It started with a search.
Back in 2010, a handful of graduates of the University of Washington’s School of Music were looking for a space to host improvisational jam sessions, when they came upon Cafe Racer, nestled right in the U District.
“We went there as a quirky place to play music and hang out,” says Christopher Icasiano, who plays drums in King Tears Bat Trip. “We were going there fairly frequently, and got to know a lot of the folks who worked there and became fans of the bands that played there regularly.”
The cafe soon became what Icasiano calls a home away from home when he and colleagues founded an informal improvisation series called the Racer Sessions: a jam session inclusive of multiple music styles and open free to the public every Sunday night.
The group also took on a curatorial role, leading the weekly sessions with a 30-minute set of original music to set a creative musical tone for the evening. Performers jamming afterward play shorter sets, riffing off the themes.
“The beautiful thing about the Racer Sessions is that it really helps embolden musicians and gives them a voice and a place to play in an environment that otherwise might not be hospitable to what they see as the expression they want to give forth,” says co-founder Neil Welch, who plays saxophone in KTBT. The collective hosts an annual three-day Racer Sessions fest, which this year marks five years of the improv series. It’s an achievement worth celebrating, given the devastating shock to the community of the 2012 shooting spree there that left six dead.
“It’s really quite extraordinary,” says Welch. “This is the continuation of an idea, and that idea is just bringing people together towards a common goal of being creative and expressive.”
“There’s very few things in my life I’ve ever wanted to do every single week,” says Jacob Zimmerman, saxophonist in the band Lawson. “[The] Racer Sessions is one of those.”
This year’s event
, called Cry & Roar, is named for Andrew Carrico, a member of the Racer community who passed away shortly after the shooting a few years ago. Carrico was booking bands that came into the cafe, and slotted the Sessions on Sundays when they began. The name Cry & Roar comes from Carrico’s description of his saxophone’s sound.
“A lot of the music that people are going to hear at the festival will resemble, literally, that description,” says Sessions founder Aaron Otheim, who plays keyboards in the band Heatwarmer. “It’s a very strong, declarative way of describing one’s own sound, and I think it in some ways describes tenacity and the conviction that all the artists who are in this circle take into their music-making.”
It’s also a tribute to Carrico. “It’s a reminder to us of how important it is to value and enjoy the lives of each other, the times that we spend with each other,” Zimmerman says.
On Sunday, a special Racer Sessions will close out the event with special guest Iji. “You’re guaranteed to hear things you have never heard before and so am I,” says Welch, “and that’s a really exciting thing.”
bsewake@seattleweekly.com
CRY & ROAR V: FIVE YEARS OF THE RACER SESSIONS With Lawson, Young Nudist, Heatwarmer, Shannon Kerrigan, Dio Jean-Baptiste & Geoff Traeger, WA (Simon Henneman & Gregg Kepplinger), Evan Woodle, Aaron Otheim, Christian Pincock, Lori Goldston, King Tears Bat Trip, Neil Welch, Iji. Cafe Racer, 5828 Roosevelt Way N.E., 523-5282, caferacerseattle.com. Suggested donation $5–$15. 8 p.m. Fri., Jan. 23–Sun., Jan 25.
