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September 2026
Hi everyone,
There’s a little bit of a back-to-school vibe this month with orchestra season staring up. Lots of other action too…
August ends with a fresh combination of amazing people: Alicia Byer has organized an improvising quartet with herself, gamin, William Roper, and me. Sunspace, 8PM. Also appearing: Cassia Streb and Tim Feeney.
On Sept. 12 MESTO, the Multi-Ethnic STar Orchestra, led by Nabil Azzam, plays at the Broad Stage. This is a very special group that only comes together every year or so. Click the poster for tickets.
The Soundwaves concert series continues on the 15th, with two bands including Garth Powell and led by people whose initials are “BB.”
- Barnett/Wood Band: Bonnie Barnett (voice), Richard Wood (reeds), Dan Clucas (cornet etc), Hal Onserud (bass), Garth Powell (drums)
- CuZn’s: Bobby Bradford (cornet), William Roper (tuba etc), Brian Walsh (reeds), Garth Powell (drums)
I’m looking forward to presenting these folks! Click below for more.
Friday Sept. 18 is the third Friday of the month, which means my jazz band the Soapbox is at the Industry Cafe & Jazz in Culver City. We’ll play three sets of John Coltrane’s music in honor of his centennial. The lineup includes Joyce Pan (violin), Alicia Byer (clarinet), Charles Sharp (reeds), Kristian Aspelin (guitar), Toni Vang (keyboard), Matthew Miller (drums), and maybe one or two more cats, although that’s a lot of folks to fit on that stage… No tickets, no cover, just drop in.
That’s going to be a wild weekend, because the next day I’m playing the Central Avenue Jazz Festival with the World Stage Big Band (details TBD, click the image for where they’ll eventually show up).
and that night is the start of the Santa Monica Symphony season, with Sibelius, Shostakovich, and Dvorak. Click below to RSVP, which does not guarantee a seat, so get there early, RSVP or not.
Anna Homler’s Breadwoman project is on the cover of the September Artforum. She recently performed it at the Dripping Festival, which I could not participate in, but hopefully this amazing press will lead to more opportunities…
Finally, an album Charles Sharp made with me, Anthony Shadduck, Michael Intrerie, Rich West, and Andrew Lessman in 2012 has shown up on Bandcamp. I haven’t listened to it since then, but I bet it’s interesting!
Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon.
August 2026
August 1st I am playing Beethoven’s septet at my old workplace along with a new companion piece by Alicia Byer, who is on bassoon for this gig. Free!
Beethoven wrote the septet when he was 30, the same year as his first symphony. So it’s pretty fluffy in the Classical style and, as he developed his heavier mature voice, the septet became his equivalent of an old hit single that audiences wanted instead of new material.
The “miniature orchestra” thing is because the instrumentation is one from every section: one violin, one viola, one cello, one bass, one single reed (clarinet), one double reed (bassoon), and one brass (French horn). Sorry flutes and percussion!
The 3rd and 4th I get to share the stage with Oakland icon Lisa Mezzacappa. On the 3rd it will be sequentially: I’ll be with Charles Sharp’s All-Stars (also including Alicia Byer, Kristian Aspelin, and Matthew Miller) splitting the bill with the even more all-star lineup of Lisa, Vinny Golia, Kris Tiner, and Max Jaffe at the Vernacular New Music series at SunSpace. On the 4th it will be simultaneously, as represented below.
On the 18th Andrea Centazzo, Ellen Burr, and I will play compositions by Andrea and Steve Lacy to mark the 50th anniversary of Clangs, Andrea’s classic duo record with Lacy which was the first release on the Ictus label. We’re sharing the bill with Matt Crane’s improvising trio with Joe Baiza and Mike Watt. Historic! Click the poster for more.
On the 21st my jazz band the Soapbox will be at the Industry Cafe & Jazz in Culver City from 6:30-10PM. No cover. We’ve played everything from Louis Armstrong to John Zorn, and often focus on adventurous-but-melodic compositions by folks like Carla Bley, Karl Berger, David Murray, etc.
Finally, it’s back to Vernacular/SunSpace on the 31st for a set by a new Alicia Byer band with gamin (Korean reeds), William Roper (tuba etc), and myself.
Bonus local news content: I appear very briefly with the World Stage Big Band in this video.
Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon.
July 2026
Here’s what I’m doing in July, plus a publication.
On the 11th and 18th I am in Carole Kim’s new piece SQRM, which is part of the Daredevil Arts Festival at the Electric Lodge in Venice. Includes dance, music, and video art.
On the 17th my jazz band the Soapbox has our monthly night at the Industry Cafe & Jazz in Culver City. No cover, so why not drop in?
July 21 is the next installment of the Soundwaves new music series, which I run with Richard An and Alicia Byer. Click the flyer for more:
I have a review of Harald Kisiedu’s excellent book European Echoes: Jazz Experimentalism in Germany 1950-1975 in the new issue of Critical Studies in Improvisation. Open access, click below…
See you soon!
June 2026 pt. 2
On the 16th the Soundwaves new music series teams up with the Dog Star Orchestra Festival to present the Dog Star Community Choir. Click below for info.
Note that Ryan Seward’s piece will be performed outdoors near the venue before showtime. Details at the link.
Dog Star is LA’s main platform for post-Cage/Fluxus/Oliveros/Wandelweiser composition, founded by Michael Pisaro and now in its 22nd year. If any of those references rings a bell, or you are curious about experimental performance, check out their events.
I am helping organize this gig, but will not be on hand.
I will definitely be present to play a jazz double-header on Friday the 19th.
First, at noon in Leimert Park I am sharing the bass chair in the World Stage Big Band with Michael Saucier. It’s a real honor to be part of this band and to celebrate Juneteenth in Leimert Park.
We played on the 4th at a press conference for the LA Jazz Festival. Click the poster to see Dominique DiPrima’s Instagram video with us in the background.
The 19th is not only Juneteenth, it’s also the third Friday, which is the regular night my band the Soapbox is at the Industry Cafe & Jazz in Culver City. This month Joyce Pan (violin), Alicia Byer (clarinet), Charles Sharp (reeds), Kristian Aspelin (guitar), Peter Valsamis (drums), and I will play some tunes associated with Sonny Rollins.
Then on Wednesday the 24th, I’ll be in the Dog Star Orchestra Festival Large Ensemble.
Looking ahead to July, tickets are on sale for the Daredevil Arts Festival in Venice, which includes Carole Kim’s “SQRM,” a multimedia piece whose sonic elements will be provided by Kozue Matsumoto, Eli Rosenkim, M. A. Tiesenga, me, and Carole herself. Performances at 3PM July 11 and 3:30PM July 18.
Last, for today, Next World Sound Volume 5, a split LP with Anna Homler, David Javelosa, and myself on one side and Knox Chandler on the other, is now available through Bandcamp. Get the vinyl, get the download, get them both…
Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon.
June 2026 Pt. 1
Plus, The World of Cecil Taylor, the first book in the SUNY Press Contemporary Writing in Jazz series I am co-editing with Howard Mandel & Titus Levi, is now available to pre-order.
I have an essay in it, but I am one of the less-famous contributors:
Introduction
Peter Valente
1. The Avant-Gardist Who Came in from the Cold
Gary Giddins
2. On Cecil Taylor’s Conservatory Education
Allan Chase
3. Impressions of Cecil Taylor
Marc Edwards
4. Visceral and Cathartic Joy: An Appreciation of Cecil Taylor
Taylor Ho Bynum
5. My Time with Cecil Taylor
Mark Hundevad
6. Remembering Cecil
John Bruschini
7. Scale as Material in the Music of Cecil Taylor
Damon Smith
8. Cecil Taylor: Storyteller/A Remembrance
Yuko Otomo
9. Excursions on a Wobbly Rail (in Three Parts)
Joel Lewis
10. Notes on Cecil Taylor and the Drummers: A Thought Experiment
Peter Valente
11. Cecil Taylor: My History and FMP Collaboration
Elliott Levin
12. Cecil Taylor in Berlin
Steve Lake
13. My Time with Cecil Taylor
Jackson Krall
14. Mountain High/Cecil Taylor Still Scales the Heights
Ed Hazell
15. Liner Notes to Garden (Hat Hut Records)
Art Lange
16. Thoughts on the Album Looking Ahead
Mathew Shipp
17. Notes for Algonquin (Bridge 9146)
Bill Shoemaker
18. “‘The Scented Parabola’: Occasions of Cecil Taylor’s Poetry”
David Grubbs
19. Cecil Taylor and the Commitment to Poetry
David Grundy
20. Cecil Taylor: A Biblio-Discography
21. Cecil Taylor: Across Living Solar Plasma
Will Alexander
22. Poetry
Joel Lewis
Indent
Anne Waldman
after Garden
(Lisa B) Lisa Bernstein
Cecil Taylor: I Am an Orchestra
Candace Hill Montgomery
Blanklight
Unalive Sparrow Decides on Poetic Powers
Steve Timm
Epicritic (Pertaining to Cutaneous Sensitivity)
Proxumal (Nearest)
Alumo
Elliott Levin
Huan
Clark Coolidge
From Comes Through in the Call Hold (Improvisations on Cecil Taylor)
23. “Mountains” Cecil Taylor (1985) & “Mettle has been tested” Cecil Taylor (1986)
Mark Miller
24. The Influence and Significance of Cecil Taylor’s Alphabet Notation: From the Mills Archives
Jeff Schwartz
25. The Foundation of Taylor’s Music
Matthew Goodheart
26. Notes on the Implications of Cecil Taylor’s Solo Performance of “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To”
Matthew Landis
27. Repertoire and the Role of Written Material in the Music of the 1978 Cecil Taylor Unit
Alex Ward
28. Reviews: Recordings
Gunther Schuller
29. Cecil Taylor’s Structures and Personal Technique
Kaja Draksler
30. Interview with Cecil Taylor
Robert L. Doerschuk
31. Interviews
Ted Panken
Andrew Cyrille on Cecil Taylor
Tony Oxley on Cecil Taylor
Dan Marmorstein on Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor on Andrew Cyrille
Also looking ahead, my group Intangible (with gamin, Robert Reigle, and Tim Feeney) has been awarded a grant by UCLA to commission a collaborative piece from Ulrich Krieger. Look for a performance at UCLA and a recording with the five of us next February.
Now, looking back, here’s Jonathon Grasse’s Native Plant Society (Sean Sonderegger reeds, Grasse guitar, Matt Crane drums, and me) at Cal State Dominguez Hills April 29:
Anna Homler was not able to do the Bay Area tour we had booked for May, but she did call-in to our scheduled KOWS radio interview with Don Campau and Robin O’Brien. Marc Perez played duo with me for our KFJC appearance:
and our live set at West Oakland Sound. Thanks to Marc and all our hosts for dealing with the last-minute changes.
More news soon!
May Shows
Here’s what’s happening in May.
Saturday the second is the last show of the Santa Monica Symphony’s 2025-26 season and probably my last traditional orchestra one until the fall (I am open to summer pops gigs though. Hit me up!). It’s half video game music and half related pieces from the canon (i.e. “Night on Bald Mountain”). We’re joined by members of UCLA’s Game Music Ensemble (insert John Zorn joke here). Click below for tickets. It’s free, but will sell out.
Then I’m hitting the road for a duo tour with Anna Homler. People use “performance artist” as an insult these days, so I’ll just say that Anna makes sounds with things that are not musical instruments and sings, mostly in languages she has invented. We are doing two radio shows and an in-person performance in the Bay Area. Tell your friends. I am pretty sure the May 6 broadcast is just an interview, but the May 7 one will have a substantial in-studio performance as well as talking and records.
The 15th is the third Friday, which means it’s Soapbox night at the Industry Cafe & Jazz. This month Joyce Pan (violin), Alicia Byer (clarinet), Charles Sharp (reeds), Kristian Aspelin (guitar), Peter Valsamis (drums), and I will play only songs with “you” in the title: “All the Things You Are,” “The Song is You,” and many more.
That’s it for playing in May, but Tuesday the 19th is the second show in the new version of the Soundwaves concert series which I help run. Both artists this month deal with multiple media. First, the amazing pianist Vicki Ray (who you may have seen with the LA Philharmonic, among many other places) plays a set of pieces based on Rilke’s poetry, with some spoken word, then there will be a set by Carole Kim’s improvising group koven4tet (with M.A. Tiesenga, gamin, and Kozue Matsumoto) incorporating video projections that respond to sound. Details below.
Thanks for reading! Hope to see you soon.
March and April Shows
Starting a little behind, then catching up and moving ahead…
Here are videos from the Vicente Chamber Orchestra’s February 22 concert at the Bel Air Church:
Dave Williams and the Means of Production at DiPiazza’s March 5:
and the Passacaglia Chamber Orchestra at St. Paul’s Church March 7:
March 13-15 I was in the pit for “Into the Woods” at New Roads School,
and March 21 I played two sets of free improvisation at Birds of a Feather Jazz Lounge with Vicki Ray (piano) and Ellen Burr (flutes). This band is called Now to Next. Now ask Ellen when we’re playing Next.
That brings us to the present, as of posting, so I can tell you about what’s happening in the future.
March 25 I’m in Dave Williams’ conducted improvisation band called Not Quite Free at 4th St. Vine in Long Beach:
It’s my first time in this particular unit of Dave’s. Joe Dean is the usual bassist.
April 1 Intangible (a post-spectral Pacific Rim free improvisation band with Tim Feeney, gamin, Robert Reigle, and me) will be in the Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival Virtual Edition. Click below on or after the first.
We’ll also be part of the Sonorities Festival via video. Click below between April 15-18.
Intangible has recently been awarded a UCLA Davise Fund grant for a collaboration with Ulrich Krieger, and we will have a cassette (& download) out in the fall on Searching Records.
The Soundwaves new music series, which I ran for eight years at the Santa Monica Public Library, aided by Daniel Rothman, resumes at a new location: the Westside Music Conservatory, 12424 Wilshire (at Centinela). Daniel and I are now joined by Asoociate Directors Richard An and Alicia Byer.
Soundwaves draws on LA’s history of innovation in classical, jazz, rock, and music beyond genre to develop creative and collaborative programs. Concerts will be on one Tuesday night each month, from 7:30-10PM, usually with sets by two artists. A $20 donation is requested.
The Spring 2026 quarter includes three shows:
April 14 features House on Fire: the piano-centered multi-instrumental trio of Andrew Anderson, Wells Leng, and Richard An, and the Feedback Wave Riders: guitarist Michael Jon Fink‘s improvising group with guitarists Alan S. Tofighi and Primoz Sukic and saxophonists Ulrich Kreiger and Vinny Golia;
May 19 features pianist Vicki Ray‘s Rilke Project: a compilation of works by various composers inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry, and koven: multimedia artist Carole Kim‘s improvising group with saxophonist M. A. Tisenga, Kazoue Matsumoto on koto, and gamin on Korean reed instruments;
and on June 16 Soundwaves will host one night of the Dog Star Orchestra Festival of experimental composition.
Back to playing: on April 17th my jazz band the Soapbox has our monthly night at Industry Cafe & Jazz.
April 23 I’m sharing the bass chair in the World Stage Big Band at Catalina’s. Stoked to be associated with these iconic LA jazz institutions. No comment on the AI poster.
and April 26 I will be part of a collaboration between the Passacaglia Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Hands for Autism at the Westside Music Conservatory.
There’s also a new recording out from a Japanese netlabel of Max Deveraux (guitar), Charles Sharp (alto sax), and me improvising in the corner of a Redondo Beach boba shop. Click below.
See you soon!
Into March 2026
Sunday the 15th, the Soapbox goes to church. Our saxophonist Charles Sharp will lead a version of my jazz band (with Dave Williams, Kristian Aspelin, and Matthew Miller) during the 10AM service at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach. There will be Coltrane.
At 3:30 on Sunday Feb. 22nd I’ll be with the Vicente Chamber Orchestra at the Bel Air Church. Click above for tickets.
On Saturday March 7 I’ll be with the Passacaglia Chamber Orchestra for their annual Bach by Candlelight program at St. Paul’s in Santa Monica. Click here for more information.
and there will be more soon!
ps. you may enjoy this set by Disclaimer: Kristian Aspelin (guitar), Paul Pellegrin (drums), and yours truly:
January 2026
Also, I am pleased to announce that the Soundwaves concert series Daniel Rothman and I ran at the Santa Monica Public Library from 2016-2024 will resume in April at the Westside Music Conservatory. Stay tuned for details…
December 2025 pt. 2
Here are my remaining 2025 shows:
Monday, Dec. 8: free improvisation with Ryan Leeds (guitar) and Jonathon Saxon (drums) at the Redwood Bar & Grill, 316 W 2nd St, DTLA. Also appearing: M. A Tiesenga (saxophone)/Marlon Martinez (bass)/Max Jaffe (drums) and Gneiss. 8PM. $15 at the door.
Friday, the 19th, my jazz band the Soapbox has our usual monthly spot at the Industry Cafe & Jazz, 6039 Washington Blvd, Culver City. 6:30-10PM, no cover. Plan to order some food too.
Saturday the 20th is the Santa Monica Symphony’s holiday show, centering on Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and a klezmer rewrite. Free, but click above for reservations, because it will sell out.
Intangible, for this show a trio of gamin (Korean reeds), Robert Reigle (tenor saxophone), and myself, is headlining this festival with an improvised set. The program is more varied than “noise” might suggest. For example, Phog Masheen features spoken word, trumpet, and found object percussion, but fear not: your noise needs will be met.
I’m pretty sure that’s it for performances for the year. Some recordings have recently appeared as well.
Volume 5 of the Next World Sound LP series includes a performance by Anna Homler, David Javelosa, and myself from LACE’s Endurance festival as the B side. The A side is ambient guitar instrumentals by Knox Chandler. It’s a beautiful product – clear green “Coke bottle” vinyl. Click the cover to order.
At the start of the year the Sudden Somethings festival presented two nights of ad hoc groups of LA improvisers. Now the complete recordings are available, including a set by Marc Perez (trombone etc), Matt Crane (drums), and myself.
Here’s the full quartet lineup of Intangible (Tim Feeney on percussion) at the Vernacular New Music Series at Sun Space in November.
and here’s November’s Redwood set with Ryan Leeds and Jonathon Saxon.
Thanks for listening!
Jeff Schwartz (bass) 