About

Seattle record label Table & Chairs organizes weekly sessions that explore composition and improvisation. The Racer Sessions takes place promptly at 8:00 and lasts until 10:00 every Sunday evening. 

Our mission is to give musicians of all backgrounds and ages the opportunity to interact with and inspire one another, while establishing a community-accessible home for this music, which might otherwise only exist in classrooms, basements, outer space, etc.

What Happens

Every Sunday at Cafe Racer, we feature a different artist or group who perform original music and provide a short explanation of their creative process. Afterwards, a jam session takes place, often based on the concepts and approaches outlined in the opening presentation. 

The Racer Sessions’ musical focus is primarily centered on improvisation—particularly free or collective improv—and frequently incorporates the aesthetic and techniques of avant-gard jazz and classical music. However, we firmly believe that, as the name suggests, free improvisation should not be limited to any particular style, creed or approach, and we warmly welcome musicians of any persuasion to share their voice.

How to Participate

During the jam session, groups spontaneously form in the room to the side of the stage. There is no sign-up process, though on occasion, the featured artist may take a more active role in organizing groups. If you’d like to play, please make yourself known to a group or to the featured artist (or anyone who looks like they know what’s going on).

To prepare for each session, we recommend that everyone reads our weekly blog, which features a post from the upcoming session’s featured artist on the process of creating his or her piece, as well as recommended listening, approaches or meditations to prepare you for the jam session. 

Every featured artist’s presentation and jam session is recorded and documented on the Racer Sessions website. To listen back to previous sessions, visit the Artists page.

If you are interested in being a featured artist at the Racer Sessions, please contact racersessions@gmail.com.

Come on By!

We recommend arriving at least fifteen minutes in advance to get a good seat, grab a drink or some food, and to say “howdy!” to folks. Also, be sure to check out the Table & Chairs’ merch table, which contains physical copies of albums by our growing roster of artists. 

See you there!