Carol J. Levin has established a unique niche as Seattle’s improvising harpist, playing with small and large ensembles including CHA, Levitation, Christian Pincock’s Scrambler, Beth Fleenor’s Blindfold Ensemble, Spontanea, Women’s Rockin Blues, and Steve Treseler’s Game Symphony Workshop. Carol’s music is full of surprises with styles varying from beautiful melodic lines to challenging and experimental tangents with electronic effects and loops, often incorporating percussion and instruments from other cultures. She has recorded with CHA (Remembering Backward) and Spontanea (Flow, Chromasonic, Quintaphonic) on Right Brain Records.

Susie Kozawa, a sound artist, composer and performer, works mostly with sound collages and site-specific installations, in which the gathering of sounds is a primary activity. She explores different acoustic spaces using musical instruments she makes out of found objects, kelp, modified toys and human voice. She is a member of the Seattle Phonographers Union and creates sound design for dance, film and theater productions. Susie was featured in Wayward in Limbo #42.

Carol and Susie reconnected recently playing in an outdoor Flowerpot Music ensemble on Make Music Day 2021. They both find joy in exploring sounds from strings, sticks, toys and random resonant objects, and are thrilled to emerge from pandemic isolation to record an improvised duo in the Chapel.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Jonathan Way plays field recordings with the Seattle Phonographers Union and graphic scores with Eye Music, translates Japanese, and films eastern cottontails.

Forest Floors is made of textural improvisations with wild plants recorded in July 2021 at three locations from Seattle into the North Cascades. All recordings were made with a portable Edirol recorder using built-in mics and are presented in three mixes with no processing, effects or EQ adjustments.

(00:00) Above Duwamish Head in the Clarmar woods – 108 ft elev.
horsetail & thimbleberry
blackberry & coltsfoot
knotweed & twinberry honeysuckle

(16:00) Above Ruby Arm west of Panther Cr – 2,000 ft elev.
pipsissewa & starflower
bracken fern & serviceberry
devil’s club & cascade oregon grape

(20:10) South slopes of Crooked Bum above the Bridge Cr drainage – 5,300–5,600 ft elev.
red elderberry & alpine goldenrod
sitka alder & lady fern
subalpine fir & mountain teaberry
devil’s club & trailing black currant
{ hermit thrush & distant bear – in memory of Amy M (1970–2020) & Kyle T (1970–2021) }

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Torch is a new music quartet dedicated to pushing the boundaries of new music, improvisation, and genre. “Torch” is a reference to Tomas Mann’s aesthetic mantra proclaiming, “Art is the sacred torch that must shed its merciful light into all life’s terrible depths.” The Torch Collective is a project of Common Tone Arts, a non-profit organization inspiring positive change for our diverse world through arts education and creative music.

This program consists of three premieres:

Lightbearer (2021), by Nansi Caroll

Hearing Troublesome Creek (2021), by Bonnie Whiting

Three Dances (2020), by Ed Castro
1 – Vitrics
2 – Vocalise
3 – Deconstructed Merengue

Performed by the Torch Quartet: Brian Kai Chin, trumpet; Eric Likkel, clarinet; Bonnie Whiting, vibes & percussion; Steve Schermer, bass.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

After seven years as a rock bassist and singer, Lu Evers switched to reeds, and began studying jazz with Al Hood’s Workshop in Seattle, 1974. Then they joined a spinoff group, Holus Bolus, and dove deeper into composition. Over the next two decades they led several small groups, including a celebrated quintet featuring Jim Knodle and Jack Endino, continuing focus on free jazz compositions and ideas from rock, blues and Eastern European folk sources. While in New York in the early 2000s, Lu performed with Willie Davis, Victor Prieto, the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, and an original trio with Nick Russo and Debbie Kennedy. Since that time there has been an even stronger focus on original material. Lu (clarinet) is joined here by Amy Denio (accordion) and Matty Noble (fiddle).

Red Leaf was inspired by a trip to Vancouver, B.C., to attend a concert by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. It was not only that great group, but the vibrant Vancouver Jazz Society that helped to spawn these ideas. This pared down version is designed especially for this trio. Mood is the central component, with melodic drifts swirling, thick dissonant clusters from the accordion, and a blend of middle eastern and jazz lines.

Crawdad Pool is a hard folksy funk drawing from Perry Robinson’s early work. In this case, we develop ideas from the melody alone, with no parts written. The title refers to an activity of my youth, catching crawdads with my bare hand.

The third piece, Eve 6, was created nearly out of thin air after re-watching an episode of The X Files. The performance of Harriet Harris was transfixing, and this title was her character’s name. Long, patient lines from the clarinet and the fiddle, with minor second harmonies, are supported with extreme minimalism from the accordion. The patience and minimalism continues into an open-ended group improvisation. The tension and release, exhibited so piercingly by Ms. Harris’ performance, is being illustrated and honored here.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

I’m Ben McAllister, a composer and guitarist based in Seattle. I’ve played with a string of boundary-pushing groups including Medicine Hat, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Wizard Prison, C’mon C’mon and Tuktu. I co-host the Articulations podcast w/Joshua Kohl. I’m the founder of the Guitar Cult, my current focus, a 7-piece electric guitar group interpreting my pieces. I’m an obsessive journaler and recordist, and have contributed to somewhere north of 30 releases to date, including my Karl-Ove-Knausgård-inspired My Sounds sound journal series, released through Bandcamp.

I am so happy and humbled to be part of the Wayward In Limbo series, right as we’re getting back out of our caves. Thank you all for sharing. Like a lot of us, Covid focus time has healed me in surprising ways, helped me focus my signal where I want it to go, and reminded me of the kind of life I want to live. These pieces are all explorations with guitar sound from this last immersive year – some guitar trios, some explorations w/Paul Vo’s Wond (a variation on the E-bow), and a piece of software I’ve been working on for years which I’ve named the Circular 4-track. I love playing my guitar. RIP EVH.

1. Call (0:00)
2. Index Study – Pulses (2:05)
3. Bach BMV 358 (2:34)
4. Index Study – Respiration (5:05)
5. Carmina Chromatico (Orlando DiLasso, from Prophetiae Sibyllarum) (7:06)
6. Index Study – What happens when the beat drops (9:38)
7. Land Bridge Approach (11:08)
8. Piano Smells Ok (18:27)
9. The Rock (22:05)
10. Ascending Injected (26:27)
11. Mandala Drafts (35:29)

More detail is available here.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Kyte Mika is a pianist/composer born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and based in Seattle for the last 6 years. By combining techniques and influences from post classical, ambient and progressive electronica genres, Kyte weaves together intimate and engaging stories through sound. You are welcome to help support Kyte by donations through Venmo: @flyakyte

These are some solo piano selections from Kyte’s upcoming project called “Mend”. Most of these were written during the pandemic, a couple others pieced together slowly from the last 10 years. The final versions will include some chamber/instrumental accompaniments and electronic treatments.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Greg Campbell plays drums, percussion, French horn, and other instruments. He works in the broader jazz and classical traditions, performing with groups ranging from the Seattle Modern Orchestra to Wayne Horvitz’s Electric Circus, and with artists such as steel pan virtuoso Ray Holman, Eyvind Kang, Ali Birra, Vinny Golia, Lori Goldston, Christian Asplund, Nels Cline, and James Falzone. His studies with Asante palmwine guitarist Koo Nimo led him to Ghana in 2017; he has worked with Koo Nimo’s son Yaw Amponsah in the traditional Asante drumming group Anokye Agofomma for more than twenty years. Greg teaches at the Cornish College of the Arts and at Cascadia College.

“The Simultonality Endeavor”

In each of these improvised pieces, I play two different instruments at the same time. Since many of these pairs contain instruments with different playing techniques and pitch ordering methods, I was interested to see how my attention as an improviser would be focused and/or divided. I owe a debt of gratitude for inspiring my approach here to multi-instrumentalists Jerome Cooper (especially his 1979 album “The Unpredictability Of Predictability”) and Roscoe Mitchell.

Each instrument pairing is dedicated to spirits who left us lately but way too soon:

G bugle and drum set (to Patrick Campbell); French horn and resonant metals (to Paul Taub); kpanlogo drum and drum set (to Bill Withers); vibraphone and cornet (to Bill Smith); French horn and toy electric saxophone (to Mohammed Shaibu); orchestra chimes and vibraphone (to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and many thousands gone).

(00:00) Chimes & Vibraphone 1
(03:18) Bugle & Drum Set 1
(05:22) French Horn & Toy Electric Sax
(09:32) Chimes & Vibraphone 2
(14:11) Kpanlogo Drum & Drum Set
(17:56) Bugle & Drum Set 2
(19:07) Chimes & Vibraphone 3
(25:57) Cornet & Vibraphone
(30:19) French Horn & Resonant Metals

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Marcin Pączkowski (pronounced `marr-cheen pawnch-`koav-skee) is a composer, conductor, digital artist and performer, working with both traditional and electronic media. As a composer, he is focused on developing new ways of creating and performing computer music. He is a Postdoctoral Scholar at DXARTS and works with numerous ensembles as a conductor and a performer.

MMM #1

In an attempt to escape the reality of this past year, I can’t help but be amazed by the fact that we as humans can now listen to sounds recorded on another planet. MMM #1 (working title: “Marcin’s Martian Music”), uses solely sound samples sent back from Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover. These sounds were edited and transformed into larger structures with a custom live-controlled computer music system, which then became the basis for the final electroacoustic work. This piece was created with support from DXARTS.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Jesse Canterbury (clarinet) has played and composed new music for years, focusing mainly on improvised music, avant-jazz, and new chamber music.

Like every musician I know, I have sorely missed being able to make and hear music with real live people in the same room during the past 18 months or so. At the same time, there are many things about music-making that are solitary in nature — practicing, composing, studying, and to some extent, listening — so that staying at home doesn’t mean you stop making music.

This half-hour’s worth of layered clarinet sounds is my effort at exploring some new (for me) “solo” territory. There are muffled screaming solos, Feldman-esque colorings, and even some poetry. Working at this material went a long way towards sustaining my sanity while muddling through the anxieties of the latter half of 2020 and the first couple months of 2021.

From Home

(0:00) 1. How Do We Spell Shadow?
(2:48) 2. Interlude
(3:55) 3. Encounter
i. Bons mots
ii. Turgid Fustian
iii. Admirable Bolete
iv. Forest Paterfamilias
(10:30) 4. Shimmer
(13:20) 5. Fog
(18:18) 6. Still
(27:22) 7. Fight and Flight

Recorded October 2020 to May 2021, by Jesse Canterbury in Shoreline, Washington.

All material © 2021 Jesse Canterbury (ASCAP), except text for Encounter, from “Woodland Trail-Troll Berserker Devil-Bear,” by David Guterson, from the book Turn Around Time, published by Mountaineers Books, Seattle. © 2019 by David Guterson. Used by kind permission of the author.

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.

Jackie An (she/they) was born and raised on the unceded land of the Pueblos (Albuquerque, New Mexico). Now residing on the ancestral lands of the Duwamish (Seattle, Washington), Jackie accompanies their audience through the themes of life, death, horror and delight through the lyrical voice of the violin. Textures created through a collection of guitar pedals are used to evoke subconscious imagery and create an interlocking auditory narrative. @circadies

In Encouragement of Impermanence (Chapel, 2021)

This piece can be used as a guided meditation on grief. As my life unfolds before me, my personhood as a neurodivergent, Korean American demifemme expands. This expansion has asked of me to engage in an ongoing process of grief in order to grow into wholeness and belonging. I have had to revisit past memories with a more generous gaze in order to become ready to let go of old beliefs and survival strategies that serve to objectify myself and others. I wanted to braid the most important life-saving strands of my life for the first time in an improvised session: Meditation, addiction recovery and music. It is my hope that this piece can be of service to you in a time of transition, change or loss.

(Photo: Steven Miller @ smiller555)

With the Chapel closed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wayward Music Series moves from the concert hall to the living room. In place of our usual ten monthly concerts, Nonsequitur is commissioning ten Seattle artists each month to create a series of streaming audio sessions of previously unreleased material.