Improvisers Exchange is a series of workshops and concerts at Unit One/Allen Hall at the University of Illinois led by guest artists and members of Improvisers Exchange Ensemble. The workshops are open to musicians of all backgrounds and levels who are interested in exploring collective improvisation. These events are open to the general public. Admission Free. All events take place at Allen Hall, 1005 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana.
SCHEDULE:Wed, 09/25 IE Workshop | 7pm, Main LoungeWed, 10/2 IE Workshop | 7pm, Main LoungeFri, 10/18 IE “The Now of US” Thollem & ACVilla | 7pm, Main LoungeSat, 10/19 IE Workshop / Recording w/ Thollem | 2pm, Main LoungeSat, 10/19 IE Concert feat. Thollem & IEE | 7pm, Main LoungeWed, 10/30 IE Workshop | 7pm, Main LoungeTue, 11/5 IE Workshop w/ Mark Deutsch | 7pm, Main LoungeMon, 11/11 IE Workshop | 7pm, Main LoungeSun, 11/17 IE Workshop w/ Bishop/Blonk/Smith/Walter Quartet | 4pm, Main LoungeSun, 11/17 IE Concert feat. Bishop/Blonk/Smith/Walter Quartet | 7pm, Main Lounge
GUEST ARTISTS:
SILVER OCHRE: THOLLEM MCDONAS & ACVILLA: Silver Ochre Productions is comprised of two perpetually traveling artists: ACVilla (video artist) and Thollem McDonas (musician). Possessing a sense of curiosity in the common, ACVilla allows viewers to be in the 'now', to experience what would otherwise be lost in the momentum of daily life. Thollem is a keyboardist whose work is ever-changing, evolving and responding to the times and his experiences, both as a soloist and in collaboration with hundreds of artists across idioms and disciplines.
MARK DEUTSCH: Mark Deutsch is a visionary artist with a background in nonlinear mathematics, sacred systems, and cosmology. As a classically trained bassist and sitar player, he pursued the creation of a new instrument--the Bazantar – a six-string acoustic bass fitted with an additional twenty-nine sympathetic strings and four drone strings.
BISHOP/BLONK/SMITH/WALTER QUARTET: Bishop/Blonk/Smith/Walter Quartet features trombone virtuoso Jeb Bishop, the great Dutch sound poet and improvisor Jaap Blonk, and the versatile and powerful "rhythm section" of Damon Smith and Weasel Walter. A Boston-based artist, Jeb Bishop established himself as a leading member of Chicago's improvised music scene for two decades performing with Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, and his own trio. Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and playful freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. Damon Smith's sonic palette on double bass is a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. The frenetically prolific bandleader/composer/multiinstrumentalist Weasel Walter summons myriad timbres from a (mostly) conventional drum kit, while also bringing a strong performative element to the proceedings.
