Friday October 24th
Desert Island Studios
1316 SE 12th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
$15-30
8pm
Lori Goldston + Chloe Alexandra Thompson
Ilyas Ahmed
Craig Burk
Classically trained and rigorously de-trained, possessor of a restless, semi-feral spirit, Lori Goldston is a cellist, composer, improvisor, producer, writer and teacher from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist, amplified or acoustic, is full, textured, committed and original. A relentless inquirer, her work drifts freely across borders that separate genre, discipline, time and geography.
Current and former collaborators and/or bosses include Earth, Nirvana, Mirah, Jessika Kenney, Ilan Volkov, Eyvind Kang, Stuart Dempster, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Jherek Bischoff, Malcom Goldstein, Steve Von Till, Lonnie Holley, Cat Power, Ellen Fullman, Maya Dunietz, Mik Quantius, Embryo, O Paon, Tara Jane O’Neil, Natacha Atlas, Broken Water, Ed Pias, Christian Rizzo and Sophie Laly, Threnody Ensemble, Cynthia Hopkins, 33 Fainting Spells, Vanessa Renwick, Mark Mitchell, Lynn Shelton, and many more.
Her work has been commissioned by and/or performed at the Kennedy Center, Sydney Festival, Cineteca Nacional de México, Tectonics Festival, Frye Art Museum, Time Based Art Festival (TBA), WNYC, The New Foundation, Paris Fashion Week, Northwest Film Forum, On the Boards, Seattle International Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Bumbershoot, Crossing Border Festival, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Joe’s Pub, the Stone, University of Chicago, and venues large and small throughout North America, Mexico, Australia, and Europe.
Chloe Alexandra Thompson is a Cree interdisciplinary artist, director and composer. Her practice explores listening as a way of knowing and relating which is shaped by Indigenous resonance, spatial perception, and embodied vulnerability. Working with psychoacoustic tones, algorithmic systems, and sculptural spatialization as materials, she composes spaces that shift awareness, inviting deep relational encounters between bodies, technologies, and the land.
Thompson’s work has been presented by CTM Berlin, MUTEK (Tokyo & Montreal), Onassis Foundation (Greece & USA), ImagineNative, Pioneer Works, PICA, Performance Space New York, among others. A current Onassis ONX Studio member, she has participated in residencies at Pioneer Works, MIT OpenDoc Lab with the Indigenous Screen Office of Canada, and HERVISIONS x Arebyte (UK).
In January 2021, Cycling ‘74, announced Thompson as one of the first Max Certified Trainers. She has also worked as a Creative Director, Technologist, Artist, and Audio Direction for immersive experiences. Her sound design has been featured in the works of artists across the fields of music, performance, TV and film.
She was a founding member of the Working Consortium in developing First Nations Performing Arts.
Ilyas Ahmed has been releasing records as a solo & collaborative artist for almost 20 years. His most recent solo album A Dream of Another was released in 2023. He is also a member of the experimental rock band Grails whose last record Miracle Music was released this year. New solo album forthcoming in 2026. Ilyas lives and works in Portland Oregon.
https://ilyasahmed.bandcamp.com
Craig Burk first presented his music to the public on November 28, 1979 when he and his band played at the legendary CBGB’s in New York City. Their next performance took place a few weeks later at the equally legendary Max’s Kansas City.
Craig and his colleagues would play at all the popular venues during that Golden Age of the experimental/avant-garde music scene in downtown Manhattan (early 1980s): Mudd Club, Soundscape, Public Access Synthesizer Studio, Roulette, Inroads, 8 B.C., The Pyramid, John Zorn’s clubs The Saint and The Chandelier, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
At that time, Burk described his music as a blend of punk rock, free jazz, Broadway show tunes, industrial noise, Indian movie music, and French pop, as well as classical: ranging from Mozart’s operas to Schoenberg’s art lieder to the aleatory tendencies of John Cage.
Burk went on to perform his music for audiences in Europe and then in Portland. He was a founding member of the New West Electro-Acoustic Music Association (NWEAMO) and played a central role in the organization of NWEAMO’s first two annual festivals, which took place at Lewis and Clark College in 1999 and 2000. Burk presented original works at both events.
From 2007 to 2009, he hosted a radio program on KBOO-FM devoted to music from all genres around the world. Burk has also performed Italian popular songs from the 1960s to the present in Portland clubs, bringing to each his own very individual interpretation, inspired by his past musical explorations.
In 2021, Burk retired after over 30 years in international business. He then made the Reaper Digital Audio Work Station his instrument of choice. In his most recent works, he has used this software program to create collages of sound, arranging samples from past works (dating back to 1984) and fragments of newly recorded improvisations, using electric guitar, voice, trumpet, toys, and household utensils.
Burk has employed this collage approach in Dotted Outlines in the Air (2023), Save It for Anticlimax! and surprise me! (2024) Dix-sept petits exercices d’une humeur ludique (2024), Slouching Towards the Garden of Earthly Delights (2025), Familiar Faces! Sudden Geysers of Incense! (2025), and A Whole New Way to Use Black-and-White (2025). He describes these latest works as “atmospheric late-evening sounds for the lobby of a small hotel in some exotic locale — seasoned with a small dose of unrelenting provocation.”
All his works can be heard at: https://craigburk.bandcamp.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@craigburk
Thursday October 23
Turn Turn Turn
$15-30
8pm
Reed Wallsmith/Lisa Lipton/Kyleen King/Shao-Way Wu/Tim DuRoche
Reed Wallsmith (alto saxophone) was born and raised in Portland, OR. He composes and performs with Blue Cranes, who have released six albums and several EPs, including the recently released full length My Only Secret (Jealous Butcher/Beacon Sound). His music and worldview have been influenced by many years of playing in the Northwest’s creative music scene, as well as formative years in the late 90s and early 2000s performing with musicians in Managua, Nicaragua. Wallsmith earned a BA in Latin American Studies from Carleton College, graduating with distinction with a thesis entitled The Role of the Musician in Post-Sandinista Nicaragua: The Work of Carlos Mejia Godoy 1973–2000. He has attended the Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music, received a Caldera Arts residency in composition, and several RACC Project and Professional Development grants. As a composer, Wallsmith has been commissioned by the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Heidi Duckler Dance (choreographer Carla Mann), Tere Mathern Dance, Golden Hornet Project (Austin, TX), and Filmusik. His compositions have been featured nationally on The Moth Radio Hour and appeared in commercials for Squarespace, Stereo Skateboards and Footjoy.
Lisa Lipton (clarinet) is the Executive Director of both 45th Parallel Universe and Opera Theater Oregon, and is a Co-founder/Co-owner of Mendelssohn’s, Portland’s first classical music-themed bar. Lisa was executive director of the Newport Symphony Orchestra for two years. A versatile instrumentalist, her appearances include performances with the Decibel festival, TBA festival, PDX Pop Now!, MusicfestNW, Astoria Music Festival, Salem Orchestra, Oregon Ballet Theater, Portland Opera, and in jazz trio Fredson the Jeffry alongside pianist and composer George Colligan and drummer Micah Hummel. A prominently featured soloist on the soundtrack for Golden Globe-nominated Sony Pictures Film French Exit featuring Michelle Pfeiffer, her discography also includes albums by Luz Elena (Y La Bamba) and Jim Brunberg.
Kyleen King (viola) is a session musician, string arranger and live performer based out of Portland, Oregon. With a keen attention to detail and an intuitive ear, she is able to find exactly what a song needs and then create the part. She is the former violist/violinist and backup singer in Grammy-winning artist Brandi Carlile’s touring band. Kyleen is the first-call violist/violinist/arranger for Portland’s top recording studios and has recorded on projects with My Morning Jacket, First Aid Kit, The Decemberists, and many more. Her desire to serve the song above all else, to be well-prepared, and to have a laugh are the defining elements of her career.
Shao Way Wu (contrabass) is a freelance jazz bassist and Portland resident who grew up in Hong Kong. He moved to the Bay Area in 1971 at the age of fifteen. For two decades Wu was a pillar of the Humboldt County, CA jazz community. His artistic spirit has been thriving in Portland, where he’s released a handful of albums and collaborated with a swath of northwest creatives. Current projects include Lie Very Still with John Savage, Mike Gamble, and Ken Ollis, Ryan Meagher’s Cowboy Jazz, Alan Cook Collective, JB Butler Trio, LTD TIME with Allie Hankins and John Niekrasz, Ike Levin Trio, WuBeDu with Noah Bernstein and Tim DuRoche, Chris Lee Duo, and regular appearances with the Extradition Series.
Tim DuRoche (drums/little instruments), originally from Minneapolis, has been based in Portland since 2000. DuRoche has worked with an array of US and European jazz and free improvisation innovators, including Burton Greene, Roscoe Mitchell, Thollem McDonas, George Sams, Lori Goldston, Rich Halley, John Gross, Gordon Lee, Eri Yamamoto, Dominic Duval, Damon Smith, Bill McHenry, Carei Thomas, Paul Plimley-Lisle Ellis, Jon Raskin, Perry Robinson, Phillip Greenlief, and Marco Eneidi, among others. Local ensembles have included Get Smashing Love Power, Battle Hymns and Gardens, The Kin Trio, and a decade-long association with the late bassist André St. James in innumerable settings. Select recordings include Conversations with Love and Death with Battle Hymns & Gardens (Bandcamp) Johnny Miss Mae from John Savage/André StJames/Tim DuRoche (Gold Lion Arts), Live in Our Time by Thollem, André StJames, Tim DuRoche (ESP-Disk), ReEmergence with Ike Levin and Shao-Way Wu and Timeless Memories from Joel Futterman and Ike Levin (Charles Lester Music), as well as three PCJE Records: Amazing Life with Ezra Weiss/Jon Shaw/Tim DuRoche; The Kin Trio’s Breathe with Sunjae Lee and André St. James, and Ryan Meagher’s Evil Twin.
Ben Woodman Trio
Ben Woodman is a guitarist, trumpet player, and composer based in Portland OR. This group, featuring Brent Carmer on bass and Sam Berrett on drums, seeks to expand the language and possibilities of the guitar trio. Embracing free improvisation, through composition, and the spaces in between – this band is a container for controlled risk, and an earnest response to creative discontent. Modern music with salt, sugar, and fat.
Jarret Tetsuo Domen
Jarret Tetsuo Domen is an adventurous guitarist and composer from Portland, OR. Jarret’s solo
music features explorations of the electric guitar which are highly manipulated by effect pedals
with an emphasis on texture, atmosphere, and improvisation. Jarret blends a variety of musical
styles to create a unique sound that channels his experience as an Asian American.
Wednesday, October 22nd
Swan Dive
$15-30
8pm
Xylyn Hathaway
Xylyn Hathaway has become a conduit of vulgar-beauty-jazz music that sinks teeth into the space it fills. She paints canvas into composition and wield an upright bass like bazookas, exploding hearts open peeled backwards into one bouquet of manic laughter from the pit of your chest.
Xylyn is a cherished figure and friend in our jazz community; born on Earth, one stones throw west from the palpitating heart of downtown Portland, Oregon.
A forager for chanterelles, she was raised on the farm in Newberg with Grandma. When Grandma died they lost the old farmhouse, red and white and alive in the decaying cherry walnut orchards. Grandma lives in Noble Pioneer Cemetery now, Xylyn in Southwest Portland.
As a band leader, Xylyn’s musical visions unfold and sprout behemoth architecture dimly lit, oozing spirits from the gills as it gasps for it’s first breath beneath thumps quantized in fractals. She propels a soloist or a broken poet off cliffs into jupiter’s hurricane eye.
She plays with cats like George Colligan, like Ron Steen, like anybody making big nasty music to be hurt and healed by in this wet crow city.
Xylyn Hathaway’s heart and music exude peace and play and oozing spirits, dancing between us, around us, below the violent ocean dismembered by big old stones.”
– David Barber
Tuesday October 21st
No Fun
$15-30
8pm
{[(gang radio)]}
Quivering Lip
Sila Lesa
Patrick McCulley
{[(gang radio)]} is a practice in improvisation with drones and patterns taking shape, becoming songs and soundscapes using trombone/guitar/pedals/cello/whatever may fit the sound.
the solo project of daniel morris (masonique, cryr, perseveration), {[(gang radio)]} has been based in portland, or since the early aughts, bringing a meditative, sometimes caustic, ambient soundtrack to the psychedelic movie behind the listener’s eyes. forever let the light shine, even if it’s the darkest light you can muster.
Ⓥ // Ⓔ
https://gangradio.bandcamp.com
Patrick McCulley is a Portland based saxophonist, educator, composer for alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone that seeks to transform the instrument from a purely melodic instrument into an undefinable and unstoppable force of nature.
Quivering Lip is an experimental/harsh noise project based out of Portland Or and performed by
Dave Angiolini. It utilizes scrap metal, found objects, different forms of
microphones/amplification and feedback.
Sila Lesa is the evocative electroacoustic solo project of composer, saxophonist and sound artist David B. Collins, traveling a landscape of improvisation and fixed form, with melody, texture and timbre guiding the journey.
Mon Oct 20th
Portland Arts Collective
$15-30
8pm
Folknoize
Brent Carmer
Aurora Josephoson Anthony Stillabower and Joel Nelson
Wild Card of Cascadia
Folknoize – Portland. Oregon based repurposed found object/yard debris sound generating instrument builder. Multi-traditional-hack level-nstrumentalist Sound generating instrument hoarder
First experiments in creating sound began in 1951, Lutheran Hospital of Manhattan, West 144th Street, Harlem, NY.
Minimal formal music education, predominantly hands-on “self-taught” sound creator.
Links:
https://folknoize.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/sogatube
https://www.facebook.com/jerry.soga/
https://www.instagram.com/florabored/
Portland double bassist Brent Carmer creates meditative solo works that combine bow-heavy textures, looping, and ambient field recordings. A former jazz pianist, he draws on improvisation and extended techniques to weave soundscapes where bass and environment merge. Carmer often records in nature, allowing wind, birds, and water to become part of the music. With roots in Nebraska’s wide horizons and a background in computer science, his work balances openness and precision, evoking spaces where contemplation and sound converge.
Full-length videos: https://www.youtube.com/@brent.carmer
Wild Card of Cascadia is a trio from Portland whose immersive, spontaneous music emerges from omnivorous, adaptable, inquisitive working methods. In search of unexpected discoveries they deploy conceptual prompts, unexpected instrumentation, and game-like challenges. Their emphasis on electro-acoustic sound means they draw from a large array of instruments and techniques, from free improvisation to concrete composition. Wild Card’s membership includes established artists William Selman (Mysteries of the Deep, Critique of Everyday Life), Marcus Fischer (12k), and Paul Dickow (who records as Strategy), but the group’s sound is distinct from their individual projects.
https://wildcardofcascadia.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/wildcard.sound
Anthony J. Stillabower
Anthony has been hailed as ‘vaguely acousmatic’, ‘not doing anything special’ and ‘somewhat boring’.
As a composer, he makes scores for instrumental ensembles and electronics. As an improviser, he gigs and records albums using his
Aurora Josephson is a musician and visual artist who currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Building on the foundation of operatic training and a BA and an MFA in Music Performance from Mills College, she has forged a bold vocal style that is uniquely her own. To unleash the limitless range of sonic possibilities in the voice, Josephson employs a variety of extended and unconventional techniques drawn from the worlds of contemporary composition, improvisation, and rock. She has performed and recorded with Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, Dana Reason, Lisa Mezzacappa, Henry Kaiser, Joelle Leandre and William Winant, and musical groups Big City Orchestra, Flying Luttenbachers, Scott Amendola’s: Orchestra di Pazzi, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, T.D. Skatchit band and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
Joel Nelson is a Portland-based multi-instrumentalist and composer exploring the intersections
of folk tradition, experimental sound, and electronic music. Working with bagpipes, guitar,
organs, voice, and hand-built electronics including his current focus, the crank-powered
generator organ, he creates music rooted in drones, medieval modes, and microtonality. A
member of Silica Gel, Broken Crow, and the Sweet Wreath collective, with releases on
Mississippi Records, Joel’s practice embraces intuition, unpredictability, and deep listening to
uncover music that feels less constructed and more discovered in each unfolding moment
Blue Butler Studios
$15-30
8pm
Anais Maviel
elijah jamal asani
Anaïs Maviel is an artist, vocalist, composer & multi-instrumentalist dedicated to translating spiritual concepts to sensory experiences, using sound as medicine & alchemy. With traditional and experimental approaches, her works investigate the power of sound to shape reality, and emphasize the relevance of cultural hybridity. She navigates song, choral, instrumental, orchestral music and staging with a strong connection to cosmologies of sound and speech rooted in oral traditions such as mantra and ring shout. She strives to bridge the gaps between genres & to create a diverse, inclusive, yet sacred musical experience. Among her music collaborators, Alarm Will Sound, Craig Taborn, The Rhythm Method, Meshell Ndegeocello, Meredith Monk, Aruán Ortiz & William Parker. Collaborations with dance include Contra-Tiempo, Urban Bush Women, Merce Cunningham Trust, Okwui Okpokwasili & the Commons Choir. Visual arts collaborators include Sean Webley, Nene Humphrey & Steffani Jemison. Anaïs facilitates vocal liberation with a focus on the body, its environmental, archetypal and cosmic resonances. Both solo albums received international acclaim, and among the generous press shout outs, Jazz Right Now has called her a “unique aesthetic visionary”. She is an awardee of the 2019 Van Lier Fellowship, 2020 American Composers Forum Create, 2021-2022 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, 2022 NYFA Artists Fellowship, 2023 New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy, and a 2023 Herb Alpert Award in Music Composition nominee. Lastly, she holds a masters degree from Paris Diderot University in modern literature, aesthetics and contemporary thought, which led her to write about the stakes of music & utopia in the creolized world. One can read her essays & poetry in the form of intimate newsletters.
elijah jamal asani is an anti-discilplinary nigerian-american artist bred in chicago & based near
the river wimahl. as an abstract romanticist,, he navigates soft nuances && new hues of sacred
resonation
Sat Oct 18th
Blue Butler Studios
$15-30
8pm
Oleo Trio
Featuring Christian San Nicolas & Rodolfo Lopez
Celebrating the release of their debut bandcamp release, “First Impressions”, the Oleo Trio is exploring new ground at this year’s Improvisation Summit. Featuring Rodolfo Lopez on bass, Christian San Nicholas on sax w/ FX, and Joshua Phillips on percussion, guitar, and sax, with the theme of gravity. Using acoustic instruments, loops & delays, and harmonic effects, listen as these musicians communicate, echoing voices of their diverse heritage, through soul-reaching melodies.
Force Field, with Alan Cook on drums and percussion and Mike Murray on guitar and electronics, explore the world of improvisation and spontaneous composition from a unique perspective. Both players bring decades of experience to create dynamic musical tapestries full of color, texture, creativity and deep listening. Alan Cook Born in Ayr, Scotland, Alan Cook brings a dynamic and multifaceted perspective to the creative exploration of the percussive arts, with over 50 years of diverse musical experience which includes performing with Nigerian master drummer Francis Awe's Talking Drum Ensemble, competing to top international honors with the Misty Isle Pipe Band, ensembles large and small covering music in a wide range of genres, as well as extended experience in solo accompaniment for modern dance and performance art. Originally self-taught, from his early twenties on he had been professionally active in the Southern California area, as well as nationally and internationally for several decades, studying and performing with renowned musicians such as Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Fred Katz, Bobby Bradford, Vinny Golia, and others. Since relocating to the Pacific NW in August of 2015, Alan has continued to be musically active on many fronts, most notably live performances in Seattle at The Chapel Performance Space and on air performances on the long running radio series Sonarchy, produced by engineer extraordinaire Doug Haire. In the Portland area, Alan has been actively involved with the Creative Music Guild, the Portland Story Theater, experimental film maker Pamela Chipman, singer/songwriter Noah Kite, and freelance work in jazz settings with a wide range of artists such as Nancy King, Paul K Ward, Harrison Richter, John Stowell, Ryan Meagher, Rich Halley, Noah Bernstein, legendary bassist Andre St. James, Andrew Jones, among many others. He is currently working on original creative improvised music, either spontaneously produced or compositionally directed, with SAMadhi, a quartet that features Noah Bernstein on alto sax, Mike Murray on guitar, Shao Way Wu on bass, and himself on drums and percussion. Since August of 2021, Alan has been the creative director of the ongoing Thursday’s the new Friday jazz series at Roland Wines in Longview, WA. Mike Murray Elements of jazz, rock, noise, microtonal and world traditions have all made their way into the music of Mike Murray. Whether involved in original composition, free improvisation, electronics, the great American songbook or somewhere in between, the guitarist is always pushing to explore new territory. Mike is a Berklee grad who has also received a masters degree in jazz studies from the New England Conservatory having studied with Jon Damien, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell and Mick Goodrick. He has performed and/or recorded with CT free improv masters Paul Flaherty and Randall Colbourne, the late Thomas Chapin, Royal Hartigan, Scott Thornton, Matt Moran, Rich McGhee, Steve Marien and many others in and around the New England and New York areas. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest exploring creative music with some of the areas finest improvisers.
Friday October 17th at 1905
Early Set
Jones and I
Ticket Link
Late night
NEIGHBORS
Ticket link
Creative Music Guild’s Improvisation’s Summit of Portland Featuring Andrew Jones & “Jones and I”
Join us for an exciting evening of spontaneous musical exploration at the 1905, as part of the Creative Music Guild’s Improvisation Summit of Portland. Leading the charge is Andrew Jones, bassist and composer, along with his ensemble, “Jones and I”. Known for their adventurous, improvisation-driven performances, the group blends elements of jazz, experimental sound, and raw creative energy to craft unique and captivating soundscapes all spawned from the compositional mind of Andrew Jones.
The band features an outstanding lineup of musicians: Noah Simpson on trumpet, Noah Bernstein on alto saxophone, Mike Gamble on guitar and FX, and Mike Lockwood on drums. Their latest album, Borb, available here, is a perfect reflection of their genre-defying approach—creating rich textures and spontaneous, free-flowing music that evolves in real time.As part of the Improvisation Summit, this performance will showcase the heart of Portland’s creative music scene—where the unexpected is always on the horizon. Whether you’re a longtime fan of improvisational music or just looking for an electrifying, immersive experience, this is an event you won’t want to miss!
Neighbors is a “garage band,” whose garage happens to be The Center For Sound, Light, and Color AKA Color Therapy Studios in the historic Alberta Arts District of Portland, OR. Guitarist Mike Gamble, bassist Garrett Baxter, and drummer Machado Mijiga formed the band because, well, they’re neighbors.
Neighbors explores indie rock, pop, and folk through the lense of jazz improvisation, playing everything from through-composed compositions, to simple riffs, to co-written songs that span multiple genres and aesthetics.
Neighbors writes and records new music every month—one month, the band performed 32 freshly written songs at a show in the span of two hours.
Neighbors seems to bring neighborly music to neighborhoods around the world, one song at a time.
THURS Oct 16th
Turn Turn Turn
$15-30
8pm
DinnerWitJesus
Alphabet
Dammann-Lane-Niekrasz-Llinás
Isabel Dammann is a violinist, fiddler, and vocalist who moves between classical music, traditional fiddle styles, free improvisation, rock, and singer-songwriter settings. Based in Portland, Oregon, she performs and records with musicians across the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and tours nationally with her chamber-folk trio Sprig of That. The group released its debut album bloom in 2023, produced by Wes Corbett and engineered by Grammy winner Dave Sinko. Dammann has appeared at venues including The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis and Rockwood Music Hall in New York and has collaborated with artists such as David Torn, Michael Cleveland, Charlie Parr, Darol Anger, Zach Brock, and Phoebe Hunt. She served as an animation reference violinist for Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s film Pinocchio (2022). A dedicated educator, she teaches at Portland’s Community Music Center and Metropolitan Youth Symphony and holds music and geology degrees from Lawrence University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 2017.
Kara Marie Lane (they/them) is a bassoon teacher and performer based in Portland, Oregon. They began playing bassoon in 2009 while growing up in Flower Mound, Texas, and have studied with Anna May Ghaly, Laura Bennett Cameron, Tina Carpenter, and Steve Vacchi. Lane earned a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Oregon in 2022, receiving the Outstanding Graduate Performance award in the woodwind area. They also hold a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with an All-Level Teaching Certification from West Texas A&M University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2020. In addition to private teaching, Lane is active as a freelance performer and enjoys working with students of all ages and skill levels. Their background reflects a commitment to both pedagogy and performance, drawing on a wide range of experiences to support and inspire the next generation of bassoonists.
John Niekrasz is an American artist working in sound, language, performance, and movement. Originally from Chicago, he received an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has pursued lifelong studies in music, including improvisation with Milford Graves, percussion and dance in Havana, and classical Hindustani tabla with Pandit Lacchu Maharaj. His last name rhymes with “Free Jazz.” Niekrasz approaches improvisation as both performance and composition, using text-based scores and syllabic notation to explore relationships between poverty and ornament, rigor and ease, justice and resistance. He composes for and performs with Methods Body, Orchestra Becomes Radicalized, Ixnay, LTD Time, and other projects, and creates sound for film and theater. He has held residencies at Lewis and Clark College’s EAR Forest, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, ACRE, Résidence Point Dom, Lazuli Residency, and the Oregon Artists’ Biennial. His recordings appear on Ecstatic Peace, New Amsterdam, ESP-Disk, Beacon Sound, Tender Loving Empire, and more.
Daniel Reyes Llinás is a guitarist and composer from Bogotá, Colombia, now based in Portland, Oregon. He began playing guitarat age nine, later training at the Universidad de los Andes with Jaime Arias Obregón and Carlos Rocca Lynn. In 2002, he receivedthe Young Artists Series award at the Luis Ángel Arango Hall. He has since trained with artists such as Leo Brouwer and Robert Fripp, and studied composition with Fernando Otero, Ion Marmarinos and Julian Malaussena.
Llinás has performed across Europe and the Americas. From 2008 to 2017, he co-led New York’s Parias Ensemble and touredwith The League of Crafty Guitarists. His work spans chamber music, theater, film, and dance.Recent releases on 7D Media include String Schemas with Elliott Sharp and Harvey Valdes, and Códices, co-produced by Trey Gunn. His upcoming project, Lugares (2026), features commissioned works for electric guitar. With guitarist Cesar Quevedo, he also formed Selva Espiral, a duo exploring Colombian “paleo-futurismo.”
Cameron is a dynamic creator of sound and drummer whose artistic journey reflects a deep
commitment to pushing musical boundaries and honoring ancestral roots. Growing up in a
family with a rich legacy of music in the South Side of Chicago, their path took shape through a
key, transformative conversation with a percussionist ancestor, igniting their passion for
drumming and inspiring their journey of self-discovery through rhythm. Through their work, they
have become known as the “Sound Smith” based on their birth surname.
With a degree in Film and Media Arts, Cameron’s unique perspective blends their experience in
the film and media industry with their love for sound, shaping their performances with an eye for
cinematic impact. Their solo work and collaborations with “The Collective,” “Singularity Trio,”
and numerous other artist groups have focused on creating reverent, energy-aligned art,
exemplifying their dedication to making meaningful, transformative art.
As a Black, non-binary, queer artist, Cameron brings a unique voice to music, challenging norms
in jazz, funk, and other genres with innovative techniques that incorporate both traditional
African rhythms and modern electronic synths/ soundscapes.
For Cameron, drumming and “soundsmithing” are not just an art form—they are a sacred act of
communication, connecting people with one another and with ancestral energies. Driven by a
vision to elevate the curation of sound as a holistic practice that nurtures the soul, Cameron’s
mission is to inspire the next evolution in music, creating spaces for others to explore rhythm as
a path to both physical and spiritual well-being.
Alphabet is an experimental jazz group based in the Pacific Northwest. Every one of their performances is completely improvised. Calling on the inspiration of the moment, every device of sonic exploration is utilized. From sheets of sound to minimal ambience to Lo-fi groove. Alphabet uses the language of music to pull up the images of a new direction.
Cameron Landers is a Pacific Northwest native. A self-taught guitarist, Landers has made it his mission to develop his own sound and language on the instrument. With early influences ranging from classical to funk and eventually jazz, improvisation has become the environment to fuse the elements. For Landers, improvisation is a spiritual endeavor, exploring the territories of sound through the medium of the guitar. Landers has played in a wide range of groups from surf rock to alternative to a solo project involving improvisation as well as composed material while telling a story that connected the songs. Alphabet his the first strong attempt at a purely improvisational group.
Brandon Warren comes from a musical family with his dad a teacher of music. Moving from Florida, Brandon has made his mark in Portland playing alongside notable musicians such as Alex Callenberger, Mind Parade, and the group The Fourth wall. Warren is a teacher when not performing, working mainly with children and young adults. Warren studies birdcalls and the sounds of running water to explore rhythm, incorporating the dynamics into his work.
Brent Carmer moved to Oregon from Nebraska with a PHD in computer science. Formally a jazz pianist, Carmer has made the bass his primary instrument over the last couple years. Playing in trios or alongside solo performers, Carmer can shift effortlessly from composed material to improvisation. Using pedals and techniques not common for a bass player, Carmer expands what is possible not only in a band setting, but in a solo setting as well.
Ben Congo is currently a student at Tualatin Highschool. Congo is steadily making creating his own language on the saxophone, playing both tenor and soprano. Whether Congo is performing at all-state concerts or joining jams around town or completely improvising with Alphabet, Congo shows just how much of a rising star je really is. A torch barrier of the Coltrane school, Congo is just beginning his musical carrier in the world.
Wednesday October 15th
Swan Dive
$15
8pm
Maria Chavez
Trigger Object
Xylyn Hathaway
Born in Lima, Peru and based in NYC, Maria Chávez is best known as an abstract turntablist, sound artist and DJ. Coincidence, chance and failures are themes that unite her work across mediums, including improvised performance, sound and marble sculpture, visual art, book objects and an extensive history with multi-channel installation. Her approach is rooted in Deep Listening, a form of embodied listening developed by her late mentor Pauline Oliveros. Maria’s relationship with Oliveros was recently covered in a BBC3 radio episode of Afterwords, chronicling the late composers impact on a new generation of artists. She also graced the cover of The Wire in April 2023 with The Turntable Trio.
Maria is the only abstract turntablist in the world who performs with a rare needle known as the RAKE Double Needle. This special device contains two needles on one head, allowing it to read two different segments of a single record at the same time. Paired with her inimitable ability to create unforgettable sonic experiences from shards of broken records, each performance is truly unique.
Maria’s practice is profoundly expansive, responsive and curious. Her work has been featured and supported by a myriad of institutions over the past decades including Rewire Festival, Counterflows Festival, Donau Festival, MoMA PS1, The Getty, DOCUMENTA 14, the JUDD Foundation, Cambridge University Press and many, many more. Chavez’s 2012 book, Of Technique: Chance Procedures on Turntable has garnered a reputation as both an academic resource on turntablism and a foundational text for a new generation of turntablists.
Vern Avola is a composer, multimedia artist, instructor, and champion of friendship, based in Portland, Oregon. Known for their solo project Trigger Object, as well as performances under the monikers EMS, Avola, and Dirty Centaur, Avola’s work thrives in the unpredictable, messy corners of life, weaving together deep electronic soundscapes, raw energy, and a wry sense of humor. Their music geomaps the hidden layers of the present moment—from the guttural subterranean and the hallways of punk and DIY culture to themes of consensual abduction and flight. Avola’s compositions hold space for the physical and emotional stretches that emerge as emblems of safety in a world grappling with political predestination and societal truths. Through their work, Avola invites listeners to think and exist beyond the confines of man’s algorithm, offering a sonic refuge that is both disorienting and illuminating.
As the founder of EMS Records, Avola has created a platform primarily dedicated to their own releases, crafting limited-run LPs, cassettes, and CDs that feel like treasures for the weirdos and wanderers. Their music has also found a home on respected labels such as Sige Recordings, An Out Recordings, Accident Prone Records, and Nadine Records. Avola’s sound has been described as “wonderfully crunchy and kinetic,” with a “delirious, Amanita Muscaria-soaked sense of dynamics”—raw, unfiltered, and shaped by the randomness of life: a stray conversation, an unexpected noise, or a fleeting moment in nature.
Avola’s collaborative work includes projects with artists like Daniel Menche (as Bear Spray), Ian Gorman Weiland (as Elrond), and Vo Vo (An Out Recordings), . They’ve also been a member of bands like Prizehog (2006–2015) and Shrew Florist (2005–2012). Live performances are where Avola truly shines, using the energy of the room as an instrument to create communal, alive moments that blur the line between artist and audience.
Xylyn Hathaway has become a conduit of vulgar-beauty-jazz music that sinks teeth into the space it fills. She paints canvas into composition and wield an upright bass like bazookas, exploding hearts open peeled backwards into one bouquet of manic laughter from the pit of your chest.
Xylyn is a cherished figure and friend in our jazz community; born on Earth, one stones throw west from the palpitating heart of downtown Portland, Oregon.
A forager for chanterelles, she was raised on the farm in Newberg with Grandma. When Grandma died they lost the old farmhouse, red and white and alive in the decaying cherry walnut orchards. Grandma lives in Noble Pioneer Cemetery now, Xylyn in Southwest Portland.
As a band leader, Xylyn’s musical visions unfold and sprout behemoth architecture dimly lit, oozing spirits from the gills as it gasps for it’s first breath beneath thumps quantized in fractals. She propels a soloist or a broken poet off cliffs into jupiter’s hurricane eye.
She plays with cats like George Colligan, like Ron Steen, like anybody making big nasty music to be hurt and healed by in this wet crow city.
Xylyn Hathaway’s heart and music exude peace and play and oozing spirits, dancing between us, around us, below the violent ocean dismembered by big old stones.”
- David Barber
