Alex Harding - sax
Joel Peterson - bass
Dave Hurley - drums

Agape Trio is an improvised music unit composed of master baritone saxophonist Alex Harding, noted bassist/multi-instrumentalist Joel Peterson and rising-star percussionist David Hurley. Formed in 2020, Agape Trio made its debut playing in the roll-up, loading bay door in the kitchen of Detroit art space Trinosophes, to an audience seated on the brick back alley. Their combination of effusive warmth, intense energy, blues and folk-form allusions and abstract polyphony carves a distinct space among contemporary improvising groups and has earned them an enthusiastic regional following. Having played many institutions of and festivals like Ann Arbor’s Edge Fest, Agape Trio makes its first foray into the wider world with a tour in March of 2025. 

Harding has performed with The Sun Ra Arkestra, The Mingus Big Band, David Murray, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Afro Horn, Donald Byrd, Muhal Richard Abrams, Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Band and with many other major figures of the music. He leads the groups Zulu and The Alex Harding Organ Tio and has a duo with Romanian pianist Lucian Ban. Harding’s discography is extensive and includes a 2002 CIMP release as a leader with Jay Rosen and Dominic Duval.

Multi-instrumentalist/double-bassist Peterson performs in numerous musical idioms. In improvised music, he has recorded with William Hooker, Faruq Z. Bey, Thollem, Eugene Chadbourne, Tatsuya Nakatani, Kenneth Green, Oluyemi and Kenn Thomas and Skeeter Shelton. He has also performed with Elliott Sharp, Han Bennink, Dushun Mosley, Salim Washington, Michal Carey, Michael Ray, Gino Robair, Amy Denio, Damo Suzuki, Dennis Palmer and many others. He operates the venue Trinosophes in Detroit.

Newer to improvised music, Hurley has worked with many Detroit improvising and experimental musicians and has become an in-demand drummer for providing support to touring artists like Jack Wright, Elliot Levine and Oluyemi Thomas. The extensive variety of percussion instruments and techniques he uses makes him extremely versatile in widely varying musical situations.

Tickets are $20 at the door, or online
half price for students with valid ID!
Doors open at 7pm, concert will begin at 8pm.