We are so pleased to be taking up a Tuesday night residency at Mona’s Lounge in Seattle’s Greenlake neighborhood beginning Tuesday April 3. The music will run from 9-12 as we will now get a chance to dig in and stretch out the new music we have been crafting over the past couple months. We will also take this opportunity to spread the Schwa wings and invite many of our friends down to sit in on some tunes. I have been attending shows at this club since way back in the college days watching cats like Hadley Caliman and Julian Priester burn the stage. I am horned to now get the chance to bring some new fire to room. Once again we are not charging any cover to attend and Monas has set up terrific specials on food and drinks to make it most appealing for all.

Last night the Schwa took part in the first ever 12 Sycamores Chess Society. We were asked by Lars Bergquist (founder) to improvise two sets of music representing what we felt about the White lodge and the Black Lodge respectively from the tv series Twin Peaks. It was beautiful, heavy, sad, scary, and bursting with anticipatory energy. A terrific release for an exceptional night. The room was packed with folks playing chess, hanging out and in general just coming together for a unique event. Thanks to everyone for sharing the night with us. Here are a couple pictures I shot.

Wanted to keep you all in the know so you can tune your radio dials (90.3 in Seattle) / internet urls’s to KEXP on Sunday March 4 midnight to 1am for the Schwa’s Sonarchy Radio live performance. This session was filled with ecstatic energy and the hour long piece is something we all were EXTREMELY proud of. So please check it out live or vist KEXP.com to download the podcast for two weeks after it airs.

A special show coming up for the Seattle residents. We have decided to unleash the Schwa on Ballard this coming Feb 10 at Egans Jam House. I am very excited to play this room as it will bring the correct energy for us to convey our message to the perfect number of ears. Expect us to unfurl a myriad of new sounds on your unsuspecting continuousness.

In other news we will be releasing two improvised pieces that were recorded back in November at Jack Straw studios. This particular session holds a wonderful energy as they were one takes on a clock. You can feel the intensity throughout and our decision to release was obvious once a few key decisions were made. Number one was that our good friend Robb Davidson needed to be involved and mix this record. We are very thankful to him and Nels Nelson Studios for being so kind in helping us make this a reality. I would love nothing more to drop this on vinyl so if anyone out there in the ethos has leeds or feels inclined to help us out with this endeavor we would be forever grateful.

Be well my friends and see you on Feb 10 at Egans!

Thank you to all who made it out to Mars bar last Thursday for the Schwa + Science set. We had a fantastic time and were lucky enough to have it captured on video by our friend Joel. For this performance I constructed a framework around the idea of bird migration. The piece moved through four sections (awakening – community – migration – reflection). Now we hibernate till the new year. See you in 2012.

Thanks to everyone that made it out last Friday for the Bushwick Book Club’s terrific showcase of musicians presenting music inspired by Mary Doria Russels, The Sparrow. I applaud Geoff Larson for olive branching out and having Bob Rees and myself improvise a piece of music. For the most part this club is reserved for a fantastic singer songwriters but the idea of occasionally infusing something a bit more bizarre is engaging and created a wonderful energy and atmosphere in the room. If you would like check out what exactly Bob and I did please have a listen by clicking the link below.

The Sparrow by theschwa

Rapidly upon us is our northwest run of shows taking us down through Oregon. Last night’s rehearsal was filled with excitement as we anticipate sharing the material we have been diligently crafting this past year. Its a direction in jazz that will hopefully surprise and enlighten you.

Today also included an interview with 89.3 Kaos Radio in Olympia. Fred Kellogg (Free Jazz with Fred) has taken the time to ask me a few questions and these answers will then be broadcast on his show next Thursday night (11/10) between the hours of 9 and 11. Please tune in if you are in the Olympia area.

We also just added November 8 for the Triple Door Main stage here in Seattle. We will be opening up the night for JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound. I simply can’t wait to get the group on this beautiful stage to see what kind of inspiration we find. Hope to see all you locals in attendance.

We have released our first EP and would love nothing more than to share it with you.  Included on the disc is four original tracks highlighting a nice spectrum of movement heard in the band.  Available to stream from your computer by clicking the widget in the right hand column, we would like you to take some time and enjoy the music.  If you enjoy as much as we do then please consider downloading it from either iTunes or Bandcamp for a small fee.  If you would prefer to own a physical copy of the disc we have produced a limited run that will be available at shows only.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE