What Is Man and What Is Guitar?, a short film about iconic abstract musician Keith Rowe (U.K., France), directed by Bob Burnett and Seattle-area musician Alan F. Jones, is presented in its first Seattle screening.

“…one of the best films about a musician I’ve seen. ” — Sasha Frere-Jones

Keith Rowe has spent a lifetime exploring the relationship between sound and physical objects through what can only be loosely described as the guitar. What Is Man And What Is Guitar? Keith Rowe is a short film that probes the thinking of Keith Rowe and the fascinating way he approaches art, the guitar and himself.

The film documents passages of Rowe’s ongoing journey, from playing jazz through early years of poverty in Britain, to exploring the unexplored with the ensemble AMM, to his groundbreaking solo, duo and ensemble work from beneath the small umbrella of fringe music. Across six decades, Rowe’s body of work has functioned as a signal for the parameters, signposts, and permissions for the unorthodox in improvised music.

On this occasion the film will be presented by sound designer and co-director Alan F. Jones, and Rowe’s biographer Brian Olewnick, author of The Room Extended. Includes short featurettes with Oren Ambarchi and Sandy Ewen, surrounding Rowe’s influence. A 30-minute Q&A will follow.

Alan F. Jones (Dallas, TX, 1971) is a Washington-based audio engineer, performing musician, and composer. He owns and operates Laminal Audio, where in addition to mastering and production he works frequently as a sound designer and supervising post audio for film. Jones is a member of the Seattle-based ensembles, ‘what’ and Telescoping, favoring pedal steel and lap steel guitar in performance. He also runs the Marginal Frequency record label. Jones resides in Tracyton, WA.

Brian Olewnick is a new music writer and visual artist. He helped run the avant-garde jazz loft Environ from 1976-1980 and was eventually seduced into writing about contemporary music in various forms from jazz to modern classical, free improvisation and beyond. He has written for All Music Guide, The Wire, Time-Out New York and other publications in addition to his blog, Just Outside, one of the principal sites for analysis of new music, where he has published over 2,000 reviews since 2006. He has given talks on the craft of writing about contemporary music in Philadelphia, Västerås, Sweden and Sokołowska, Poland. He lives with his wife Betsy Wallin, in Kinderhook, New York.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting.

Improvisations and Meditations for Julius Watkins

Join top French horn improviser Tom Varner for a series of works with Neil Welch, Greg Campbell, Samantha Boshnack, Jim Knodle, and more. In the concert’s second half, these improvisers will be joined by ten French horn players in a “sound meditation” honoring Tom’s hero, the great French horn pioneer Julius Watkins (1921-1977), who would have turned 100 later in the week. Beautiful sounds all around — literally, in the wonderful Chapel space. The French horn players will include Addison Kotulski, John Turman, Matt Shevrin, Josiah Boothby, Suzan “Zen” Anderson, Jeffrey Snedeker, and Hayden Douglass.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance over age 5 will be required to wear masks. Chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that the performers will be playing wind instruments.

Puget Sounds Wind Quintet members perform with Village Theatre, Fifth Avenue Theatre, Symphony Tacoma, Seattle Symphony/Opera and other groups, and come together to produce their own music in the form of a quintet representing the winds of the orchestra.

The Living & Breathing Wind Music program presents an array of contemporary classical selections by five living composers, ranging from the literal representation of nature sounds in Eric Ewazen’s Roaring Fork to the aleatoric In C Dorian by Frank Ticheli, and styles in between. Hear the atonal and abstract, yet alternatingly angry and lyrical 5-4-3 Miniatures by Don Bowyer; Valerie Coleman’s upbeat work named after the Swahili word for unity, Emoja; and a world premiere by northwest composer David P. Jones that stretches the technical limitations of wind instruments.

This program is free and open to the public, with gracious support provided through the Music Performance Trust Fund and the Musicians’ Club of Seattle.

Online reservations are strongly recommended, as attendance will be limited to facilitate social distancing. We can not guarantee seating for walk-ups

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance over age 5 will be required to wear masks. Additionally, all audience members must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Proof of vaccination will be required for entry. Chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that the performers will be playing wind instruments.

A night of spontaneous compositions from three of Seattle’s finest musicians and longtime members of the creative music scene.

Internationally recognized composers Sam Boshnack (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Amy Denio (alto sax, clarinet, accordion, voice) join renaissance man Greg Campbell (drums, percussion, gongs, french horn) for a night of spontaneous composition and musical exploration.  Working with loose themes, these accomplished beacons in Seattle’s creative music scene will join forces for the first time as a trio.

Whether blasting through the sonic explorations of her alternative chamber orchestra, B’shnorkestra, or leading Seismic Belt or her quintet, Samantha Boshnack’s musical voice pulses with vitality. She is part of the acclaimed composers’ collective Alchemy Sound Project. She has toured extensively in the zany, postmodern Reptet.  Boshnack is an alumni of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (GLFCAM). In 2021, she participated in Mutual Mentorship for Musicians’ (M3) 2nd Cohort (an international network of underrepresented gender identities providing new ways to connect, support and create) for which she premiered a collaboration with Fay Victor. 

Greg Campbell plays drums, percussion, French horn, and other instruments. He works in the broader jazz and classical traditions, performing with groups ranging from the Seattle Modern Orchestra to Wayne Horvitz’s Electric Circus, and with artists such as steel pan virtuoso Ray Holman, Eyvind Kang, Ali Birra, Vinny Golia, Lori Goldston, Christian Asplund, Nels Cline, and James Falzone. His studies with Asante palmwine guitarist Koo Nimo led him to Ghana in 2017; he has worked with Koo Nimo’s son Yaw Amponsah in the traditional Asante drumming group Anokye Agofomma for more than twenty years. Greg teaches at the Cornish College of the Arts and at Cascadia College.

Amy Denio (Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame) is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, alto sax, clarinet, accordion) singer, commissioned composer, audio engineer, record producer and teacher. She has created over 500 works for film, television, theater and modern dance for the last thirty years, working solo and also in collaboration with artists worldwide. Her audio installations have been featured at the Venice Biennale and Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid. She is a versatile composer, working in folk, jazz, pop, rock, metal, and many world music genres ~ Balkan, Latin, and a variety of indigenous styles from obscure corners of this globe. 

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that some performers will be singing or playing wind instruments.

Obscure & Terrible presents a dual cassette release show featuring Orgone Donor and RN White with an opening set from John Saint-Pelvyn.

Originally assembled as an aural complement to a paranormal-themed museum opening show, Orgone Donor (V.Vecker, Dustin WIlliams, Riley Reasor) are a dense fog of electronics and saxophone. After their first show slated to take place March 13th, 2020, was cancelled and much of the world went into lockdown, the improvised synth trio morphed into a remote recording project. The temporal suspension induced the members of the group to exchange and layer their home recordings, creating a shared imaginary space which expanded from synthesizers to include tenor sax and electric piano. Their debut album Two Maps as Parallel Mirrors collects the results of these collaborations and reclaims a landscape of dislocated phrases and drones that triangulates the cities of Vancouver, B.C., Seattle, and Bellingham circa fall of 2020. 

RN White is the harsh noise scraped from the mind of Seattle’s Rachel N LeBlanc. LeBlanc served as a longtime booking agent and organizer in the Seattle noise and experimental community, chiefly for Debacle Records and Hollow Earth Radio. Though RN White is her first outing alone conjuring brutal chasms of sound, she was previously half of guitar-torturing duo #tits and the snotty-voiced guitarist of improv noise ensemble WaMu. There’s also her solo hymnal-drone project Blessed Blood. On her debut album Cerebral Split LeBlanc connects to her own personal darkness, drawing out the blackened soundtrack from within.  

John Saint Pelvyn is one of the singular voices of underground music in the Twin Cities. A regular tour-mate of legendary denatured banjo exorcist Paul Metzger, Pelvyn is someone who sounds unmistakably like only himself the second he picks up his instrument. His combination of behind the bridge picking, rapid whammy bar shaking and churning feedback is a subtle dance that rivals the abilities of many greats, from psychedelic improvisational noise to piedmont-picking fingerstyle acoustic—but one he alone inhabits. 

(Art by Sean Waple/Rachel LeBlanc)

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that some performers will be singing or playing wind instruments.

Tamara Zenobia will share her work as Vocal Alchemist using her voice to transcend space and time and bring you galactic messages from within her self-built pyramid. In this performance she will be using singing bowls, pan drum, and other world instruments to bring her stories together. 

Seating will be primarily on the floor, with chairs arranged for those who would like them. Listeners are encouraged to bring blankets, cushions and items to make the space more comfortable for them. A space for those who would like to move and dance will also be cleared.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting.

Kyle Hanson is a non-traditional accordionist and has developed an oscillating bellows technique that produces shimmering waves of sound. This evening’s set will consist of luscious clouds of rhythmically articulated, slowly-unfolding tone clusters, populated with ghostly suggestions of melody, notes hovering in the air.

Erin Jorgensen will play a half-improvisatory, half-structured set of meditative, dreamy landscapes on her five-octave marimba. Accompanied by ephemeral vocals and narration, this is the perfect evening to close your eyes, dream, and experience literal good vibes. 

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members will be required to wear masks. Additionally, proof of vaccination is required to attend. Chairs will be arranged to maintain social distancing (people who live together may group chairs accordingly). Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that some performers will be vocalizing.

The Right Brain Music Minifest is a one-night explosion of improvised music, featuring local virtuosos and spontaneous jams that will stretch your imagination. The Minifest will include short sets by widely contrasting local artists, followed by Chance Trios, randomly chosen by audience members, and a massive full ensemble jam, in a unique program to be created for just this audience on this night only. Featured artists include:

Bill Horist, a renowned master of experimental guitar music, known for a mind-boggling range of palettes.

Amy Denio, a prolific, world-class vocalist, composer and improviser, known for busting known frontiers of the human voice.

Spontanea, a free improv quartet that creates surprising, otherworldly soundscapes, comprised of Carol Levin (harp), Kenny Mandel (sax, flute), Matt Benham (guitar, electronics) and Scott Schaffer (bass).

Outlaw Space, a youthful, high-energy post-jazz quartet that defies genre labels and adjectives, with Stephen Fandrich (piano), Kirill Polyanskiy (violin), and Bill Monteleone (reeds).

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Audience should be aware that performers will be unmasked, and some will be singing or playing wind instruments.

Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus (1985) is one of the great piano masterpieces of the late 20th century. Building on a handful of notes and pregnant pauses, Feldman uses his singular talent to spin magic glass and dance through silence. Lasting 72 minutes in one unbroken movement, For Bunita Marcus brings music to the event horizon.  

Multi-instrumentalist Peter Nelson-King will perform the work while showcasing his original visual art in public for the first time, primarily asemic writing on salvaged materials. These pieces, including an enormous scroll, will be arranged throughout the performance space, and audience members are encouraged to walk around to view the works during the performance in a one-of-a-kind immersive experience.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following the current mandate from WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting.

Golden Retriever (Matt Carlson and Jonathan Sielaff) and Saariselka (Chuck Johnson and Marielle Jakobsons) will share their cinematic and hypnotic electro-acoustic compositions for bass clarinet, pedal steel guitar, piano, and synthesizers.

Golden Retriever (bass clarinetist Jonathan Sielaff and modular synthesist/pianist Matt Carlson) have spent the last decade expanding their palette from primarily electronic music into works for chamber ensemble and electro-acoustic collaborations with jazz, classical, and folk musicians. Their collaborative 2020 LP Rain Shadow (Thrill Jockey), with Bay Area pedal steel guitarist Chuck Johnson, is a high point for both artists: slowly shifting instrumental arrangements combine clouds of melody and texture with vivid emotional peaks. 

Saariselka, Johnson’s duo with composer Marielle Jakobson (Fender Rhodes, organ, synthesizers), has been unearthing a new kind of ambient Americana since the release of The Ground Our Sky in 2019. Crafting a universe of remarkable resonance, the duo create a vibrant, seemingly infinite sway of sounds that exists unmoored in time and space.

This concert will feature performances from both duos, as well as a collaborative trio set in which Johnson will join Golden Retriever in the spirit of the Rain Shadow LP.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: Following current mandates from King County & WA State public health officials, all audience members at this performance will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status. Additionally, chair seating will be arranged to maintain social distancing; people who live together may group chairs accordingly. Windows will be open, weather permitting. Audience should be aware that some performers will be singing or playing wind instruments.