Racer Session #324 | Heather Bentley | May 15, 2016
We're so pleased to welcome violist and composer Heather Bentley to present at the Racer Sessions this Sunday. Heather is a longtime member of the Seattle music community, a tireless creator of sound and a revered teacher of music. Read her thoughts on this week's presentation below:
"Hi Racer Sessions!
I am so honored to be curating this week. Thank you, Neil. As many of you know, I am from the world of classical music, and I started improvising as a way of healing from the abusiveness of the classical profession. This was back in the 90’s. The one person in the world who most encouraged me and also got me my very first non-classical gig at a cafe in Berkeley is my dear friend Philippe Lavoipierre. When I was trying to get out of the written-note box, Philippe would sit and play standards with me and even marvel at my note-reading chops. Which of course seemed ridiculous to me because reading notes is so easy, right?? I have always been stunned by his ability to play for hours on end in complete sentences and paragraphs. We have an ongoing conversation (in words) about music, and when we find ourselves in the same geography, we play, and there isn’t a language barrier. Philippe lives in Barcelona and is often sailing any of the seven seas but Sunday, May 15 he is in Seattle and we will play our jam at Cafe Racer. He’s from jazz, I’m from classical. He’s an electric guitarist, I’m an acoustic violist. He’s a world traveler, I’m a homebody. When we play together, it just clicks and it’s like we found our mutual home planet. As much as anything, this session is about friendship, and the way love makes our music lives work out, because there can be a lot more thin than thick.
In the responding improvisations, I simply encourage everyone to appreciate what an incredible community we have here, because Racer Sessionistas are so aware of the rare beauty of true listening."
Heather Bentley (viola) and Philippe Lavoipierre (guitar) performed an improvisation.
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Improv 1: David (drums), John Broback (electronics), Andrew Olmstead (piano), Jeremy Gonzalez (alto sax)
Improv 2: Taylor King (drums), Michaud Savage (acoustic guitar), Philippe Lavoipierre (electric guitar)
Improv 3: Samuel A Crome (alto sax and aluminum foil)
Improv 4: Haley Freedlund (trombone), Keeli McCarthy (drums), Chris Cole (cornet), Ronni Berger (flute)
Improv 5: Geoff Traeger (clarinet), Evan Woodle (drums)
Improv 6: Samuel A Crome (alto sax), Cameron Sharif (piano), Michelle Hutchinson (drums)
Improv 7: Daniel Webbon (drums), Taylor King (guitar), John Broback (electronics)
Improv 8: Haley Freedlund (trombone), Steve Treseler (tenor sax), Andrew Olmstead (piano)
Improv 9: Keeli McCarthy (drums), Michaud Savage (acoustic guitar), Ronni Berger (flute), Chris Cole (cornet), Philippe Lavoipierre (electric guitar)