Saturday, February 14, 2026 7:30 PM Mile Zero Dance: 9931- 78 Avenue NW, Edmonton
Jessica Ackerley, guitar. Jairus Sharif, saxophone. Mustafa Rafiq, guitar. Ron de Jong. percussion. Also featuring Jared Epp, electronics.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a night of improvised music! Internationally acclaimed guitarist and visual artist Jessica Ackerley returns to their hometown to work with an incredible group – Jairus Sharif from Calgary, and local favourites Mustafa Rafiq, and Ron de Jong. Their two-part set will begin with a solo guitar performance by Jessica Ackerley, followed by a group improvisation for quartet. Inspired by travels in the High Arctic, as well as the incredible natural environment of this province, the group will create something extremely special.
NME is also pleased to present a special guest for the evening, Jared Epp. Quickly becoming a key part of the experimental scene here as performer and presenter, Jared Epp is also a filmmaker, visual artist, and anthropology scholar. For this performance, he will premiere the first iteration of aggressive relaxation music, in which drones, noise, feedback and ambience, experienced like being under a waterfall!
The Program
Inside an Algorithmic Data Waterfall – Jared Epp
Wave II: Arctic II, Nature Morte: Time is Fleet, Conclusion: In Four Micro Parts ing – Jessica Ackerley
Improvisation – Jessica Ackerley, Mustafa Rafiq, Jairus Sharif, Ron de Jong.
Program Notes
Jared Epp performs an electronic music set, using synth, loops and various effects pedals.
Jessica Ackerley – In June 2024, I sailed from the south west point of Svalbard, Norway to 80 degrees North, at the edge of the pack ice towards the North Pole. During my expedition I collected over 250 field recordings of ice, water and glaciers, and during the course of a year have been transcribing their various rhythmic patterns. Having spent an immense amount of time closely internalizing and embodying these water pulsations from the field recordings, I have discovered new perceptions in sound durations and time feel and how they relate to the instrument of guitar. By drawing from the healing and meditative qualities that water soundscapes and guitar music provides for our minds, I seek to engage the listener on a more immediate level, instilling a sense of empathy and presentness. It is my hope through listening to this composition the listener will be transported into the sonic remnants of the Arctic water, thus further instilling an understanding and connection to preserving this magnificent place.
The Artists
Jessica Ackerley (they/them): Guitarist, composer and visual artist, Jessica Ackerley expands the lines between avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical, and ambient music, Ackerley has distinguished their musical voice across 25 releases as a bandleader with acclaim from publications like Pitchfork, BBC Radio, Wire Magazine, among others, making multiple critics’ year end lists. As an independent artist, they have toured extensively as a guitarist throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, and performed at noteworthy venues and festivals such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Met Breuer, Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend (Mass MoCA), The Stone, Roulette Intermedium, Earshot Jazz Festival, and Coastal Jazz Festival. Having expanded their artistic practice to composing four years ago, they have collaborated with Unheard-Of Ensemble, Brightwork, Tony Arnold, HYPERCUBE, and Clara Kim. They have been commissioned by Bang on a Can, NYSFA, Continuum (Toronto), Adult Swim, Mutual Mentorship, and New Music USA; awarded funding from Canada Council for the Arts and Foundation for Contemporary Arts; nominated for the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters Music Composition Award; and attended residencies at Banff Center for the Arts, Gugak Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Arctic Circle Residency. Photo credit: Michael Kochman
Jairus Sharif is a Black-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer and sound artist based in Calgary, AB. His work combines spontaneous composition, sound collage, and free improvisation to create a liberation technology used for healing and self-understanding. Using extended techniques, and operating the studio as an instrument, his recordings forge connections between ecstatic jazz, folk traditions, drone and noise. Through an evolving combination of field recordings, samples, electronics, and traditional instrumentation, his live performance and installation works offer a glimpse into an ongoing hermetic journey. Photo credit: Graham Kennedy.
Mustafa Rafiq is a person and artist. Through music, paint and performance he researches relationships among blackness, nature, divinity, sound and time. Born in 1995 to Fijian immigrants, he lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
His body of work includes: soundscapes using guitar, saxophone, electronics, percussion and voice; scores for dance, theater and podcasts; an album that combines spoken word with ambient, jazz and Indian classical and breadth of live improvisational sound performance. Photo credit: Zoe Yowney.
Drummer Ron de Jong (Edmonton – amiskwaciwâskahikan/ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, Alberta – Treaty 6 Territory) has been creating music through free improvisation, Avant-Jazz, and other fringe music for the better part of his fifty plus years. An ongoing collaboration that de Jong has enjoyed for many years has been an improvised music duo with guitarist Jason Lee Scott called John Charles Tactic. Their most recent outing featured a live performance with guest double bassist Thom Golub.
In February of 2025, de Jong launched his dream project O.N.C.E. (Operations in Nonpermanent Collective Extemporization), an ad hoc improvised music and arts live performance event. The project is modeled after Derek Bailey’s annual ‘Company’ meetings, placing likely and unlikely combinations of invited musicians and multidisciplinary artists together through random selection. Photo credit: Brittany Jill Photography.
Jared Epp (he/him) is a musician exploring layers and textures of sound through synth, loops and found sounds. He seeks to create works that are a blend of meditative music, drone, noise and ambient. He is also a curator and show organizer with Bleeding Heart Art Space helping to host and promote experimental music and art in Edmonton.
Accessibility
Mile Zero Dance Space (9931 – 78 Avenue NW, Edmonton): accessible building with multiple all-gender washrooms, 2 with grab bars. There is a wheelchair accessible front door with wave opener. The #523 bus stops at 99 St and 78 Ave, approx 120 meters from the venue (stop #1542 SB, stop #22729 NB), and the #8 bus stops at Whyte Ave and 99 St, approx 500 meters from the venue (stop #1035 EB, #2824 WB)
Street parking in the area, and guests should allow extra time to find parking during peak times.
