18th SEATTLE IMPROVISED MUSIC FESTIVAL
Jesse Canterbury & Tari Nelson-Zagar
Friday, February 14 · Polestar Music Gallery
1412 18th Ave. at E Union · 8 PM · $5-15 sliding scale suggested donation
Photo by Steve Samanen
Clarinetist Jesse Canterbury has performed new music in a variety of different contexts, ranging from modern classical music to chamber-style free improvisation. He has worked and performed with some of the world’s finest improvisers and musical innovators, including George Lewis, Butch Morris, the Shaking Ray Levis, Walter Thompson, Philip Gelb, Matthew Sperry, Gino Robair, Kevin Drumm, and Daniel Carter. Since moving to Seattle in August 2000, he has appeared multiple times at Earshot Jazz’s Voice and Vision Series, the Arts-in-Nature Festival, the Olympia Experimental Music Festival, the Seattle Improvised Music Festival, and with the Seattle Creative Orchestra. Upcoming performances include a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” in April 2003 (with the Seattle New Music Ensemble).
Third-generation violinist Tari Nelson-Zagar was born and raised in Montana, nine miles east of the Continental Divide. Indoctrinated into the hierarchical and competitive mode of music-making called Western European Classical Tradition, Tari excelled at competing for scholarships, principal chairs, solo performance opportunities, and the like. Upon learning the phrase "political economy," Tari applied it to her knowledge of the "music industry." She took a long break.
After the break, Tari pursued a new mode of expression-improvised music and new music. Involved in a plethora of jazz, improvising, and new music ensembles, some of the more pivotal ensembles included Inside/Out, Thingsome Q, Chimp, Cipher, Noise Complaint, Seattle Chainsaw Quintet, and Girl of the Year—featuring a diverse collection of Northwest jazz players and improvisors. As a presenter, Tari founded and curated Resonant/Circuit 1997-99, a series for improvised music. She has also contributed to many recordings by area artists, including Christian Asplund and SEXO, Jessamine, Sun City Girls, Eyvind Kang, SCO New Works, Free Consultation, and others. Other performance collaborations have included work with choreographers Karn Junkensmith, Joan Laage, and Pat Graney, and poet Marc Macdonald. Tari has written music for Inside/Out, Noise Complaint, the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, and others. Currently she is working on a series of etudes for solo violin. This past summer, Tari was artist-not-in-residence at the Montana Artists' Refuge. She is principal second fiddle for the Seattle Creative Orchestra, and can also be heard in collaboration with Jesse Canterbury (clarinet/composition), Angelina Baldoz (trumpet), Adam Diller (clarinet/composition), and a variety of traveling musicians.
Overheard after a July 2002 performance: "Some of the things [Tari] does to the violin should be classified as felonies."
18th Seattle Improvised Music Festival
