Founding editor of the improvisor, DAVEY WILLIAMS is one of the most unique musical figures to have ever come from the state of Alabama. Considered one of the "three founding fathers of American free improvisational guitar" (along with Henry Kaiser and Eugene Chadbourne), he is the only person to ever successfully- and honestly- bridge the gap between the disparate worlds of Robert Johnson and Sun Ra. As a 19-year-old protege of the late Delta and Chicago blues master Johnny Shines (himself a protege of Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf), Davey lived a formative musical experience that more well known personalities like Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Jimmy Page could only dream about. Mastering the slide steel stylings of his teacher, Davey expounded on the form by taking the blues in directions few knew it could go or dare try. Dubbing his style "convulsive blues," for the past 40 years he has quietly blown minds around the world through his unique combination of old-school form and new school technique.

Grammy winner HENRY KAISER is widely recognized as one of the most creative and innovative guitarists, improvisers, and producers in the fields of rock, jazz and experimental music and is one of the most extensively recorded as well, having appeared on more than 225 different albums and contributed to countless television and film soundtracks. A restless collaborator who constantly seeks the most diverse and personally challenging contexts for his music, Mr. Kaiser not only produces and contributes to a staggering number of recorded projects, he performs frequently throughout the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan, with several regular groupings as well as solo guitar concerts and concerts of freely improvised music with a host of diverse instrumentalists. Along with Davey Williams and Eugene Chadbourne, he is considered one of the "three founding fathers of American free improvisational guitar" and evidence of his exceptional musical breadth and versatility can be found in a partial list of the extraordinary artists with whom he has recorded and/or performed: Herbie Hancock, Richard Thompson, David Lindley, Bob Weir, The ROVA Sax Quartet, Elliot Sharp, John "Drumbo" French, Michael McClure, Bill Laswell, Steve Lacy, Fred Frith, Leo Smith, moe., Negativland, Michael Stipe, Terry Riley, Jim O'Rourke, Diamanda Galas, Sonny Sharrock, Hans Reichel, Chris Cutler, Henry Cow, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Joey Baron, Davey Williams, Eugene Chadbourne, Evan Parker, Sang-Won Park, Material, The Golden Palominos, Victoria Williams, Jin-Hi Kim, John Oswald, Glenn Phillips, Tom Constanten, John Medeski, Zoogz Rift, Merl Saunders, Freddie Roulette, Mari Kimura, George Lewis, Peter Brotzmann, Zero, Bob Bralove, Gregg Allman, Billy Kreutzmann, Jerry Garcia, Miya Masaoka, Miroslav Tadic, Cecil Taylor, Nels Cline, and Amos Garrett.

It could be said that no one person has done as much for the progressive music and arts scene here in Alabama than violinist/violist LADONNA SMITH. A pioneering female improviser/surrealist whose career reaches back nearly four decades, LaDonna has been a pivotal figure on both the local and national music scene as the driving force behind the improvisor, co-founder of TransMuseq Records, and creator of the Birmingham Improv Festival. A multi-talented musician, writer, philosopher, painter, sculptor, and teacher, Miss Smith's versatility as an artist is unmatched in its breadth. With a style of improvisation that is uniquely her own, alternating classical and extended techniques, she explores her instrument, painting scenarios and sound pictures as she plays. She has performed at practically every major improvisation festival and many of the New Music Festivals and has toured extensively throughout Europe, Russia, and Japan. In addition, she and longtime musical partner Davey Williams have toured North America and Europe many times as Trans Duo. As a teacher, she has given many educational workshops on free improvisation throughout the U.S. and Canada and continues to work with children of all ages as director of the Birmingham Suzuki Violin Association. She is also the Executive Director of the 2010 Improvisor Festival.

WALLY SHOUP is a legendary free-improv/jazz saxophonist and painter from Charlotte, North Carolina. Currently based out of Seattle, Washington, Shoup has been a mainstay of that city's improvised music scene since 1985 and has been named one of the 50 most influential musicians in that city's history by the Seattle Metropolitan. A one-time Birmingham resident and early contributor/critic for The Improvisor, Shoup's presence at the 2010 Improvisor Festival is a reminder of the deep sense of camaraderie that has kept the spirit of free improvisation alive and well throughout the years. Over the past four decades he has recorded/performed with Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Nels Cline of Wilco, Paul Flaherty, Reuben Radding, Bill Horist, and Chris Corsano (as well as many, many others) and has presented his music at the Vancouver Jazz Festival (Vancouver, B.C.), Earshot Jazz Festival (Seattle), Le Weekend (Scotland), Birmingham Improvised Music Festival (Birmingham, Alabama), Seattle Improvised Music Festival, and Open-Circuit Interact (Belgium).

WALLY SHOUP will be performing at Dixie Fried at the Bottletree on Aug. 13 and the Pepper Place on Aug. 14. 

"Cochrane is known to weave knives and old guitar strings through his frets to create new dissonaces, yet his voice is strong, plain and straightforward… His work led guitarist Marc Ribot to proclaim Cochrane, along with James Blood Ulmer, among his favorite guitar players." 
-OPTION Magazine-

CHRIS COCHRANE is one of the most unique and inventive musicians to come out of New York City's long-running "Downtown" scene and was the second president of the Improviser's Network (I.N.), which gave birth to the free improv journal the improvisor. Since moving to New York, Chris has performed regularly in bands- including the mighty Curlew- and improvised with hundreds of the scene's leading players and is considered to be one of the most brilliant, daring, and singular guitarists/songwriters out there. In addition to his rare solo recordings and work with a number of bands (including the legendary, groundbreaking experimental prog unit NO SAFETY, which he co-founded with harpist Zeena Parkins) he has played live and/or recorded with an astounding array of similarly great musicians (including John Zorn, Bongwater, Fred Frith, Mike Patton, Marc Ribot, Ikue Mori, et. al.), visual artists, and choreographers. 

 CHRIS COCHRANE will be performing with Davey Williams, Oteil Burbridge and Matt Kimbrell at the Magic City Meltdown at Workplay on Aug. 6; Barking Legs Theater in Chattanooga, TN on Aug. 7; EYEDRUM in Atlanta, GA on Aug. 8; and Cine in Athens, GA on Aug. 9&10.

Along with LaDonna Smith and Davey Williams, no group of musicians/artists has done more to perform, present, and preserve free improvisational music in the Deep South than Dennis Palmer and Bob Stagner of the SHAKING RAY LEVIS. A synth/drums duo who play "Ol'-Timey Avant-Garde" music  meshed with extended vocal techniques and storytelling, the Levis have been a cultural institution in their hometown of Chattanooga, TN for over twenty-five years and were the first American group to have a release on Derek Bailey's legendary Incus Records imprint out of England. The group have performed all over the world, including on the BBC and at Company Week in London, Newfoundland's Sound Symposium, Denver's ReThink Conference, Quebec's International Festival de Musique Actuelle, and Roulette in New York City and have shared stages with everyone from John Zorn, Fred Frith, David Greenberger, and Amy Denio, to Min Tanaka, Derek Bailey, Davey Williams, and Eugene  Chadbourne. In addition to their own performances, they have also put on several groundbreaking music festivals in Chattanooga- including the Shaking Ray Levi Festival and the WHO-FEST- that have brought some of the world's premier musicians to an area that might not have welcomed them were it not for their dedication to cutting edge music, dance and art. The list of notable artists who have appeared at these events include: Anthony Braxton, Rev. Howard Finster, Cat Power, Laurie Anderson, David Pajo, Olivia Tremor Control, the Tibetan Monks of the Drepung Loseling Institute, and Indian violinist L. Shankar.

 
A raconteur of the highest order, there are few figures in contemporary music who have had as unique an impact and influence on "outsider" music in the South (and beyond) than COL. BRUCE HAMPTON. With a career that spans over four decades, he has been an inimitable figurehead to legions of radical Southern aesthetes who dared to subvert conventional assumptions about what music is and can be. As lead singer of legendary avant-rock group the Hampton Grease Band in the late-1960's and early-70's, the Col. began his artistic life as an anomaly-among-anomalies in the era of psychedelic music. Playing to the same audiences as the Allman Brothers, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, and the original Fleetwood Mac, the Hampton Grease Band created some of the most challenging, controversial, and groundbreaking sonic excursions to ever fall under the banner of rock n' roll. Peers to the likes of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, over the years, the band became a cult favorite among music cognoscenti who fell in love with their surreal antics and extended improvisational jams, and were awarded the dubious distinction of having recorded the second worst-selling album in the history of Columbia Records history with the release of 1971's landmark double lp Music To Eat. After the breakup of the band in 1973, Hampton continued to forge ahead as one of the leading lights in the rock underground and has subsequently staked his claim as one of the great sonic philosophers in modern music. Leading numerous outfits over the years- including the Late Bronze Age, the Aquarium Rescue Unit, the Fiji Mariners, the Codetalkers, and the Quark Alliance- he has become a revered godfather to the current jam-band scene (who has performed with everyone from Phish to Widespread Panic) and remains a distinctive force to all who cross his path.   

COL. BRUCE HAMPTON will be performing with the Shaking Ray Levis at "DIXIE FRIED" at the Bottletree on August 13 and at the Pepper Place Farmer's Market on August 14.

A one-time Birmingham resident, OTEIL BURBRIDGE is one of the most gifted musicians to have ever called the Magic City home. As a founding member of the insanely talented Aquarium Rescue Unit (alongside Col. Bruce Hampton and Widespread Panic guitarist Jimmy Herring), Oteil made a name for himself on the early-90's jam-band circuit as bass player par excellence through his mind-boggling display of musical dexterity and sonic intuition. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist with roots in jazz, over the years he has become one of the most sought-after collaborators in contemporary music, and the list of musicians he has played with reads like a who's who of the current jam-band diaspora- including Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell of Phish, Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, Victor Wooten of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, and Russell Batiste, Jr. of the Meters- and speaks to the level of musicianship he consistently brings to the table. Cementing that reputation, in 1997 he was tapped to become a full-fledged member of Southern rock icons the Allman Brothers, with whom he continues to expand his musical palette by bringing a fresh perspective to one of the most respected outfits in rock 'n roll.

OTEIL BURBRIDGE will be performing with Davey Williams, Chris Cochrane, Matt Kimbrell, and special guests at the Magic City Meltdown at Workplay on August 6.

As stated in The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, GINO ROBAIR is "an enormously talented percussionist, with a thorough-going musicality and an instinct for the unexpected."  Based out of San Francisco, Gino's work as an improviser, composer, and promoter stands as a testament to his dedication to new sonorities yet to be discovered. The head of Rastascan Records- which Billboard Magazine has described as, "a label devoted to the kind of improvised music that makes even the term 'cutting edge' seem dull"- Robair has been at the forefront of sonic exploration since the mid 1980's. He plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, bowed objects (polystyrene, customized/broken cymbals, faux daxophone, metal), and anything else he can lay his hands on. Although Gino is often referred to as a jazz musician, he grew up playing both rock and concert music. As a composer, he has written for a variety of ensembles, scored numerous Shakespearean plays with the California Shakespeare Festival (where he was music director for five years), created jingles for radio and television, and served as music director for the CBS/Film Roman Saturday morning cartoon series "The Twisted Tales Of Felix The Cat." In addition, he has also recorded/performed with the likes of Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, and Thinking Fellers Union 282.

  UT GRET is a musical group from Louisville, KY. They play a style which many people find hard to define. They use the term "pan-idiomatic" meaning spanning many styles & genres. Their sound combines elements of jazz, rock, folk, free-improvisation, experimental musical instruments, modern "classical" music and many world music traditions. The members play guitar/bass, saxophones/flutes, clarinets/saxophones, keyboards/vibraphone/trumpet and drums/bass/percussion. They will all play other instruments as requested and/or required and may even be heard to sing on the rare occasion that it is desirable or unavoidable. Ut Gret have played with world-famous avant-garde guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, avant/jazz drummer Lukas Ligeti and respected classical percussionist Donald Knaack. Some of their shows are strictly musical events but many times they incorporate theatre, poetry, or dance. They have provided music for puppet shows, art installations, and improvisational theatre as well as fully-improvised events of their own. A typical Ut Gret show might include music by Frank Zappa, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, or Sun Ra as well as klezmer, gamelan, or afro-pop sounds alongside their own category-defying original compositions and genre-bending improvisations.

UT GRET will be performing at the Magic City Meltdown at Workplay on Aug. 6