“For this particular event, I wanted to keep things a bit more eclectic and not hyperfocus on one genre of music. All artists that are playing are approaching their music with a sense of exploration and not trying to ‘game a genre.’ … The vibe of Odd Harmonic should be expansion even at the cost of some risk.”
The last time Orlando Weekly spoke to Derek Morton (Berz3rkr, Salty Jazz Crabs, Circuit Church collective), it was about the inaugural ODrone drone-music festival in 2024 and his co-curatorial work on it. Now in the latter half of our cursed year 2025, ODrone is firmly in its terrible twos and Circuit Church is practically a local institution (even boasting a new offshoot, Uncontrolled Voltage), so it must be time for another show series.
So it is that this Wednesday, Sept. 24, Morton debuts the mad scientist-style genre-clash Odd Harmonic. Headquartered at Will’s Pub, the series will spotlight all flavors of the area’s avant-underground, mixed and matched for maximum pleasing confusion. Morton envisions it as a “gateway to the avant-garde” for curious attendees, to “showcase Orlando’s experimental community but also bring artists from out of town to share their work here.”
The lineup certainly fits the bill, featuring the electronic dreamscapes of Drujhn, the spy-versus-spy noise of Salty Jazz Crabs, Derek Dunn’s always serene electronic loops (or maybe guitar ambience, or perhaps even pedal steel — he ain’t saying) and jazz maestro Thomas Milovac’s improv-rock juggernaut Moon Rays all on one stage.
We feel duty-bound to point out that this freewheeling style of curating experimental music shows is not really a new phenomenon locally, with folks like Jonas Van den Bossche, the aforementioned Milovac, Dylan Houser, Will Bess and Dan Reaves doing it as much out of a sense of perverse adventurism as maximal noise show necessity. But Morton brings to the table his own lifetime of experience within alternative circles — “organizing shows, music series and various festivals in the D.C. area in the mid-’90s” — and an ambitious enthusiasm to present “experimental music of all genres” from all around the country. He spitballs bringing names like Fire-Toolz, Alessandro Cortini and Peter Evans to the area and maybe even collaborating with scene touchtones the Civic Minded 5 on a show or two down the line.
For shows like this, where it’s less a matter of putting together a lineup to match with a touring band to serve as local draw, there can be a sense of play in putting together musicians and finding hidden connective tissue between wildly different outsider sounds. For Morton, saxophonist and New York City underground fixture John Zorn is a curatorial inspiration.
“I was lucky enough to benefit from his support when I was living in NYC from 2005-2015. Not only did he release my Brown Wing Overdrive band on Tzadik, but his tireless and workaholic dedication to releasing all kinds of music on Tzadik and running the Stone proved to me that it can be done,” says Morton. “I love how all of his projects have a Zorn feel but can casually spend multiple genres. He networks with people he respects despite if they neatly fit into one genre.”
Morton will be both playing and running the show, always a challenge for even the most starry-eyed of promoters, playing as part of the tandem Salty Jazz Crabs with Stephen Connolly of Pothole Skinny. He says he’s ready for the double duty.
“In the past, there were some scenarios where I had to run the sound, collect door, perform, play stage manager and pay out artists at the end of the night or make up the difference out of my pocket if there were guarantees. Now that was stressful. It’s great to play a club where there is a staff to do most of the duties so these shows are relatively easy for me,” says Morton of running the show at Will’s. “My day job requires me to juggle a lot as I am a technical project manager in technology. There is always something going wrong and often the project manager is tasked with overseeing the solution. Running shows definitely presents their own unique challenges but the journey is extremely rewarding.”
If he makes it through Wednesday, Morton already has the future arc of Odd Harmonic mapped out.
“My immediate plan is to work on three shows a year including a larger festival or a special presentation at a unique venue,” says Morton. “One of my goals is to bring more experimental music and avant jazz to the Orlando and Central Florida area.”
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This article appears in Sept. 24-30, 2025.