MANtrio is an improvising trio based in Bellingham, WA.
Percussionist Melanie Sehman creates experimental and contemporary music that explores improvisation, gesture, the relationships between music, text and the physical experiences of sound. She performs in a wide variety of styles and enjoys collaborative work with composers, performers and artists in other disciplines, exploring alternative modes of music making.
Bassist Sarah Yates performs regularly in Seattle, Vancouver and Bellingham, where her curiosity leads her to take part in projects with styles ranging from jazz Manouche to 18th century chamber music and traditional Roma music to straight-ahead jazz. In her teaching, research and performing, Sarah seeks to explore and promote the connections between musical practice and lifestyle, with particular interest in intentionality, listening, and the value of play.
Pianist and vocalist Sage Romey’s inspirations are centered in jazz and radiate out through funk, West African mbalax, salsa, highlife, and hip hop. She is drawn to the musical creativity inherent in composition and collaboration with artists who take many different pathways to musical creation. Outside the performance setting, Sage is a scholar of ethnomusicology, studying the ways in which musicians and audiences interact to create meaning from music and musical creation.
The first and last pieces of this set were recorded by MANtrio on March 1, 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown. The first piece, in three movements, is based on Susan Griffin’s “Three Poems for Woman.” The middle four pieces are a series of improvised duos for bass and drums, recorded socially-distanced at home. Without reference to any text, each of these improvisations explores different sound worlds, techniques, textures, gestures and ways of conversing. After months apart, we have a lot to say to each other. The final trio piece, “Iris,” was composed by Sage Romey and its text feels particularly appropriate for the current situation.
(00:00) Three Poems for Woman, pt. 1
(03:18) Three Poems for Woman, pt. 2
(05:22) Three Poems for Woman, pt. 3
(09:48) Bass & Drums Improvisation #1
(13:08) Bass & Drums Improvisation #2
(21:57) Bass & Drums Improvisation #3
(27:33) Bass & Drums Improvisation #4
(35:40) Iris
Drummer and percussionist Melanie Sehman creates experimental and contemporary music that explores improvisation, gesture, the relationships between music, text and the physical experiences of sound. Based in Bellingham, WA, Melanie performs in a wide variety of styles and enjoys collaborative work with composers, performers and artists in other disciplines, exploring alternative modes of music making. Her most recent project is MANtrio, an improvising trio with bassist Sarah Yates and pianist and vocalist Sage Romey.
The first and last pieces of this set were recorded by MANtrio on March 1, 2020, just before the COVID-19 lockdown. The first, in three movements, is based on Susan Griffin’s “Three Poems for Woman.” The last, “Iris,” whose text feels particularly appropriate for the current situation, was composed by Sage Romey. The middle four pieces are a series of improvised duos for bass and drums, recorded socially-distanced at home. Without reference to any text, each of these improvisations explores different sound worlds, techniques, textures, gestures and ways of conversing. After months apart, we have a lot to say to each other.
With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.