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18th Seattle Festival of Freely Improvised Music
February 14-15 & 21-22, 2003The 2003 Seattle Festival of Freely Improvised Music has wrapped up and was a great success not only musically, but also in terms of attendance and community interaction. The organizers would like to extend their hearty thanks to the visiting and Seattle-area musicians who participated, the audience members, and the organizations and volunteers who helped to make this a memorable festival, including Seattle's Earshot Jazz and Vancouver's Coastal Jazz & Blues Society. The 2004 festival is tentatively scheduled to take place in February 2004; look for details on this site toward the end of 2003.
The 18th Seattle Festival of Freely Improvised Music will take place February 14, 15, 21, and 22 at two locations, Polestar Music Gallery and Center on Contemporary Art. This year the festival presents more than 20 practitioners of free-improv music from Seattle and other parts of North America, as well as a select few from Europe. Many of the performers are making their first-ever appearances in Seattle. (Note: The festival takes place much earlier than in recent years, when it was held in June.)
Our festival has traditionally aimed to present musicians who devote all or most of their energies to the playing of freely improvised music, which is produced ‘in the moment’ with no prior planning or notation. Among highlights of this year's event is a rare appearance by two towering figures in European freely improvised music, drummer Paul Lovens and bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, collaborating with another veteran European performer now resident in Vancouver, bassist Torsten Müller, and a key member of Chicago's thriving new music scene, trombonist Jeb Bishop.
Among the many Seattle-resident performers are two stalwarts of new and improvised music, clarinetist William O. Smith and trombonist/didgeriduist Stuart Dempster, who will perform in collaboration with two outstanding painters, Virginia Paquette and Renko Ishida in the quartet ARTKOAMIA. The festival also showcases leading performers from Vancouver, California, Boston, Colorado, and Seattle's flourishing free-improv scene.
To arrange interviews or obtain recordings or photos, please contact info@seattleimprovisedmusic.com.
The 18th Seattle Festival of Freely Improvised Music is a not-for-profit event.
Click performer names below for detailed information
Friday, February 14 · Polestar Music Gallery
1412 18th Ave. at E Union (directions on Polestar site above) · 8 PM · $0-15 sliding scale suggested donation
- Jesse Canterbury & Tari Nelson-Zagar Seattle
Using extended and nonlinear clarinet techniques, Jesse Canterbury performs modern classical music, chamber-style free improvisation, and unrestricted energy music. The startling violinist Tari Nelson-Zagar began, in Montana, as a successful performer of classical music, but long ago, in Seattle, turned to jazz and then improvised and new music.
- Troy Swanson with Brent Arnold, Dave Brogan & Zeke Keeble Seattle
Troy Swanson plays with electronic instruments of his own design, including his high-tension string apparatuses known as corpus callosums, whose acoustic sound is fed through amplifiers incorporating modified rotating speakers. Musical textures, Swanson says, will range from percussive to cacophonous, and from droning to melodic. Troy will be joined by Brent Arnold, Dave Brogan, and Zeke Keeble, all performing on corpus callosums.
Saturday, February 15 · Polestar Music Gallery
1412 18th Ave. at E Union (directions on Polestar site above) · 8 PM · $5-15 sliding scale suggested donation
- Paul Lovens, Rudi Mahall, Torsten Müller & Jeb Bishop Germany, Canada, Chicago
Four stellar improvisers promise some of the richest improvised music ever presented by the festival. The acclaimed German percussionist Paul Lovens, a veteran of over 30 years of playing at the highest levels of European improvisation, epitomizes the free music percussionist who, rather than drive a beat, listens, colors, and contributes to the overall sound, with an intensity and concentration that make even random events appear planned. Rudi Mahall, one of the most innovative bass clarinetists since Eric Dolphy, absorbed classical and twentieth century music, as well as jazz, en route to a now-long career in improvised music. His style is suggested by one of his long-time groups, Der Rote Bereich, whose name refers to “the red area,” which indicates distortion on a recording-level meter. The German bassist Torsten Müller, after long collaborations with the most vaunted of European improvisers, moved to Vancouver a few years ago and has found rejuvenation in collaborations with many leading North American players. His playing, wrote one reviewer, Müller “expands the instrument’s voice” with a broad palette of novel techniques and compelling textures. The three Europeans are joined by Chicago trombonist Jeb Bishop, one of the most active players in Chicago’s exciting free jazz/improvised music community with groups like the Ken Vandermark 5, the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, School Days, and his own Jeb Bishop Trio.- Travis Baker, Emily Hay & Sara Schoenbeck Canada, Los Angeles
Vancouver bassist Travis Baker is at home in the worlds of jazz, punk, rock, and classical music, but of special importance to him is improvisation and the emancipation of the bass from its traditional supportive role. He has played with many leading exponents of free-improv music around North America and parts of Europe. Emily Hay blends the complexities of contemporary classical technique with the spontaneity of free improvisation. On flute, alto flute, piccolo, and ethnic reeds, she produces unusual tone colors and soaring rhythmic structures augmented by electronic devices. Her vocalizations range from primal to operatic, including whimsical wordplay and stream-of-consciousness lyrics. She is active in Los Angeles avant-garde, alternative art rock, free improvisation, and contemporary classical ensembles. Los Angeles–based Sara Schoenbeck performs contemporary and improvised music, expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in collaboration with leading creative musicians such as Vinny Golia, Nels Cline, Miya Masaoka, and Adam Rudolph.
Friday, February 21 · Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) Directions
1420 11th Avenue · 8 PM · $5-15 sliding scale suggested donation
- Peggy Lee & Ron Samworth Canada
In Vancouver, Peggy Lee has staked a reputation as a cellist of the highest order in varied new-music projects including her own Peggy Lee Band, the all-star out-jazz NOW Orchestra, and the contemporary chamber ensemble Standing Wave. Guitarist Ron Samworth is another standout on Vancouver's extraordinary improvised and contemporary music scene. He co-leads the NOW Orchestra, and like Peggy Lee has worked with a who's who of international modern jazz and improvising musicians.- Gust Burns, Greg Campbell & Gregory Reynolds Seattle
Pianist Gust Burns is among a group of recent newcomers who are revitalizing the Seattle improv scene. With Adam Diller, he curates the Monday-night improvised music series Sound of the Brush, an important meeting ground for adventurous Northwest musicians. Also providing new energy to the local scene in recent months has been the remarkable alto saxophonist Gregory Reynolds. They join the torrid and inventive free-jazz and improv drummer Greg Campbell, who has been a member of Seattle Experimental Opera, Brainstun, Project W (with Wally Shoup), and Jessica Lurie's Motorbison.
Saturday, February 22 · Polestar Music Gallery
1412 18th Ave. at E Union (directions on Polestar site above) · 8 PM · $5-15 sliding scale suggested donation
- Tom Djll, Bhob Rainey & Jack Wright Bay Area, Boston, Boulder
These three master musicians play saxophones and trumpet, but listeners will hear seemingly electric sounds and disembodied tones from a trio that possesses a sometimes sinister sense of humor. Tom Djll specializes in rarely used split-tone multiphonic techniques, and is among only a few players to have mastered such extended trumpet techniques. His language is post-jazz, incorporating noises into melodic gestures and gritty textures from electronica. Soprano saxophonist Bhob Rainey, working solo, with trumpeter Greg Kelley in nmperign, and recently with the large improvising ensemble BSC, has had a significant impact on the way the saxophone functions within improvised music. He has performed all over the world with the likes of Axel Dorner, Kevin Drumm, Le Quan Ninh, Gunter Muller, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Mat Maneri, Eddie Prevost, Gino Robair, John Zorn, and many others. Jack Wright, a free-improv veteran from Boulder, Colorado, has inspired generations of improvisers. For 20 years this “Johnny Appleseed of improvised music” has crisscrossed the U.S. and Europe, astounding audiences with his passion and energy.- ARTKOAMIA Seattle
(Stuart Dempster, Renko Ishida, Virginia Paquette & William O. Smith)
ARTKOAMIA [pronounced ‘art-ko-ah-MEE-ah’] is a music and art collective that performs visual and musical improvisations. The acclaimed clarinet virtuoso William O. Smith is a veteran, world-renowned pioneer in the exploration of extended clarinet techniques, equally accomplished in the world of contemporary classical music and as a charter member of Dave Brubeck's groundbreaking jazz group. Similarly renowned is trombone/didgeridu legend and “deep listening” maven Stuart Dempster, a leader in trombone technique and performance who has had an enormous impact on generations of students. Smith and Dempster appear with two visual artists with extensive experience in performing with musicians, Renko Ishida (a.k.a. Suiren) and Virginia Paquette.
E-mail: info@seattleimprovisedmusic.com
Please note that we are no longer accepting performer inquiries for this year's festival.
The Seattle Improvised Music Festival is a not-for-profit event.
Many thanks to the Speakeasy Network for graciously hosting our Web site.
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