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Stuart Dempster, the iconic Northwest trombonist, gets some attention for his 90th birthday, including a November 9 celebration from Seattle Modern Orchestra that we preview in this show, with help from Pauline Oliveros, William O. Smith, Relâche and Deep Listening Band. Plus we continue our deep dive into Donnacha Dennehy’s new orchestral album and Trevor Bača’s new setting of Samuel Beckett’s Stirrings Still with the JACK String Quartet. And Anna Webber extends the Braxtonian wing of the Downtown avant-garde, Gellért Szabó channels Johannes Brahms, Daan Vandewalle plays Rzewski, and Wadada Leo Smith performs in a trio and an octet. An ambitious acousmatic gem by François Bayle rounds out the program for its 50th anniversary. Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell from 91.3 KBCS.FM.
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Flotation Device 2026-11-08: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: New and notable [0:00]
1. [2:04] Anna Webber: Momentary Compensatory Solidities of Imagined Contact with an Imagined Real. From It’s easier to imagine the end of the world… (Intakt/Out of Your Head, 2026) with Anna Webber (flute, tenor saxophone), Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone), Yuma Uesaka (clarinet, saxophone), Ryan Easter (trumpet), DoYeon Kim (25-string gayageum), Mary Halvorson (guitar), David Virelles (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), Ches Smith (drums, chimes), Aaron Nevezie (recording engineer, The Bunker Studio)
2. [9:31] Frederic Rzewski: Tabakrauch - 1. (Fire). From A Mensch (Passacaille, 2026) with Daan Vandewalle (piano), Yannick Willox (recording engineer, Acoustic Recording Service). NOTE: Composed 1953, premiere recording
3. [12:03] Donnacha Dennehy: Violin Concerto - 1. From Limina (Nonesuch, 2026) with Stephen Waarts (violin), National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Ryan McAdams (conductor). NOTE: Composed 2020, premiere recording
SET 2: Dempster at 90 [22:05]
1. [24:01] Stuart Dempster on SWAMI and Deep Listening. NOTE: Source interview is at https://tinyurl.com/StuartDempster
2. [29:30] Stuart Dempster: Conch Calling. From Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel (New Albion, 1995) with Stuart Dempster (solo conch), Al Swanson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded June 18, 1994 in the cistern at Fort Worden, WA
3. [32:52] Deep Listening Band: Geocentric. From The Ready Made Boomerang (New Albion, 1991) with Panaiotis (voice), William O. Smith (clarinet), Stuart Dempster (trombone), Pauline Oliveros (accordion), Al Swanson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded February 1990 in the cistern at Fort Worden, WA
4. [41:21] Jonathan Lawson on Deep Listening. NOTE: Source interview is at https://tinyurl.com/FDat25
5. [42:04] Pauline Oliveros: The Gentle (excerpts). From The Well & The Gentle (Hat Hut, 1985, reissued 2023 by Imprec) with Pauline Oliveros (accordion), Relâche: Barbara Noska (voice), Laurel Wyckoff (flute), Wesley Hall (clarinet), Marshall Taylor, Stephen Marcucci (saxophones), Charles Forbes (cello), Guy Klucevsek (accordion), John Dulik (piano), Florence Ierardi (percussion), Werner Strobel (recording engineer)
6. [54:08] Outro with Pauline Oliveros: The Well (from The Well & The Gentle)
7. [59:15] François Bayle: Camera oscura (excerpts). From Camera oscura, Espaces inhabitables (Magison, 2000). NOTE: Realized 1976, premiered November 1976 at Festival de Metz, France. Revised 2000
SET 3: Beckett meets Bača [1:07:23]
1. [1:09:35] Trevor Bača: Stirrings Still (excerpts) from Stirrings Still (ECM, 2026) with Paul Griffiths (narrator), JACK Quartet: Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman (violins), John Pickford Richards (viola), Jay Campbell (cello), Lara Persia, Michael Rast (recording engineers). NOTE: Text by Samuel Beckett (1987)
SET 4: Big new bands [1:32:35]
1. [1:35:38] Wadada Leo Smith: Dark Matters, Particles of Light, Mirror of the Unseen (excerpts). From Constellations and Hemispheres (Burning Ambulance, 2026) with Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet); Diamonds: Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Marcus Gilmore (drums); Blue Dreams: Bobby Naughton (vibraphone), Lamar Smith (electric guitar), Bill Laswell, Melvin Gibbs (electric basses), Pheeroan akLaff (drums), Mauro Refosco, Brian Jarawa Gray (percussion)
2. [1:45:35] Gellért Szabó: Tod. From Vom Willen und Tod (Boomslang, 2026) with Gellért Szabó’s Ideal Orchestra, Gellért Szabó (conductor), Christoph Giesemann (recording engineer)
3. [1:56:54] Outro with Requiem für Gellért Szabó
Photo credits: Anna Webber by Evan Shay, Stuart Dempster and Bill Smith by Steve Korn, Sylvie Courvoisier and Wadada Leo Smith by Ogata Photo, François Bayle by Didier Allard, Ideal Orchestra via Gellért Szabó, Donnacha Dennehy by Hugh O’Conor, Samuel Beckett via Encyclopedia Brittanica, Pauline Oliveros: The Well.