Davu Seru – percussion
Milo Fine – B flat/E flat/alto clarinets

Squid Fist – percussion, voice, electronics
Bryce Beverlin II
Tim Glenn
Casey Deming

KAMAMA
Audrey Chen (Baltimore, MD) – cello, voice, electronics
Luca Marini (New York, NY) – drums, percussion

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Kamama in Cherokee means both elephant and butterfly. There is no overlap in meaning other than the supposed resemblance of the long trunk and flapping ears to the proboscis and wings of that insect. This duo loosely embodies elements of this kind of disparate pairing. Chen and Marini combine the raw energies resultant from and continuously growing out of their respective histories and experiences. Since their first encounter early this year in 2010, they have been forming a new language which steadily deepens, evolves, converges and exposes their inherent similarities and striking differences. It is ecstatic music; it is contrary music; and at times they depart completely from one another as two distinct creatures, but then are drawn back into the fold of an undeniable tenderness and comprehension.

Audrey Chen is a Chinese-American musician who was born into a family of material scientists, doctors and engineers, outside of Chicago in 1976. Parting ways with the family convention, she turned to the cello at age 8 and voice at 11. After years of classical and conservatory training in both instruments, with a resulting specialization in early and new music, she parted ways again in 2003 to begin new negotiations with sound in order to discover a more individually honest aesthetic.

Now, using the cello, voice and analog electronics, Chen’s work delves deeply into her own version of narrative and non-linear storytelling. A large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is extremely personal and visceral. Her playing explores the combination and layering of a homemade analog synthesizer, preparations and traditional and extended techniques in both the voice and cello. She works to join these elements into a singular ecstatic personal language.

Recently, her primary focus has been her SOLO project but she is also involved in many various collaborations. Among musicians, she has worked with Phil Minton, Tetuzi Akiyama, Toshimaru Nakamura, Ko Ishikawa, Elliott Sharp, Aki Onda, Phill Niblock, Frederic Blondy, Jerome Noetinger, C. Spencer Yeh, Alessandro Bosetti, Mats Gustafsson, Mazen Kerbaj, Michael Zerang, Tatsuya Nakatani, Le Quan Ninh, Joe Mcphee, Susan Alcorn, Michele Doneda, Paolo Angeli, Gianni Gebbia, plus many more.

Some current projects include: duos with Phil Minton, Luca Marini (kamama), Frederic Blondy, Robert van Heumen (abattoir), Katt Hernandez (Isabel), Nate Wooley (heave and shudder), and Id M Theft Able. Trio with Nate Wooley and C. Spencer Yeh. Plus three new quartet projects with Jeff Carey/Morten J. Olsen/Raed Yassin, Miya Masaoka/Hans Grusel/Kenta Nagai and also with Frederic Blondy/Michael Johnsen/Jerome Noetinger.

Chen has performed in Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada and the USA. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD USA but primarily maintains an active touring schedule throughout Europe.

For more information, sound clips and video:
here

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Luca Marini is a German/Italian drummer who mostly grew up in France and is now based in New York. After studying jazz and improvised music at various conservatories and music colleges in Europe and North America, he developed his own language and approach to percussion while living in Berlin.

He performed and toured in Europe and North America playing improvised music, jazz, rock and electronic music with bands and artists like the GRIPI collective, SONIDO13, INEZEBA, Spyros Manesis trio, Nicolas Masson, Roberto Pianca, Tom Blancarte, Dario Fariello, Matan Gov Ari, Louise D.E. Jensen, Johannes Lauer, Raoul van der Weide, Wanja Slavin, Filippo Giuffré, Gael Navard and Natalio Sued.

Current bands include the duo HERBERT ECKARDT with Danish saxophonist Louise D.E. Jensen, the duo BLIN with Dutch guitarist Jasper Stadhouders, KAMAMA with Chinese-American cellist and vocalist Audrey Chen, CAVEX from Brooklyn, The LITTLE from Germany and TATUNE from France. Other collaborations include works with Matt Meade, Kenny Warren, Tom Blancarte, Xavier Lopez, Vilijam Nybacka, John Stanesco, JMSU, and Frans van der Hoeven.

For more information and sound clips:
here

Davu Seru cello
Naomi Joy violin
Daniel Furuta cello
Elaine Evans violin

Tim Glenn & Jon Davis

Jesse Petersen & Sean Smuda guitars

Ryan Reber: soprano sax
Milo Fine: B flat clarinet
Elaine Evans: acoustic violin

Aerosol Pike + 5
Philip Mann: alto sax, bass clarinet, drum set
Ryan Reber: soprano sax
Rick Ness: drum set, B flat clarinet, alto sax, multi-toned tenor marching bugle
Milo Fine: marimba, B flat clarinet
Davu Seru: amplified cello
Charles Gillett: guitar
Stefan Kac: tuba
Elaine Evans: amplified violin, pocket trumpet

with

Carol Genetti – voice, Chicago
Jacob Wick – trumpet, Brooklyn
Aaron Zarzutzki – no-output turntable, Chicago
Wilson Shook – alto saxophone, Seattle

_ _ _

Carol Genetti is a vocalist, composer and installation artist. Her work is
focused on the interplay between the voice as an expressive musical
instrument and its extension into the sound-making realm. She has studied
a variety of techniques including Western singing, Hindustani classical
voice and Bulgarian folk music. Through these studies and her own
explorations, she has developed a personal yet universal palette that is
an abstraction of “extended” voice sounds — breaths, overtones, and
disconnected textual bits, squeaks, growls, non-verbal tones – sounds that
evoke unconscious emotions and human physicality.
info

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Jacob Wick was born near Chicago, IL in 1985. An “edgy, fiercely smart
improviser” (Philadelphia Weekly), who Downbeat calls “exciting and
curious,” his playing has been described as everything from “inhuman”
(Chicago Reader) to “a Shakespeare soliloquy” (allaboutjazz.com).

As a composer, performer, and improviser, his goal is not necessarily to
cross boundaries, but rather to inhabit and exploit them. To this end, he
leads or co-leads several groups, all exploring the soft tissue that binds
genres, forms, and practices.

Jacob’s visit to minneapolis coincides with the final leg of his project
“ROAD TRIP: drawing a perimeter of the united states”. more details about
ROAD TRIP may be found at here
info

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Aaron Zarzutzki is a improviser of various sorts. He works primarily with
misuse and perversion of objects and systems. Virtuosity, volatility,
futility, and capability are thought of. Zarzutzki currently lives, works,
and plays in Chicago.
info

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Wilson Shook is an improvising saxophonist living in Seattle, Washington.

Wilson’s music emphasizes focus, texture, chance and exploration. It
exists in dialogue with its specific and contingent contexts; it is ‘new
music’ in that it explores each new moment and seeks to develop a critical
awareness of the present. Perhaps better characterized as ‘present
music’, it is less concerned with staking out new musical territory than
it is with creating relevant and personal communication that places equal
value on intention and sensitivity.

Wilson is the director of Gallery 1412, an artists’ collective and
performance space, and is a member of the Seattle Improvised Music board
of directors.

Charles Gillett (guitar) & Stefan Kac (tuba)

Jaron Childs (alto saxophone) & Jesse Petersen (guitar)

George Cartwright (saxophones) & Davu Seru (percussion)