Saxophonist and composer Neil Welch is a Seattle-based artist whose work is rooted in improvisation, using a variety of sound techniques that explore deep resonances within the saxophone. His work embraces a variety of musical styles, spanning avant-garde jazz, modern composition, solo acoustic saxophone and electronic sound processing. He performs as a solo artist, in addition to the longtime drum/saxophone collaboration Bad Luck. You can buy his music directly via BandCamp.

This recorded work is a series of acoustic improvisations, documented in a single performance while at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each piece navigates a varied sonic landscape, with techniques that include: mouthpiece only, singing into the instrument, conical air flow migrations without the mouthpiece, pushing air in and out of a grouping of saxophone necks, pitched melody, and multiphonic clusters. Saxophone voices used include the soprano, alto, tenor and bass saxophones, at times modified to include items such as: scrap metal, noah bells, a beer can, harmon mute and tin foil.

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.

Seattle cellist Gretchen Yanover was immersed in the world of classical music until college, when she expanded into different styles. Once introduced to a loop sampler, Gretchen began to create in this context. She continues to play both classical (acoustic) cello in NW Sinfonietta, and solo electric cello. Gretchen has three solo albums to date.

Here she presents a collection of pieces for electric cello and looping pedal that she has not previously recorded, which will go on a future album. The inspiration for the music stems from a variety of sources – from the sweetness of a person driving a beeping vehicle, to the brutality depicted in a short story, to the joyful feelings of a sunny day. This session was recorded at home on April 12, 2020 by Ben Thomas. Photo by David Speranza.

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.

Snapping the line against a wayward plot is a collection of chamber works centering on Michaud Savage’s experience as a fourth generation Seattle-ite and his unique relationship to the Good Shepherd Center.

Michaud Savage is an American artist and performer. As a composer, his work includes compositions for chamber ensembles, orchestra, electronics, Max/MSP, and performance art. Tracing the fault-lines of genre, medium, and contemporary society, his influences reach across a spectrum of musical styles, from early to contemporary classical, jazz, pop, tango, rock, blues, Latin folkloric musics, and sound art.

Michaud frequently performs solo and is sometimes joined by the Ancient Present, a modern music ensemble. On this occasion he will be joined by Jordan Voelker, violin; Alex Guy, violin and auxiliary instruments; Heather Bentley, viola and electronics; Rose Bellini, cello; Ross Gilliland, contrabass; Carl Marti Germain, live electronics and auxiliary instruments.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

Listen to a recording of this concert on BandCamp.

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers:

Keith Eisenbrey
Doug Palmer
Sheila Bristow
Mariza Costa-Cabral
Jeremiah Lawson

Hosted by Keith Eisenbrey

The Seattle Composers’ Salon fosters the development, performance and appreciation of new music by regional composers and performers. At bi-monthly, informal presentations, the Salon features finished works, previews, and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion.

A night of solo guitar performance by Seattle guitarist Daniel McManus (under the name Project Metamorphosis) and Bill Horist, with projected visuals by Leo Mayberry.

Project Metamorphosis features meditative reflections on solo guitar, developing narrative themes through the use of loops and structured improvisation. Described as “a series of guitar explorations that form a cosmic emotionalism not quite ambient music and not quite progressive rock,” the music flows between minimalist drone to richly layered melodies.

Seattle-based guitarist Bill Horist delivers an idiosyncratic and richly emotive take on the world’s most ubiquitous instrument. He has played on dozens of records and has performed throughout North and Central America, Europe and Japan; collaborating with numerous leading lights in a beguiling range of genres. Perhaps best known for his prepared guitar treatments, his work is widely regarded alongside masters like Fred Frith and Keith Rowe. He has cultivated a unique voice in a number of styles in the realms of, jazz, rock, folk, and experimental music.

Unit Structures is an avant garde group inspired by the music of Cecil Taylor.

Kenny Mandell (saxophone): long-time veteran of the Seattle jazz and improvising community. Very influenced by Cecil Taylor and Jimmy Lyons and wanted to honor their great musical contributions.

Schraepfer Harvey (drums) is primarily a self taught percussionist greatly influenced by the master Dutch drummer, Han Benink.

Luther Norman (piano) is a classically trained pianist, originally from Kansas City. Luther has been a world traveler and has performed in Japan, Germany, and many other far away places.

Seattle guitarist Dennis Rea (Moraine, LAND, Iron Kim Style, etc.) performs a rare solo set on acoustic and electric guitars, comprising original works, sonic exploration, and interpretations of traditional music from Central Asia. Over the years, Dennis has has worked with the likes of Hector Zazou, Han Bennink, Nik Turner (Hawkwind) and many others, and has performed throughout the U.S. and in China, Russia, Tuva, Germany, the UK, Taiwan, and Mexico.

Famed sampling electronic computer music pioneer Carl Stone makes a rare appearance in the Northwest on the heels of the Unseen Worlds label’s recent two releases (Electronic Music from the 70s-90s), both of which made the Best of 2019 lists of The Wire, Pitchfork, Bandcamp, Artforum and others. Robert Millis, Sublime Frequencies miscreant and Climax Golden Twin, makes a slightly less rare Northwest appearance. Stone and Millis met in Tokyo where Millis was on a residency researching the first recorded sounds from Asia. Stone will unveil new sample-based work for computer and Millis will be playing prepared Victrola and guitar. They will play solo and as a duo.

Carl Stone is one of the pioneers of live computer music, and has been hailed by the Village Voice as “the king of sampling” and “one of the best composers living in (the USA) today.” He studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since 1972. Recordings of his music have been released on New Albion, CBS Sony, Toshiba-EMI, EAM Discs, Wizard Records, Trigram, t:me recordings, New Tone/Robi Droli, Unseen Worlds and various other labels. He has performed throughout the world and is currently on the faculty of the Department of Media Engineering at Chukyo University in Japan.

Robert Millis: Sublime Frequencies, rmillis, Climax Golden Twins, Indian Talking Machine, Idol Ko Si, AFCGT, Victrola Favorites, Documenta14, Session 9 OST, Fulbright Scholar, Paris to Calcutta: Men and Music on the Desert Road… “Some people can sum up their lives on a business card; Robert Millis needs a whole deck, full sized, both faces of each playing card, and you’re still liable to miss something while he shuffles. Filmmaker, photographer, guerrilla ethnographer, collector and sharer of 78 RPM records, weaver of multi-layered ambiences, improviser, annotator, jokester, traveler…” Bill Meyer, Dusted

SMO players and guests perform a concert of Luciano Berio’s Sequenzas, featuring flutist Sarah Pyle, harpist Sophie Baird-Daniel, soprano Maria Mannisto, pianist Cristina Valdes, oboist Bhavani Kotha, violinist Micheal Lim, and clarinetist Angelique Poteat.

Luciano Berio’s fourteen Sequenzas span more than forty years, an essential catalogue of twentieth century performance. Each work is an astonishing exploration of the experimental potential of modern instruments, and places Olympian demands on the performer. In this concert of seven Sequenzas, witness incredible feats of musical athleticism that push the boundaries of virtuosity and possibility.

Sequenza I for flute (1958, rev. 1992) | Sarah Pyle, flute
Sequenza II for harp (1963) | Sophie Baird-Daniel, harp
Sequenza III for voice (1965) | Maria Männistö, soprano
Sequenza IV for piano (1965) | Cristina Valdés, piano
Sequenza VII for oboe (1969) | Bhavani Kotha, oboe
Sequenza VIII for violin (1976) | Michael Lim, violin
Sequenza IX for clarinet (1980) | Angelique Poteat, clarinet

Jim Knapp’s unique ensemble of chamber-strings, symphonic harp,+ jazz-inflected guitar & bass in its 10th year — old favorites plus new versions of Moonlight, Seven Up-Then Down, and a precocious March Waltz.

An evening of improvised and arranged music, including sound, dance, and live drawing.

CASCADIA TRIO | Neil Welch (sax), Greg Campbell (percussion), and a special guest TBA. A fiery avant jazz trio, Cascadia performs original pieces composed by each member, deep listening free improvs, and imaginative reinterpretations of a Scott Joplin rag and a cowboy song.

Band Practice | Noel Kennon (sound), Christin Call (performance). A dance/viola duo exploring emotion in movement over a sonic floor of burning sand. In their ongoing improvisational practice they are influenced by classical and avant-garde forms of art-making, compositional theory, visual art, and books they happen to be reading.

MILLER-ADAMS-SCULLY TRIO | Miller-Adams-Scully Trio: Gregg Miller (sax), Casey Adams (percussion), Tom Scully (electric guitar). This improvising, avant trio, born out of the Racer Sessions, produces original music by means of close listening and parallel play. The trio will be joined by visual artist Anjali Grant who will project her live drawings.