Mikel Patrick Avery is one of Chicago's more talented and curious jazz percussionists, a musician who frequently departs from his mainstream foundations to participate in all kinds of unusual projects—whether playing the homemade instruments built by repurposing carpenter and sculptor John Preus or contributing to the single-chord drones of Joshua Abrams's Natural Information Society. One of his most interesting and entertaining projects emerged earlier this year—something he calls "Music for ½ Size Piano."…
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