Improvisation

Kumi Maxson’s micro-residency culminates in an evening of collective improvisation and discussion. Accompanying this performance, Maxson created a small program / zine with a range of exercises for facilitating improvisation, written both by themself and others. This event is welcome to all and is the culmination of three months of hosting weekly exploring improvisation sessions at Indexical’s space.

FAULTS is the improvising trio of Jorge Bachmann, Kevin Corcoran and Jaroba. The trio works with electronics, percussion and bass clarinet sometimes including the use of field recordings and graphic or text scores to guide their live performances. 

Faults practice involves site specificity where performances and recordings are made in disused bunkers on a decommissioned naval base, in a columbarium, in a residential garden, in a furniture store, at a rocky shoreline of the Pacific coast, and beneath freeway overpasses. Interaction with the incidental sounds in these environments informs the trio’s approach to timbre, tonality, space, and extended technique on their instruments when playing in more typical venues and studios as well. Each member works with acoustic instruments, electronics, and field recordings, and the intersection of these approaches leads to the particular sound of this trio.

Faults sound oscillates between quiet and loud, sparse and dense, weaving together textural noise, drone, floating melodic lines, and bristling percussive elements. The result is a rich and readily shifting electroacoustic dynamic.

Kumi Maxson is facilitating weekly collective improvisation workshop spaces, every Monday* from March 27 to May 29 from 6-8pm. The workshops will consist of a short reading and listening session, followed by discussions of the liberatory political implications of musical improvisation. The workshops will cater to all levels of improvisational and musical experience (including none!), striving to create an accessible space for non-hierarchical participation and experimentation. Musicians are encouraged to bring their own instruments, however some will be provided for those who do not have their own. 

Exploring sonic signifiers of wartime and violence, percussionist Ryan Nestor performs multimedia works linking sound, imagery, and historical context. UCSC Musicology alum and Director of San Diego New Music Charissa Noble leads the audience in a post-concert discussion. 

Come create electronic music of the moment with local musicians Michael Logue and David Tristram in this collaborative event. Bring your acoustic or electronic instrument and plug in for shared sync, signal processing, and gorgeous playback on the superb Indexical sound system.  

Meerenai Shim leads a group in a Feldenkrais awareness through movement class. Participants are asked to bring a yoga or exercise mats, as well as an instrument of their choosing (if desired). Shim leads participants through sound exploration using Feldenkrais principles of curiosity, exploration, and observation without evaluation.  If you're not familiar with the Feldenkrais Method, it's a form of somatic education/bodywork. You can read more about it here. 

Rodrigo Barriga is a Mexican composer and performer. His work explores ensemble interaction and communication through the use of openness and structured improvisation. Myles Morgan opens with a new set for synthesizers and samplers.

Rising tenor free jazz saxophonist Zoh Amba performs in collaboration with Wobbly (aka Jon Leidecker of Negativland), using machine listening apparatuses in feedback with Amba's powerful sound. Tamara Duplantis & Jasmine Otto open as Floating Shard, a collaboration that fuses lo-fi electropop and improvised jazz fusion into prog-inflected bops.