ZAI CIRCLE

Hello Zai Circle supporters! First a big thanks to those who came to the CD release concert of Water Tiger 10-it was great to have you all there! Another huge thanks to the fantastic musicians who helped make Water Tiger 10 a reality!
Trio#1 Alicia Jones and Jean Mann
Trio #2 Greg Sinibaldi and Steven Banks
Trio#3 Abel Rocha and Terry Wergeland

Geoff Ott and London Bridge Studios for recording and mixing and expertise!

I am working on setting up a download site for "Water Tiger 10" and "Remembrance" and selected pieces from the "WT10" concert as well as from the ""Dialogues of Here and Now Series of last year. Hopefully this will be up and running by the end of the summer. The link to the new "store" will be found here.

I have added one new "conversation" to the archive section and have a few more to post up in the next few days-check them out!

New Directions: Zai Circle goes to China in September 2010!

At the end of last year, during our annual vacation pilgrimage to China and specifically to the city of Xaimen, I had the opportunity to do 2 very small Zai Circle conversations with a few wonderful local “Chinese Classical” musicians and instruments including the PiPa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipa), and the Guzheng (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng). We had a few hours to explore how these sounds work with the electric bass (on a bass that I borrowed from a local music store), and to improvise a bit and begin to understand how our musical cultures, philosophies, and backgrounds could come together to create something new. We had a very rewarding time learning and listening to each others musical voices.

Join us on June 24th 2010 at 7pm for the CD release concert of "Water Tiger 10" Featuring: KeLan: Basses, guitars, loops, cymbals. Abel Rocha: Harps and Voice. Alicia Jones: Voice. Greg Sinibaldi: Tenor Sax and EWI. Jean Mann: Voice. Steven Banks: Drums. Terry Wergeland: Accordion, Flugelhorn, Piano.

Place: The Good Sheperd Chapel
4649 Sunnyside Ave N. (4th floor)
Seattle WA 98103
Tickets are $15. Buy one ticket at full price, the second is only $5. One free CD with full price ticket!
Tickets at the door or at brownpapertickets.com
search Zai Circle

Water Tiger 10 “Conversations on Three Poems”
“Water Tiger” started as an idea to explore more of a compositional form with 3 different trios. The poems deal with themes of transition, compromise, goals and aspirations, reservations, and in general the things we must balance in life.

Each trio entered into a deep musical dialogue on each poem. Compositionally, there is a blend, (and a blurred line), of what is “composed” and what is improvised. The “recording” was done live with no overdubs at London Bridge Studios in Seattle.

The Trios:
Trio #1 finds me on basses, 12 string guitar, loops, and percussion, with the two amazing voices of Alicia Jones and Jean Mann. Coming from very different backgrounds the voices travel from Opera to Pop to Latin to pure sonic expression. We go from spine chillingly beautiful sounds, to rich and luscious tonal textures, to a darker more ominous presence in the course of a measure or two. This trio is “full” of surprises!

Trio #2 is bass, tenor saxophone, and drums. Lots of space emerges without the harmonic or “chordal” layer and the compositions embrace this space. Greg Sinibaldi takes on the tenor and Steven Banks on drums and we all push rhythm and time throughout. “Water Tiger 10” adds guitar loops and an electronic wind instrument called a EWI that changes the spacial context and keeps the sound palettes sizzling!

Ribbons of Individuality: Voices of Clarity/Voices of Obscurity

All Concerts will be held at:
The Good Sheppard Chapel Performance Space
4649 Sunnyside Ave. North (corner of 50th St. in Wallingford)
4th floor,
Seattle, WA 98103

Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80611
Fall Concert Series (all 4 concerts $10 savings): https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80614

Dialogue # 3:
“The Sound of Home”: Floating Flutes over Intangible Walls

The Good Sheppard Chapel Performance Space
4649 Sunnyside Ave. North (corner of 50th St. in Wallingford)
4th floor,
Seattle, WA 98103

Show times: 7:30 pm
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80608

Featuring. KeLan: 5 and 6 string electric basses, acoustic and electric guitars, loops. Madeleine Sosin, violins, voice, percussion. Sono Hashisaki, violins. Greg Sinibaldi, tennor sax. and others TBA.

What does “home” sound like? How does something become “home” no matter where we are geographically-no matter how distant in setting-no matter how uncomfortable in surroundings. For me it is sound that calls up “home”. If music has been a part of our culture perhaps one can hear that sound of our homeland and be instantly transported home again-instantly at peace with our distance. However the sound of our home may not be familiar, pleasing or comfortable to those around us. In dialogue 3 we explore this peace and tension with traditional Chinese flutes, voice, saxophone, violin, bass, guitar, dance, and projected images with the idea that we are “All” visitors and tolerance is the key to understanding-the key to home.

Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80608

Dialogue # 2: "Language of the Spirit" Convergence of 3 Centuries.

The Good Sheppard Chapel Performance Space
4649 Sunnyside Ave. North (corner of 50th St. in Wallingford)
4th floor,
Seattle, WA 98103

Show times: 7:30 pm
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80600

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Featuring. KeLan: 5 and 6 string electric basses, acoustic and electric guitars, loops. Masguda Shamsutdinova: voice. Greg Sinibladi: EWI. (electronic wind instrument). Steve Banks: snare drums and cymbals. DJ Gentle Gee: turntables, loops, and beats.

The "mystical and spiritual space" we occupy-whether conscious of it or not- overlaps many different eras, cultural parallels, and dissimilarities. In this conversation we will explore these worlds through the poetry of Rumi (1207-1273), and Emily Dickenson (1830-1860), interpreted in a modern (2009), dialogue, through spoken word/voice, electric guitars, loops, electric basses, turntables/beats and samples, EWI (electronic wind instrument), and percussion. We will cross these cultural generations of technology and sound and explore this conversation in three distinct languages: Russian, Tatarstan, and English, engaging the Avant Garde in our own unique “modern” voice of now.

Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80600