View From The Crow's Nest

If anyone out there still disputes whether the Pacific Northwest is emerging as a significant node on the international creative music map, our June/July performance calendar should lay the issue to rest once and for all. The unprecedented bounty of world-class new-music events includes, for starters, the 15th edition of the Seattle Festival of Free Improvisation (see page 14), which over two weeks will present an amazing cast of leading improvisers from three continents alongside a healthy sampling of Northwest players. Several of these same visiting artists will also participate in the 15th du Maurier International Jazz Festival Vancouver (see page 16), which by now has firmly established itself as one of the finest annual assemblages of cutting-edge jazz musicians and free improvisers on the planet. And that's not even mentioning the six-year-old Olympia Experimental Music Festival, the Third Vancouver International New Music Festival, or the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, which features a fair smattering of "difficult" listening among its classic fare. If you only rouse yourself once this year to take in live music, let this be the month -- a few missed hours' sleep is a paltry price to pay for music of this caliber.

Tentacle Volunteers: A Farewell, an Opportunity

An extra special tip o' the Tentacle to Kathy Ramsey, who volunteered as our "Mollusk Mail" specialist for the past two years. Kathy organized our donor database and mailed out Ink editions to adventurous music lovers in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide. Kathy recently married and is moving on to different pursuits. Thanks, Kathy -- we truly appreciate your efforts!

Due to Kathy's departure, we are currently seeking a volunteer Mollusk Mail Associate to oversee Tentacle distribution to subscribers and out-of-town distributors. Please contact us at tentacle@tentacle.org if you'd like to help out by taking on this bimonthly task.

WTO, Jungle Sound Files Now Online

Readers who savored Christopher DeLaurenti and Mike Marlin's recent articles about field recording at the WTO front lines and in the Belizean rain forest, respectively, will be happy to learn that audio files from both these recordings can now be listened to online. For Christopher's N30 audio collage, visit zebox.com/artists/sonarmap.html; for Mike's clips of various jungle denizens, visit zebox.com/artists/mikemarlin.html.

Fund-a-Mental Cruise Control

We're proud to roll out another issue of the Tentacle Ink edition, but we couldn't have done it without donations from members of the Pacific Northwest music community. While we do accept advertising and are grateful to the businesses who choose to support us, our longevity ultimately depends on donations from our readership. So please consider making a donation in exchange for a Tentacle T-shirt, a year's worth of Ink delivery, or simply the satisfaction of helping this organ fly the flag of adventurous music in the Pacific Northwest.

An appreciative tip o' the Tentacle goes out to recent donors Bob Priest (who presaged this publication many years ago with his Seattle New Music Calendar), David and Jaclin Marlin, and to our Portland benefactor who wishes to remain unnamed -- your support makes a big difference!

Tentacle News

PNW Improv Discussion Group Back Online

After a several-month hiatus, the Pacific Northwest Improvised Music discussion group is back in action, now under the able stewardship of soundsmith Dave Knott. The list is an excellent way to get involved in discourse regarding the musical and extramusical ramifications of free improv; to join, just send a message to pnw-imp-mu-subscribe@egroups.com and say "subscribe," or visit the website at www.egroups.com/group/pnw-imp-mu.

Speaking of Dave Knott, the composer/instrument maker/music therapist recently presented Sonorous Palette, a collaboration with painter Russell W. Gordon, at the Deep Listening Space in Kingston, New York. Visual and aural samples of the work can be viewed on the Anomalous Records web site at www.anomalousrecords.com/not1.html

Resonant/Circuit Resumes, SIL2K Shifts

Seattle's exemplary Resonant/Circuit new-music concert series is set to resume in late June after a hiatus occasioned by the Zeitgeist Café's relocation a few doors east of its former location on South Jackson Street. Under the direction of Angelina Baldoz and Paul Hoskin, the series will kick back off by co-presenting an evening of the 15th Seattle Festival of Free Improvisation on Thursday, June 29.

In other concert series news, the excellent Strategic Improv Labs 2000 (SIL2K) series, held every Wednesday night for the past several months at Club I-Spy in downtown Seattle, has now shifted to Monday nights. The schedule change was prompted by a promoter of dance music who coveted Wednesdays and flashed enough cash to get his way. We encourage readers to support these and other risk-taking series; check the Tentacle events calendar for the latest listings.

Voices, Tones, Pulse & Drones on Hold

The excellent Voices, Tones, Pulse, and Drones new-music concert series, curated by sonic aficionado Bill Kiesel, will no longer take place at the Mercury Lounge. Fortunately, the series may soon move to a different venue and night. Check the Tentacle for details as they develop.

Venue Sought for Llahngaelhyn Reunion

At a time when Seattle has emerged as one of the hot spots for avant-garde music in the U.S., few are aware that the crucible of the local out-music scene was the fondly remembered 1960s coffeehouse The Llahngaelhyn, on the site of the present-day Romio's Pizza near the University Bridge. Hosted by pianist/bassist Jerry Heldman, the Llahngaelhyn's regular free-jazz/improv sessions were a proving ground for several Northwest players who went on to be major figures in the international modern-jazz firmament, including guitarists Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner, bassists David Friesen and Gary Peacock, wind players Carlos Ward, Walter Zuber Armstrong, and Joe Brazil (of John Coltrane Live in Seattle fame), and many others. As described by Seattle jazz scribe Paul de Barros in his excellent book Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle (Sasquatch Books), "The Llanghaelhyn scene is a kind of missing link in Seattle jazz history. For while it was a hotbed of avant-gardism and free jazz, the music played there also remained grounded in blues, bebop, and swing tradition." More than 30 years later, Heldman is busy organizing a Llangaelhyn reunion, tentatively scheduled for September, and hopes to bring back many cafe regulars for the event. Heldman is currently seeking a suitably relaxed venue, preferably a loft space, for a two- to three-day reunion. Tentacle readers with venue suggestions for this worthy event are encouraged to contact Eric Apoe at (206) 633-0670.

artsEdge Lives Again

A few months back we reported the demise of Seattle Center's three-year-old experimental arts festival, artsEdge, which had been dropped from the Seattle Center event calendar because Center officials felt it was not important enough to fund. We've recently learned that artsEdge will indeed return in 2001 after a yearlong hiatus, under the directorship of Virginia Anderson. Organizers encourage feedback from the arts community as to how the festival can be bettered, and will schedule meetings for this purpose -- we'll keep you posted.

Prisms Refracts New Music for Night Owls

In May, Puget Sound New Music audiophile Iain Edgewater debuted his new radio show Prisms, "a review (sometimes themed, sometimes not) of avant-garde 'classical' music, experimental soundscapes, and various other high points in Western art music from the twentieth century and beyond." This excellent showcase airs every Wednesday night/Thursday morning from midnight to 3 am on KBCS 91.3 FM, Bellevue/Seattle, following Peter Monaghan's superb offering Outside Jazz. Prisms program highlights for June and July 2000 include selections by Edgard Varèse, Steve Reich, James Tenney, Henry Cowell, and a myriad of other important composers. Check the Tentacle's Radio Free Improv page for details, or visit the Prisms Web site at members.xoom.com/prismshome/.

Nature Consortium Seeks Performing Artists

"The Nature Consortium, a local nonprofit environmental arts organization, is looking for performing artists to participate in our annual event: West Seattle's Art-Nature-Literature Festival, August 19 & 20, 2000, at Camp Long. We're looking for low-impact staged performances (no electric guitars) and participants for our outdoor 'Museum of Sound,' which will take place in rustic cabins throughout the park. For more info, contact us at: The Nature Consortium, Attn: Nancy Whitlock, 4210 SW Oregon St., Seattle, WA 98116; call (206) 923-0853; e-mail info@naturec.org; or visit www.naturec.org."

Wall of Sound Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Fully 10 years have passed since Mark Sullo and then-partner Eric Hoffman opened adventurous Seattle record store Wall of Sound as an offshoot of the now-defunct Art in Form bookshop. Since then, Wall of Sound has been an oasis of creative music in an otherwise parched commercial-music landscape, offering adventurous listeners hard-to-find recordings of experimental music, out jazz, free improvisation, avant rock, electronic music, Japanese weirdcore, world music, and more, plus books, periodicals, videos, and the occasional live-music event, installation, and art exhibition. Congratulations, Mark, from all of us at the Tentacle!

Farewell Patrick Barber

A fond tip o' the Tentacle to musician, writer, and organizer Patrick Barber, who recently relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue a career opportunity. During his nine years in Seattle, Patrick was a catalyst for all manner of experimental music activity -- as a member of Kalberer Hotel Supply, Blowhole, and other out-music aggregates; as founder of the fiercely uncompromising Apraxia label; as a sorely needed new/improvised music columnist for the Rocket ("Fear No Music"); as a featured vocalist in performances of works by Christian Asplund, Amy Denio, and Key Ransone; as a memorable participant in improvised game pieces such as John Zorn's Cobra and Robert Henson's Graffika; as a sound-text artist; as a co-organizer of the Seattle Improvised Music Festival and other events; and much, much more. We wish Patrick the very best in his future endeavors and hope he'll make frequent visits to the Northwest. Thanks for all you've done for the music!

Mayor Declares Free-Improv Week,
Dedicates Bailey Statue

In a gesture of appreciation for the local improvised music community, Seattle "Arts Mayor" Paul Schell declared the week of May 8-14 "Free Improvisation Week" throughout the city of Seattle. Weeklong festivities culminated with the mayor's unveiling of a brand-new statue of guitarist and British free-improv pioneer Derek Bailey in Westlake Park.

Photo: Derek Guzman

Flotsam & Jetsam

The partner of a Seattle painter and free-improv saxophonist was recently summoned for jury duty. During the screening process, she mentioned that she lived with an artist -- and was promptly rejected.

Jetsam

"An improvising musician constantly contrasts the investigative perspective with the reformulation of succesful modes: it is never a matter simply of the manipulation of connotative symbols, of channeled, vulgar spontaneity. The investigative perspective suggests searching for sounds and for responses that attach to them, rather than thinking them up, preparing and producing them. The search is conducted in the medium of sound and the musician himself is at the heart of the experiment."

-- Cornelius Cardew, Treatise Handbook, Peters Edition (1967),
as excerpted from the liner notes to AMM's Generative Themes
(Matchless Recordings, 1994)