Improvisation Summit Archive of Events
Sun 10.20 Swan Dive Round Robin hosted by DJ Mint Whisper $15 8pm
DJ Mint whisper- host / sound
Cosmos Dark- voice / sound
R.Ibn Sayed El Khalif- words / beats gtr
Robert rodriguez- bass
Davaste phelps- keys
Chris Clark Johnson- gtr
Christian San Nicolas – sax
Alex Meltzer- electronics
Dae Bryant- drums
mintwhisper is a Portland, Oregon based dj, multi-disciplinary artist and creator of Novelty Radio. Heavily inspired by the east coast and Bay Area creative scene, Sasha experiments with a wide array of genres such as Soulful House, Jungle, Jersey club, Drum and bass, Hip Hop, and much more. Her sets emphasize on seamless blends evoking a hypnotic and effusive atmosphere.
Cosmos Dark is a performance art exploration of absurdity by musician Vaughn Kimmons (of Brown Calculus and WRK!). Through the use of off-kilter rhythms, haunting vocals and sometimes the recitation of a text message from a former partner, they invite us to befriend the shadow as a path to liberation.
Instagram: @thebrownalice
Davasaté is a vocalist and pianist born and raised in Portland, OR. He is currently studying jazz performance at Portland State University. Davasaté has been performing since the age of 11 throughout the greater Portland area. He has since performed with the Oregon Symphony, Darrell Grant and George Colligan. His sound is inspired by greats such as: Donny Hathaway, Errol Garner, Nina Simone and many others…
Instagram – @davasate_jr
Chris Clark Johnson
Christian San Nicolas is a saxophonist currently studying jazz performance and social justice in the arts at Portland State University. Being a self-taught jazz musician, Christian brings in a unique sound to Portland’s music scene—Their sound is inspired by Patrick Bartley, Baptiste Herbin, Eddie Barbash, and others.
instagram- @cmlgsn
MLTZR is a beatmaker, producer, and bassist known for his background straddling jazz and creative electronic music. His transition from jazz to electronic production began in college after discovering the SP-404 sampler. He takes the improvisational and collaborative aspects of jazz to his electronic performances, which range from beat cyphers to movie livescores at Portland’s historical theaters. As the Creative Coordinator for the Ext.606 recording studio, he leads programming in-studio and in the field, including a partnership with Multnomah County Libraries providing classes and production resources for Portland’s youth. MLTZR has opened or performed with such artists as Knower, Carrtoons, Taylor McFerrin, Gogo Penguin, Baths, Alan Jones Abacus, and many more.
Sat 10.19 1905 Machado Mijiga Omari Jazz Alex Meltzer & Harlan Silverman $20 10pm
Four adventurous soundsmiths embark on a creative journey together for a wild night at The 1905.
Wielding the tools of sound design, afrofuturism, and abstraction, this sonic unit simultaneously explores the fourth dimension, fifth element, and sixth sense as a collective.


Classically-trained, jazz-weathered, and eclectically inclined, multi-instrumentalist Mijiga left the proverbial creative “box” at a very early age, with access to many instruments and a diverse musical background brought about by an intercultural heritage.
A Portland native, Mijiga is a musical polymath; composer, producer, bandleader, educator, gear fanatic, and audio engineer, to name a few.
Mijiga studied classical and jazz saxophones at University of Puget Sound from 2012-13 and Washington State University from 2013-2017, with elective studies in Percussion at UPS in 2012 and, ensemble experience at Whitman College from 2008-2012.
Mijiga has shared the stage and/or collaborated with the likes of Benny Golson, Terence Blanchard, Brian McKnight, Charlie Hunter, Mark Giuliana, Bill Watrous, Tamir Hendelman, John Clayton, Eddie Palmieri, Fareed Haque, Darrell Grant, George Colligan, Damian Erskine, Thomas Marriott, Joe Kye
Ora Cogan, PDX All Stars, and many more.
Festival highlights include (but not limited to): Pickathon, PDX Jazz Festival, Vanport Jazz Festival, Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, PaseoFest, Montavilla Jazz Festival, Taco Tapes Festival, Ghost Carrot Festival
Mijiga has toured with GRAMMY winning band Portugal.The Man playing saxophone, drums, keyboards, and electronics, and has played world-famous festivals and venues, such as Red Rocks, Radio City Music Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Wonderbus, Edgefield, Triple Door, Metro, The Atlantis, Whalebone, Sherblues, and Racket NYC, as well as done virtual performances for KEXP and Taco Bell.
Mijiga serves as Artist-in-Residence at (Portland’s) Roosevelt High School, along with being a guest lecturer and workshop collaborator for Portland State University.
As a composer, Mijiga recently won the Portland Jazz “Composers Cook-Off” in 2020 and became one of Third Coast Percussion’s “Creative Currents” Partners in 2021.
As a producer and audio engineer, Mijiga currently has 20 records, 14 EPs, and 16 singles released under his name, with all but two of these releases self-produced.
Mijiga has also served as a freelance producer and engineer for artists such as Rob Araujo, Darrell Grant, and more.
Authenticity and uniquity assume the locus of Mijiga’s artistic identity — self-expression is the prime directive, and the medium of choice changes like the weather.
Thurs 10.17 Fixin To DaMiNo / Chris Icasiano / Akila Fields & Noah Bernstein $15 8pm

Christopher Icasiano is a Filipinx-American percussionist and composer from Redmond, WA. Based now in Seattle, he has been performing and touring professionally for over 15 years. His specialization in free-improvisation and experimental music combined with his vast experience with pop and rock have made him a highly sought after collaborator in all genres of music. He co-founded the grassroots arts organization Table & Chairs, as well as the Racer Sessions, a weekly performance series and free-improvisation jam session. Christopher currently tours with Fleet Foxes, Pure bathing Culture & his long-standing drum and saxophone duo Bad Luck.

Noah Bernstein is a saxophonist/composer active in the boundless expanses of
the Portland, OR music scene. From the years 2011-2015 he toured extensively
with Oakland-based art rockers tUnE-yArDs and the Portland R&B group Shy
Girls. His duo GRAMMIES with drummer Dan Sutherland has been exploring the
intersectionality of improvisation, electronic sample-based instrumental hip hop,
avant-garde sound processing, and discreet minimalism since the two met in 2011.
Soon after moving to Portland in 2007, Bernstein hosted a long-running jazz jam
and brought Akila Fields in to be the house pianist. The two have been
collaborating ever since, from their time together as Shy Girls, to Fields’ own Palm
Dat, to features on GRAMMIES material, to, most recently, the award winning
EGOTs. Bernstein holds degrees from the Oberlin College and Conservatory in
jazz saxophone performance and creative writing. He grew up in rural Vermont
and carries with him its brooding forests and rolling hills wherever he goes.
grammies.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/noerbh

Akila Fields is a musician, photographer, and, more recently, a filmmaker. Out of
necessity, Akila uses whatever tools are available for creative expression. As one
of his first musical collaborators upon moving to Portland, Noah and Akila have
played and toured in various acts including Shy Girls, Grammies, and most
recently, the award winning EGOTS.
instagram.com/palmdat

Formed in Portland OR, DaMiNo embraces the principles and history of the free jazz movement and filters it through a modern perspective. All songs are freely composed on the spot, individually cycling through genres,eras, and keys at the flip of a dime. Watching this vibrant trio is a unique experience within itself, as if a matrix of sonic melding is being unfolded right in front of your eyes. The trio consists of drummer Daniel Rossi ( Illegal Son, Haley Heynderickx) Mike Gamble ( TWANS, The InBetweens and the Artistic Director the Creative Music Guild trumpeter Noah Simpson ( Ron Artis, Amos Lee, Alan Jones Quintet) They have released two EP’s on Mike Gamble’s record label As:Is within the last year, and are releasing their next series of albums this fall.
https://daminomusic.bandcamp.com
Wed 10.16 TurnTurnTurn KAPALA & Emily Harris/ Mealz $15-30

KAPALA (aka Kiara Piazza) borrows time, utilizing a mixture of body, voice, and synthesizer to reveal many things within which have been stuffed and stored below the surface. With Art as the offering, Kiara named this project in reference to a type of ritualistic vessel, created by and carving and adorning the human skull. Each tune ranges from minimal and pop-centric to heavy
and a-tonal catharsis. In this showcase, KAPALA will be performing original arrangements as well as a rework of a few jazz standards and wispy spanish lullabies with the accompaniment of Ms. Emily Haswell – stunning classical pianist hailing from Hilo, Hawaii.

Tuesday October 15 – Naomi Moon Siegel & Marina Albero / Illegal Son $15-30 8pm at No Fun

Trombonist and composer, Denzel Mendoza is Illegal Son. A Filipino National born in Singapore, raised in Las Vegas, NV; studied in NYC, NY, and based in Portland, OR; Mendoza has lived in the United States for the majority of his life but yet, he continues to chase the American Dream.
Since 2004, Mendoza has been an Undocumented Immigrant. Labeled as illegal, criminal, and unwanted, Mendoza unwillingly carried that shame as a child into his years as a young adult to only then embrace those terms as strengths as the years progressed. Ironically, his achievements as a musician have outweighed his path towards citizenship; from performing nationwide with Haley Heynderickx to being awarded at The Grammy Awards for his participation with John Daversa’s American Dreamers: Voices of Hope, Music of Freedom in 2018.
Denzel Mendoza’s Illegal Son is quite simply his interpretation of life as Undocumented Immigrant through sound and music. It is deeply emotional and incredibly vulnerable. Every passing day, there is no promise of a tomorrow; there is only fear and hope. To process life under the umbrella of being Undocumented consists of improvisation, a consistent chaos of what’s to come. Everything within Illegal Son is improvisation. It’s insecure, unstable, but hopeful.

An award-winning trombonist, improviser, composer, and educator, Naomi Moon Siegel uses the trombone as a vehicle for sonic expression colored by breath, spit, and physicality. Moving beyond conventional genre norms, she allows her lyrical sound to unfurl intuitively. Her original musical vocabulary draws on the richness of a variety of global musical traditions and the sonorities of the natural world.
Siegel is touring in support of the release of her third album Shatter The Glass Sanctuary, a collection of adventurous original works that chronicles her adjustment to small-town living in Missoula, Montana, after residing for many years in Seattle, Washington. The music follows her inward journey of emotional highs and lows, propelled ever forward by a stellar sextet of acclaimed Seattle musicians including pianist Marina Albero, guitarist Andy Coe, percussionist Christopher Icasiano, trumpeter Ray Larsen, and bassist Kelsey Mines. Produced by award-winning drummer and mentor Allison Miller, Shatter The Glass Sanctuary is Siegel’s most ambitious and sweeping statement yet, and a showcase of her prowess as a composer, improviser, bandleader, and trombonist. For this tour, Siegel will be joined by the prolific pianist Marina Albero, for a stripped-down intimate version of this music.
naomimoonsiegel.com
https://www.youtube.com/@naomimoonsiegel
Marina Albero is decidedly one of the rarest improvisational artists of our time. It’s relevant in the human experience today because what reflects an awakened emotional soundscape as she engages you. It’s movement that is necessary yet strikingly a familiarity we have forgotten. The complexity of the sounds out of every key has not one identity but multiple characteristics in relation to another, it leaves you wondering what is even happening and in what genre you are listening to anymore.
Jenny Scheinman, acclaimed violinist and composer, a stalwart of the New York jazz and creative music scenes, presents music from her newest album All Species Parade, an epic double-album celebrating the Pacific Northwest wilderness, where Scheinman was raised.

Jenny Scheinman is an acclaimed violinist and composer who spent 13 years on the NYC downtown music scene, leading both her own bands, as well as working alongside artists ranging from Jason Moran to Brian Blade, Lucinda Williams to Lou Reed, among numerous others. The New York Times praised her “distinctive vision of American music, suffused with plainspoken beauty and fortified by country, gospel, and melting-pot folk, along with jazz and the blues.” Upon moving back to the Pacific Northwest, Scheinman was reawakened to the extraordinary biodiversity of the region known as “The Lost Coast,” where she was raised, a stretch of mud-slide- and earthquake-prone coastline cut off from the main thoroughfares. This would ultimately inspire Scheinman to write All Species Parade, an epic and sprawling double album with an A-list ensemble, featuring guitarists Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Nels Cline, pianist Carmen Staaf, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Though the album does evoke a sense of pastoral wonder, it also strives to capture in Jenny’s words, “a charged relationship to nature, a feeling of being part of something bigger than ourselves, powerful, and fragile, and constantly changing. Something alive. With All Species Parade, I set out to musically reflect that experience of awe.”
JENNY SCHEINMAN
In addition to her extensive work in jazz and improvised music with Jason Moran, Brian Blade, Ron Miles and Allison Miller and many more, Jenny Scheinman has toured and recorded with songwriting legends such as Lucinda Williams, Bruce Cockburn, Robbie Fulks, Rodney Crowell, Lou Reed, Ani DiFranco and Joni Mitchell. She is featured on the original cast recording of Anais Mitchell’s hit musical Hadestown, and has written several feature length movie scores, including the forthcoming Avenue Of The Giants. In March 2015 she premiered a multimedia performance at Duke University entitled Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait, which she continues to present in theaters around the country. On October 11 she will release her eleventh studio album All Species Parade as an epic double-vinyl celebration of wild biodiversity, featuring lifelong cohorts Carmen Staaf, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen and the extraordinary guitarists Bill Frisell, Julian Lage and Nels Cline.
PRESS QUOTES
“Scheinman [is] a meticulous interpreter of emotion and a composer of cinematic vision and scope.” – DownBeat
“Jenny Scheinman leads an electrifying group of musicians…there is an emotional element to her playing that makes her music deeply satisfying.” – Wall Street Journal
“…when [Scheinman] cocks her fiddle to her chin, draws back her bow, and starts shredding along with her excellent bandmates the result is beautiful havoc unleashed.” – New York Magazine
“Scheinman [has] a distinctive vision of American music, suffused with plainspoken beauty and fortified … by country, gospel, and melting-pot folk, along with jazz and the blues.” – The New York Times
“Protean musician Jenny Scheinman plays all the positions: She’s a stellar violinist, a keen improviser, a sharp composer, and an appealing singer.” – Time Out NY
“There is a simple, quiet joy to this music. The honesty and passion with which it is played is infectious.” – Huffington Post
Come Join the Creative Music Guild // Beacon Sound as we celebrate the intersection of ecology, sound, culture, and imagery featuring:
Shahzad Ismaily- bass / synth
Mike Gamble– gtr, projections
Dana Reason– amazon insect sample keyboard, sound design
Paris Myers– live drawing
Lisa Schonberg- Drums, Cymbals, Organelle sound design
Following this presentation there will be an interview and QandA with XRAY.FM // Portland Mercury ‘s esteemed writer Robert Ham
This event is free // Donations will be accepted
PLEASE NOTE THIS WILL BE HELD AT BEACON SOUND’S BRAND NEW LOCATION:
207 SE Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214
Hearts and Minds
Rich Halley’s Outside Music Ensemble
Dan Clucas/Ralph Thomas/Michael Vlatkovich/Andrew Jones/Tim DuRoche
Noah Simpson Trio
Sunday, 10/20
The 1905
Jazz and free jazz all day long!!
11:30 – 1:30 Jazz brunch: Noah Simpson
3- 5pm Afternoon show: Dan Clucas (LA)/Ralph Thomas/Michael Vlatkovich/Andrew Jones/Tim DuRoche
5 – 7pm Early Show: Rich Halley‘s Outside Music Ensemble
8 -11pm Late show: Hearts and Minds (Chicago)
Noah Simpson trio
Energetic, attentive, and dynamic define Noah Simpson’s trumpet playing.
Rooted in the jazz tradition and heavily influenced by modern Black American music, Simpson takes a very modern approach to the trumpet. Noah has performed with such artists as Bernard Purdie, George Benson, George Colligan, Ron Artis II, and others.
3- 5pm Afternoon show: Dan Clucas (LA)/Ralph Thomas/Michael Vlatkovich/Andrew Jones/Tim DuRoche
5 – 7pm Early Show: Rich Halley‘s Outside Music Ensemble
8 -11pm Late show: Hearts and Minds (Chicago)
Noah Simpson trio
Energetic, attentive, and dynamic define Noah Simpson’s trumpet playing.
Rooted in the jazz tradition and heavily influenced by modern Black American music, Simpson takes a very modern approach to the trumpet. Noah has performed with such artists as Bernard Purdie, George Benson, George Colligan, Ron Artis II, and others.
Dan Clucas is a trumpet player and composer living and working in Los Angeles. Born in Anaheim, California in 1966, he began playing trumpet at age ten, soon thereafter discovering the music of Dizzy Gillespie, which in turn led to a lifelong study of and respect for the African American music known as jazz. While he strives for individual statement in his music, Clucas also strives to acknowledge the imprint of past masters, from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra. He has studied with Bobby Bradford and Wadada Leo Smith, and has performed and recorded over the last two decades with such L.A. luminaries as Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Steuart Liebig, Vinny Golia, Joe Baiza, Rich West, and Michael Vlatkovich, to name a few.
Michael Vlatkovich, trombonist, composer, and arranger, is one of the leading talents among Los Angeles improvisational players. Located on the West Coast since 1973, he is an emotionally charged performer, comfortable in a variety of jazz and world music styles. Vlatkovich has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His improvisionally free music expresses raw power and beauty in a minimally structured format. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Vlatkovich began studying music with the school band in the third grade. He distinguished himself in high school and was awarded a music scholarship to attend the St. Louis Institute of Music. Prior to his education at the Institute, Michael took part in an intensive six week workshop with internationally acclaimed saxophonist Oliver Nelson and guest soloists, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Roland Hanna, Ron Carter, and Phil Woods. Among his fellow students were Hamiett Bluett, Joe Bowie, Julius Hemphill, and Oliver Lake.In addition to leading his own diverse imaginative ensembles, Vlatkovich has performed with a wide array of singers and instrumentalists including Peggy Lee, Brian Setzer, Ricky Lee Jones, Solomon Burke, Medesky, Martin, and Wood, Boingo, Don Preston, Bobby Bradford, Gerry Hemingway, Vinny Golia, Andrew Cryrlle, Rob Blakeslee, Rich Halley, among many others. The trombonist has also performed on sound tracks for a variety of television and film projects including The Mask, Jingle All The Way, and the critically acclaimed John Cassavette’s film the Tempest. Most recently the trombonist has been performing with his own ensembles, and co-leading Transvalue with poet Charles Britt. Vlatkovich is also a regular member of the Rich Halley 4 and the Bobby Bradford Motet.
Andrew Jones is a Phoenix-born musician living in Portland, OR where he writes, arranges and plays in a wide variety of musical contexts primarily on electric and double bass. He’s played, toured and/or recorded with LA drummer and performance artist Corey Fogel, Tokyo-based pianist Jacob Koller, jazz vocalist Dennis Rowland, downtempo electronica artist Coppe and Brooklyn Art-rockers Barbez. Since moving to the NW he continued to work in ridiculously disparate settings such as “modern jazzers” Ian Christiansen Quartet, Blake Lyman trio, Andrew Durkin’s Protohuman, Cameron Morgan Trio and Scott Cutshall’s Phraseology- experimental rock bands like AU, U-Sco and Pinkish as well as more “mainstream PDX” acts like Portland Cello Project and Boy and Bean. He also writes, sings and plays double bass and electronics alongside drummer Chris Johnedis in his own project called The Crenshaw.
Tim DuRoche is a jazz drummer, sound artist, and radio host based in the Pacific NW. Since moving to Portland in 2000, DuRoche has worked extensively with an array of US and European avant-garde jazz innovators, including Burton Greene, Roscoe Mitchell, Thollem McDonas, George Sams, Lori Goldston, Rich Halley, Eri Yamamoto, Dominic Duval, Bill McHenry, Matana Roberts, Paul Plimley-Lisle Ellis, Torsten Muller-Urs Leimgruber, Elliott Sharp, Jon Raskin, Perry Robinson, Phillip Greenlief, Marco Eneidi, Didier Petit, and Frank Gratkowski, among others. Local ensembles include Get Smashing Love Power, Battle Hymns and Gardens (with saxophonists Reed Wallsmith and Joe Cunningham, and bassist Jon Shaw of Blue Cranes), and a decade long association with the late bassist André St. James. Tim hosts The New Thing, a weekly radio show for KMHD Jazz Radio 89.1 FM, spotlighting the evolution and revolutions of jazz and freedom since 1959. Recent releases include the Thollem/André St James/Tim DuRoche (ESP-Disk), with Ryan Meagher’s Evil Twin (PJcE Records), Timeless Memories from Joel Futterman / Ike Levin / Tim DuRoche (Charles Lester Music), and the Kin Trio with Sunjae Lee and André St. James (PJCE Records)
Rich Halley‘s Outside Music Ensemble
The Outside Music Ensemble was formed in 1999 to perform creative music in outdoor settings. For 14 years, the group performed annual walk-in concerts on top of the butte in Powell Butte Nature Park at the east edge of Portland, Oregon.
With an instrumentation of four horns and two percussionists, the Outside Music Ensemble is based around rhythm and the harmonic/melodic explorations of the horns. The group includes Rich Halley, saxophones; Michael Vlatkovich, trombone; Troy Grugett, saxophones; Jim Knodle, trumpet; Dave Storrs, percussion; and Carson Halley, percussion.
Rich Halley is a Portland based saxophonist and composer who leads the Rich Halley 4 as well as the Outside Music Ensemble. He has released 22 critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. Rich has played with Matthew Shipp, Tony Malaby, Vinny Golia, Bobby Bradford, Nels Cline, Julius Hemphill, Michael Bisio, Andrew Hill and Oliver Lake.
Michael Vlatkovich is an internationally known trombonist and composer based in Los Angeles for many years, but now living in Portland. He has performed with Peggy Lee, Brian Setzer, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Bobby Bradford and Gerry Hemingway.
Jim Knodle is a Seattle based trumpeter who plays in a variety of creative music settings. He has performed with William Parker, Vinny Golia, Perry Robinson and Wayne Horvitz.
Troy Grugett is a Seattle based alto and baritone saxophonist who also plays percussion. Troy performs with a number of groups in the Seattle area.
Dave Storrs is a drummer and percussionist based in Corvallis, Oregon where he teaches music. He leads several groups and is the proprietor of Louie records.
Carson Halley is a drummer based in Portland and is a member of the Rich Halley 4. Carson has performed with a variety of jazz and alternative groups including Bobby Bradford and Vinny Golia.
Hearts and Minds (CHI)
Called a “singularly original unit gleefully trapezing between sound and swing”, Hearts & Minds combines brash fluidity, raw lyricism, and emphatic grooves.
Hearts & Minds is a collective conceived by long-time collaborators Jason Stein (bass clarinet) and Paul Giallorenzo (synthesizer/e piano), joined by drummer @Chad Taylor.
After years of shows throughout the US and Europe with original drummer Frank Rosaly, Hearts and Minds released their debut recording in 2016 on the Austin-based label Astral Spirits.
Following Rosaly’s relocation to Amsterdam shortly thereafter, Stein and Giallorenzo began working with ex-Chicagoan drummer Chad Taylor and since then, have played multiple shows throughout the US and are planning to release their second album for Astral Spirits in September of 2018.
Saturday, 10/19
Leaven Community
Extradition Series Fall Concert
$10-20 (sliding), music at 7:30pm
This year, Extradition’s Fall Concert is part of the six-night, six-venue CMG Improvisation Summit Festival, and features works spanning sixty years of experimental music.
> Toshi Ichiyanagi, Music for Electric Metronome (1960): This graphic score requires performers to manipulate metronomes according to very specific instructions, exploring shifting tempi while also adding interpolations on their instruments or via non-instrumental sounds. The piece will be performed by Matt Carlson (piano), Loren Chasse (percussion), Brandon Conway (guitar), Matt Hannafin (percussion), Maxx Katz (flute), and Caspar Sonnet (dobro) + metronomes.
> Sarah Hughes, Fires and Conifers (2012–13): A text score in which each performer is given very specific instructions regarding the role they are to play in the music, but few instructions regarding the sounds they are to play. It will be interpreted by Loren Chasse (disruptions), Matt Hannafin (percussion), Branic Howard (surfaces), Maxx Katz (flute), Lorna Krier (piano), and Caspar Sonnet (dobro).
> Matthias Kaul, After the Rain (2015): A complex piece mixing written and improvised passages, “After the Rain” is, in part, a completely abstracted take on the ambience of the blues. It will be performed by Brandon Conway (Soundlazer, samples), Matt Hannafin (percussion), Branic Howard (guitar), Maxx Katz (flute), and Caspar Sonnet (voice).
> Luke Nickel, White Fang Field Recording (2015): How do six people interpret the same text, when asked to read silently, speaking only when coming upon words and phrases they interpret as “sonic”? The piece will be performed by Matthew Neil Andrews, Brandon Conway, Annie Gilbert, Matt Hannafin, Juniana Lanning, Stephanie Lavon Trotter (voices).
> Daniel James Wolf, Field & Stream (2011): Five electronics players are asked to assemble libraries of sound based on five different types of water: rivers, oceans, rain, drainage, and drippage. In performance, signals from the players’ computers are routed to each other, where they are processed to create a variety of variations. It will be performed by Francisco Botello, Branic Howard, Lorna Krier, Juniana Lanning, Glenn Sogge (computers + field recordings).
Saturday, October 19
Leaven Community
5431 NE 20th Ave @ Killingsworth, PDX
Doors 7pm, music 7:30pm
The CMG FESTIVAL will run for six consecutive nights, Tuesday, October 15 through Sunday, October 20, with performances and workshops at No Fun, Turn!Turn!Turn!, Holocene, S1, Leaven Community, and The 1905. Headliners include Darius Jones, Shahzad Ismaily, Hearts and Minds, and PAK. Full schedule coming soon!
www.creativemusicguild.org
www.extradition-series.com
www.facebook.com/TheExtraditionSeries
www.youtube.com/c/TheExtraditionSeries
Shahzad Ismaily w/ Ayako Kataoka & John Niekrasz,
Max Kutner,
Jamondria Harris,
Crystal Cortez,
Briggan Kraus,
V. Vecker
& Annual Improvised Round Robin Duets
Shahzad Ismaily (NY) with Ayako Kataoka, John Niekrasz
Shahzad Ismaily was born to Pakistani immigrant parents and grew up in a wholly bicultural household. While he holds a masters degree in biochemistry from Arizona State University, he is a largely self-taught composer and musician, having mastered the electric and double bass, guitar, banjo, accordion, flute, drums, various percussion instruments and various analog synthesizers and drum machines. Ismaily has recorded or performed with an incredibly diverse assemblage of musicians, including Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, Laura Veirs, Bonnie Prince Billy, Faun Fables, Secret Chiefs 3, John Zorn, Elysian Fields, Shelley Hirsch, Niobe, Will Oldham, Nels Cline, Mike Doughty (of Soul Coughing), Graham Haynes, David Krakauer, Billy Martin (of Medeski Martin and Wood), Carla Kihlstedt’s Two Foot Yard, the Tin Hat Trio, Raz Mesinai and Burnt Sugar. He has also composed regularly for dance and theater, including for Min Tanaka, the Frankfurt Ballet and the East River Commedia. Recently he composed the score for the critically acclaimed movie Frozen River, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. He was also an Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco, CA in 2008. Currently based in New York , Ismaily has studied music extensively in Pakistan, India, Turkey, Mexico, Santiago, Japan, Indonesia, Morocco and Iceland.
https://pirecordings.com/artists/shahzad-ismaily/
Briggan Krauss
Saxophonist Briggan Krauss has been an internationally recognized key player in New York City’s downtown and creative music scene for more than twenty years. He connects the extreme edges of technique with the unexplored tonal possibilities of the instrument while making his work as much about shape as it is about his unique signature sound.
He has released several critically acclaimed recordings as a leader and has appeared on over fifty other recordings as a sideman. He has worked with a diverse range of artists including John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Steven Bernstein, Wayne Horvitz, Levon Helm, Skerik, Eyvind Kang, Robin Holcomb, Norah Jones, Medeski Martin and Wood, Hal Willner, Skuli Sverrisson, Jim Black, Ikue Mori, Joey Baron, Kato Hideki, Satoko Fuji, Dave Harrington, The New York Composer’s Orchestra, Elysian Fields, Iron & Wine, Rufus Wainwright, Sarah Manning, Trey Anastasio, Joan Wasser, Jessie Harris, Beth Fleenor, Lou Reed, Marc Ribot, Antony, and U2.
Briggan’s voice has been a part of Steven Bernstein’s iconic quartet Sexmob from its inception twenty years ago. Sexmob earned a Grammy Award nomination for their 2006 recording titled Sexotica and Briggan also recorded with guitarist Bill Frisell on his Grammy Award winning 2007 album Unspeakable.
In addition to his work as a saxophonist and composer, Briggan plays guitar in several projects including his String and Reed Quartet. He also works in the areas of sound art, electronic music and interdisciplinary performance. He is currently a professor in the Performance and Interactive Media Arts [PIMA] and Sonic Arts MFA programs at Brooklyn College.
Max Kutner
Max Kutner is a guitarist, composer and instructor originally from Las Vegas, NV. As an instrumentalist, Max’s focus is on new works for the electric guitar as well the promotion of electric guitar in new performance contexts. In addition to his numerous projects as a leader, he has worked alongside Mike Keneally, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ulrich Krieger, the former members of Oingo Boingo, The Grandmothers of Invention (Zappa alumni), Alphonso Johnson, Lili Haydn, Matt Darriau and many others. Presently, Max is also the lead guitarist of the Magic Band with John “Drumbo” French which performs the music of Captain Beefheart around the world and he has previously taught guitar at California Institute of the Arts.
http://maxkutner.com
Keith Wecker@
V.Vecker is the pseudonym for Keith Wecker, a composer and multi-instrumentalist based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada.
His solo compositions revolve around looped sax and synth while the Ensemble takes on a more compositional direction with the added instrumentation provided from the other musicians.
https://vveckermusic.bandcamp.com/album/coiling-flat
Jamondria Marnice Harris
Jamondria Harris is an interdisciplinary artist living in Portland, OR. They use words, sounds, wires, instruments, textiles & what falls into their hands to engage with blackness, desire, sprit/source, decolonization, fairy tales, & body horror. Their book of poetry and art, quaerere, is available from Magic Helicopter Press and their music can be found at meroitic.bandcamp.com.
Crystal Cortez
C R Y S T A L C O R T E Z is a composer and multimedia artist based in Portland, Oregon. Her sonic work is focused around the use of field recordings, sounds produced and electronically processed live from objects, and multi-channel sound spatialization. Her practice has recently involved the development of interactive sculptural interfaces and wearable technology that use movement and other corporeal methods to drive audio and visuals. Crystal blends sound, tech and performance art to produce ceremonial happenings. Her work has been shown at PNCA, PICA, Navel (LA) and more.
https://www.crystalcortez.com/
Improvised Round Robin Duets
Now in it’s fifth year, the Improvised Round Robin Duets have become a highly anticipated event at the Creative Music Guild’s Improvisation Summit of Portland. The Round Robin brings together performers from an array of musical backgrounds for a one-time meeting based on the roll of a die. The hour long event consists of a series of improvised, overlapping 5 minute duets featuring ten musicians with big ears and hearts who have often never met each other. Past performances have included chance meetings between Dave Depper (Death Cab For Cutie) on guitar/electronics and vocalist Lamiae Naki (Seffarine); Sage Fisher (Dolphin Midwives) on harp/electronics and vocalist Laura Gibson; Matt Carlson (Golden Retriever) on analog synth and the late Andre St. James on bass; Edna Vazquez on vocals and Doug Theriault on electronics; Peter Broderick on vocals/viola and John Gross on tenor sax, and many more
2019 Round Robin Performers:
Patrick McCulley
Kelly Pratt
Briggan Krauss
Keith Wecker
Michael Timothy Lockwood
Alex Callenberger
Dana Reason
Shahzad Ismaily
Jamondria Marnice Harris
Michelle Alany
Charlie Brown III
Sam Potter