The inspired trombonist Christian Pincock spins jazz, classical music, folk music, and sound effects through a conducted improv sign language called Soundpainting. His ensemble of fine Seattle improvisers helps him to create distinctive works which have included reinterpretations of The Nutcracker Suite and ’80s pop love songs. His relatable collages are imbued with unexpected juxtapositions. Joining Christian Pincock are: Brian Bermudez (saxophone, clarinet, flute), Neil Welch (saxophone), Jeremy Shaskus (saxophone), Evan Woodle (drums), Steve Meyer, Peter Tracy (cello), Jenny Ziefel (saxophone, clarinet), Steve Treseler (saxophone), Greg Campbell (drums), Peter Nelson-King (trumpet, piano), Rocky Martin (drums), Carol Levin (harp), and Haley Freedlund (trombone).

(photo: Mark Chavez)

Presented by Nonsequitur in cooperation with Earshot Jazz Festival.

*Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Masks are strongly encouraged indoors unless actively eating or drinking. Policy subject to change. Full policy here.

Seattle’s Striking Music is a hybrid percussion ensemble focused on blending lights and sounds into an immersive counterpoint, featuring percussionists Storm Benjamin, Rebekah Ko, and James Doyle, alongside sound designer Benjamin Marx and lighting designer Kevin Blanquies.

Their original music draws equally from minimalist percussion traditions and DIY mentalities, with handmade instruments and bespoke lighting sculptures. Through painstaking revision, the music and light design are developed concurrently, where one is always in service to the other. Classically trained and endlessly curious, their work is equal parts theater and concert experience.

Curated by Leanna Keith for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series.

Benoît Pioulard, Hotel Neon, Viul and Natasha El-Sergany present a night of atmospheric music featuring guitar, voice, and electronic instrumentation.

Benoît Pioulard is the primary audiovisual project of Brooklyn-based (ex-Seattle) Thomas Meluch. With six LPs on the renowned kranky imprint, as well as a catalog of works for Universal (UK), Morr Music (DE) and others, he has constructed a unique aesthetic steeped in the textures of analog decay and pop song structure using chiefly guitar, piano and tape processing. He has also built an extensive archive of Polaroid photographs (many of which grace his album covers), the first official collection of which is the hardcover book “Sylva”, released in 2019. For live performances Meluch constructs towering loops, seamlessly weaving in gentle guitar-and-voice songs for hypnotic, unbroken sets typically backdropped by film work from like-minded visual artists.

Hotel Neon is the Philadelphia-based trio of Michael Tasselmyer, Andrew Tasselmyer, and Steven Kemner. Together they create music to get lost in: cavernous, reverberating guitars and synthesizers, matched with visual projections in an immersive audio/visual experience. Since forming in early 2013, the group has released nine full-length studio albums and several EPs. Hotel Neon has toured and collaborated with the likes of Benoit Pîoulard, The Sight Below, Simon Scott, and Marcus Fischer, filling everything from living rooms to cathedrals with their densely layered walls of sound.

Viul is a Brooklyn-based composer and ambient musician. His latest release is Konec (A Strangely Isolated Place, 2022), a collaboration with Benoît Pioulard written and recorded in the earliest days of the pandemic and imbued with the concurrent dread, stillness and strange beauty of an abruptly-halted world. Viul’s previous releases include Bright Decline (Disques d’Honoré, 2019) and Outside the Dream World (Past Inside the Present, 2019). 

Natasha El-Sergany, singer-songwriter for the kosmiche-driven band somesurprises, returns to her bedroom roots for a solo ambient guitar and voice project finding beauty in repetition, droning swells, and melodies evocative of the calm waters of quiet conversation that belie the ocean of feeling underneath.

Born and raised in Seattle, Tom Swafford left home in 1991 and lived in Seattle again from 2002-2007. During that time, Tom formed many connections in Seattle’s vibrant creative music and arts community.  He began working with Butoh artist Vanessa Skantze in the group Death Posture. In their duo work over the years, they developed a unique and powerful language connecting sound and physical gesture. He played with Jesse Canterbury in the double violin/double clarinet quartet Cipher (with Tari Nelson-Zagar and Greg Sinibalidi), and in the Tone Action Orchestra (as well as various ad hoc groups) with Jim Knodle and Greg Campbell. His experience during those Seattle years was essential to his development as a player. 

He moved to NYC in 2007 and in 2021 he relocated to Providence, RI. His new album, Rough Spaces, was recorded in Boston in the spring of 2021 and beautifully mastered by Mell Dettmer. With this album, he feels he has finally arrived at a distinct solo voice and he is excited to share it! He’ll be joined by Vanessa, Jesse, Jim, Greg, and percussionist Eveline Müller.

An evening of musical improvisation informed by experience and exchange across the sonic voices of five unique performers. 

Max Kutner is a guitarist/composer originally from Las Vegas, NV and currently based in Brooklyn, NY.

Aniela Perry is a cellist/bassist who has worked with artists across a diverse spectrum of styles including Amanda Palmer, Jherek Bishoff and Vinny Golia.

Saxophonist Neil Welch is a Seattle-based acoustic and electronic artist who is one of the co-founders of the long-running improvisation concert series Racer Sessions as well as the duo Bad Luck with Chris Icasiano.

Simon Henneman is a guitarist, improviser and instrument-builder who is a member of several notable Seattle-based bands including Contraband Countryband and Diminished Men.

Bill Horist is a multi-instrumentalist, noted improvisor and composer that has performed his work across the US, Mexico, Europe, Japan and Central America.

These five artists will perform in novel solo, duo, trio and full quintet contexts across two sets. They have never all been in the same room before.

Sorry, this show is sold out.

Drum Orbit is a new experimental quintet led by turntable artist and producer Vitamin D, featuring Kassa Overall on drums, Darrius Willrich on keys, Evan Flory-Barnes on bass, and Gerson Zaragoza on guitar. Our mission is to expose music lovers to new ways of looking at music while acknowledging ancestral traditions and rhythms.

When you think of musical instruments you might think of string instruments, like violins or guitars. Some people think of wind instruments, such as flutes and horns, while others appreciate pianos and drums. Before a guitar was an instrument it started as a string. We know that a string alone is hardly a musical instrument, but when you add tension and amplification you create musical tones. With human ingenuity and applied musical sensibility, a string can become the most beautiful sound you have ever heard.

Drum Orbit takes this theory and applies it to turntables. By itself, a turntable is a means to play pre-recorded music. We, Drum Orbit, view turntables as an apparatus for generating tone, melody, and rhythm as well as an improvisational tool of expression.

We invite you to experience this new and experimental approach to musical improvisation.

Curated by Carlos Snaider as part of Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series, presented in cooperation with Earshot Jazz Festival.

Ben McAllister (Guitar Cult, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Medicine Hat, Tuktu) brings his unique musical language to two sets: a solo set involving projected notation and homebrewed software slicing-and-dicing, then an hour of audience collaboration which will result in 3 (or more) new compositions, education and, potentially, enlightenment. Bring your voice or another unamplified pitch-making apparatus.

“This night is about exploring a line between planning and spontaneous. In lockdown, I really got into music notation in a way I hadn’t before, and so many questions arose. Why do I write and read music? Does it serve anyone besides me? If I die tomorrow, will the notation hint at the sounds I have in my head? This kind of thing.

The solo half of the set won’t be 100% improv or 100% planned, but somewhere in between. You’ll see some visuals that may help you see where my heads is at while I play. In the second half, we’ll switch gears as I guide you through a little bit of my thinking in notating and organizing sound, then we will use a few of these guides to make some music as a group.”

The Seattle-based viola and piano duo presents an intriguing program exploring the idea of transformation through the works of Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, Brazilian-American composer Clarice Assad, British-American composer Rebecca Clarke, and Estonian composer Arvo Pärt. These composers’ works approach the concept of transformation from different angles. Some troubling and challenging, some joyful and transcendent, some wandering and searching and at last finding comfort.

Violist Erin Wight is an active chamber musician and avid performer of new music. Giving performances the New York Times describes as “surehanded,” “engrossing” and “rich,” she has appeared as a contemporary music soloist on four continents. Deeply committed to community engagement, Erin has been a Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a Curriculum Specialist for The Juilliard School’s Global K-12 Programs, Erin develops music curriculum and supports its use in schools across Southeast Asia. When not performing in stadiums, orchestra pits, or cozy venues across Seattle, Erin also enjoys exploring American Roots music and expanding her fiddling chops by jamming with friends.

Taiwan-born pianist Michelle Huang has a rewarding career as a dynamic soloist and chamber musician. Described as a pianist with much sensibility and nuance, she is equally at home performing music ranging from the esteemed masters to the novel voices. A devoted educator, Michelle held teaching positions at Edward Waters College and Virginia Commonwealth University. Currently, she maintains a vibrant teaching studio in Seattle.

James Falzone presents a solo performance on clarinets, piano, penny whistles, shruti box, and bells, in celebration of his new release, So Far Still, which was recorded by Steve Peters at the Chapel as part of the Wayward in Limbo series. Joining James will be spoken word artist Omar Willey. 

So Far Still marks Falzone’s 15th release on his Allos Documents label and the 2nd documentation of his solo performances, which he has toured throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. The 10 improvisations making up So Far Still reflect concepts of limbo, suspension, stillness, and restlessness, all familiar emotions during the pandemic lockdowns. 

(photo: Shaya Lyon)

Inspired by a variety of collaborations over the past few years, specifically outdoor performances on the beaches of Shoreline, Michael Shannon, David Stanford, and Joey Largent will come together for an evening of continuous improvisatory amplified drone music. All of their collaborations thus far have been to accompany dance, but this evening will offer an exploration into the deeper subtleties of sonic exploration. Using a very simplified setup, the performance will feature Michael on amplified erhu, David on amplified guitar, and Joey on amplified cello. 

The performance will last 1-3 hours without pause. Come to rest, dance, listen. 

Michael Shannon is a sound/recording artist, musician, photographer, and performer of experimental media, based in Seattle. He began performing in the punk clubs of San Francisco in the late 1970’s evolving performance and sound designs through various venues and media, specializing in the use of a variety of string instruments from Asia, field recordings, percussion, sound objects, electro-acoustic strings, and electronics. In San Francisco, he started Joy Street Studios, the name for all of his sound art productions and his studio in 1983 to the present. First releases of audio works in the form of cassettes began in 1987, followed by an LP Laguz on Anomalous Records and CDs on various labels around the world. Presently a member of Seattle-based performing/recording groups Gyre, Eye Music, Yuan, Echore, Aono Jikken Ensemble, Animist Orchestra, Broken Mask (Seattle-San Francisco). Previous San Francisco bands: Appliances, Kahunas, KuKuKu, Earnerve, Joyo, Lethal Gospel.

Originally from Massachusetts, David Stanford’s music includes creating soundtracks, electronic and classical. He studied at Cornish College of the Arts. David has played with Brendan Murray, Jason Lescalleet, Animist Orchestra, Eye Music and Gyre.

Joey Largent’s work focuses on exploring long-duration compositions and improvisations for acoustic ensembles and solo performance. Beyond generating music alone, his goal is to offer a space for introspection, beauty, and connection. Through site-specific performances and field recording, he seeks to connect daily experience more profoundly with the impermanent harmony of the natural world. He has collaborated with numerous dancers, musicians, and interdisciplinary artists over the years, and has studied North Indian Classical singing with several disciples of Pandit Pran Nath, including Michael Harrison, La Monte Young, and Rose Okada.

(Photo by Briana Jones, July 2nd, 2022 – Richmond Beach with Joan Laage and Katrina Wolfe)