Myk Freedman – guitar, Dave Clark – drums
1. Grand Opening at Ting
2. The Mirth of Perth
3. The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow
4. About This is Was Not Yet Written
5. My Technical Difficulties led to Rhythmical Complexities
6. Pat’s Dislike for Miss Jones
7. I’m Ok with It
8. Sara Move with Me to Canada
9. Binge Watching the Moon (all four seasons)
10. Tepelkher Sher (trad)
11. Justin Haynes
Recorded July, 2023 at Bon’s Cave, Toronto
Engineered and Mix by DC
Mastering by Joe Lapinski at WOW
All tracks written by MF except: 5 and 8, written by DC and MF and 11, traditional
About This it Was Not Yet Written
Myk Freedman grew up close to his Romanian grandmother, Lidia. She survived WWII, with an unusual story that spans five countries. She spoke 7 languages, raised a family and . . . wrote her entire life story down in a 2000 page manuscript that until recently when Myk tracked it down, no one had ever read.
The book starts in Bessarabia when Lidia is 17, two days before it was taken over by the Soviet Union. It takes the reader back a generation to her mother fleeing from Odessa to Romania, then journeys deep into the Soviet Union, and eventually to Poland, Israel and Canada, capturing an incredibly detailed slice of life in each time and place, down to details of how food was prepared during the harvest in Romania, how nightly interrogations were conducted in Soviet prisons, and how the traumas of the war left its deep scars on all those who survived.
During the heart of the pandemic when Myk started reading the manuscript he was so blown away that he couldn’t keep the stories to himself. While on a long distance phone call to his lifelong friend and collaborator, Canadian rock legend Dave Clark (The Rheostatics, Gord Downie, The Dinner is Ruined Band, Alex Lifeson), he was finally asked, Myk, When are you going to send me that book!? From there started the most exclusive book club one could imagine. Myk and Dave each plowed through the almost lost pages while sharing with the other their favorite parts, deep thoughts and radically different reactions. Myk’s interpretations were rooted in discovering his family’s story while Dave marveled at learning history on the level of the ground floor.
In the summer of 2023 Myk and Dave finally reunited in Toronto. With no discussion other than that they wanted to connect energetically on their shared journey through the outsider writing of Myk’s grandmother they played several sweaty shows before hitting the studio. What came out was a record of off the cuff takes of tunes by Myk, improvisations, and an obliterated klezmer piece from the region where Lidia lived: About This, It Was Not Yet Written (the original Russian title of Lidia’s book).
Dave Clark is a Gemini award winning musician who has spent over three decades composing, performing, and recording original music. Dave is a multi- instrumentalist, vocalist, conductor, music producer, poet, educator, author, mastering engineer, and the leader of both the Woodshed Orchestra and the WoodChopperʼs Association improviserʼs orchestra. Dave has worked with singer/songwriter Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip (Can), guitarist Kevin Breit (Can), producer Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie (USA), drummer Neil Peart of Rush (Can), the Rheostatics band (Can), beatboxer Shlomo (UK), poet Jim Carroll (USA), griot Mansa Sissoko (Mali, West Africa), singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith (Can), the Dinner is Ruined Band (Can), singer/songwriter Amanda Rhaeume (Can), the Sun Ra Arkestra (USA), trumpeter Rebecca Hennessy (Can), poet Lemn Sissay (UK), singer/songwriter Jane Siberry singer/songwriter Sarah Harmer (Can), dancer/choroegrapher Andrea Nann (Can), guitarist Andy Moor of the Ex (Netherlands),, author Paul Quarrington (Can), spoken word artist Paul Dutton (Can), photographer Dave Blumenfeld (Israel), painter/musician Matt James (Can), saxophonist Joanne Hetu (Can), music group Bellowhead (UK), saxophonist John Oswald (Can), singer/ngoni Jah Youssouf (Mali, West Africa), installation artists Fastwurms (Can), dancer Gauri Sharma Tripathi (UK), bassist/composer Michael Herring (Can), actress/musician Sook Yin Lee (Can), bata master Gilberto Morales Choing (Cuba), saxophonist Jean Derome (Can), singer/songwriter Robyn Hitchcock (UK), musician/producer Joe Lapinski (Can), saxophonist Alain Derbez (Mex), filmmaker Bey Weyman (Can), pianist Achim Kaufmann (Netherlands), singer/songwriter Suzie Vinnick (Can), violinist Jagdish Mistry (Ger), musician Stephen Fearing (Can), poet Lebo Mashille (South Africa), percussionist Colin Currie (UK), the Nihilist Spasm band (Can), artistic director Jude Kelly (UK), installation artists Camilla Singh and Sherri Hay (Can), ngoni player Abdoulaye Kone (Mali, West Africa), singer Julie Doiron (Can), singer Mica Levi (UK), Charles Spearin and the Happiness Project band (Can) and cellist Oliver Coates (UK), Choreographer Jennifer Goodwin (Can), saxophonist Michael Blake (USA), singer/songwriter Mary Margaret OʼHara (Can), accordionist Michael Ward – Bergeman (USA), guitarist Alex Lifeson of Rush (Can), amongst many others.
Composer, leader, and performer Myk Freedman is a Toronto native and two-time Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient. Myk is an active member in the Brooklyn creative music scene and can regularly be heard in various projects and ad hock ensembles led by local luminaries. Since 2001 he’s lead the Toronto ensemble Saint Dirt Elementary School, a nine piece junk yard jazz band dedicated to his numerous tunes. In Brooklyn he fronts Myk Freedman and the Mykfreedmans, a quintet of distinctly unique improvisers who interpret his music. He is also a consummate member of Kenny Warren’s otherworldly country band Laila and Smitty, Joey Weisenburg’s Hadar Ensemble specializing in modern Jewish vocal music and Yoshie Fruchter’s Turkish-Americana quartet the Sandcatchers.
Myk has performed with John Zorn, William Parker, Elliot Sharp, Cyro Baptista, Erik Friedlander, Kenney Wessel, and many others. His compositions have been recorded by his own groups, as well as by The MK Groove Orchestra, In a China Shop, and Laila and Smitty. The Toronto duo Martin & Haynes, has released two records dedicated to his music. In 2008, Myk worked with iconoclast John Oswald, arranging Strauss’ music for the Sun Ra Solar Arkestra.
Myk’s arrangements have been premiered at venues such as The Blue Note, John Zorn’s The Stone, The Knitting Factory and the Distillery Jazz Festival, where he was nominated for the Emerging Artist Award.
-excerpt from Lidia’s book
Myk Freedman 
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