Presented by Earshot Jazz.
The Seattle Phonographers Union is a collective of veteran sound artists who improvise using only their extensive personal libraries of field recordings made around the world. They forego processing the raw sound materials with software or hardware, and instead strive to create compelling juxtapositions of everyday and esoteric sounds, forming surreal multi-layered soundscapes in real time. While even within the group opinions vary as to whether or not they make “music,” they all agree that their unusual approach implicitly honors the core of jazz and all improvised music through its emphasis on empathic listening and spontaneous response.