Racer Sessions

10/15/2025

Racer Sessions mourns the passing of Carol Levin. Carol was deeply beloved by every corner of the Seattle music scene - when not improvising on electric harp in small and large ensembles, she could be found teaching youngsters, volunteering with , in the audience of your concerts, or tinkering around her kitchen. She was a fount of joy and a moral compass for many; best friend and partner-in-good to Steve, her husband of 47 years; the biggest fan of her son and trumpeter, Josh Deutsch. Her passing creates an absence, but we will keep her memory alive. We love you, Carol 💕

01/16/2025

Happy New Year, friends! After some rest and (photo) developments, we’re happy to pop in here and let you know that we collectively raised $1,000 for at the T&C Holiday Show last month! Thank you again to everyone who participated, whether you performed, attended, or lent your support as a volunteer. It was such a treat and a great way to close out the year.

We’ll be spending 2025 archiving the session - our website, recordings, and all physical media. We’ll keep you posted on that progress as it comes :-) we’d also love to hear from you! If you feel compelled, share a story with us about the session or how it has impacted you by sending it to [email protected]. We’d love to share that here on our socials as an archive of this community 💛

12/18/2024

TABLE & CHAIRS PRESENTS: THE FINAL T&C HOLIDAY SHOW

Mon 12/23 @ Sunset Tavern
7pm doors / 7:30pm show
Tickets: tinyurl.com/santaslastride

All proceeds donated to Solid Ground, a local organization working to end poverty and undo racism and other oppressions that are root causes of poverty.

Featuring:

-Christian Pincock's Scrambler: Soundpainting Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker

-Michael Owcharuk: Ukrainian Holiday Songs

-Carol Levin & Steve Deutsch: A Poem

-Maria Männistö: The 12 Tones of Christmas

-Santa’s Little Helpers: Saxophone Quartet

- Santa Neil & The Kringles: Santa’s last ride! May it be his smoothest yet!

12/11/2024

It’s time, friends. The final Racer Session will be this Sunday, December 15th, at 7pm. Just like the first session at Cafe Racer in 2010, we’ll be presenting it fully open - nobody, everybody, and you are host to the music. We’re leaving extra time for folks to share their sounds as well as what the session has meant to them.

Thank you so much for turning out these last few months and filling the space with your music, spirit, and selves. We love you 💛

12/01/2024

Community: do you want to perform the opening set tonight? Curator Neil Welch has composed a text score for trio and attending performers - if you’d like to participate, plan on arriving early to Gallery 1412 at 6pm for a short discussion / rehearsal and all will be performed at 7pm 💛 We will have printed text scores on hand. XO RS

11/27/2024

We’ve made it to the final month of sessions, friends. Two left. Wow! WOW. So many feelings. For the penultimate session this Sunday, Dec 1st, we’ll have friend and founder Neil Welch curate. Music starts at 7pm. Rather than list Neil’s bio and sing his accolades, we’ll let him speak right to you.

“Hello Racer heads —

At the Racer Sessions, thousands of improvisations have been performed, no one like the other. Collaborators found themselves with kindred spirits, creating deeply emotive works in a supportive environment. Formal compositions were born at the session. Bands were formed at the session. RS was the ideal fit for me as an artist. The unique format of a curator and open improvisation session provided me with a testing ground for new works and instrumental techniques to slowly take shape. I have learned so much from each artist that has contributed. The series itself is like a durational work I have been privileged to be a part of.

On January 24th, 2010, I had the honor of being our first curator. On December 1st, 2024, I will be the last. When the Racer Sessions struck up in late 2010, I remember vividly that my mind was in two places:

1. I wanted to explore solo saxophone music with a fervor that verged on obsessive.
2. I craved to play with, listen to, and learn from kindred improvising spirits in any instrumentation configuration conceivable.

Along with you, my community, for this final curated session it is this latter desire that I would like to explore. It burns unabated in me to this day.

What we as a community have accomplished is astonishing. We should be proud. I view my participation in the Racer Sessions as one of the major accomplishments of my artistic life. This community embraced me as a person and artist. I will be forever grateful to have taken part. Friends, it is nearly time to let go. This weekly session, which has meant the world to so many of us—which has meant the world to me—will soon become a memory. But in this memory we share a sonic unity! We carry this forward in our work, and in the communities we will come to know in the future.

In deepest gratitude and love,
-Neil Welch

11/16/2024

Three! More! Sessions! EVER! This Sunday at 7pm: at Gallery 1412, 7pm.

Elias Hampton is a guitarist, composer, songwriter, and educator in Seattle. He is a versatile musician who has taken on many collaborations, including as a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer, and producer.

He is a graduate of the UW jazz program where he studied under renowned musicians such as Steve Rodby, Ted Poor, and Cuong Vu, and had the opportunity to perform with esteemed artists such as Andrew D’Angelo.

Since graduating, Elias has continued to be active in improvisational and contemporary music communities in Seattle, while also turning his focus toward songwriting, recording, and production.

He is currently working on his first album as a singer/songwriter.

11/03/2024

Only five sessions left, including tonight! We’ll be joined by Jahnvi Madan, who will be joined by Carlos Snaider, who will play each other’s music for the first time. Music starting at 7pm ✨

Named Northwest Emerging Artist of the Year by Earshot Jazz, Jahnvi Madan is an Indian American clarinetist, composer, and songwriter from Bellevue. As a bandleader, she has performed her original music at several well-known Jazz Festivals, including the Washington D.C. Women in Jazz Festival, the Westerlies Festival, and recently at Earshot Jazz Festival, as their youngest commissioned composer. Madan has established herself locally, playing her music with her quintet at venues around Seattle like the Royal Room and most recently at Seattle Jazz Fellowship. She is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory, where she studied under renowned musicians such as Jason Moran, Melissa Aldana, Dominique Eade, and Frank Carlberg. Madan is currently based in Seattle, where she performs regularly, teaches privately as well as through the nonprofit Seattle JazzED, and records for other artists.

10/20/2024

Tonight! STEPH RICHARDS (trumpet) with Jai Kobi Kaleo’Okalani (guitar), Kelsey Mines (bass) and Andrew Munsey (drums). 7-9pm at Gallery 1412!

Check out her latest music video:

Power Vibe · Steph Richardsfeaturing · Joshua White (piano) · Stomu Takeishi (bass)· Gerald Cleaver (drums) · Max Jaffee (electronics) Power Vibe, Steph's l...

10/19/2024

Coming in hot! We have a Racer Session this Sunday at 7pm, and we’re so excited to be hosting Seattle’s newest resident Steph Richards!

“A rising force in avant-garde jazz” (Jazz Times), Steph Richards is a dynamic experimentalist known for her innovative approach to the trumpet and interdisciplinary expression as a composer. She has collaborated with visionaries ranging from Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton and John Zorn to art pop luminaries Yoko Ono, St. Vincent, David Byrne and Laurie Anderson. Her work as a composer is characterized by The New York Times as “boldly inventive…compos[ing] in ways that standard notation could never document” and her works span interactions with film, poetry, theatre, dance and scent.

Steph will be presenting supersonic plane, which is composed of:

steph richards, trumpet
Jai Kobi Kaleo’Okalani, guitar
Kelsey Mines, bass
Andrew Munsey, drumset

10/03/2024

Our next Racer Session is this Sunday the 6th at 7pm, and we are so excited to be hosting NYC pianist and composer !

Mathis Picard is a French-Malagasy pianist, composer, producer, and bandleader. A student of both Jazz & Classical music from an early age, Mathis creates a his own musical style that is influenced by his multi-national background.

We had hoped to host our pal .somethingelse from Missoula but unfortunately he had to bow out - we’ll miss you Bill! 💛

09/15/2024

Getting so excited to see and hear everyone tonight!! We’ve been looking forward to hearing Kate, Ray and Christian play as PROLCK for a good long while - these three all have such exciting approaches to solo and electronic play, not to mention their relationship as improvisers. It’s gonna be a really special time! Music starts at 7pm ✨