Archer Spade's 'Spectrum' of experimental music at The Whole Shebang

Since forming the duo called Archer Spade in 2010, trombonist Dan Blacksberg and guitarist Nick Millevoi have presented music on a fairly regular basis - but in the past, their efforts have been all about them. Their 2012 Commissioning Series featured new compositions written for them by composers Gene Coleman, Dave Soldier, and Johnny DeBlase, while their sporadic Performance Series rarely hosted a concert that didn't include Archer Spade or one of the pair's numerous other projects.

That's where the Spectrum - a two-day festival this weekend of improvised music in the Whole Shebang, a South Philadelphia performance space - is different. Both Blacksberg and Millevoi will perform, but not together. They've planned a weekend all about new collaborations and fresh ideas. The 16 local musicians involved, who span a range of styles, scenes, and ages, first come together Friday for an intensive workshop to explore one another's sounds and concepts. On Saturday, Blacksberg and Millevoi will curate an evening of small, novel groups performing short sets; on Sunday, they'll take themselves out of the equation entirely, and the group will determine the lineups.

As 10-year veterans of the local jazz and experimental-music scene, Blacksberg and Millevoi, both 31, have watched that scene change. Over lunch at West Philadelphia's Cedar Park Cafe, Blacksberg says, "I've benefited from being given a lot of opportunities by people who I looked up to and were older than me. This weekend isn't going to make anybody's career - or even probably buy them dinner - but we're in a position now where we can give other people opportunities. . . . It's a meaningful activity to pass along the experiences that we've had."

While both have notched plenty of those experiences on their own - Blacksberg as an active Klezmer player and educator, or leading his own jazz trio, Millevoi with the experimental-shred power trio Many Arms, or his solo guitar work - they most often have been, as they put it, "joined at the hip." They met while part of the Masterman High School jazz band and continued to work together in a stunning variety of contexts: Millevoi's free jazz/country band Circles, the avant-funk group Racketshop, or Blacksberg's noisy Hasidic rock bands Electric Simcha and Deveykus.

They began Archer Spade to explore the textural possibilities of their instruments in the context of contemporary classical music. The venture gave them a chance to work with some of their compositional idols, including Art Ensemble of Chicago cofounder Roscoe Mitchell, who wrote a piece for the duo; and multireedist Drew Ceccato. They started their performance series in 2012 to encourage such collaborations and offer opportunities to peers. That series, now presented in partnership with Mark Christman's Ars Nova Workshop, will offer new shows beginning in the fall.

When Blacksberg and Millevoi began playing around Philadelphia in the mid-2000s, they found an active experimental-music scene with ample performance opportunities. Dustin Hurt's Bowerbird hosted several concerts a week, and unconventional performance spaces like the Avant Gentlemen's Lodge and Danger Danger offered regular shows. A decade later, those spaces are defunct, and presenting organizations have become less focused on smaller, locally focused bills, resulting in a less-cohesive musical community.

Millevoi says that 10 years ago, "if everybody I knew wasn't playing weirdo music, I probably would've just kept playing in indie rock bands. You're not going to draw people in if it's not regularly happening."

The 16-musician lineup for the Spectrum brings together Archer Spade's peers with younger improvisers. Yes, the festival is named after that Spectrum, lamented arena where Millevoi remembers seeing R.E.M. in 1995 on its Monster tour, while Blacksberg remembers even further back, to childhood performances of Disney on Ice.

"Right now, Philly has a momentum in so many ways," Blacksberg says. "These moments where things can break out come and go, and I would love to feel like there's a real momentum here coming from Philly musicians. There needs to be a collective connection. I think that would really change what feels possible. It would help me make music."

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Archer Spade Presents

The Spectrum

8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The Whole Shebang, 1813 S. 11th St., rear door.

Tickets: $10-$16. Information:

267-422-2719 or bit.ly/1MgtPoO/.

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