Racer Session #449 | Levi Gillis | November 18, 2018

This week we are very happy to feature our good pal Levi Gillis! Levi is a Seattle based saxophonist and improviser, a graduate of the UW Jazz Studies program, and an active member in the Seattle improvised music community. He leads the avant-jazz/post-rock band Hunter Gather, co-leads the collective melodic free jazz band The Sky is a Suitcase, and is a member of Wayne Horvitz’s Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble and the up-and-coming Seattle soul outfit, The Dip, among others.

Read on below to see what Levi has written for his session, and see you on Sunday!

Levi Gillis at The Unknown in Anacortes, WA. Photo by Haley Freedlund.

"I'm excited to play a few new songs that I've been working on for the last year or so. Songwriting has a been an important part of my musical life recently. I've rediscovered how much I love singing and playing guitar, and these songs have provided a creative outlet for that. Another part of this project is seeing how songs with words and specific forms can intersect with improvisation - a challenging task given my goal to perform these songs entirely solo. 

For the session, I'd encourage people to try singing in some improvisations. I feel like singing cuts to the heart of my musical voice in a way that playing an instrument doesn't. Maybe we can all explore some vocal improvisations together, or incorporate some singing into otherwise instrumental improvisations."