Unpil Baek. Originals by Paul plus music by Glen Campbell, Wayne Shorter, Sting, Tigran Hamasyan & Ralph Towner.

Paul Hanson has spent more than three decades expanding the vocabulary of the bassoon and challenging expectations of what the instrument can do. From his roots as an award-winning classical bassoonist and jazz saxophonist, he has developed a unique voice incorporating improvisation, jazz, fusion, funk, world music, looping, and electronics.

Paul has recorded and performed with artists including Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Jon Batiste, Wayne Shorter, Billy Cobham, Charlie Hunter, Michael Manring, and Omar Sosa, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall and major jazz festivals throughout the United States and Europe.

In 2008, Paul created the role of electric improvising bassoonist for Cirque du Soleil’s *ZED* at Tokyo Disney Resort. In 2022, he performed acoustic and electric bassoon in Jon Batiste’s *American Symphony* at Carnegie Hall, later featured in the film *American Symphony*.

Paul’s newest album, *The Outer Banks*, released in September 2026 on Abstract Logix, features Charlie Hunter, Jeff Sipe, and Bill Stevens. He continues to explore acoustic and electric bassoon through original music, improvisation, electronics, and music from across genres.

Unpil Baek is an improvisational musician based in Berkeley, California. Rooted in classical piano and shaped by jazz, his music draws from a wide field of traditions, including classical, sacred, experimental, and global improvisational practices. He has performed with Charith Premawardhana, Phillip Gelb, Bay Area jazz string quartet Vitamin EM, Quantaikotech with Chris Trinidad, and others.

A lover of all kinds of music, Unpil approaches improvisation as a space where different languages can meet—between traditions, between people, and between inherited forms and new possibilities. His work seeks to honor the diversity of musical expression while shaping these encounters into a coherent musical whole.

Unpil is also a research scientist in quantum computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Across both music and technology, he is drawn to questions of structure, creativity, and participation: how ideas can be shaped into forms that invite dialogue, empower communities, and open new possibilities for collective expression.

PROGRAM

1: Footprints (Wayne Shorter)
2: KDB (Paul Hanson)
3: Petulant Sunset (Paul Hanson)
4: Sinkyone Gap (Paul Hanson)/Fortress Around My Heart (Sting)
5: Weird Harmy (Paul Hanson)
6 (with pianist Unpil Baek) Zephyr (Ralph Towner)
7:(with pianist Unpil Baek) Seance (Paul Hanson)

1: Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb)
2: 98 Skidoo (Paul Hanson)
3: Esperando La Lluvia (Rain)-(Paul Hanson)
4: Song for Trent (Paul Hanson)
5: Piazza (Paul Hanson)
6: (with pianist Unpil Baek) A Eye (Tigran Hamasyan)
7: (with pianist Unpil Baek) Portonevere (Andrea Pellegrini)

Location: Dresher Ensemble Studio, 2201 Poplar Street Oakland, CA United States