Cara Lieurance sits down with four musicians tied to Western Michigan University for a conversation spanning two distinctly different concert series: Jazz in the Crawlspace and CMIX Presents.
Tonight marks the opening of the third season of Jazz in the Crawlspace, held at the Crawlspace Theatre in the former First Baptist Church downtown. Series producer Keith Hall, WMU's professor of jazz drums, says the show reunites two of his former students, drummer-composer Nelson Oliva and saxophonist-composer Ben Schmidt-Swartz, who are celebrating an album they recorded together in Kalamazoo back in 2012, "Mastermind." It was recorded at the late John Stites' studio. Part of the sound engineer's estate became the John Stites Awards, which underwrites the series.
Oliva, now based in Santiago, Chile, and Schmidt-Swartz, based in Chicago, built the project as a tribute to drummer Art Blakey. "We are very proud of this music," Oliva says. Schmidt-Swartz adds that the goal was also spiritual: bringing "the joy of jazz, the healing" that Blakey embodied. Tonight's quintet includes trumpeter Russ Johnson, bassist Christian Dillingham and pianist Matthew Fries, with shows at 7 and 9 p.m.; tickets are at kzoojazz.com.
Tomorrow night, Sep 11 at 7:30 pm, Schmidt-Swartz joins composer Christopher Biggs for a CD release concert with drummer Erik Sowa marking the launch of WMU's CMIX series, which pairs jazz, composition and technology students in one program. Biggs describes it as building on the school's New Sounds Festival legacy while pushing toward research-driven, improvisatory work with live electronics. "It's nice to have this parallel stream where we get to do things that might be unexpected, might fail, and just challenge audiences through new modes of perception that can change how they interface with reality outside those experiences."
The new album, No Left Turn, opens with "Parking Garage," inspired by the spot where Biggs first picked up Sowa and Schmidt-Swartz. "The tracks are kind of all named after car-related things for the most part," adds Biggs. Schmidt-Swartz and Sowa play saxophones and percussion, with Biggs adding dynamic live electronics built for the project.
CMIX presents three concerts this fall with a spectrum of artists along with Biggs in different roles. Details are at wmich.edu/finearts/cmix.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
