Rope Ladder is saxophonist Nathan Hanson's string group, featuring Erik Fratzke (bass), Josh Granowski (bass), and Laura Harada (violin). They play Nathan's compositions in an expansive, improvised style that is equal parts familiar and unexpected, drawing from folk, classical, and jazz sources.

Saxophonist and composer Nathan Hanson makes music that invites listeners to stand outside themselves and the flow of time. His improvisations are “lithe and soaring, engaging in judicious honk 'n' splatter” (New York City Jazz Record). In Europe, Hanson has performed at the Atlantique Jazz Festival, Splendor in Amsterdam, and the Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris. In the United States, he has played at the Knitting Factory in New York, the Outpost in Albuquerque, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and Elastic in Chicago. Hanson investigates how to channel the sound of each performance space. The energy of the audience circulates with the music, silence, and breath. The effect leads listeners to become more present to the unfolding of each moment. He has recorded more than a dozen albums on labels including Innova, nato, BudaMusique, and Skirl.

Erik Fratzke is a composer/performer/educator based in St. Paul, MN. Best known as the bassist of Happy Apple, he also leads his own quartet, Fake Accent. He is also a member of Craig Taborn’s Junk Magic and Cory Healey’s Beautiful Sunshine Band. As a guitarist, Erik is a member of The Dave King Trucking Company, the avant-metal group Abhorrent Expanse, Scott Miller’s Fifth Column Ensemble, The Gang Font feat. Greg Norton, and the instrumental rock group Zebulon Pike. His compositions have been performed and recorded by the new music group Zeitgeist. Erik has performed and/or recorded with Tim Berne, Ethan Iverson, Adam Levy, Michel Portal, Rhys Chatham, Airto, Benoit Delbec, and Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins).

Longtime Midwesterner Josh Granowski has been making music in Minnesota for more than a decade. He has played upright bass and bass guitar/FX with notable forward-thinking improvisers including Davu Seru, George Cartwright, Dave King, and deVon Gray. He also frequently performs in groups that specialize in earlier jazz/Americana styles (for example, the Southside Aces, Butch Thompson, Patty and the Buttons, Mumblin' Drew's Oldfangled Orchestrators, and Bobby J's West Bank Social Club).

Violinist Laura Harada enjoys a diverse musical life that spans from Western classical to Eastern microtonal music, Brazilian forro and choro, Argentine tango, free jazz, and creative music of many kinds. A member of National Arab Orchestra in Detroit, she performs in Minnesota with Arabic music ensemble Amwaaj, Samba Meu, and Aby Wolf’s Champagne Confetti.