Racer Session #341 | Nat Evans | September 11, 2016

We're joined at the Racer Sessions this Sunday by the Seattle-based composer Nat Evans. Nat will present a new piece entitled Too Old, Ghosts for saxophonist Evan Smith , adapted from an earlier piece also composed for the saxophonist. We're excited to have these two important voices of the Seattle music scene share their work with us Sunday, Sept. 11th.

Two Old Ghosts // Too Old, Ghosts

"A few years ago Evan Smith approached me to write a new piece for solo sax. At that time I was already using some guided improvisation in my work, and had always had jazz as one of the major parts of my listening intake, but hadn't really worked with any jazz players. But, suddenly upon having this opportunity things began to change and many works down the line and a lot of growth as a composer and sound artist later, I actually prefer to work almost exclusively with jazz players or people who focus on improvisation. The way I write my scores has changed as well. I'm not sure that anyone who listens to my works would ever think, "oh yeah, jazz," but it's now one of the major lenses I create, listen and exist in as a creator. 

"Whereas the initial piece was spawned from waking up in the middle of the night hearing screaming sax lines in my head, the latter work is more an exaltation of the delightfully mundane sounds of our every day lives."

So, when this opportunity came along to present at Racer Sessions I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit this work Evan commissioned from me, Two Old Ghosts, and add on to it as well, with a work called Too Old, Ghosts. Whereas the initial piece was spawned from waking up in the middle of the night hearing screaming sax lines in my head, the latter work is more an exaltation of the delightfully mundane sounds of our every day lives. I'll be adding a collage of live sounds including Alka-Seltzer tablets, wind-up toys and live smoothie making alongside Evan Smith on sax."