Racer Session #360 | Mike Gamble & Ava Mendoza | February 5, 2017

Greetings, Racers!

This weekend, after we wrap a wonderful three days of the Improvised Music Festival at Chapel Space, we'll be hosting two very wonderful and dynamic guitarists - Mike Gamble, in from Portland, and Ava Mendoza, in from New York. They have written a bit about what to expect below. You can also learn more about Mike here and Ava here.

"It was the fall of 2013 and like two ships crossing at night, Mike was leaving NYC for the PNW and Ava was moving to NYC from the bay area. Numbers where exchanged, and so where private student contacts and drinking buddies. It wasn't till last summer when Ava came to Portland to play the Creative Music Guild's Improv Summit, that the two had a chance to play an improvised set with bassist Andrew Jones. It went by in a flash, and we both agreed that we just scratching the surface.

Now is the time for us meet again on the bandstand, this time as a dynamic guitar duo. Both of us play in many different contexts and often blur the line between composition and improv. For our Racer set, we'll play a collection of structured and free improvisations featuring many, many notes within a broad sonic palette. We also both wish we were smart enough to write this description in third person. But instead this blurb was written in AVAMIKE script: a language within its own... to be transcribed centuries from now by the Singularity."