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Christopher Icasiano

Chris Icasiano is quickly establishing himself as a force in Seattle's new music and avant-garge jazz scene. He performs regularly in the co-led duo Bad Luck with long-time friend and collaborator, saxophonist Neil Welch, which was recently awarded the 2009 Alternative Jazz Group of the Year by Earshot Jazz. Bad Luck's self-titled debut album was received with much critical acclaim and has been described as, "...one of the finest Seattle Jazz recordings in years - fresh, assured, mature way beyond it's players' ages." (Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz). Icasiano is also a member of the progressive avant-jazz group Speak, which features many of Seattle's most forward-looking, innovative, and creative musicians, focusing predominantly on original composition and collective improvisation. Speak's debut record is slated for release in April 2010 by Origin Records in time for their appearance at the Saalfelden Jazz Festival in Austria this Summer.

Awards

2009 Golden Ear Award: Alternative Jazz Group of the Year Neil Welch / Chris Icasiano Duo -Earshot Jazz


Tags

4
Album Review

Neil Welch: The Ink Around It

Read "The Ink Around It" reviewed by Ian Gwin


Music is ephemeral by nature. The conical airflow of a saxophone could be nothing more than “airy charm"—as the magician Prospero in The Tempest might have it—but this fails to substantiate its power. Though the rousing craft of Seattle composer and saxophonist Neil Welc does. In his acclaimed duo Bad Luck with drummer Chris Icasiano, he's “plucked up / the pine and cedar" through a wildly generative approach to the tenor. Combining profound humility with a tectonic techique, Welch approaches ...

11
Profile

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Christopher Icasiano

Read "20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Christopher Icasiano" reviewed by Paul Rauch


The city of jny: Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in the south. It has produced such historical jazz icons as Quincy Jones and Ernestine Anderson. In many instances it has acted as a temporary ...

3
Album Review

Bad Luck: Four

Read "Four" reviewed by Ian Gwin


For over a decade, Seattle-based duo Bad Luck—that's Neil Welch (saxophones, electronics) and Chris Icasiano (drums)—have packed and unpacked their deceptively simple formula of drums and saxophone. Through their deep musical partnership, they continue to recast the mold of contemporary music. Over countless fiery performances and three full-length releases, the depth of the duo's compositional improvisations has steadily developed, starting from the catch-as-catch-can edge of their classically free-jazz 2009 self-titled debut, moving the sprawling, heavy-metal intensity of 2011's double-album Two, ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Ink Around It

Self-Produced
2021

buy

Provinces

Origin Records
2020

buy

Four

Origin Records
2018

buy

King Tears Bat Trip

Table & Chairs
2012

buy

Speak

Origin Records
2010

buy

Provinces: II

From: Provinces
By Christopher Icasiano

R.B.G.

From: Four
By Christopher Icasiano

Amalgam in the Middle

From: Speak
By Christopher Icasiano

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