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