The Creative Music Guild, Portland, OR (2026)

10/15/2025

Night 17/ final night of the fest!

Wednesday, October 29

Skyline Tavern — 8031 NW Skyline Blvd, Portland
8PM | $15–$30 sliding scale

An evening of sonic shapeshifting under the tree:)

Left Of Center
The collaborative brainchild of Alex Meltzer and Machado Mijiga, Left Of Center navigates a charged space where free jazz, sequenced loops, and electronic textures collide.
Machado a genre-defying multi-instrumentalist, composer brings his production chops and jazz intuition into lockstep with Meltzer’s experimental edge. Together they build a sound that’s spontaneous, spiritual, and undeniably now.

Yucky Jazz
The solo project of Portland-based artist Yuck, Yucky Jazz blends folk, gospel, jazz, and hip-hop into something deeply personal and wildly engaging.
Expect virtuosic instrumentation, left-field covers, and the kind of raw energy that only comes from an artist who’s both deeply rooted and joyfully unpredictable. Often joined by a rotating cast of local heavyweights — always bringing the vibes.

Bring a jacket, bring a friend, bring an open mind.
Skyline is calling you to cap off the festival

Poster by ._jane_._

10/14/2025

Night 17 of the improv fest!

No Fun
Tuesday, October 28
1709 SE Hawthorne Blvd
8PM | $15–$30 sliding scale

A night of immersive sound and spontaneous collaboration featuring:

Ozkat-Ozkat
A new project rooted in empathy, improvisation, and texture. Featuring:
Andre Burgos (Brown Calculus), Chris Frank (Frank Irwin Quintet), Alex Meltzer (Korgy & Bass), Jessie Smith (Jessie Smith Big Band), Alexander Thomas (Isabeau Waia’u Walker), and Reed Wallsmith (Blue Cranes).
Expect conversational music rhythmically rich, melodically generous, and endlessly exploratory.

Duolant & Chris Rorrer
Duolant is Portland-based producer Jeff Mettlewsky, blending natural inspiration with analog synths and self-built studio gear.
Joined by cellist Chris Rorrer, whose nuanced playing bridges classical tone with experimental openness. Together, they weave traditional instrumentation into a space of sonic curiosity and emotional resonance.

Electric Palace Ensemble
Born in the shadows of a shuttered Skyline Tavern, the Electric Palace Ensemble delivers “The Transfiguration Suite” a fiery and tender spiritual response to Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
Composed by Tate Peterson, Kris Stuart & Matt Cadenelli, and performed by an all-star cast of improvisers:
Chelsea Luker, Jeffrey Langston, Edwin Coleman, Scott ray Becker.
Projected weekly into the forest now live for one night only.

A celebration of spirit, sound, and collective listening

10/13/2025

Night 15 of the improv summit

Bug Farm, James Staub, the kgmr band, and warm canopy
October 27, 2025 — 9PM
$15–30 sliding scale | NOTAFLAF
Portland Arts Collective
122 NW Couch St, Portland, OR

A night of deep listening, noise, structure, rupture, and surprise.

Bug Farm
New trio led by Dillon Nadler (guitar, compositions) with Machado Mijiga (drums) and Eden Holland (bass, modular synth). Drawing from free jazz, heavy metal, minimalism, and experimental electronics, Bug Farm bends the power trio into new shapes.

James Staub
Composer/cellist using real-time performance software and algorithmic improvisation. His custom system turns the cello into a live controller, shaping a responsive electronic field. Built in MaxMSP, his sound engine processes pitch, rhythm, timbre, and more—blurring lines between acoustic and synthetic.

The kgmr band
Portland duo kgmr (keys, samples, noise) and Bobby Read (guitar, drums, violin) create immersive sonic collages, rooted in early tape experiments, horror scores, and found sound. Their work spans solo to ensemble performance and invites deep collaboration.

warm canopy
Freddi Wyss (they/them) is a time-based artist exploring emotional processing through experimental music, poetry, and movement. Their work highlights moments of pause, rupture, and in-between-ness. They also play in local bands Fog Cutter and Karen Caskets.

10/13/2025

Night 13 of the Improv Summit

Sunday, Oct 26 • 8PM
Swan Dive • $15–$30
Annual Round Robin
Hosted by Marcus Rudolph

Join us for an evening of spontaneous collaboration, rotating solos, and boundary-blurring musical conversations.

Marcus Rudolph leads the night — a master of swing, groove, and nuance — known for his inventive, expressive playing and ability to connect diverse sounds into something greater than the sum of its parts.

He’s joined by an eclectic lineup of standout musicians:

Xylyn Hathaway
AJ Stillabower
Alexis Mahler
Jack Maiolo
Rodolfo Lopez
Joshua Phillips

Expect the unexpected. One-of-a-kind combinations. Pure musical alchemy.

Doors open early — come catch the magic as it unfolds.

Poster by ._jane_._

10/12/2025

Special Matinee on Day 13 of the CMG improv fest:

Sunday, October 26 • 3PM
Strum Guitar • $15–$30
Lori Goldston + Mike Gamble

A powerful afternoon of improvised and exploratory sound with two extraordinary musicians.

Lori Goldston is a Seattle-based cellist and composer whose singular voice on the cello moves seamlessly between classical, experimental, and underground traditions. She has performed with Nirvana, Earth, David Byrne, Mirah, and the BBC Scottish Symphony, and collaborated across disciplines with filmmakers, visual artists, dancers, and writers around the world. Her playing is known for its raw, expressive tone and fearless sense of space and sound.

Mike Gamble is an adventurous guitarist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist with roots in New York’s experimental jazz and rock scenes. Now based in Portland, he has recorded over 50 albums and performed across North America and Europe with his trio The Inbetweens. He is also the Artistic Director of Portland’s Creative Music Guild and teaches at OSU and Reed College.

Expect boundary-pushing music, deep listening, and moments of unexpected beauty.

Tickets at the door.
Poster by ._jane_._

10/11/2025

Night 13 of the Improv fest

SKERIK (solo)
LORI GOLDSTON w/ Pacific Lumber & Wire
Saturday, October 25th, 2025
8:00 PM
$20–40 sliding scale
Leaven Community Center — 5431 NE 20th Ave, Portland, OR

A night of unfiltered sound and fearless improvisation.

SKERIK is a genre-defying saxophonist with a legacy that spans three decades and hundreds of collaborations from Mad Season to Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois, Les Claypool, and SUNN O))). Equal parts jazz virtuoso, noise scientist, and spiritual agitator, he performs a rare solo set: raw, unbound, and alive with sonic risk.

“Hardening of the categories leads to Art Disease.” John Medeski
Skerik has taken that to heart blending jazz, sludge metal, electronics, African rhythms, and beyond. His solo work is unpredictable, often feral, always deeply human.

LORI GOLDSTON, the singular cellist known for her work with Nirvana, Earth, and countless artists across genres and mediums, joins Pacific Lumber & Wire, Portland’s open-source string collective. Her cello voice earthy, spectral, rigorously unclassifiable blurs composition and improvisation, tradition and invention.

Described as “hugely important to contemporary music history” (The Quietus) and “cello music from fathoms deep” (NPR), Lori brings a rare depth and clarity to every ensemble she enters.

Pacific Lumber & Wire, hosted by bassist Andrew Jones, explores collaborative structured improvisation. Graphic scores, sonic games, process pieces, and intuition collide—creating music that exists only once, then disappears.

Featuring:
Timmy Barnett – violin
Jacob Mitas – violin/viola
Chibia Ulinwa – viola
Alexis Mahler – viola
James Staub – cello
Rodolfo Lopez – bass
Andrew Jones – bass

10/10/2025

Night 12 of the Improv Fest Special Late Night Set!

SKERIK / GEORGE COLLIGAN / ERIC GRUBER / MICHAEL RAYNOR
Friday, October 24, 2025
10:15 PM
The 1905
830 N Shaver St, Portland

A late-night collision of heavyweight improvisers:

SKERIK
Fearless saxophonist and sonic architect with a decades-spanning career blending jazz, sludge metal, funk, soukous, noise, and the avant-garde. A restless collaborator and shapeshifter, Skerik’s discography spans over 200 recordings with groups like Critters Buggin, Garage A Trois, Les Claypool’s bands, Tuatara, and Syncopated Taint Septet. No genre is safe.

GEORGE COLLIGAN
One of the most respected pianists of his generation. Known for his blazing technique, compositional depth, and versatility across styles, Colligan has recorded with John Scofield, Ravi Coltrane, Cassandra Wilson, and over 130 others. His latest work pushes forward the piano trio tradition with fierce originality.

ERIC GRUBER
In-demand Portland bassist, bringing deep tone and improvisational clarity to every setting—from straight-ahead swing to modern explorations.

MICHAEL RAYNOR
Jazz drummer and creative engine with roots in Chicago and beyond. Raynor’s dynamic playing has powered countless top-tier projects, combining groove, intuition, and fearless interplay.

This one’s for the deep heads. Late set, big sounds.:)

Artwork by ._jane_._

10/10/2025

Night 12 of the Improv Fest

Friday, October 24 | 8PM
Desert Island Studios
1316 SE 12th Ave, Portland, OR 97214
$15–30 sliding scale

An evening of genre-defying sound from boundary-pushing artists, featuring the first of three shows from our main artist Lori Goldston.

Lori Goldston

Classically trained, rigorously de-trained, and endlessly exploratory, Goldston is a cellist and composer whose amplified and acoustic performances are textured, raw, and deeply original. Based in Seattle, she’s collaborated with Nirvana, Earth, David Byrne, Cat Power, Terry Riley, and many more. Her work moves freely across genre, time, and discipline, and has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center, Paris Fashion Week, Tectonics Festival, and others across North America, Europe, and Australia.

Chloe Alexandra Thompson

A Cree interdisciplinary artist, composer, and director whose sound works center Indigenous resonance, spatial perception, and embodied vulnerability. Her compositions use psychoacoustic tones and sculptural spatialization to reshape listening and relationship. Thompson’s work has been presented by CTM Berlin, MUTEK, Onassis Foundation, and Pioneer Works, and she is a certified Max/MSP trainer and founding member of the Working Consortium for First Nations Performing Arts.

Ilyas Ahmed

Portland-based solo artist and member of Grails, with a two-decade discography of dreamlike, experimental rock. His latest solo album A Dream of Another came out in 2023, with more on the way.

Craig Burk

NYC and no PDX avant-garde veteran and sonic collage artist, active since the 1980s. His work fuses punk, free jazz, opera, and digital experimentation into lush, provocative soundscapes.

Poster by ._jane_._

10/10/2025

NIght 11 of the Improv Fest:

Turn! Turn! Turn!
Thursday, October 23, 2025
8 PM | $15–$30
8 NE Killingsworth St, Portland

An evening of adventurous, genre-pushing music featuring some of Portland’s most fearless players:

Reed Wallsmith (alto saxophone) Co-founder of Blue Cranes, Reed brings a bold, globally informed voice to contemporary jazz, shaped by his work in Nicaragua, the Northwest scene, and commissions from major ensembles and dance companies.

Lisa Lipton (clarinet) A dynamic musician and cultural organizer, Lisa balances classical finesse with experimental edge. She’s led orchestras, performed in indie festivals, and appeared on major film soundtracks.

Kyleen King (viola) A sought-after session musician and arranger, Kyleen’s touring credits include Brandi Carlile, and her strings have graced recordings by First Aid Kit, The Decemberists, and more.

Shao Way Wu (contrabass) Known for his deep tone and intuitive improvisation, Shao-Way has been a pillar of creative jazz in Portland, collaborating across genres and pushing sonic boundaries.

Tim DuRoche (drums, little instruments) A fixture in the experimental jazz world, Tim’s collaborations span continents and decades. He’s known for turning rhythm into storytelling, with credits on labels like ESP-Disk and PCJE Records.

Ben Woodman Trio Guitarist, trumpet player, and composer Ben Woodman leads this razor-sharp trio with Brent Carmer (bass) and Sam Berrett (drums). Their music explores the outer edges of the guitar trio format blending tightly composed ideas with moments of free improvisation. The result is raw, emotional, and deeply musical, a reflection of Woodman’s search for honesty and risk in sound.

Jarret Tetsuo Domen A solo electric guitarist whose work is built on texture, atmosphere, and feeling. Using a rich palette of pedals and effects, Jarret’s playing merges ambient soundscapes with bursts of improvised intensity. His voice as a composer reflects his identity as an Asian American artist navigating tradition and experimentation.

This is not background music; it’s a night of expression, exploration, and deep listening.

Poster by ._jane_._

10/09/2025

Night 10 of the Improvisation Fest:
Come see an opening set of Xylyn’s and then join her for an open ended improvisation! All are welcome

Wednesday, October 22nd
Swan Dive
727 SE Grand Ave,
$15-30
8pm

Xylyn Hathaway and Open Improvisation

Xylyn Hathaway has become a conduit of vulgar-beauty-jazz music that sinks teeth into the space it fills. She paints canvas into composition and wield an upright bass like bazookas, exploding hearts open peeled backwards into one bouquet of manic laughter from the pit of your chest.
Xylyn is a cherished figure and friend in our jazz community; born on Earth, one stones throw west from the palpitating heart of downtown Portland, Oregon.
A forager for chanterelles, she was raised on the farm in Newberg with Grandma. When Grandma died they lost the old farmhouse, red and white and alive in the decaying cherry walnut orchards. Grandma lives in Noble Pioneer Cemetery now, Xylyn in Southwest Portland.
As a band leader, Xylyn’s musical visions unfold and sprout behemoth architecture dimly lit, oozing spirits from the gills as it gasps for it’s first breath beneath thumps quantized in fractals. She propels a soloist or a broken poet off cliffs into jupiter’s hurricane eye.
She plays with cats like George Colligan, like Ron Steen, like anybody making big nasty music to be hurt and healed by in this wet crow city.
Xylyn Hathaway’s heart and music exude peace and play and oozing spirits, dancing between us, around us, below the violent ocean dismembered by big old stones.”
- David Barber

10/08/2025

Night 9 of the Improv fest
Tuesday October 21st
$15-30
8pm
No Fun

1709 SE Hawthorne Blvd

{[(gang radio)]}
Quivering Lip
Sila Lesa
Patrick McCulley

{[(gang radio)]} is a practice in improvisation with drones and patterns taking shape, becoming songs and soundscapes using trombone/guitar/pedals/cello/whatever may fit the sound.
the solo project of daniel morris (masonique, cryr, perseveration), {[(gang radio)]} has been based in portland, or since the early aughts, bringing a meditative, sometimes caustic, ambient soundtrack to the psychedelic movie behind the listener’s eyes. forever let the light shine, even if it’s the darkest light you can muster.
Ⓥ // Ⓔ

Patrick McCulley is a Portland based saxophonist, educator, composer for alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone that seeks to transform the instrument from a purely melodic instrument into an undefinable and unstoppable force of nature.

Quivering Lip is an experimental/harsh noise project based out of Portland Or and performed by
Dave Angiolini. It utilizes scrap metal, found objects, different forms of
microphones/amplification and feedback.

Sila Lesa is the evocative electroacoustic solo project of composer, saxophonist and sound artist David B. Collins, traveling a landscape of improvisation and fixed form, with melody, texture and timbre guiding the journey.

Poster by ._jane_._

10/07/2025

October 20, 2025 — 8:00
$15-$30, sliding scale
PDX Arts Collective
122 NW Couch Street

Four adventurous acts push sonic boundaries:

Folknoize – Portland-based builder of wild, repurposed instruments made from yard debris and found objects. A self-taught sound-maker since 1951 (!), known for chaotic beauty and raw textures.

Brent Carmer – Double bassist blending deep drones, ambient loops, and nature field recordings. From Nebraska plains to Portland forests, his work is meditative and immersive.

Aurora Josephson, Anthony Stillabower & Joel Nelson –

Aurora: Operatically trained voice explorer w/ roots in experimental and rock, collabs incl. Fred Frith & ROVA Quartet

Anthony: Composer & improviser with a knack for the acousmatic and absurd

Joel: Folk-electronic alchemist crafting drone-heavy pieces with crank organs, bagpipes & medieval modes

Wild Card of Cascadia – Electro-acoustic improv trio (William Selman, Marcus Fischer & Strategy). Game-like, spontaneous performances with deep listening and unpredictable instrumentation.

The Creative Music Guild

10/15/2025

10/14/2025

10/13/2025

10/13/2025

10/12/2025

10/11/2025

10/10/2025

10/10/2025

10/10/2025

10/09/2025

10/08/2025

10/07/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Organization

Shortcuts

Share

Category