Cry & Roar IV Will Be Here Soon!

We are very excited to announce the fourth annual Table & Chairs-sponsored Cry & Roar Festival. This year, it will take place on January 31st through February 2nd at Cafe Racer in the Ravenna neighborhood. Each night, music will start at 8:00 PM and there will be a suggested donation of $5 to $15 at the door, which will help support the artists. RSVP on Facebook here!

On January 31st and February 1st, a “traditional” set of concerts will take place, with multiple bands playing consecutively. On Sunday February 2nd, the Racer Sessions will bring together everyone who attends the performance that night in a musical experience. We hope that everyone at the session that evening will pick up their horns and join us in an extended piece, which will celebrate the community that has been cultivated over the years at Cafe Racer. Following the group performance, the free improvisation session will take place as usual until 10:00 PM, at which time a secret special guest will take the stage for a toe-tapping end to the festival. 

This year’s festival is particularly exciting because Kim Cass (Oakland) and netcat (Seattle) will be playing, both new to the Table & Chairs roster. 

CARMEN ROTHWELL

Carmen Rothwell is a current senior at the University of Washington, where she is studying Jazz Performance on the double bass. At this year’s Cry & Roar festival, Carmen will be performing a solo set of double bass music. Her compositions are always heartfelt and full, despite the single, low voice of her instrument. 

SEQUOIA ENSEMBLE

Sequoia Ensemble was formed in the spring of 2011 as a part of the curatorship by Levi Gillis at the Racer Sessions. Since then it has developed into an amalgam of influences, as much Americana as Avant-garde. A warm and sometimes gritty array of horns is paired with ambient electronic imaginings, drawing on the group’s vast timbral possibilities to create intricate and provocative soundworlds. The lyrical quality of much of Gillis’s writing for the group is augmented by the unique wildness that can only be found in free improvisation. These forays into a wide range of sounds create an exciting and varied concert experience.

WALLY SHOUP

Since 1985, Shoup is a mainstay of that city’s improvised music scene. By his own account, Shoup “grew up listening to black music in the South, the blues and jazz and R&B,” and was “introduced to free jazz in the late ‘60s in Atlanta”. Although his “voice is definitely influenced by African-American music” he “felt like free jazz was the domain of black musicians.” Hearing Britain’s Music Improvisation Company, “he simultaneously discovered free improvisation and his calling as a musician.” “It wasn’t jazz-based,” he would say in 2003. “They were trying to find some new ways of improvising. I realized that was the kind of music I wanted to know about, and the only way I could know more about it was by playing it.”

NETCAT

netcat is Andrew Olmstead, Brandon Lucia, and David Balatero. Their music explores the intersection between complexity, computers, and free improvisation. Playing cello, synthesizer, drums, and chango, the band interacts with custom sound generation software through long-form textural compositions. netcat’s debut album, Cycles Per Instruction will be out in early 2014.

KIM CASS

Mr. Cass is an active freelance bassist and composer living in Oakland. He is currently recording a self titled solo project set to be released on Table and Chairs this year. 
The music presented in “Kim Cass” is a mixture of acoustic and electronic sounds. With a strong focus on polyrhythmic material, Mr. Cass uses multiple synthesizers to record his music. Each piece is started on paper, and there are virtually no computers used while writing and recording it. Each song has a constant pulse, yet hints at other dimensions of the beat. The pitch content is largely randomized, and then harmonized accordingly. Mr. Cass plays upright bass on his compositions, and his forthcoming album will also feature his skill on the parlor guitar. With Mr. Cass’s original artwork, select scores of the material, and liner notes by a special guest, “Kim Cass” is promising to be a memorable debut album.  

GRAMMIES

Friday
Carmen Rothwell—Solo Double Bass
Sequoia Ensemble
Wally Shoup

Saturday
netcat*
Kim Cass (Oakland)*
Grammies (Portland)

Sunday
"Cry & Roar"— a curation of the Racer Sessions
After Party performance by SECRET SPECIAL GUESTS

* Designates newly signed to Table & Chairs