IMPfest III Brings Improvised Music Off-Campus

Ten years ago, looking at a roster of musicians playing in New York's Downtown scene, the irony might have struck one that many of the musicians were from Seattle: Cuong Vu, Fred Chalenor, Andrew Drury, Jessica Lurie, Amy Denio, Brad Shepik - the list goes on. Even today one may discover that the Essentially Ellington Competition at Lincoln Center has been won seven of the past nine years by either Roosevelt or Garfield High School, while no New York school has won since 1996.

This surprises no one in Seattle who follows improvised music. The Emerald City has been a haven for improvising musicians for decades and continues to have a thriving scene. What has largely kept Seattle's improvised music from national renown is a combination of the bogus nostalgic idea that New York is the only place to make serious music, and sort of "benign neglect" locally from music venues and the press.

In the fall of 2008, a group of students from the University of Washington decided to change all that. Together with the help of renown trumpeter and assistant professor in the UW Jazz Studies department, Cuong Vu, they formed the Improvised Music Project. The purpose was two-fold: to establish a helpful community support from students and professionals, and to get musicians together to perform and, perhaps more importantly, to record their progress.

Out of this sprang the IMPfest, which plays at various venues near the University of Washington from April 30 to May 7. Musicians from all sorts of disciplines - jazz, rock, funk, electronic music, Hindustani classical music, even tango and flamenco - all come together to share with the city their love of improvisation. Some of the music is fairly traditional, as jazz goes. Some of it is quite challenging. And these musicians wouldn't have it any other way.

Whatever their differences of taste and personal interests, musicians in the Improvised Music Project all work toward the common goal of establishing a healthy environment for improvised music to take root and grow in their own community. Since Dimitriou's Jazz Alley abandoned the U District in 1985, jazz has continued to explode on campus, but has been virtually non-existent off-campus. During the festival, though, the tables are turned. Venues for this year's festival include the Chapel Performance Space in the Good Shepherd Center, Cafe Solstice on the Ave, the Jones Playhouse (known more for UW School of Drama presentations) and even the Arabica Lounge on Capitol Hill.

The collection of talent this year, too, is impressive. Mainstays and IMP founders Bad Luck, 2009 Earshot Jazz Award winners, return with even bigger names added. Cuong Vu will be playing with electronic music composer Richard Karpen in the Vu-Karpen Project, continuing Vu's explorations into the world of electronica. The UW Big Band makes their appearance for the first time, as do many other groups, such as Ask the Ages.

Visiting artist and inexhaustible jazz innovator Tim Berne joins the UW Modern Band for a show that promises to breathe some fire and brimstone, while visiting drummer Ted Poor will lead his own combo with UW jazz students before rounding out the evening as part of the Vu-Karpen Project. Psychoangelo's electronic trumpet and ambient guitar explorations will fill the air at the Chapel Performance Space, and even composer Matt Ingalls gets in on the act with UW's Juan Pampin leading the UW Improv Lab.

As the IMPfest grows, Seattle music lovers may take pride in the massive undertaking of the Improvised Music Project. Working closely with the curators at The Racer Sessions and new local music label Table & Chairs, the musicians in the Improvised Music Project are bringing the sounds of Seattle's improvised music scene out of the basement of the UW Music Building onto the streets, and into the clubs.

Apr 30-May 7 // various locations: for a full list, check out the IMPfest home page // Admission: free, by donation