David Menestres is a double bassist, improvisor, composer, radio host, and writer.

waveform alphabet is a publishing concern.

Tamarisk is Christina Carter, David Menestres, Andrew Weathers.

OS is Lynn Book, David Menestres, and ?.

Polyorchard is a language. Or a virus. Currently dead either way.

David/Tamarisk/OS/etc is/was/will be available for concerts, lectures, workshops, and other forms of interactions throughout time and space. Get in touch.

“Serene and unhurried, but somehow also full of sturm and howl, scree/n is a perfect metaphor for our age’s listless anxiety, our ceaseless striving to make sense and beauty out of accumulated sensory inputs.” – Jennifer Kelly, Dusted (December 22, 2023)

“There’s clear sympathy in their playing together, Menestres’s double bass particularly seductive on Plays A Word for Sun, oscillating between vibrating string scrapes and fluid stretches of note splay.” – Jon Dale, The Wire (February 2023)

“The profound intensity of this music is what free playing is all about” – Sammy Stein, FreeJazzBlog (October 31, 2022)

“Listening to the album [An Excess of Primary Forms] is not for the barely bothered nor faint-hearted. The music comes from deep within the psyche of the musicians involved and several journeys are required to be made both in terms of imagination, and possessing an open mind to music which feels as much as it sounds.” – Sammy Stein, FreeJazzBlog (July 15, 2021)

“one of my must-own recommendations for the year… [Ink] demonstrates the breadth of interaction between two talented musicians, each performer pushing themselves and their instruments to occasional extremes. Ink draws its inspiration from free improvisation, visual art, poetry, outsider art, and threads tenuous connections that continuously strengthen and rewrite themselves upon further listening.” – Lee Rice Epstein, FreeJazzBlog (July 25, 2020)

“like climbing a sound mountain – something akin to staring an abyss in the face – and taking the plunge – full on, head first into annihilation” – Sammy Stein, FreeJazzBlog (March 2, 2019)

“[Polyorchard’s] sole constant member is David Menestres, a bassist and composer of exceptional skill and vision, and its ranks ebb and swell as the music dictates. Whether large or small, Polyorchard deftly straddles contemporary classical’s pith and free jazz’s vinegar, using silence and tension to fuel momentum.” – Patrick Wall, Free Times (December 19, 2018)

“the tension of silence fuels the momentum that seems to drive each set forward.” -Lee Rice Epstein, FreeJazzBlog (September 29, 2018)

“[Polyorchard] displays a bold commitment to the practice, not the genre, of improvisation. The distinction is a subtle but crucial one. Where many free improvisation performances can fall into a predictable dynamic pattern of peaks and valleys, Polyorchard crafts intricate forms with clear but idiosyncratic arcs. Each extempore arrangement is packed with surprise… new aspects emerge on every listen, the band’s ability to create spontaneous structure consistently fascinating, and more than a little befuddling.” -Matt Wuethrich, Dusted (October 24, 2017)

“Combining elements of free jazz, classical music, and whatever the hell else they feel like, Polyorchard is a free-form experimental music collective that challenges—and often outright transcends—boundaries of genre and style.” -Allison Hussey, Indy Week (March 15, 2017)

“The revolving, motley assortment of classical, jazz and rock musicians have played practically every kind of music in every possible configuration in almost every Triangle venue, emerging as a vital and wonderfully vexing force of the area’s sonic fringes.” -Chris Vitiello, IndyWeek (May 20, 2015)

“an ensemble of Justice League proportions” -Will Robin, IndyWeek (December 30, 2013)

press

2023-12-22 Review of Polyorchard’s scree/n in Dusted vol 9. no. 12.

2023-08-29 interview on The Watt From Pedro Show featuring unreleased live recordings of Os (with Lynn Book), Jessica Ackerley, Tamarisk, and more.

2023-02 Jon Dale reviews recent albums featuring Christina Carter in The Wire

2022-10-31 Review of Tamarisk Plays A Word for Sun by Sammy Stein for FreeJazzBlog.

2021-07-15 Review of An Excess of Primary Forms by Sammy Stein for FreeJazzBlog.

2020-07-25 Review of Ink by Lee Rice Espstein for FreeJazzBlog.

2019-03-02 Review of Black Mountain and Sommian by Sammy Stein for FreeJazzBlog.

2018-12-19 Concert preview by Patrick Wall in Free Times.

2018-11-07 A U.S. Premier of Contemporary Music at UNCG (on Magnus Granberg’s How Vain Are All Our Frail Delights?) from Yes! Weekly.

2018-09-30 4 star review of Red October and Color Theory in Black and White from FreeJazzBlog.

2018-09-29 4 star review of sextet|quintet and a short interview with FreeJazzBlog.

2018-04-11 4 star review of Red October from AllAboutJazz.

2018-02-15 4 star review of Red October in the March 2018 issue of JazzWise.

2018-02-10 FreeJazzBlog review of James Gilmore‘s Bag of Tricks vol. 1.

2017-12-06 review of Red October in AvantScena.

2017-11-14 interviewed by For The Love of Noise.

2017-10-24 Red October review in Dusted by Matt Wuethrich

2015-03-17 IndyWeek Concert Preview by Allison Hussey

2015-12-23 IndyWeek The Triangles 25 Best Albums of 2015 by Grayson Haver Currin

2015-05-20 IndyWeek Arrivals, departures, and additions: Record review: Polyorchard’s Color Theory in Black and White by Chris Vitiello

2015-04-08 Triad City Beat Rules allow magic to happen during improv piece by Jordan Green

2015-03-25 IndyWeek Preview of Collapss + Polyorchard presents John Zorn’s Cobra at The Shed by Grayson Haver Currin

2014-10-29 IndyWeek Area improvisers revisit Terry Riley’s landmark In C by Chris Vitiello

2014-05-21 IndyWeek How Free Improv Bassist David Menestres Gets His Sound by Corbie Hill

2014-05-21 IndyWeek Freeform collective Polyorchard celebrates Sun Ra’s centennial by not playing his music by Corbie Hill

2013-12-30 IndyWeek Musicians>audience members: Polyorchard’s first anniversary concert by Will Robin

2013-12-18 IndyWeek Preview of Polyorchard, Baby Copperhead, Tegucigalpa show at the Nightlight by Will Robin