An exclusive T&C discount on Ballard Jazz Walk passes is available now! Click HERE and use the promo code “CHAIRS” to receive nearly 50% off your Jazz Walk pass.
*Note: The promo code is only available for “The Ballard Jazz Walk” (tickets for individual events). Make sure to input the proper number of tickets in the appropriate field.
If you’re familiar with the arts organization Table & Chairs, it should be of no surprise to you that this performance will be an experiment. This evening, we are acknowledging that jazz is fluid and that its presentation and audience are ever-evolving.
Expect a challenge. Expect to think. Expect to engage. Expect nothing.
The Table & Chairs showcase will feature evolving installation work throughout the evening in between the performers sets. This will explore a world of sensors, computers, electronic music & dance. Audience should expect to use Beach Balls to transform audio and video landscapes throughout the room. That’s correct. Beach Balls.
Where: Upstairs at Salmon Bay Eagles Lodge - 5216 20th Ave NW, Seattle, WA
When: 8 pm on Friday, May 13, 2016
8:00 - Vader Tots w/ Darren Palmer
8:45 - Marcin Paczkowski and Ivan Arteaga
9:30 - MESS Collective
10:15 - Bad Luck
11:00 - Hoop
Vader Tots w/ Darren Palmer VADER TOTS is a duo comprised of a bass and drums. Tasty, crispy, deep-fried Rhythms with a structured, fun, jam-like chaos and incessant unrelenting groove. Featuring Max Benoit on bass and Dio Jean-Baptiste on drums. They will be joined by visual artist Darren Palmer
Marcin Paczkowski with Ivan Arteaga Marcin Paczkowski and Ivan Arteaga collaborate with Mariah Davis from Mess Collective to present a new piece for accelerometers, conducted sound, dance and saxophone. Feats of magic are sure to abound throughout this exploratory work.
MESS Collective MESS is a collaborative performance ensemble that was founded by Amelia May Coulter, Mariah Davis, and Haley Freedlund in 2015. Their work is inspired by queer theory, liberation politics, social situations, personal storytelling, gender & sexuality, and finding new ways of relating to themselves and others. As a group, they co-create scores as rough templates for interactive, improvisational, and durational work. Featuring - Amelia Coulter - trombone, Haley Freelund - trombone, Mariah Davis - dance, spoken word
Bad Luck Bad Luck is a 10-year collaboration between Seattle-based musicians Chris Icasiano on drums and Neil Welch on saxophone/electronics. With four albums under their belt, Bad Luck has created an incredibly diverse array of music — no small feat in the heavily trodden world of drum/saxophone duos. Their melodies, improvisations and compositions are constructed from the ground up, creating a band sound much larger than the sum of its parts.
Hoop Soft-grunge. Seattle. Recently dubbed by The Stranger to possess, “magical guitar lines and introspective lyrics that tug gently on [the] most sensitive heart strings,” hoop’s brand of dream pop should win over fans of 90’s luminaries like; The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine and Eric’s Trip. Featuring Caitlin Roberts, Pamela Santiago, Leena Joshi and Ingrid Chiles.
Today we at T&C are celebrating the release of two albums from local composer and trumpeter Raymond Larsen! We’ve already published his work with Chemical Clock (winners of the 2015 Earshot Jazz Album of the Year) and are proud to be connected to more of his work.
These new albums are the first two installments of his ambitious album trilogy “Modern Achievements”. The works combine unconventional instrumentation with diverse improvisational and compositional approaches to pay tribute to three entries from a 1903 encyclopedia. How Glass Is Made re-imagines the early processes of industrial glass manufacture, and New Studies of the Starry Skies traces a path through the heavens and back. The final album to be released later this year is When Mountains Blow Their Heads Off, which tells the story of destruction and renewal through the forces of nature. With 26 musicians participating across the 3 works, the music offers a generous cross-section of Seattle’s best up-and-coming improvisers.
Table & Chairs again be a part of the annual The Ballard Jazz Festival! This is our fourth year presenting a showcase at the Jazz Walk, which takes place on Friday, May 8, 2015 at the Salmon Bay Eagles Lodge. In March, we had the great honor of receiving the Earshot Jazz Award for “2014 Concert of the Year” for our showcase last year, and we promise that this year we’ve upped the ante!
*We will be offering a very special ticket discount exclusively for those signed up on our T&C mailing list. Sign up at the link below and you will receive the promo code via email.
8:00 – Jen Gilleran and GRID 9:00 – Wiener Kids (Oakland) 10:00 – Ivan Arteaga’s Neijing Ensemble 11:00 – Bad Luck
Opening the evening will be percussionist Jen Gilleran and GRID, performing a live-music soundtrack to vintage film. Jen has worked extensively with the North West Film Forum, producing live-soundtrack performances for landmark films such as Metropolis, and most recently a soundtrack to classic Buster Keaton films at our inaugural T&C Vermillion Gallery series. Joining her will be one of Seattle’s preeminent trombonists, Christian Pincock.
In addition, GRID will be facilitating an interactive movie intermission in between sets. A variety of instruments will be provided so that anyone can participate in the music making. Audience participation is highly recommended!
Following will be Oakland-based group Wiener Kids. Brainchild of drummer/composer Jordan Glenn, Wiener Kids is an unusual power trio made up of saxophones and drums. Since 2008 WK has been an active member of Oakland, CA fertile avant/experimental/underground music scene. As the years have gone by the pallet of the band has expanded to incorporate percussive sounds from near and far. Objects/instruments include gongs, tin cans, Tibetan bowls, bundt pans, chromatic cowbells, angklung (bamboo rattles), triangles, car springs, suitcase-vibraphone, glockenspiels and various whistles, drums and bells. The trio is made up of Glenn on drums along with reed masters Jacob Rex Zimmerman and Cory Wright.
Neijing Ensemble began as an opportunity for saxophonist Ivan Arteaga to create gestural and improvisational pieces for saxophone quartet. The inspiration came in large part from the idea of improvising with Neil Welch, Greg Sinibaldi and Levi Gillis in particular; he quickly started using the group to play and arrange other music that he enjoys and they have since accumulated a small body of varied music. Neijing Ensemble will be performing original arrangements of songs featuring the voice of Katie Jacobson as well as some original improvisational songs for the Quartet with the addition of Abbey Blackwell on bass. This music contains rich and dynamic soundscape development where haunting improvisations abound.
Finally, we’ll close the evening with T&C veterans Neil Welch and Christopher Icasiano, collectively know as Bad Luck. For the first time, the dynamic drum and saxophone duo will be collaborating with a dance artist Lorraine Lau to create a brand new multidisciplinary piece that will stretch your mind and defy your expectations.
We hope you’re able to make it and to share this great experience with all of us!
Growing up in the small island town of Bar Harbor, Maine, Kim Cass developed his prodigious talents as a virtuoso jazz bass player early on. In the early 2000s, while still a teenager, Kim began making home solo recordings using a simple keyboard. Already with the mark of an utterly unique musical thinker, burnt CDs began to circulate like wildfire amongst fellow students at the New England Conservatory. After college Kim began another focused course of study with the trio Anteater, a “rhythmic laboratory” where ideas were workshopped and put into practice. 2 years later the complexity and rigor of the music necessitated a move to playing solo with pre-recorded electronics.
This long-awaited debut solo release fearlessly presents the acoustic bass in a virtual obstacle course of jaw-dropping electronic sounds. The music of “KIM CASS” was composed and performed entirely by hand with no sequencing. A unique polyrhythmic language is intuitively arranged and precisely executed to create the illusion of constantly shifting tempos. Each piece is held together by a single tempo; nothing is rubato. You must hear it to believe it.
Cry & Roar V: Celebrating five years of Racer Sessions
January 23-25, 2015
Cafe Racer - 5828 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle, WA 98105
All shows 8:00pm
$5-15 suggested donation
The title “Cry & Roar” is a tribute to the memory of baritone saxophonist Andrew Carrico, a regular Racer Sessions participant who died tragically in September of 2012. The loss of Andrew’s life occurred not long after the shooting at Cafe Racer that previous summer; another wound for an already enormously grief-stricken community. Utterly unique and self-aware, Andrew once described his sound on the saxophone as a cross between a cry and a roar. For 5 years Table & Chairs and Racer Sessions have provided one-of-a-kind artists like Andrew a platform to freely express themselves. “Cry & Roar” is dedicated to this ever-expanding community.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Lawson
Young Nudist (Michael Coleman)
Heatwarmer
Saturday, January 24th, 2015
Short sets by (in no particular order):
Shannon Kerrigan
Dio Jean-Baptiste & Geoff Traeger
WA (Simon Henneman & Gregg Kepplinger)
Evan Woodle
Aaron Otheim
Christian Pincock
Lori Goldston
Sunday, January 25th, 2015
Curator: King Tears Bat Trip
Interlude: Neil Welch
Post-show: Iji
Table & Chairs Presents: Bad Luck, Three Record Release Concert featuring Tomo Nakayama
Chris Icasiano and Neil Welch, A.K.A. Bad Luck, are thrilled to announce the long-awaited release of their third full-length studio album Three. This concert will kick-off the start of their first national tour. Opening the show will be have the endlessly talented Tomo Nakayama, of Grand Hallway.
The concert will take place at The Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood on Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 at 8:00pm.
Nearly ten years into their collaboration, Seattle-based drum and saxophone duo Bad Luck returns with Three, their third full-length release on Table & Chairs. Drummer Chris Icasiano and saxophonist Neil Welch formed Bad Luck while in college, and from its humble beginnings reinterpreting jazz standards, the duo has remained in a constant state of artistic urgency. Icasiano and Welch sculpted Three while touring and performing over the last two years, many of the songs having emerged during long stints on the road together. Holding steady to the artistic integrity of their previous records, Bad Luck performs music only possible with these two musicians in a room together. Their melodies, improvisations and compositions are carefully constructed from the ground up, and in many cases, simply cannot be conventionally notated. Theirs is a language of transmission and a sound of complete artistic balance between the two players.
Three was recorded live to tape by Trevor Spencer on March 20th and 21st, 2014. The album includes Bad Luck’s first cover, a brief rendering of saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell’s now apocryphal composition “Nonaah”. In June of 2013 Bad Luck had the honor of performing a bill with the legendary musician, a show which seemed to plant the piece into their new set.
Bad Luck Three Album Release Concert with Tomo Nakayama
The Chapel Performance Space on the fourth floor of the Good Shepherd Center 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Wednesday, October 1st, 2014
Doors 7:30 - Music 8:00
$10-15 Suggested Donation – a donation of $15 will include a copy of “Three”
We are pleased to announce the start of our new music series that will take place on the second Wednesday of every month at the Vermillion Gallery, in the heart of Capitol Hill. The line-up for each month’s show will be curated by a different local musician with the focus of pulling from diverse genres of music and integrating the bands and musicians throughout Seattle’s improvised-music scene.
Our inaugural show is curated by drummer Chris Icasiano and will take place on Wednesday, August 13th. The first group of the evening will feature a new trio with Seattle jazz veteran Jeff Johnson on bass, Ivan Arteaga on saxophone, and Icasiano on drums. Following, will be drummer Jen Gilleran’s ensemble, who will be performing a live soundtrack to vintage film. Closing out the evening will be Fluke, a quartet led by pianist Brian Kinsella that plays all original compositions. This is sure to be an amazing night of music!
All the performances are funded by your generous donations and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support!
Vermillion Gallery - 1508 11th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
$5-15 suggested donation
8:00-8:45 - Jeff Johnson, Ivan Arteaga, Chris Icasiano
9:00-9:45 - Jen Gilleran with Neil Welch, Christian Pincock, and Simon Henneman playing live music to vintage film
10:00-10:45 - Fluke (Brian Kinsella, Gregg Belise-Chi, Chris Symer, Chris Icasiano)
Upcoming curators:
9/10 - Ivan Arteaga
10/8 - Simon Henneman
11/12 - Evan Woodle
12/10 - Christian Pincock
This event isn’t of our creation, but we wanted to inform you about the exciting masterclass being held by Human Feel.
This masterclass will take place at the JewelBox Theater on Friday June 27th at 2:00 PM, and all are invited to come ask questions and hear the group perform.
- Human Feel -
Jim Black, Chris Speed, Andrew D'Angelo, Kurt Rosenwinkel
Friday, June 27th, 2:00 PM JewelBox Theater
2322 2nd Ave
Seattle, WA 98121
Burn List, a new collaboration from Seattle’s scorching new music scene features trumpeter Cuong Vu, tenor saxophonist Greg Sinibaldi, keyboardist Aaron Otheim, and drummer Chris Icasiano. Marking the meeting of two distinctive generations of creative new music in Seattle, each member of Burn List have uniquely contributed their musical DNA to the city’s musical lineage. Having been on the forefront of the scene as established veterans, Vu and Sinibaldi each offer unique compositional approaches and styles that have helped shape the newest generation of musicians in Seattle. Icasiano and Otheim are, in part, products of those contributions and they form Burn List’s paired-down rhythm section combination of keyboard and drums, pushing to create a new sonic approach to the music and group improvisation.
Burn List’s unique interface with improvisation and original compositions draw from wide musical influences ranging from Ligeti to Albert Ayler to Aphex Twin to Meshuggah and many things in between. Siphoned through the band’s collective aesthetics, the music freely crisscrosses genres resulting in a new musical sound that is thoughtful, energetic, current and original.
Burn List will celebrate the release of their album on Wednesday, May 14th. Details below:
Wednesday, May 14th The Chapel Performance Space in Wallingford (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, Seattle, WA) with Mount Eerie Doors at 7:30pm / Music at 8:00pm $10-15 suggested donation A donation of $20 will include admission and a CD.
“Do computers improvise?” - netcat’s interactive audio installation and record release show at the Ballard Jazz Walk
netcat is T&C’s newest family member and features keyboardist Andrew Olmstead, chango and percussionist Brandon Lucia, and cellist David Balatero. As part of the Table & Chairs label showcase at the Ballard Jazz Walk on Friday, April 18th, they will be debuting an audience-interactive audio installation that aims to answer the question: “Do computers improvise?” This is an interactive installation, which means all Jazz Walk attendees are encouraged to engage and participate in the music-making process by connecting and interacting.
Here’s how you connect:
The concept is to create music out of the chaotic web of communication that our smartphones transmit. Anyone who wishes to participate can join the wireless network at the installation. Any time you receive an email or browse a website, our software will add a part to an ongoing piece of music. Here, the computer is the improviser - netcat has instructed it how to make certain sounds, but ultimately the computer, based on your smartphone interactions, will decide what to play and when.
Here’s how you interact:
The second idea is to allow participants to interact with their surroundings through light and movement to generate sound. The Chango, a custom instrument that netcat developed, generates sound based on what the camera sees – it interprets light and motion to make music. The installation features a darkened room outfitted with multiple video cameras connected to the Chango. Participants are supplied with handheld lights and are encouraged to interact by shining light throughout the room, to create sound.
Along with the installation, netcat will be releasing their first album titled “Cycles Per Instruction,” which explores this idea of computers improvising, as well as human-computer interactions and the complexity of technology. In addition, the album includes programs that generate speech sounds and lyrics based on computational models of human language. In contrast to use of technology, the band also improvises alongside their computer-based counterparts.
Remember, there is a special T&C discount to the Jazz Walk if you sign up to receive our mailing list here.
