Ray Larsen photo by Daniel Sheehan

April 25-27, 7:30pm
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center

The University of Washington’s Improvised Music Project (IMP) produces their annual festival, April 25-27, at the Chapel Performance Space.

Ted Poor photo by Daniel Sheehan

The 2013 lineup, announced in March to a packed house at UW’s Parnassus Cafe, during IMP’s monthly showcase, features Bill Frisell, making his second appearance at the event, and UW faculty members Cuong Vu and Ted Poor and bassist Eric Revis reprising the trio Triggerfish, with an ensemble of jazz studies students.

Headlining the event’s final evening is record label Table & Chairs group King Tears Bat Trip, who will bring their drum-set arsenal to the reverberant walls of the Chapel Performance Space. Born out of Haitian voodoo rhythms, the ensemble features at least three percussionists, while Luke Bergman, on guitar, and saxophonist Neil Welch bark out folk-like melodies that channel the spirit of Albert Ayler. Sonically powerful and at times hypnotic, the group also boasts Brandon Lucia’s unique light-based Chango instrument, which converts patterns of light into sound in a process akin to a modern update to the theremin.

Table & Chairs artists frequently collaborate with the IMP, as many former IMP members are instrumental in the operations of the expanding record label. Abbey Blackwell, UW bassist and a publicist for both the IMP and T&C, sees the ongoing partnership between the organizations as a way to further innovative music in the Seattle jazz community. “The aims of both institutions are the same,” Blackwell notes. “We want to create performance opportunities for creative music while developing new audiences that love this music as much as we do.”

Indeed, it was the desire to expand the visibility of the progressive music being created in the basement of the UW music building that spawned the Improvised Music Project five years ago. Encouraged by professor Cuong Vu, UW jazz studies students registered a student organization for the purpose of promoting improvisation and modern composition on and around campus. The first IMP festival, held in May 2009, featured nine different bands comprised of UW students and alumni playing at three different venues in the University District. With ongoing support from the UW School of Music and DXARTS program, the series has continued to grow and has featured a number of prominent national artists in past years, including saxophonists Tim Berne, Andrew D’Angelo and George Garzone, as well as trumpeter Ralph Alessi.

Today, in addition to the annual festival, the group produces monthly concerts in the U-District, while organizing on-campus jam sessions and collaborations with other arts groups at the university.

Staying true to the nature of the group’s mission, the opening acts for the 2013 festival rely heavily on both past and present IMP members. Kicking off the festival will be the quirky and precise trio Insistent Caterpillars, featuring keyboardist Cameron Sharif, bassist Carmen Rothwell and drummer Evan Woodle. On Friday, saxophonist Levi Gillis’ Sequoia Ensemble makes its third appearance at the festival, utilizing an octet to explore tone colors through a mix of composition and collective improvisation.

Beginning Saturday’s concert is trumpeter and UW alumnus Ray Larsen, with a septet performing his “How Glass Is Made.” Highly programmatic, the composition evokes a musical depiction of an encyclopedic entry on glass-making from the turn of the 20th century. Larsen writes that throughout the piece “the listener is presented with an ever-evolving mixture of dense composition, hypnotic pulse, exploratory improvisation and spacious polyphony.” 

“We’re proud to once again host such a strong lineup that showcases the talents of our members alongside musical innovators on both the local and national scenes,” Blackwell says. 

IMPFest 2013 will continue the strong tradition that has helped to cultivate one of the hidden gems of the Seattle jazz community.

More information at www.improvisedmusicproject.com

Admission is $5-$15, suggested donation at the door