Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears
— Pauline Oliveros

Facilitator: Dana Reason
$10 Suggested Donation

We invite you to listen and sound with us.
Join Dana Reason, for an introductory exploration of the components of Deep Listening® as developed by composer, artist and improviser, Pauline Oliveros. In this workshop we examine how sound shapes our daily lives; creative practices and the differences between active and passive listening. Sounding as a community, we will enhance awareness of environmental sounds, and our individual and collective voices, perceptions and vibrations, using exercises from “Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice” by Pauline Oliveros (2005). Participants are not required to have any previous musical experience. Suggested: bring a towel/yoga mat. If you play an instrument, you are invited to bring, too. We will also be exploring our breath and voices. Limited copies of the book will be available on site for purchase.
Dana Reason is a Deep Listening certificate holder.
DEEP LISTENING is a registered trademark of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. https://www.deeplistening.rpi.edu/

https://www.facebook.com/events/2190679721169705/

Tim DuRoche (drums), Andrew Jones (bass), Helen Gillet (cello), John Shaw (bass), and John Savage (flute) present a tribute to local bass player and beloved community member, Andre St. James.

sidony o’neal is an artist and writer from South Sacramento, CA.

The Midnight Variety Hour (MVH) is a collaborative project consisting of six multi-disciplinary dancers, performers, musicians, and filmmakers (Maura Campbell-Balkits, Eileen Chavez, Sean Christensen, Kelly Rauer, Fern Wiley, and Leah Wilmoth). MVH deconstructs the world of live television and the essence of the variety hour creating a dream-like memory of tv shows. Through the build up of layers and patterns of imagery and sound, MVH creates a landscape of distorted time and space. Some of the elements used are pre-recorded and live video, foley sounds, tap shoes, microphones, saxophone, drums, synthesizers, and dance. Distinct sections of improvisation emerge through the tension and release of accumulated instrumentation, dance, and video.

Mark Dresser is a Grammy nominated, internationally renowned bass player, improviser, composer, and interdisciplinary collaborator. At the core of his music is an artistic obsession and commitment to expanding the sonic, musical, and expressive possibilities of the contrabass. He has recorded over one hundred forty CDs including three solo CDs and a DVD. From 1985 to 1994, he was a member of Anthony Braxton’s Quartet, which recorded nine CDs and was the subject of Graham Locke’s book Forces in Motion (Da Capo). He has also performed and recorded music of Ray Anderson, Jane Ira Bloom, Tim Berne, Anthony Davis, Dave Douglas, Osvaldo Golijov, Gerry Hemingway, Bob Ostertag, Joe Lovano, Roger Reynolds, Henry Threadgill, Dawn Upshaw, John Zorn. Dresser most recent and internationally acclaimed new music for jazz quintet, Nourishments (2013) his latest CD (Clean Feed) marks his re-immersion as a bandleader. Since 2007 he has been deeply involved in telematic music performance and education. He was awarded a 2015 Shifting Foundation Award and 2015 Doris Duke Impact Award. He is Professor of Music at University of California, San Diego.

“Calling contrabassist Mark Dresser a virtuoso is like saying Albert Einstein was good at math.” San Diego City Times.

“Mr. Dresser, a bassist who is one of the great instrumental forces in recent American jazz outside of the mainstream… New York Times

https://markdresser.com

Neil Welch (saxophone/electronics) and Chris Icasianso (drums) collectively destroyed the fabric of their musical identities by slamming their instruments like a hammer on an anvil.

Bad Luck performs in another cosmos from most bands. Emerging out of more than a decade of collaboration, the new album Four “bears down on you like a cyclone of fire” (The Stranger) and is a genre-defying supernova of electronics, hip hop, metal, folk and jazz. Saxophone/electronics player Neil Welch and drummer Chris Icasiano met ten years ago as jazz students at the University of Washington and built a friendship as they discovered free improvisation together. Or, as Welch puts it, they “collectively destroyed the fabric of their musical identities by slamming their instruments like a hammer on an anvil.”

Felisha Ledesma is an interdisciplinary artist and organizer based in Portland, Oregon. Ledesma is the Director of S1, an artist run space that focuses on experimental sound, critical contemporary art, and non-traditional education. Felisha co-founded the Synth Library – a low-cost resource for hands-on access to synthesizers, DJ gear, recording equipment and other electronic musical instruments for people of all experience levels. She has been exploring field recording and tape collage, modular synths, and the sound of secrets.

PBS Network Radio Interview http://musicinsideout.wwno.org/helen-gillet/

Jazz-based cellist, singer, composer and improviser Helen Gillet grew up in Belgium, Singapore, Chicago and Wisconsin. Performing her own eclectic mix of French, Contemporary Jazz, North Indian, Blues and Classical styles, Gillet has forged a path for the cello in the New Orleans music scene since her arrival in 2002, winning Best Female Performer (2014 Gambit Big Easy Awards), Best Mixed Bag (2012 Gambit Big Easy Awards) and Best Contemporary Jazz (2011 Gambit Big Easy Awards). She is featured in the New Orleans “Women of Note” Jazz Exhibit at the Old US Mint. Currently, she is spending time in New Orleans composing music and collaborating with local and visiting artists including many performances at the Music Box Village, notably a February 2018 show with experimental pop band Animal Collective. Beginning cello lessons at the age of nine, Gillet has taken her classical education all the way to a Master’s Degree (Beloit College ’00, Loyola University New Orleans ’04). Her training as an improviser began with North Indian Hindustani vocal ragas in 1998, which launched her into the worlds of free improvisation, jazz, funk, rock and French chansons. Gillet has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Festival International (Lafayette, LA), Voodoo Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival and Hindsgavl Festival in Denmark, Mirano Oltre Festival in Italy, the Kennedy Center Center in Washington D.C. and MONA Mofo festival in Hobart, Tasmania, Chicago Jazz String Summit, and a 2017 and 2018 TED talks appearances. In addition to her solo touring Gillet will be joining Iron & Wine for a US tour this fall 2018.

helengillet.com
youtube: Helen Gillet,
Soundcloud: Helen Gillet

Caspar Sonnet (lap-steel dobro) Kozue Matsumoto (koto) is an acoustic experimental, improvisational duo based in Los Angeles, California. Both artists employ numerous extended techniques exploring an array of interesting sounds and textures using both modern & early eastern/western folk instruments. Their collaborations are fiercely intensive, concentrated duals where both players utilize prepared strategies composed in set time blocks. Each player is then assigned a specific set of tools to manipulate various parts of the instrument and are assigned set tunings, microtonal or otherwise. Their use of instrumental augmentation, movement and presence are captivating to witness and mesmerizing to hear. Matsumoto/Sonnet are anticipating a record release entitled “Versus” on Sounds et all late August 2018.