Eric Barber: Solo & Trio

Saxophonist Eric Barber presents new solo works for saxophone as well as trio improvisations featuring Paul Kemmish, bass, and Paul Kikuchi, percussion. This concert will showcase Eric's deep, personal sound world with complex rhythms and meters. Eric has performed and recorded with many luminaries of new and improvised music, as well as forged world music hybrid ensembles with musicians from Bulgaria, India, Indonesia, and Iran. He is the recipient of the 2009 Earshot Golden Ear Award for Outstanding Jazz Instrumentalist of the year. His main ensemble, the Ziggurat Quartet, just released their first CD, Calculated Gestures, on Origin Records.

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Brazilian pianist Ruth Serrão

Presented by Nonsequitur. Brazilian pianist Ruth Serrão performs a solo program of rarely-heard contemporary music by composers from Brazil: Heitor Villa-Lobos' Prelúdio, Claudia Caldeira's Pra Piano #1, Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes' Ciclo #3, Cesar Guerra-Peixe's The Spotted Cat and Maiden Swallow (a love story) and Five Tropical Preludes.

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Raymond MacDonald plus 4

World-renowned alto saxophonist from Scotland Raymond MacDonald performs with four of Seattle's finest improvisers: Paul Hoskin, reeds; Tari Nelson-Zagar, violin; Lori Goldston, cello; Greg Campbell, percussion.

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Pulses: an evening of minimalism

Saxophonist/composer Ryan Marsh presents a program showcasing music of the minimalist era, and original new works that share a similar style and approach; music by John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and the premier of Marsh’s own Death and the Angel. Performers include Nicole Barnes, Jay Easton, Scott Granlund, and Bryan Smith (saxophones); Akiko Iguchi (piano); Mary Ellen Hodges and Pam Moser (marimbas); and live painting by local artist Gail Baker.

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Michael Pisaro (ensemble)

Presented by Nonsequitur & Seattle Improvised Music.

Tyler Wilcox, Gust Burns, Mara Sedlins, John Teske, Wilson Shook, and other Seattle improvisers perform selections from Michael Pisaro's harmony series.

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Michael Pisaro (solo)

Michael Pisaro performs the North American premiere of a new composition for solo guitar and sine waves, fields have ears (6). Guitarist/composer Michael Pisaro (born 1961, Buffalo, NY) is currently on the composition faculty at Cal Arts. A member of the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble, he has composed over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations, including several pieces for variable instrumentation. Most of his music of the last several years is published by Edition Wandelweiser (Germany).

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Pran (Greg Powers & Stuart Dempster)

Pran celebrates the release of their new CD, Traveler's Todi. This unique brass duo performs the East Indian style of Dhrupad. Greg Powers is a pioneer in adapting Indian music to the trombone, and is the only trombonist in the world performing this ancient style of music. Stuart Dempster provides the centering drone on his big brass didjeridu. While the instruments are western, they remain true to the Dagarbhani School of Dhrupad.

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Joe McPhee

Presented by Nonsequitur as part of a nation-wide celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Improvisor magazine, the international journal of free improvisation. Free jazz saxophone/trumpet legend Joe McPhee plays a very rare Seattle solo show dedicated to the memory of two recently departed giants of the music, Bill Dixon and Fred Anderson.

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Pulse Emitter + Stella Haze + Spare Death Icon

Gift Tapes presents SYNTH NIGHT 3, an evening of meditative music showcasing distinct minimalist synth works by three NW artists: Pulse Emitter is the synthesizer music of Portland's Daryl Groetsch. Seattle-based Cristin Miller Stella Haze uses vocals as a central element in her sound, weaving thick fields of synthesizer and effects to create dreamy, minimalist soundworlds. Spare Death Icon is one of several solo projects by Seattle's Jason E. Anderson, recalling the atmospheric zones of early new age pioneers and early 80's underground tape music.

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Tom Varner Quintet

French horn ace Tom Varner and his four top guests — Chris Fagan, alto sax, Eric Barber, tenor sax, Phil Sparks, bass, Byron Vannoy, drums — present an evening of summer sound meditations, new works, selections from Tom's new tentet CD Heaven and Hell, and at least two works — Heaps and TVTV — from Tom's very first recording.

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