monktail creative music concern

At Northwest Film Forum

1515 12th Ave, Seattle WA 98122

Thursday, November 3 at 8:00PM

Jack Straw Productions and Washington Composer Forum present

Composer Spotlight:
JOHN SEMAN
Monktail Creative Music Concern

Wed, September 14, 7:30pm – Jack Straw Productions

Thurs, September 15, 8:00pm – Good Shepherd Chapel

John Seman, director of Seattle’s Monktail Creative Music Concern, will be joined by fellow Monktail composers Mark Ostrowski and Stephen Fandrich for a detailed exploration of the compositional elements that are common and unique to their compositions for piano. Pianist Fandrich will perform pieces they have composed over the last year for the Monktail Composers Series at the Good Shepherd Chapel and for a 2011 Jack Straw Artist Residency.

This Composer Spotlight is a preview of their concert at the Good Shepherd Chapel Sept 15, Monktail Composer Series, Vol 6: New Music for Piano. 

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Monktail Jack Straw Composers Spotlight [ 1:00:49 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (26)

Monktail Creative Music Concern presents the Monktail Composers Series

Sounds Outside: A Celebration of Adventurous Music & Community has for five years, brought creative music of the highest caliber to audiences, for free, in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park.  Due to tremendous financial difficulties that have gravely impacted our local economy, the festival carries a debt this year, for the first time in its history.

As an effort to combat the deficit , the presenting collective has created an indoor series at the Chapel Performance Space, highlighting the works of its members. Each event features a stellar line-up of Monktail composers, with numerous performers of note participating in each concert. All proceeds from the events will benefit Sounds Outside.

Please help rally support for this important annual community event.

Featured Composers:

Thursday Nov. 11
Stephen Fandrich
John Seman

Thursday Dec. 16
Beth Fleenor
Gabriel C. Herbertson
Ken Jacobson
David Milford

Saturday Jan. 8
Scott Adams
Samantha Boshnack
Mark Ostrowski
Stephen Parris

Chapel Performance Space
Good Shepherd Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.

All events 8 pm / $5-15 sliding scale

Support Monktail – Make A Donation!

 Tax deductible donations should note MONKTAIL in the memo field and may be made out to

EARSHOT JAZZ 3429 Fremont Pl N #309, Seattle, WA 98103

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Monktail Creative Music Concern – Ten Years in Seattle

In celebrating ten years of music and advocacy in Seattle, the Monktail Creative Music Concern will be presenting a series of concerts the weekend of 10/10/10 as well as a brief Northwest tour of their “free improvisation commando unit,” the trio SPECIAL O.P.S.

SPECIAL O.P.S. NINTH ANNIVERSARY FIELD TRIP
Thursday, September 23: Egan’s Ballard Jam House 1707 NW Market St, Seattle 7PM
Friday, September 24: Mississippi Pizza 3552 N Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR 9PM
Saturday, September 25: The Jazz Station 68 W. Broadway, Eugene, OR 9PM
Sunday, September 26: The Matrix 434 NW Prindle St, Chehalis, WA 8PM
Tuesday, September 28: The Comet 922 E Pike St, Seattle, WA 9PM
Friday, October 1: Molly Maguires 610 NW 65th St, Seattle, WA 10PM

MONKTAIL TENTH ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND 10/10/10
Friday, October 8: Egans Ballard Jam House1707 NW Market St, Ballard 7PM
Sunday, October 10 (10/10/10): THE JOSEPHINE 608 NW 65th St N, Ballard 7PM

Organized by founder and director John Seman, Monktail represents a breadth and depth of musical experience unmatched in the region. Ensembles as diverse as their flagship improv big band NON GRATA, the overtone choir SEATTLE HARMONIC VOICES, the celebrated funk and jazz onslaught of REPTET, the bopcore trio FLOSS and chamber oriented DEAL’S NUMBER, Beth Fleenor’s shape-shifting FIGEATER, as well as death-jazz trio SPECIAL O.P.S. all have found their home under the umbrella of Monktail.

While in Seattle, Monktail has earned top honors as an arts organization, including a 2002 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for Emerging Group and a 2002 Tablet Magazine Pretty Good Artist Award, as well as 2006 Golden Ear Awards for best Outside Group (Reptet) and Concert of the Year (The Monktail Raymond Scott Project). 

Monktail Records celebrated their ninth full-length release in 2010, the second Floss long player VITAMIN A, a bold mix of free jazz, psychedelic, and electronic sounds. Other MCMC releases include three acclaimed CDs from Reptet (2008 Independent Jazz Record Finalist), and releases from Non Grata, Seattle Harmonic Voices, Deal’s Number, and Special O.P.S. Four new releases are already in the hopper for release in 2011.

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Founded September 12, 2001 in Seattle, WA, SPECIAL O.P.S. is the sonic guerilla group of the Monktail Creative Music Concern. Featuring the rhythm section of MCMC founders John Seman on contrabass and Mark Ostrowski on percussion with electric guitarist Stephen Parris, SPECIAL O.P.S. is a free improvisation commando unit replete with dark regalia, sonic hand grenades and a warped sense of humor. Their performances draw influence from contemporary chamber composition, small group jazz improvisation, electronic experimentalism, dark metal, droll wit and sonic shenanigans from the subtle to the scabrous. It’s black noise and white noise. It’s cross-genre pollination boiled in ammonia, cured in bleach, dipped in battery acid and ignited with the American flag. It’s a damn good time.

Because it is September they will play a whole lot of concerts.

Friday September 3
 Special O.P.S.
Molly Maguires 
610 NW 65th St
 Ballard
 10PM

Saturday September 11 
Special O.P.S.
 Collins Pub 
526 2nd Ave
 Seattle 
8PM

Thursday September 23
 Special O.P.S.
 Egans Ballard Jam House
 1707 NW Market St
 Ballard 
7PM

Friday September 24
 Special O.P.S.
 Mississippi Pizza
 3552 N Mississippi Ave 
Portland, OR 
9PM

Saturday September 25
 Special O.P.S.
The Jazz Station 
68 W. Broadway 
Eugene, OR 
9PM

Sunday September 26 
Special O.P.S.
The Matrix
 434 NW Prindle St
 Chehalis, WA 
8PM

Tuesday September 28 Special O.P.S. 
The Comet
 922 E Pike St
 Seattle 
9PM

Friday October 1 
Special O.P.S.
 Molly Maguires
 610 NW 65th St 
Ballard
 10PM